Not long ago, I read articles that scandalously claimed that Generation Y would end the hobby of the automobile. Of course, this generation, my generation, has shown that we love to drive new and old cars, as much as those that preceded us. However, this article is not a diatribe of Millennials who oppose Boomers. This is Generation Z and its long-term vision of the automotive hobby. To take a look back, I spoke to Ben Kahan, founder of Four-Speed Films. Ben is a 21-year-old third-generation hot rodder from Burbank, California. It’s a component of what I call the New Old Stock generation of other young people who love old cars.
To say that Ben was born in the hobby is to fall short. Ben’s circle of relatives has deep roots in the California hot rod scene with cars to produce it. He spent his training years driving through Burbank in his father’s 1932 Ford, his grandfather’s 1924 Model T coupe (built in 1964) and a 1929 Ford roadster. One of Ben’s short films features his wonderful uncle Robert Williams, the guy who allegedly created the first rat bar of a 1932 Ford roadster, which he still owns today.
Ben is grateful to have grown up in a world of carburetors, noisy seats and pin bands, so I asked him what his biggest concern was about the long-term hobby of the car. His answer was not to worry about the car hobby disappearing or becoming obsolete, but to know if it would be affordable, especially in states like California. Spending time and cash on your 1965 Ford Mustang over a long period that may not allow you to drive it is a genuine concern that comes to mind.
Old cars will be present, but driving legislation can change and change. There is also the challenge of driving a 1965 Mustang in 2020 traffic. Ben occasionally feels that a motorcyclist has to give more space than usual to other cars and is alert. As Ben says, “fashion drivers expect you to take the car from an old car like a fashionable car.” It can be sautomobiley.
Ben does not care or reject electric cars, but evokes an attractive image reflected in relation to their acceleration. As electric cars become more affordable, how fast will they be able to go? When you start talking 0 to 60 times in less than 3 seconds, you should wonder if the average motorist can handle this. In the immediate future, will your Mustang 65 be able to maintain speed with traffic? Not everyone will drive supercars, of course, there is a significant difference in the strength of stepping and advancing from a Tesla that many older cars can’t maintain.
It is simple for older generations to dismiss these considerations because we have been appreciating internal combustion engines and reasonable gas for decades. But for other young people like Ben who have only been driving legally for six years or less, they would probably begin to feel like they arrived at the party an hour before the last call.
Ben says other young people who want to know more about old cars are here, but the challenge is to be able to start from scratch. Living in Burbank means there are old cars everywhere, so you don’t want to look far to locate other NOS gear heads that share the same ideas, and YouTube provides an infinite source of hardware for those who have a genuine interest in learning to paint in Old Vehicles. Demand is not the challenge, it’s office. Gone are the days when you had full Internet pages with assigned cars running for less than a large one. A long-term in which the hobby becomes too expensive for most is a stressful prediction.
If you want to be convinced, spend a day or two bringing a trailer. It’s almost as if some winning bidders have a minimum amount to spend than a high-level budget.
Ben’s YouTube channel, Four-Speed Films, aims to introduce other people to classic hot rods and shine a camera on old-school rides that vibrate and roll for another 20 years at the start of the new century. With other people like him around, long-term culture is as safe as a five-point harness: check it out.
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