Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

Views of the Horseless Carriage Club in the US

https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/classic-cars/a30357303/are-there-enough-old-guys-left-to-keep-vintage-car-clubs-going/

RJ
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[ukdave2002]

The only Club I can speak of with any confidence is the Morris Register, our membership is the highest its been for as long as I have been involved.

I think there a number of reasons for this:

1) 80% of the cars are some version of a Morris 8; simple mechanics and derivable in modern traffic.

2) The vehicles are still reasonably affordable.

3) There is a rich source of information published by Morris and its suppliers, a large amount of this content has been scanned and made available to members, this continues to be added to.

4)We have a very active technical forum, where older/ experienced members assist less experienced members.

5) We now have 2 younger persons loan cars, the custodian of last years loan car, is now our webmaster and looking for an M8 to purchase.

6) We have a Spares Service that stocks a broad range, is on-line and investing in the re-manufacture of components.

I'm not by any means stating that the above is the formula to attract young blood! , Clubs do need to evolve to survive; embrace the generation who parents didn't have their heads under the bonnet most weekends, accept that the younger generation use different ways to communicate and that good music didn't end in the 80's!

Dave

[lowdrag]

I think that the cars are a thing of the 20th century and we are now in the 21st, so they are now a thing of the past really. Have you seen those two photos taken in New York 10 years apart? The same street, full of horses and Hansome cabs and a couple of cars. Ten years later hardly a horse in sight. In the nearly 40 years of owning one of my cars I used to see loads of them at meets, it was easy to find enough to do a rally together, and so on, but now I never see the same type of car out and about, and younger people are just not interested. I read an article recently stating that the number of young people with a driving licence has fallen 40%, so there's a strong clue as to the future. We are all set for the dodo farm, I believe.

[Keith D]

The Veteran car Club of Western Australia has brought in a new era to attract younger members. The club rooms are built on several acres of land and now incorporate workshops for people to perform mechanical repairs, panel repairs, upholstery work and carpentry. All supervised by experienced tradesmen members. In addition we have a group that manufactures wooden spoked wheels at a reasonable cost and huge spares parts sheds.

There are frequent get-togethers for new members to meet other new members and also members with the same vehicle(s).

The Club has a large membership throughout Western Australia. Because distances are so vast, there are 12 country branches apart from Perth. About half live in suburban Perth, the other half out in the sticks. I don't know our total membership numbers, but they would have to be somewhere between 1500 and 2000.

The membership is increasing steadily, so something must be working. There were 18 new members listed in The Early Auto, our magazine's December 2019 Issue. In November there were 18, October 15 and September 32. Most of these new memberships consist of two people.

A lot of younger folk do not bother with driver's licences over here. A fact that surprises me as our public transport is nowhere near as comprehensive as that in the UK or Europe. I have two grandsons who haven't bothered.

I can't agree with lowdrag regarding becoming a dodo. Because of distances here, I don't think anything much will change in a hurry regarding motor vehicles. As an electrical animal all my working life, I will be one of the first to get an electric car WHEN they, and the vast infrastructure they require, become a viable proposition.

Keith
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1926 Chrysler 60 tourer
1932 Austin Seven RN long wheelbase box sedan
1950 Austin A40 tourer
1999 BMW Z3
Its weird being the same age as old people.
You are either part of the problem or part of the solution

[peter scott]

[Rootes75]

We are a family of classic and vintage vehicle owners, my parents, my Brother, my Sister and ourselves.

We have two children, My Brother has two children and my Sister has four children.

Even from our family background of being brought up with vehicles it is only my Brothers youngest Son and our Son who are remotely interested in what vehicles we have or helping us out and learning how things work and how to fix them.

We do see youngsters about at shows but not many of them, the Steam world however is much better off. Many youngsters are involved and there is a good young steamers club available.

Maybe we are dodo's, I would like to think otherwise but you never know the way in which the world is ever changing.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[lowdrag]

Keith D has a very good point, and having crossed Australia by car the distances are huge. I can't see electric cars being a viable proposition there for years, if ever, and agree that there the sheer size will perpetuate the motor car. 3 million square miles of land mass and a population of 25 million compared to GB having 93,000 and 50 million changes one's thinking a great deal, but will that mean that youngsters can be persuaded to interest themselves in our old cars? Some, perhaps, but not enough to really keep the movement alive I fear. Few today want to get their hands dirty in my experience. I hope I am wrong, but my and friends' children here in Europe show no interest and the moment I turn up my toes the cars will be off to the auction block.

[peter scott]

But if your electric car is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell then hundreds of miles range can be achieved and refuelling doesn't take much longer than for a petrol or diesel car. There are now lots of hydrogen fuel stations in the Los Angeles area and several of the major car makers have hydrogen cars on the market.

https://cafcp.org/stationmap

Forget about batteries. They are a dead end despite what Elon Musk might tell you.

There is also no reason why old cars can't be converted to hydrogen fuel in the same way that they can be converted to LPG.

Peter
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http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Bitumen Boy]

I agree that hydrogen is the way forward, and can't imagine why governments are so obsessed with rechargeable batteries for vehicles. They could have some uses - cars that have their own parking spaces at home to recharge, and only ever get used for shopping or moderate commutes - but the flexibility that comes with refuelling in minutes rather than hours simply isn't there. That's why the current generation of electric cars aren't selling that many, because the ordinary motorist can see the problem that politicians apparently can't.

Party loyalties and preferences aside, why on earth do people keep voting for politicians who are clearly idiots?

[alastairq]

[Rootes75]

Lets look say 20-30 years from now, what restrictions do you think would be in place for me to drive my 1946 ERF with its big smokey Gardner 5LW diesel engine?

Will I be allowed to drive it publicly at all by then?
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Various Rootes Vehicles.