Declining interest in gbodys discussion

[clean8485]

I think that discussion may be down because of the time of the year. With Christmas right around the corner, and many folks here having their cars away for the winter, some of them are probably focusing on other things right now. I've found that to be the case at this time of the year, on many car related sites, for a number of years now. I think that once the weather starts warming up (hopefully by April), and the daylight hours start getting longer, the discussions will pick back up again.
Having said that, I've found over the past decade or 2 (yes, I'm an old guy), that there are many young people who have less and less interest in the car hobby. My own kids are only interested in a car as a means of getting from place to place, not really interested in the journey, or how they're getting there. With tightening emission control regulations (I read in the news recently, that Germany will ban internal combustion vehicle sales by the year 2030), and the increasing popularity of hybrid and electric vehicles, and even the advent of autonomous vehicles within the next few years, that there is less and less interest in older cars. Most new cars these days are designed to be appliances, just like cell phones and computers. Once they get to be a few years old, they're outdated, and people want whatever is the latest and greatest.
As far as the G body cars are concerned, I've found an increase in the interest in these cars over the past few years. For the people who are interested in older cars, and who do come out to car shows and cruise nights, they seem to have greater interest in these cars. Over the past few years, there also seems to be better support for these cars from the aftermarket, in terms of parts to improve performance, appearance and handling, and a greater selection of reproduction parts.
I don't think that G bodies are dead just yet. I think that they will be around for awhile. Just my $0.02.

 

[Ribbedroof]

FWIW, the area that the OP and I are in has never been a hotbed of G-body activity, especially the Malibu and LeMans. I brought one with me when I moved here 27 years ago, and have had to go out of state for the majority of the ones I have bought since. I have NEVER seen a GN, 442, or Hurst being either parted in the paper or CL or in a yard. Exactly 3 Monte SS partouts in the last 15 years. There were/are a fair number of plain Cutlass and Regals around, but few that have had any real lovin' aside from the large wheel guys

I think cellphones and Facebook have changed the way people communicate, and by default taken the majority of hobbyists off of forums. I know over at MR traffic today is almost non-existent, a far cry from 10/12 years ago.

I do agree that the younger people FOR THE MOST PART are way more into different things, whether it be gaming or partying or whatever....I'm not one of them so I really don't know. Waaaay back when I was 15/16, almost EVERYBODY was foaming at the mouth to get a driver's license and their own ride. My daughter has classmates that really don't care about having the means to be independent.

I think another problem is that for the most part, you can no longer buy a G body for under 2K and drive it home. Almost everything I see for sale is rough rough rough, disassembled, has paper problems, or is already built or butchered or way expensive. Not really any different than every group of cars through the history of the hobby, from model Ts, model As, shoebox chevys, musclecars, ponycars, and now Gs. The American public has been led to believe that new is better, always....no matter what the cost. I worked with a young lady a few years back that traded cars like most people buy new socks. She stated in a discussion about the never-ending payments that "you're always going to have a car payment". I told her that SHE was always going to have a car payment, I preferred to buy them for cash and keep them. I think she made a good point though, that we as a whole have accepted that we will be paying on things for our entire lives...new cars, second third fourth home, boat, jetski, snowmobile, travel trailer, etc.

 

[kalidromos13]

I guess I can say I am from a younger generation, I'm 29, born in 87, I feel like interest has grown in classic cars with new outlets such as hot rod tv, roadkill and shows like that, I see an interest in older vehicles but once most people get these cars they don't know what to do with them because perhaps they don't feel like taking the time to learn how to work on them so there's definitely an interest in classics, maybe not so much G body cars. I never learned anything in HS about cars, I learned everything from my dad and working on our cars because we never had much money haha We had a 89 Astro Van up until like 2002 haha so I learned about Chevy's early on. My dad has had a plethora of cars, mostly VW's, but we had to work on everything ourselves. Once I got out of the Navy, found a decent job, I had some extra coin, so I decided to get a project car 79 Cutlass, it became my daily driver for 3 years doing about 80 miles a day. And everything that went wrong with it I had to fix and I had to take the time to learn. But with all the information on the internet and, especially on this site, it has made this hobby? (More like a passion) much easier to do the job yourself. I've always been the type of person to say ,"if another person can do it, so can I", so I've had a willingness to learn. Not to say I'm better, I'm not, but some people don't have that drive. And if they lose interest they get convinced into junking them. I've seen it a million times. But I do see some G Bodies here in the high desert, there's definitely an interest here just not so much a gathering of people. I hope I can connect with more G Body owners here in los Angeles.

 

[oldmansmonte]

It's likely because the Internet is such a robust resource now. If I have a problem or question I can google it and it's already been hashed over many many times. So I think there is less need for new discussion. The only other thing I can think of is younger car guys seem to be more interested in foreign cars as their project/sports cars. A lot of guys with '03 BMW's and such.

 

[lilbowtie]

Anybody watching the Foot Break Frenzy on Motor Mania??? Vaughan, buy all means I hope you can pull that kind of money out of your car, I had my GP LJ for a year and didn't get 1/2 of that w/ almost everything new. I have a beautiful 81 Monte that I was going to turn into a race car but it's too nice. I'll take 1/2 of the blue book for it. I try to take my grand kids to events and try to spark some interest. My one son who is my bud in racing has a daughter and when she is old enough I guaranty you she will be in a Jr dragster

 

[Bar50]

I feel like social media is changing the landscape. I think there is plentyof interest, seems a little late, but Hooker and Holley developed an LS swap kit just for our cars. I will say there is a shift in younger people away from all cars. There is also a shift away from doing much with your hands.

I mean when I was 14 I had a subscription to three car guy magazines. I felt like I wasn't going to be able to breathe until I had wheels, cultures have shifted.

 

[axisg]

Personally I think we are in the "sweet" spot. The cars are too old to be current but too new to be classic. In 10 years time when the guys like me who seen these cars new on the showroom floor in high school will come into their "empty nest " money and the value will go up substantially. I know I cannot afford anything classic from the 50's or 60's muscle car era. Sure I would have loved a 65 GTO or 69 chevelle but I knew I couldn't get a bare shell for what I paid for my running and driving Gbody. I can make all the same mods for a fraction of the buy in price.

As far as models and value. Anything special edition will be worth more money ( GN, SS, 442 ). You see it now with clapped out rotten Monte SS getting better money than a well optioned and clean GP or Regal. GN's are in their own class now but I recall when they didn't get much more money at resale than an SS or 442. You cant even find a rotted GN for less than $4k around here.

 

[el camino ss 84]

When I was younger I always wanted a 60's cars like a nova or chevelle or trans am but could only find one that not running and would require way to much work. so I got into gbody cause my dad had a 84 el camino he got tired of driving it so I bought it from him before he was going to donate it or send it to a salvage yard . so since I got that el camino I have been more and more into gbodys especially regals/grand nationals and malibus, lemans,grand dams,some grand prixs not so much the monte carlos or cutlass for some reason. like some others have said you can build them cheaper than the older 60's stuff. gbody are easier to work on and they ride fine to me from the el camino and malibu I have compared to newer cars with to much stuff I would never use and over priced.

 

[WisconsinCutlass]

Im from a younger generation (Im 26) and got started into cars from going to shows with my neighbor in his 1940 Ford. My dad taught me the basics oil changes, brakes and that was about it. I've always been wanting to learn more about working on cars so when I bought my house then eventually got a bit of spare money I bought my cutlass. I've always liked the gbodys and it's the closest thing to a "muscle car" that I could afford. Someone in the thread I think nailed it on the head. People from my generation are more intrested in sitting in front of a computer, tv, or so on instead of working on stuff with thier hands. A perfect example of this is I went to a 2 year tech school for CNC tool and die, My sister has a 4 year bachelors degree in special education. She got her first teaching job and every time I saw her she complained that my job paid more and I only had a technical diploma and she had a bachelors degree. Nobody from the younger generations want to get into the skilled trades/crafts. Where I work we have problems filling any available Cnc positions because theres no interest in them anymore.
Also one other thing that I think is making the younger generation stay away from cars is the price of parts. Where I am in Wisconsin Ive only found 2 junk yards that have vehicles older than 1996. The one yard has 1 g body cutlass and theres nothing salvageable off it except mayne the hood that I plan on going back to purchase eventually to try and make my own cowl hood. The other yard I have to drive almost 2 hours to get to. So it's not worth the drive just to go look to see what I can find.
The fast and the furious movies started the import fad and I think that where most of the people around my age that do have intrest in cars are.

 

[ed1948]

I was part of a VW enthusiasts forum for 15 years. In the last two or three years there was getting to be much less participation on the forums. It seems the younger crowd went over to other social media means for communication and hanging out. There were still huge turnouts at shows.Near the end I found my car was not getting any notice any more - not low enough, not enough camber, no air ride and no stickers or fancy wheels. Being subtle does not get a second look. Everyone changed except for me.