No More Ponies: Why Aren't The American Youth As Into Muscle Cars As They Were In The Past? #blogpost

10 Feb 2017

I recently asked the Everyday Driver podcast a question on their Facebook page. The question was, “Why do you think that millennials aren’t as interested in American cars as their parents and grandparents were back when they were young?” They did answer my question on their most recent podcast, but not the way I wanted them to. I wanted them to talk about why they thought that American cars specifically aren’t as popular with today’s youth in the USA compared to 40 years ago. Instead, they just talked about why today’s youth aren’t interested in cars in general.

So, I thought I would answer the question I asked them myself.

For decades, if you were a young teen in search of a fun and cheap car in the United States, chances are you would end up with an automobile made in America. Kids would drive old Fords and Plymouths out on Main Street to burger joints with their friends. Teenagers spent hours in garages souping up Mustangs and Camaros… but it didn’t last. The combined efforts of the newly created Environmental Protection Agency and the oil crisis of the early 70’s nearly killed the muscle car altogether. Also during that time, European and Japanese cars started to flood America in the form of Volkswagen Rabbits and Toyota pickup trucks. The late 80’s and 90’s saw the emergence of cars like the AE86, Toyota Supra, Mitsubishi Evo and 3000GT and Subaru WRX. Nowadays, you don’t have to buy an American sports car if you want cheap fun, Europe and Japan have plenty of other options. In some ways, European and Japanese cars are better than their American counterparts. Even though muscle car culture is making a resurgence, JDM and European car culture is here to stay in America. That’s evident by the amount of high schoolers driving around in Miatas and Golf GTI’s.

One young person thinks “It’s because (of) insurance. You could subtly tube and customize a civic and your insurance prices won’t go as high as getting an already performance built car like a muscle car.”

Comments

It’s also because insurance. You could subtly tune and customize a civic and your insurance prices won’t go as high as getting an already performance built car like a muscle car.

Not to mention classics are hard to insure in general for their rarity.

The obligatory insurance you need to move a car on the road doesn’t care about the rarity or value of your car. It’s there to cover up the damage you do to other vehicles, not on your vehicle. What you (probably) mean is the comprehensive insurance, but I yet have to see a young driver to have such an expensive insurance.

I blame insurance

Insurance is the real culprit here

Costs. New cars are expensive, and old classics are appreciating out of what young people can buy. More than that however, there is more entertainment today. You could build one hell of a gaming station for the price of a simple turbo kit.

More selection probably… If there were as many Japanese/Euro performance cars available in the 60s as there are now, maybe kids would have been stoked on them back then. There are still young people into muscle cars, there are just so many other options to get our car fix, even with in Japanese cars alone. You have your AWD WRXs and Evos, your RWD Supras and most Skylines, your light and nimble Integras and Silvias, and left field sh!t like rotaries and mini-trucks. All this variety is bound to attract more types of people than your limited options of either big RWD muscle cars/sedans, or 4WD trucks. Also young people for the past couple decades have been very technologically intrigued, so Japanese cars packing more modern technology instead of carbourated fire and brimstone are most likely more in line with our interests. One more thing is the fact that American car culture has a pretty specific set of “rules” and standards that people get judged for not adhering to. The 90s/00s car scene was very much in favour of individuality and being unique, which left a lot more freedom to do your own thing than a scene where people think fuel injection is socialist and anything without 8 cylinders from their brand of choice is heathen.

Anyways I could be wrong about all or any of this, but those are just my thoughts from a young North American JDM enthusiast.

You sir…explained that VERY well. I think you’re spot on in general. 👍

I wouldn’t say there’s less variety here. Granted back in the 1960s, it was more limited, but the same could be said for the european and japanese markets. I think its because cars have had time to move around, become more global. I’d be willing to bet tgere are more muscle guys in japan now than in 1965. This is something that’s happening everywhere as car cultures spread through importing, social media, and information sharing as a whole.

It’s also area dependent. For me, getting a muscle car wouldn’t suit PA winters at all, so they’re about the last car I’d look to for a daily, and I don’t quite have the means to have 2 cars atm…

Well, way back when, almost everyone in Pennsylvannia drove American RWD cars in the winter…

Oh, so you could “tube” a Civic?
Is that a typo or a fartcan exhaust joke?

There is also wealth to consider.
Back in those days, most had the money for a muscle.
These days, the cheapest American cars worth an enthusiast’s attention are insanely more expensive than anything in the JDM market (not only for price, but also insurance, and mainly gas., since prices are much higher now than when those cars were designed).

I do like European cars, but I think I’m starting to get a fond appreciation of muscle cars!

I like jdm cars. I like euro cars. I like muscle cars. But I prefer euro over muscle, and muscle over jdm. Don’t get me wrong, they’re all cool, but that’s my opinion. I am debating wherther to buy a mk2 jetta, a foxbody mustang, or a squarebody gmc as a first car. Mostly because they’re easy to work on and do things to.