Two years ago - in my town of Peterborough - which has a very high car/bike contigent in the days past - we would have 100 plus car out on a Friday night, bikes, rods, street machines, etc.
Now, we get barely 3-5 out on any given night - pick one.
Car shows - those boasting 200-400 cars are down 50-150 cars on any given show nite. Some shows barely get a dozen cars anymore.
Are we all retired from cars? Dead or dying, broke, lost interest????
Maybe off topic but I think it fits the post
Way way back in the last century probably around 1980-82 . A buddy of mine had a really cherry 71-72 buick skylark beautiful bronze colour with black ss stripes hood roof trunk . Pretty hopped up running around 11.80,s . It blew a slick during a spirited saturday night gathering of like minded individuals . Rolled it , destroyed it , Went down in steep ditch hit a concrete culvert , Just ruined it .
A week or two later a guy working an auto wreckers near base borden calls him and says you gotta get out here now . We go saturday and there it sits . A 71-72 bronze buick skylark bronze , black and goldish interior . Buick v8 ran , barely . It had a hole in side of block . He bought it for 2-400 bucks with ownership . Cell phones werent big then , so I had to motor over to a friends place get his truck and trailer
We got it home and had a unfit ownership in his name by noon .
He changed all his drive line and mods into the new body
Now its 2026 and box body 80-82 malibu project cars sell for ten grand
We are dealing with dinosaurs now
How many 20 year olds do you see driving v8,s from the pre 80,s
__________________
I,m as cool as Milner , but axeually a bit more like Beckwith
As Chris put it "affordability" has become a major factor. I have been restoring and building cars for 40 plus years and fortunately had to send out very little. It was my business and my job. Building a car for yourself or a customer is a guarantee of money lost. Lots of inventory out there and not many buyers.
Out here the cruise ins still get a good turn out.
But it is mostly old guys that have owned the car forever.
Not very many young lads getting into the old car stuff.
They can buy a nice car for a lot less then fixing an old car.
We went to a local show a few weeks ago here in Niagara. Most of the guys I knew from the 70's........that should give you an idea of the average age of the owners.
My youngest guy has a '77 Ventura ( purchased when he was 14 )that he just got on the road this year - thanks to the generosity of Shag - who happened to have an affordable motor/trans.
My son is 32. He has a couple pals with older cars.......but his circle of " piston-head" buddies isn't as large as mine was in the '70's.
Younger guys today - for the most part - appreciate factory hot-rods more so than home built hot-rods, can't say I blame them with the HP numbers they're cranking out......plus they usually handle better.......but they're more difficult to work on, as a result they don't get the " hands-on" experience that we ( us old guys) did.
None of these responses answer the question - we had hundreds of cars showing up here until till about two years ago - they exist - not waiting to be built. My question is - where are they now? It doesnt cost much more to drive today than two years ago - most of the shows are free to get into. Did the owners pass on, just quit, or?
Old guys have pushed away the younger guys for years, so they went else where. Different clubs or hobbies.
I have experienced it myself. Ask for help, get brushed off. Build something different, get ignored.
As 77 tells his story. Friends used to helps friends. Is that still happening today? I don't see it.
X 2
I've seen it right here, a fella asks for some advice and gets belittled or humiliated. Pisses me off to be honest because that's not what our hobby or this Forum is about. Buddy is asking for help BECAUSE he doesn't know and is looking for guys with experience to HELP, not to make him feel inferior.
Just saying........
To respond to the original question, my wife and I took a cruise to the Falls a few nights ago. Beautiful evening, warm, TONS of people on Clifton Hill and the Brow........and we only counted 5 classic cars......only 5 ! I keep referring to the '70's but back then on ANY spring/summer/fall night there would be 20+ in St Catharines alone, head to the Falls or Hamilton and you'd find more, LOTS more. One thing I noticed at the car show I mentioned previously is a lot of the fella's I hung with back then have some pretty nice cars ( ours are just drivers) so they only take them out to shows, the odd coffee night or just around the block to keep things lubricated - because they don't want them stone chipped. I don't see the point in owning a car/truck/bike that isn't used, but that's just my opinion.
-- Edited by Iwannagofast on Wednesday 12th of August 2026 10:13:00 AM
Hey everyone, just wanted to put my 2cents worth to the question.I too have noticed a decline in car event attendance in the past couple of years as well. Yes, some of us have sadly passed away, however, my thinking is that if we put all of the world events into the equation, it might just have some bearing on it as well. Gas, insurance prices, new driving law after law after law, most recently, the addition of ethenol 15, surveillance systems everywhere on our roads, parking lots that the owners have to pay for more insurance for us to participate on. The continued scarcity of jobs so that we can afford our cars in the first place. The junkyard fires that our going on lately, ( goodbye to old parts). The extreme weather as of late. And the skyrocketing number of accidents by distracted drivers, self driving surveillance cars, etc. A lot of guys have had it with everything, and sadly our beloved cars are becoming more and more rare, and some don't want the risk involved in cruising anymore. I for one understand, however, I WILL continue to keep driving and supporting as many car events and clubs as possible, for as long as I can. Do not want to be a downer, but I believe that some of these issues have genuinely contributed to the decline in attendance. As always, happy rodding to all, look forward to the next cruise/ show.
One more thing( this keeps me away from events in a huge way) is the type of cars coming to
these events. I can see as much of a car show on a Wednesday afternoon at the mall as I can a typical cruise night.
We used to have parameters for cars coming in,now you just buy a Mustang,Camaro,Corvette, Challenger and you
have a " show car" that alone make s me drive right by just like seeing kids clothing at at yard sale....
__________________
Buying selling and trading garage toys and big kid stuff.
