[goatless]

I'm a "young" 46 here… as in, I think I'm a lot younger than I am. I'm a builder and I can still climb up and down ladders and up through the rafters almost as good as I ever could. I still feel like a college kid… that is until I'm around actual college kids, and then I think "My God, they're young!" Note thats different than saying "My God, I'm old!

I hear a lot of you guys bitching about how expensive the hobby is these days. That its no longer for the "everyman". Think back to that time when it was an "everyman's" hobby. Back in the '70s and '80s guys were working on their cars in their driveways. Using chain hoists hanging off of homemade tripods to pull engines. Working all weekend on the car because they needed it to go to work on Monday. Many of the cars would be considered "ratty" by todays standards. Multi colored primer, mismatched wheels, etc.- but they were still badass! I remember several of these guys in my neighborhood when I was a kid.

There's no reason that someone today can't be a car guy on a budget. Sure, not in a sweet '69 Judge, but there are plenty of borderline "cool" cars that you can get into cheaply. You don't need to spend a fortune to have fun.

My son is 17 and his daily driver is a '77 Bonneville. He picked it up locally- only had 29,000 miles on it and he paid $2k for it. He's learning to handle the repairs and slowly making upgrades on it as he uses it as his daily driver. I could give him a "cooler" car- heck I've got a few spares , but I want him to learn to do it on his own and live within his means.

Being a car guy is a mindset, it's not about having a huge garage, the best tools or perfectly restored rare cars.