Sad state of affairs with todays kids

[Dako]

Kids are just as much across the board, in what they 'want' today, as they ever were. My high school days (Late 70s & early 80s) saw everything from 50s cars to brand new at the high school. Some were hand-me-downs, some were bought by the student, some were 'built' by the student, and a few were bought 'new' by Mom & Dad.

They all vary. My son wanted anything that was not the norm and drove a '95 Avenger...daughter wanted a stick shift, ended up with a '92 Mazda MX3.

 

[Bladecutter]

To help clarify a bit...He bought the car and it was in a sad state of dis repair. Like I said he makes really good bank but he enjoys restoring cars. This one was completely stripped down and checked over for rust/hidden damage etc. H e redid the engine himself and had the body work/paint done as he doesent trust himself. He re did the interior himself. I think it's a really nice car. Just don't understand the daughters reaction. She might in a few years though.

Hopefully She will. My first car was a 60 two door Studebaker Lark station wagon..100.00,, given by Dad....hell i drove the wheels off & was content to have my own car. Next was a 60 baja bug for 500.00 that i contributed work @ the hangar to get. That i had major fun with. Then a school buddy bought it & we hung a 215 alum block olds v8 off the axle. In my days of youth, only the kids from super wealthy families got new cars & they were usually self entitled ********.

 

[Bruzilla]

I can't help but think of one day when I was standing outside of Mike Shad Ford and got involved in a rather heated discussion between a woman and her daughter who were fighting over what color Mustang the woman was buying for her daughter. Mom wanted a nice, conservative, gray, which matched her conservative business attire and hair style. Her daughter was a slightly chubby, bleached blonde, young lady for who this car was meant to say "Hey... I'm cool too!"

I suggested the salesman take the young lady out and show her a gray car just so she can see it, and the girl went off with the salesman. I stood there and told the Mom "I'm with you. The grey looks much better.", and she was all "See, that's what I keep telling her! Gray is much better. It looks great, stays cleaner longer, and will be easier to resell later!" Then I said "But I'm not a young lady heading off to a new school with few or no friends and wanting to have a way to get people to notice me and ask about my cool yellow car." The Mom just looked at me and didn't say a word. I figured she was either thinking about what I had said or was royally pissed.

A few minutes later the salesman and girl came back, and before either said a word, Mom said "This is your car, and we'll get whatever color you like." Moral of the story... just because Mom, or Dad, thinks a car is cool or awesome doesn't mean their kid will. I know I was embarrassed to be seen riding around in a very uncool Dodge Monaco wagon when I was that age.

 

[garrett1308]

Don't group us all together... I graduated 2015, daily drove my 81 turbo trans am during senior year, then bought a 70 roadrunner convertible that was stripped and rusty to put back together. Buddy a year younger than me drove his 68 impala rust bucket through high school. Had a girl graduate with me who occasionally drove her dads gran coupe barracuda. We're still here, just few and far between

 

[Steve009]

In all fairness, a 60's Mopar doesn't much uglier than a '65 Barracuda. That year Barracuda makes a 70 Coronet look good.

while I completely agree with that statement, in high school that's still way cooler than anything else anyone at my school ever drove! mainly a bunch of rusted up civics with fart can mufflers.

 

[NJRR]

When my son got his license I got him a 1990 Volvo 240,4 door, 4 cylinder, 4 speed, about 110hp. They call them bricks. I figure it's safe as hell, he can't go too fast in it and he will learn to drive stick. He said " do I have to drive that?" The answer was no, you can walk and take the bus to school. He drove the car through senior year of HS and his first 2 years of college. When my daughter turned 17 ( 3 years younger than him), I took the car from him to give to her, with the same logic. She asked the same question and got the same answer. Fast forward 6 years later, they both tell me, you know, I really miss the Volvo !!!!! And, they both can get into a manual car and drive it. Kids don't always know what the best thing is for them. That's why it is the parents' job to put their foot down sometimes. People want to be their kids' friend these days and not their parent first. Sometimes a parent just has to say NO !!!!

 

[plymouthman72]

My oldest stepkid was starting to drive in a few months. Only had about $1,400 to spend. Wife and i agreed to never buy any of the kids a car. They had to earn it on their own. So i find her a 1989 buick century. Car is a creme puff. Little ole lady owned. Perfect paint , interior, everything works, new battery, decent tires, 80K on the odo. $800 asking price. Kid dont want it. I then find a 1990 dodge dynasty V6 same thing a creme puff. Just a tick over 90K $1,100. Kid dont want that either.

So i ask her what do you want because i have found 2 low mileage clean cars in your price range. And you dont have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of so to speak. You got $1,400 thats it. $1,000 of which was back owed child support state forgot to take from her baby daddy. All she started to save was the $400 even though she had side jobs and we kept telling her she needed to save her money. No she wont drive anything older than her she says. I tried explaining to her year age on a car is just a number, how many miles racked up on the odometer is what matters. A few weeks later she sees an older muscle car driving along when were all in the van taking a road trip and pipes up and says i'd drive that. I told her nope you wouldent drive that. Her response, you dont know what i would drive. My response, yes i do, because you told me. That car is older than you remember? Its as old as your mom!!

Well she got her car alright a 2003 lexus 300 sedan for $2,500. Has to make payments on it, and has to maintain full coverage on it while making paymrnts on it. Shes had a few incidents with it, bumper is bent in on right side w scrape of parking lot yellow paint. Car has well over 200K on the odometer. I told her i hope it doesnt break on you because these get very expensive to fix. I think its due for an oil change. Will tell her she needs to budget for that and either i can do it, or she can run it down to the local lube place.

Dunno what to tell you. I'd take it back, and sell it. Then i'd plow the money right back into my own projects. Tell her i guess you save your own money for a car now, and ride the bus.

She really missed out, you cant beat those old Buick Centurys for reliability and easy to fixness. My dad had a 94 and I drove the crap out of that thing!

 

[69a100]

She's not thankless for the gesture, just the type of car. The real sad state of affairs was not with her, it's with her father, after all, he created the situation on and by himself. Perhaps if he understood her "lifes" values better. Now she's forced to play the game of inscincerity for something she doesn't want.

Perhaps the father's the big failure for not teaching her to appreciate what she has or what's given to her weather she likes it or not!
Understanding "her" life's values? Perhaps he didn't teach her any of life's vaule's so she has to live with that guilt trip!

I really don't think that its the looks of the car as much as "it's an old car"...a little background. He's an electrical engineer out here for one the bigger power companys in the state. Makes damn good money. They have a newer house in a gated community well outside city limits. She's used to getting her way all the time. I just think it's regrettable that a child could be that bitchy about being given a gift that represents a lot of time, effort and caring.

See what I said above, the father's the failure for not being a good parent and raise the kid right with some morale's & values, as well as any self respect for herself or anybody else for that matter. What a spoiled rotten punkass kid! Because of this father's failure to properly parent and spoil the **** outta her, he should be dam proud that he raised another whinny fuckin snowflake! What a looser, and you can tell him I said so!

 

[Zeppelin264]

I remember my first car. 88' Legend, was the laughing stock at school. But now that I'm a bit older I realized it was the best thing for me. I'd drive that car still today if I could.

Paid 1,700$ for it with 211 k on the odometer. My dad made me pay the car back to him. Taught me alot.

 

[eldubb440]

kids are stupid.......I realized this early on when I was forced into a school full of them.......this is why I have a dog, dogs are way smarter than kids; and far more appreciative of your efforts......let her walk

 

[scottmann27]

Some kids have no interest in old cars. Hell no one ever bought me anything. If wanted i had to pay for it. We did buy our youngest a car and she drove for a couple of years and she wanted a new car she saved her money and had enough to pay cash for it at 19 you cant beat that. I'm thankful she has great knowledge of saving money for what you want in life and dont get in over your head lol

 

[Greg Ducato]

When my Daughter turned 16 I surprised her with a very clean, low miles Camry sedan explaining it was safe, easy to maneuver and economical for a kid with a part time job. She refused to drive that "old mans car" so she did not drive anything for a full year till her 17th birthday came and went and the little Camry sat in the garage waiting. She finally started driving it since she knew her Mom and I would not relent. She finished highschool in that car, drove it through college, met her husband and drove it to her first job after school racking up over 150K miles over what it had when she got it. Eventually she got a new car (Dodge Magnum Wagon) and donated her old Camry to a single mom. Fast forward 16 years and she still talks about how much she misses that old car and how great it was. I'm glad her Mom and I didn't cave in and get her the red Celica she wanted.

 

[Cranky]

My first car was a 4 door 66 Belvedere 'hand me down' but I didn't complain. I ended up getting it for graduation and turned it into a sleeper with a mild 383 and 3.90 gears. It was originally a poly teen and I left the 318 hood emblem on it. One cool thing about it is that it was yellow with a black vinyl top and no one else had anything like it and it wasn't all that slow anymore. Ended up enjoying the hell out of that car....until I got drafted and had to sell it. Always wanted a 2 dr sedan which has the same roof line and have two of those today. Hopefully, I can get one of them back on the road....

 

[Matthew Maloney]

As far as kids go. My wife started early, i started late. Our little boy, my biological son is 5. He is growing up around car stuff. From the time he was in a stroller he loved that harley V twin and american V8 sound. I few years back i went to look at a 69 barracuda coupe for the doors for my 67 coupe. It was a half stripped parts car but was actually solid enough to rebuild.

The guy gave me the rest of the car for the price of the doors $300 then started tossing more parts in the trunk. Car was pretty complete minu engine and trans, front clip, drivers side bucket and the dash frame. I got a title and the vin plate he saved off the dash when he sold the dash frame. Numbers matched the body so it was a go. I decided to save it for him. I have been collecting up the parts for its rebuild while slowly putting mine together. I am very close to having a complete car minus driveline to start with. By the time we get to it he may want a gen 3 hemi out of a wrecked SRT or something. This is why i'm just collecting up all the body, trim, and interior pieces, and not bothering w the driveline except for an explorer sport trak 8.8 swap in the back.

I figure when that time comes if he wants it, then its his. He will have to invest the sweat equity into it with my teaching him and my help. If he doesnt want the car, i will sell it in hemmings as a complete rebuilder then take the money and bankroll whatever current project i have. Somehow i dont think the latter is going happen with him. He always wants to be in "the shop" with me helping out. He always says dads favorite car is a mopar or a cuda. He is bonkers over hot wheels cars, and loves car cruises and car shows. When i get in my 07 mustang GT he wants me to rev it so he can run around the back and hear the pipes. As he gets older i will try to get him into model building as well. I think the bug has bit with him. Now i will just nourish his enthusiasm. Dads a gearhead after all, the apple dont fall far from the tree.

 

[PP1RT]

Maybe it's how they are raised. My son left his mark on his last day of school! Super was pissed.....Dad was proud!!

 

[MarPar]

Maybe it's how they are raised. My son left his mark on his last day of school! Super was pissed.....Dad was proud!!

View attachment 504959

 

[PP1RT]

79 Camaro he bought with his own money. I helped out with new posi and gears,headers and dual exhaust, pieced together 350. He was right in there working side by side on the upgrades. We shared the costs with him and credited his help on the farm as payment for what he couldn't afford. The car has rust issues and a ratty interior(not unlike my first car). We actually owned this car before and sold it when he was a baby so it came back to the family. My daughter has a big block 73 charger she is working for. It will be her "senior year" car. Same deal...she has to work for it...no hand outs!

 

[Auggie56]

Things are much different today, kids are much more conscience of what people think of them. I bought a twelve-year-old 56' Chevy for my first car. I fixed the broken rear spring, ground the valves on the "Blue Flame 6", clutch and went over the brakes. It was OK around town, but the lifters bled down on the e-way. Sounded like a sewing machine when I stopped. My grandfather went ballistic when I drove sixty miles to a party once. He told me the car wasn't safe, keep it in town!!!!! A few months later it was rear ended and I had couldn't get into the trunk and had to repair the broken front seat track all so I could drive it. I was working and going to school and needed a car, just to make it too work in time. I had a couple of hundred in the bank and had a little extra at the end of the week. This was my senior year. He had a 60' Biscayne all basic transportation, with a six stick, but in really great condition. He was trading it in for five hundred, I asked I could buy it instead. I could give him my savings and twenty-five a month. He told me he would never see the money, that I would quit my job and just drive the car around. I knew better than to argue. But I remembered him saying the 56' wasn't safe ??? I dropped the issue. He passed away a couple of years later. His best friend Bill came up to me at the funeral and said your grandfather bragged about me paying my own way and keeping that old car up. Yeah, I was soar about it at the time. But it wasn't long before I realized he was teaching me something. I was in charge of his estate, which gave me a window into his world. The guy never made over a grand a month working in casting shop (retired in 67'). Son of immigrant farmers that spoke little English. Yup, that's a lesson not many kids leared even in the sixties.

 

[Bladecutter]

As far as kids go. My wife started early, i started late. Our little boy, my biological son is 5. He is growing up around car stuff. From the time he was in a stroller he loved that harley V twin and american V8 sound. I few years back i went to look at a 69 barracuda coupe for the doors for my 67 coupe. It was a half stripped parts car but was actually solid enough to rebuild.

The guy gave me the rest of the car for the price of the doors $300 then started tossing more parts in the trunk. Car was pretty complete minu engine and trans, front clip, drivers side bucket and the dash frame. I got a title and the vin plate he saved off the dash when he sold the dash frame. Numbers matched the body so it was a go. I decided to save it for him. I have been collecting up the parts for its rebuild while slowly putting mine together. I am very close to having a complete car minus driveline to start with. By the time we get to it he may want a gen 3 hemi out of a wrecked SRT or something. This is why i'm just collecting up all the body, trim, and interior pieces, and not bothering w the driveline except for an explorer sport trak 8.8 swap in the back.

I figure when that time comes if he wants it, then its his. He will have to invest the sweat equity into it with my teaching him and my help. If he doesnt want the car, i will sell it in hemmings as a complete rebuilder then take the money and bankroll whatever current project i have. Somehow i dont think the latter is going happen with him. He always wants to be in "the shop" with me helping out. He always says dads favorite car is a mopar or a cuda. He is bonkers over hot wheels cars, and loves car cruises and car shows. When i get in my 07 mustang GT he wants me to rev it so he can run around the back and hear the pipes. As he gets older i will try to get him into model building as well. I think the bug has bit with him. Now i will just nourish his enthusiasm. Dads a gearhead after all, the apple dont fall far from the tree.

View attachment 504929 View attachment 504930 View attachment 504931 View attachment 504937

Very sweet, adorable pictures.
What is the triangulated tube structure in background of 1st pic?

 

[NJRR]

Things are much different today, kids are much more conscience of what people think of them.

So true. My first car was a 1966 Olds Dynamic 88, 330 Ultra High Compression. Too bad it only ran on 5 cylinders. It was my buddy's car. We were hanging out by the schoolyard one day with his car parked. All of a sudden, this nutjob comes flying up the street doing about 50mph, drunk off his ***. Smashed right into the back of the car. Dented the bumper and pushed the trunk lid in. His insurance company paid my buddy about 2 grand ( he only paid a thousand for the car). I asked him what he's doing with it. He said junking it. I said how much they giving you. He said $35. I pulled $35 out of my pocket and said sold. I drove that car for 6 months with the trunk lid tied down with rope, water and snow leaking in. Can you imagine kids nowadays doing that????