If you're talking about me, thank you, but I'm just a lowly associate editor of R&R, and I'm now on the other side of 40, so I'm not feeling too young these days. However, in publishing, like preservation, I am seeking the contributions of 20-somethings and 30-somethings (and encouraging the teens to stay engaged) because they will be the ones to carry the torch once we are all long gone.

-otto-

One thing I have noticed is that the reason the GOFs (Grumpy Old Farts) run the museums is that they are retired and have the time to volunteer.

A lot of young people are working hours at their jobs that would (and do) make a Union Person scream.

It's Wednesday, I am going into the Museum for a couple of hours this morning, know any young people that can do that?

-Hudson
(GOF in training)

I am going on 70 and have never been interested in cars except as transportation. I have never been to a car museum and doubt if I ever will. I did get to see the LeMay collection when I worked at an open house. About 10% interested me. Many others have very different interests and I say good for them. If the world had only people with my interests it would be a poor place.

A couple of things that are being missed. We often like the cars we first drove and grew up with. Since around 2000 the autos have become so computerized and so complicated that keeping an older auto running is almost immpossable. However i'm sure there must be some young people who find things that were old when they were born interesting. I was a teenager in the 60's but don't find muscle cars that interesting, I like Dusenbergs and Model T's because I read about them when I was young. The same with my railroad interests, diesels do little for me I like steam especially small steam because I missed out on them.
Unfortunately I see no point in excursions in closed cars behind a steamer, you can't see the locomotive. In that respect I'm more like the younger crowd.
There are young history and machinery buffs out there, both auto, and railroad museums need to figure out how to reach them.
(And also are a lot of our young people who like building things into off roading?)
An interest in history is I think more important that a interest in mechanics.

I also want to thank the UP for restoring 4014 and touring her, that most likely did more to promote an interest in old trains than donating to museums.

Just my rant,
Mike N.

Here's a completely anecdotal story - over the weekend we babysat our 8 year old niece, and she asked to see our new-to-us 1919 model T (wife and I are mid to late 30s, btw). The niece thought it was just okay until she pressed the hand siren and we went for a ride. After that whenever you ask her about it she goes "I NEVER FELT SO ALIVE!".

Looking just isn't the same as experiencing.

The world is changing. Too many people on it, using resources too quickly leaving lots of unpleasant byproducts, political / economic experiementation going back to what didn't work well before based on popular nationalistic mythology......... and the younger people are going to continue to find their way through the quagmire we didn't understand or plan to build when we boomers were working on recreating the world to be more peaceful and equitable. WTF happened?

I think it's only the rear view mirror perception that allows us to understand just how much of an historic anomaly the past century of superconsumption and unsustainable growth has been........ fun at the time, but unable to last forever, much like ourselves are turning out to be.

We rebuilt the world during the eras of my grandparents and the following Greatest Generation - and it is not going to be easy to reconfigure sprawl into population densities that can support public mass transit. Our more successful cities are doing that - but are still stuck with sprawling suburbs around them. Around me we have single houses being torn down to put multiple houses on the same lot, commercial buildings replaced with mixed use multistory structures with commercial at street level and residential above. The process of adding light rail and streetcars is far to slow to support them so - huge parking structures surrounding or within the high density development.

Until we recreate the world to not require private automobiles we are kind of stuck with kludging them in. So, for the duration of the Gen late alphabet and Millennials, getting used to cars is a given - for a while anyhow. Just what those cars are and how they are provided is an interesting opportunity for invention. Economies that function on sustainability rather than growth is another necessary opportunity. Count on the established entities working against you as you pursue necessary change.

Old people also like life experiences more than passive viewing. Do something that makes for experiential rather than static expression of your mission. Impact all the senses with experience. Remember, we used sex and drugs and rock and roll to do what our parents did with swing and big bands and our grandparents did with the Roaring Twenties to accomplish that. It's more a human than generational condition. May your success far outweigh ours.

Few simple answers:

1) The majority of cars became too complicated by the late 80s to facilitate the backyard mechanic from learning/modifying like the muscle cars of the 50s, 60s and 70s.

2) Educational focus shifted from trades (due to globalized economies/outsourcing) to four year college degrees, placing more value on "book smarts" and further deterring a generation from being physically curious about the products they used. This was further exacerbated by planned obsolescence.

3) For those who did not go to college, the automobile equaled freedom in a variety of ways. As more and more went to college, the freedom of campus life replaced the car. Why go to a the drive-in when you have a dorm room and no curfew?

4) Talk to most current owners of classic cars and you'll find the reason they own it is directly linked to a specific time period or memory of their life. "This was my first car" or "I always dreamed of having a 68' Chevelle but could never afford it." While I have fond memories of my 1997 Mercury Mountaineer, I do not foresee my future midlife crisis including one. In addition, there is a transitional period of any material object that takes it from nostalgia to appreciation. None of the guys running 4014 or 765 remember those in service. However, they all appreciate the impact the technology had, the skills necessary to fix them, and the fact their memory is part of the American fabric and therefore should be preserved. Classic cars have yet to experience the same type of renaissance and will not till all the Baby Boomers are gone.

I was never a big car type of guy, I always liked airplanes and trains much more. But most of all, I was always into history and eventually I got a 1944 Willys MB 'Jeep' as part of my interested in WW2 and an extension of my living history displays.
My Jeep in front of a B-29, duh... by willysmb44, on Flickr
Along the way, I started taking it to car shows and have gotten into the 'car culture' to a small degree. I appreciate older cars in a way I never did before.
But still, I'm mostly about trains and planes.True. All museum types come and go for various reasons. How many railroad, aviation, military or nautical museums have come and gone over the years? More than I can count, I'm sure.
There are some relatively new and successful car museums. The one in Tacoma, started by the LeMay foundation, hasn't bene around for long, but there's always lots of people in there. I've bene a member since the day they opened and go there when I can. They rotate exhibits and have events almost all year around.
People said the same about cars from almost every era since the 30s at one time or another. Give it time, people will longingly look back on 80s (and later cars) as they do from any other timeframe.
Heck, more modern cars, it can be argued, have more differences in design then in the past. For example, almost all cars from 1938, 1940, 1957 and a few other specific years look like the same people designed them.
Some recent car designs have been very innovative, if you only stop and look.
Quite true.
If you want to work on or use a steam locomotive, a P-47 fighter or a large ship, you can't do that alone. You need a lot of help in those cases, even if you have the money. With a car, if you have the time, ability and tools, you can do most of the work totally alone.
But all that said, most people see cars on display and likely think, "why can't this be running? I know people who could fix it up if it doesn't run," unlike old locomotives or airplanes which the layman knows takes a lot of time, knowledge and money to get breathing again.
That usually happens. I know plenty of boomers who blame all their problems on the generation before and claim that every generation after them has no work ethic, respect for their elders (you know, the things that every generation always says about those younger than them).

One thing that our museum has been working to improve on is attendance at local auto shows. This fits into our mission statement as we preserve historic motor buses with historic ties to Arizona. I do see a lot of younger people at the shows and hear some interesting stories.

Last weekend I went to a very small show locally-maybe twenty cars were there. One was an unrestored Ford Mustang that looked in decent shape (late 60s). The owner was younger than me and stated that it was his great grandmother's car and it's been in the family ever since. His great grandmother was an MP at Pinal Air Park (they have an Army heliport installation there) and a "bit" of a gearhead. She bought the car brand new and the first thing she did was pull the stock motor as it wasn't powerful enough for her tastes. He said they've still got the stock motor, crated up and stored on the farm. He said that the car has been passed down in the family and that no one has done anything to "restore" the car-they just clean it, make running repairs and drive it. The owner said he's got other muscle cars, but grandma's car is his favorite.

Otto,

I was referring to you, I should have posted Railroad Model Craftsman, not R&R, to me you're a young guy and you are doing a fine job. Keep up the good work, some of us still enjoy print media.

brian b

I am 31 as well as a avid auto enthusiast so let my inject some insight. Having owned over 14 classic vehicles built from 1954 through 1972 and restoring them gives me a interesting perspective on the situation. Back in the 1950s when most of my cars were built cars were seen as an aspiration as well as a status symbol. Today there are seen as little more than appliances and built to cater to that vision. Very little creativity is used in automobile design anymore, and instead they are built to look alike. Auto museums are a great resource to check the evolution of the automobile. Case in point not far from me is Pioneer Village in Minden Nebraska which houses the oldest surviving Buick which is one of the oldest automobiles anywhere in the western hemisphere. The automobiles were purchased decades ago and left in as bought condition in their museum. When a younger person goes in and checks them out they are usually amazed at the difference in design and the time and effort going into producing beautiful automobiles. Society has changed a lot since then, and therefore automobiles aren’t viewed as important as they used to be. Going out of your way to check out cool cars isn’t something younger people are used to doing. That gave Way to electronics. The same thing plays into railroad museums not getting ample visitors as a couple decades ago. Both of these institutions need to adapt to modern society in order to stay in the green. Pioneer Village is a great example. When I was a kid we used to take field trips there, but not anymore. Visitors visiting Pioneer Village decreased by factors since the mid 90s, and now looks nothing more than a undermaintained relic of a bygone age. Museums are meant to house and protect our history, not to be forgotten and forlorn. More younger people would be interested in railroads and automobiles if they were made main stream again like a lot of you would say “in the good old days” remember when you were kids and you snuck a peek at the new model of Buick at the dealership and it was the gossip of the town until the cars were released for sale? Was the last time you heard of people doing that.

JayZee,

good to hear from someone in your age group with enthusiasm for the older cars. To follow
up on your comments on new car releases, its before my time, but I understand dealerships would cover the windows with paper to keep the public from seeing the new models until a certain date to build anticipation. Now all that seems to change is the price.

brian b

I remember seeing new cars on the auto carriers with covers over them to keep the general public from viewing them enroute until the official "release date".

After taking my Jeep to car shows over the last decade or so, I've noticed some trends that I doubt will ever change:
*Generally, people like the cars that were new (or popular) when they were teens and couldn't afford them at the time
*Car show folks are older people. Young folks generally can't afford it as much
*Car show people want to see stuff running, and museums devoted to cars that don't get driven don't interest them as much as seeing cars that got driven into the event
*If you're into cars, you're more likely to at least accept the appeal of other transport modes. The last car show I had my WW2 at, I encountered several people into military aircraft, including a pilot who'd flown a C-47 at the 75th anniversary airborne drop in Normandy this past June! I've often wondered why we don't see quite as many car shows set up at RR museums for that reason...

Brian, it isn't just you. I met Otto at Winterail and commented on his youth as well. Frankly, I was surprised to read he was 40, as I didn't think he was anywhere out of his 30s after seeing him in person.
I also agree that he's doing an excellent job!

I'm going to repost the same thing I said on Facebook.

Here's the issue: this stuff is what we do for fun. If there are more fun things to do, people will do those.

So if you have one of these things and want to see it survive you've gotta make it more fun for people to get involved with than other activities.

If your museum is generally just a tax free way to hang out with your buddies you either have to find a way to make friends with younger people or realize your days are numbered.