I’m almost 61 years old and have had a fascination with cars since I was old enough to talk. I can remember being able to identify a make of car from the hub cap logo before I could read. Growing up I always wanted a job that involved driving. Well the job I wound up with for 30+ years did involve driving, driving a black and white police car. How cool it was too, I could drive fast and go through red lights legally! Sure most of the time it was mundane and routine, driving at or below the speed limit patrolling side streets, but those times, and there was usually one or two a day, when I had to respond somewhere quickly, well it could be was quite a rush. Always fun when my heart rate went from 60 to 140 in 2.9 seconds!
Well my love of driving didn’t end when my shift did. Nope that’s why I had a street rod. Hitting the roads when I had weekends off going to long distance shows was my favorite thing to do and still is. After all half the fun is getting there right? Nothing like people giving you the thumbs up as they pass you and a group of your fellow rodders on the interstate or taking pictures or talking to you at a gas or rest stop. Doesn’t get much better than that.
I belong to a street rod club with approximately 70 members that live in the Chicago area. All of those members have street rods with about 60 of them drivable. Of those maybe 30 of us drive them on a regular basis to out-of-state events, the others are seen maybe once a year when they are driven to our annual show or maybe a local cruise night. Where are they the rest of the year? I try to organize cruises to local shows and cruise nights more than 5 miles away but the core of regular guys are the only ones that show up. We have several members that have been in the club 30+ years that have never been to an out-of-state show like an NSRA or Goodguys event. Again, maybe it’s just me but how could you own a street rod, claim to be a street rodder and not once attend an NSRA show, especially when the NSRA was still pre-’49 only? I don’t get it. If you’re not going to drive it, then why own it?
My fellow club members range in ages from their 30’s to late 70’s with the majority in the 55-70 year old range. It’s not just my club but the street rodding hobby in general is aging and the number of years we have to enjoy our cars is growing smaller. I try to instill interest in driving the street rods long distances by writing in our newsletter how much fun it is, the great venues and scenery we see, to organizing a one day 200 mile Route 66 cruise but it’s always the same core group of people that show up. I don’t get it. If you’re not going to drive it, then why own it?
I’ve asked some of these guys why they don’t want to go to major events and the last 2-3 years their answer has been the cost of fuel. But that’s BS because they didn’t go when gas was under a two bucks a gallon. Another answer is “I go to cruise nights near my house”. Great, driving a whole 5 miles, woo hoo! That’ll get the Geritol flowing. I go to cruise nights too, but honestly, they can be boring and sometimes lame. Cars are meant to be driven and more than 5 miles at a time.
Folks, I alluded to it earlier, the hobby is aging and there’s a big beautiful country to see, what better way to see it that through the windshield of a street rod. See it while you can still enjoy it. Dedicated street rodders in my opinion are cousins of dedicated bikers, both understand the fun of driving on the open road whether it’s the interstates or back roads just going somewhere just for the thrill and fun of driving there. The bikers have “national events” in Sturgis and Daytona to name a couple and I’m sure there’s other destinations and street rodders have national events in Louisville (NSRA) and Columbus (Goodguys) and another 40 or so regional events to choose from put on by those two organizations. Rodders that have never experienced a national event are missing a huge part of the hobby. Like they said in the old Alka Seltzer commercial, “try it, you’ll like it”.
Well I guess I’ve rambled on long enough. Please leave your comments for any of my blogs whether you agree or not. Thanks for reading.
