DIY car repair, classic restoration, my impression these seem to be less common than before in the USA, but continue a popular hobby as ever in UK. Wondering why? Just my incorrect impression? Is the reason a difference in tooling-up expense?
Why do you think this is the situation?
I think the boomer generation was the last one to grow up in a significant “car culture” and boomers like me are ageing out of being able to perform any physical tasks.
4 Likes
Adverts for 12 ton shop press, $170 in USA, 450 UK Pounds in UK ($575)
I don’t understand
If there’s a difference UK to USA, must not be tooling up expense by those numbers.
What about taxes & emissions testing? Do some countries discount the registration fees or reduce various restrictions for older vehicles? Or for required safety inspections and emissions testing? Those policies would tend to keep older cars on the road longer, and make the hobby more popular.
1 Like
Much stricter testing in GB (MOT).
2 Likes
Most EU countries have very restrictive testing… the UKs MOT tests, tbe TUV inspection in Germany. It is very expensive to keep and maintain cars in Europe. And they tax the heck out of every car. Same in Japan. Japenese cars become so expensive after 5 years, the cars are sold to other countries rather than pay for the repairs.
Poorer countries just call working on old cars a requirement, not a hobby.
California envies that level of power over autos. That said, there are states that could care less and even discount vintage car licenses.
Car culture continues in the US, even amongst the young.
2 Likes
There do seem to be more ‘craftsman’ shops in England, small repair shops specializing in handcrafted repairs to various systems, wood veneers, leather, etc. At least they find them when needed on Wheeler Dealers…
2 Likes
Generation X are doing a lot of restro work on classics now a days… But defiantly declined more and more every generation it seems… 
The museum I volunteer for uses shops in the UK for full and partial restorations, especially on Brit cars because of the craft industry there. It is also why so many Formula 1 race teams are headquartered there. The craftsman culture is strong.
2 Likes
I remember buying/installing a lot of JDM engines with around 30K on the engines cause of something like that back in the mid to late 90’s, never had an issue with one, but I did a full install of a Nissan P-up 4 cyl and about the last thing I was hooking up was a coolant hose that was piped totally different then the American P-up did and had to pull the engine (just easier) and replace the front cover and all the coolant pipes over from the OE engine, I will never NOT look at everything on and around a used engine again before installing… lol
Again this was almost 30 years ago…
But I stopped buying /using them because I started thinking how well would I really maintain an engine that I would have to just replace at around 30K miles, I would rag the crap out of it…
I used to wait in front of the Chrysler dealer on the evening of “introduction day” to wait for them to remove the paper from the windows so i could see the new cars. I dont see anyone doing that today. When my daughter called me 3 years ago at the age of 36 to tell me she “met someone” my second question was “what kind of car does he drive?”. She said she didnt know. When i was in my 30’s, one of the ways we were judged was by what we drove.
1 Like
They had cars back then? Lol 
But seriously, I grew up in the 80’s. Hard to get excited about the new Ford Escort or Dodge Aries or Olds Delta 88. We did have the Camaro and Mustang for example, but still a far cry from what you had in the 60’s.
2 Likes
When you consider the restoration of automobiles over the generations consider this. In the beginning, automobiles were made of wood and some steel, later they were made for wood and steel, later they were made from mostly steel, later they were made from mostly steel and some plastic, and now, they are made from steel and plastic…
The restoration of these vehicles from various time periods all required different skill sets and the ability to repair or recreate various parts. The headliner from my first car, a '54 Dodge would require the ability cut and sew the cloth material and the metal hangers to reattach it, while the headliner on my wife’s '85 Toyota would require the ability to remold the Styrofoam base mount, and the cloth material cut and glued to reattach it…
I believe many of the latest generations, Millennials (30 to 40 year olds) and Generation Z (20 to 30 year olds) do not have the skill sets nor the inclination to restore automobiles. The schools (not all, but many…) considered shop class and cursive writing a waste of time, as if every student was going to be a computer programmer…
Granted, I went through school in the '50s and '60s and the girls were all "expected to be “Betty Crocker wives…” but the boys, and it did not matter if their course of study was academic (college bound) general education (work force without college), or vocational (suto mechanics, electrical, wood working, stc…), all had at least some shop classes…
My neighbor has two teenage sons, 20 and 22 years old, one in college, one a college dropout… The college drop out’s Jeep Wrangler had a flat and he fumbled around for an hour or two with two other friends and they could not get the tire changed and he had to call a service provider (AAA, I’m not sure…).
No, I do see auto restoration as a dying art…
2 Likes
In high school, not so much judged, but envied owners certain cars, tri-five Chevies, nearly any muscle or pony car. Any Corvette Friend had a Ford 7 Liter convertible (that was the name of the trim level), 428, four speed, manual steering, that could build up your arm muscles.
Sound systems of the era, AM radio with an aftermarket reverb unit. Then came four and eight track tape players.
I [age 53] have never seen a dealer hide any new cars for any kind of unveiling, that is, around here anyway, a thing of the past so no, that doesn’t happen… and I even worked for 2 different dealers years ago, never a hide the new line of cars…
My daughter asked me while still in college fulltime and working as a manager 50 hours a week if I would help her change the brakes on her friends car… BTW she graduated with a 3.7 GPA in Criminal Justice (Magna Cum Laude)…
So although not going to be restoring cars for a living, there is some interest in cars…
EDIT above
Back in 1964 that is exactly the way it was done with the revealing of the New Mustang and it came to light when a young teacher wanted a new car to celebrate her new job and the dealer took her back to see the yet to revealed car and sold it to her April 16, the day before it was to be revealed to the public at the New York World’s fair April 17th.
2 Likes
Timeless desires…
When we were kids, we put playing cards on our bikes to make noise going down the street.
First thing many guys did with their first car was to flip the air cleaner lid over to make more noise going down the street.
In the 90s, kids added fart cans to their small car exhaust- to make more noise going down the street.
Next generation will come full circle- they will add playing cards to the EV wheels to…make noise going down the street !
2 Likes