Young people and Cadillacs

[JConk58]

I got my first cadillac when I was 20 and have not stopped yet! and that was 20 years ago

Does this mean you're 40 now? Wow Rick....I might be going bald but atleast I'm not getting old! Ha.

[waterzap]

Im still in my 30's. Had all kinds of cars. I prefer them big and comfy.

[cadillacmike68]

I bought my first Cadillac when i was 18. It was the 1973 SDV in my list.

[Davidinhartford]

I bought my first collector Cadillac at age 20.    It was a 1967 Sedan Deville that I bought in 1986.  A year later I bought a diesel 1980 Sedan Deville for a daily driver.   

That was many many Cadillacs ago.    I am 47 now with a 68 and 2007 Cadillacs.      I think many young people would enjoy a Cadillac if given the chance to get behind the wheel.

[pinkcaddy96]

I was 25 when I purchased my very first Cadillac..a beautiful red 1977 Coupe DeVille with a white vinyl top.  It has always kept me coming back to the Caddys!

[Jim Stamper]

     I was 24 when I bought my first Cadillac, a 1931 side mounted V-8 sedan. That was 1967, and it ran wonderfully my senior year in college  in northern California. A redwood cruiser. I wish I still owned it.

                                  Jim Stamper, CLC#13470

[Rick Payton]

Does this mean you're 40 now? Wow Rick....I might be going bald but atleast I'm not getting old! Ha.

Keep it up little buddy and you won't see 40 ;-)

[GoldEldorado]

My Eldorado is my 20th car and 12th classic since I was 18 (1988) and my first Cadillac. I really love this car !

[Art Director]

I've ridden in a Caddy since birth, starting with my grandmother's 1957 Sedan de Ville, which she traded in on the 1963 Sedan de Ville that I have today.

I bought my first Caddy in 1985, a maroon 1972 Fleetwood Brougham with white vinyl top and leather seats, when I was 27. Kept it only three months because my wife and I could not afford the gas, but driving and riding in it was so smooth. Looking back, I wish I still had that car. 

[Terry Wenger]

I bought my first Cadilllac , a 1940 Sixty-Special, in 1967 at age 24. I still have it and have added many others over the years. I joined the CLC in 1967 and founded the St. Louis region in 1971.

Terry Wenger

[DeVille68]

Hey Roger

I am 25 any bought my 68 DeVille about half a year ago!

I am into that hobby since 10 years at least. I always wanted a nice Mustang, but the prices were too high. So the next best option was a Cadillac.

Because I am in Switzerland and study at ETH, I normally do not need a car (always travel by bus and railway). So the Caddy is just my weekend car and to work on it.

Kind regards,
Nicolas

[David Greenburg]

I developed the disease completely on my own; no "car people" in my family.  Intrigued by chrome and fins from as far back as I can remember.  Started with plastic models at 6 (built a fleet of '66 hearses from the Jo-Han kit), moved on to metal models, and finally, when I was 12, decided to go full scale, and asked my parents if I could use my newspaper route earnings to buy a car to keep in the driveway to tinker/play with.  Surprisingly, they said yes.  After a couple of lesser cars, a year later, at 13, I had a '59 CDV.  This was 1972, and I paid $350 for a pretty nice car that would be worth about 100x that amount now if I had held on to it, but I sold it the next year because it needed a transmission, which I could not afford.  Bought my '59 60S 12 years later in 1984, which I just sold in December, when I got the '60 Seville.  Its never too late to have a happy childhood!       

[R Schroeder]

Cant say that I was young when I bought my first Cadillac.
I can say that I was young when I fell in love with the look of a Cadillac.
When I was 10, my dad bought a used Cadillac. It was a 1942. My brothers and I used to wash it all the time. Turns out it was the only one he ever owned.
53 years later, I finally got my first one. Probably will be my first and last also. Cant see ever parting with it.
Roy

I'm the hose guy.

[R Schroeder]

I have to agree with Steven.
Youth today are only interested in 22 inch wheels, and 22 inch speakers. If the dash board doesn't talk to them, they are not to interested.
When I got out of high school, all the guys I knew were into cars.
When my sons got out, there interests were girls and fancy wheels on their cars.
Times change. How many of you are interested in running around in a Model T .
The last issue of Hagerty magazine I got said cars of the 50's were dropping off in interest. 60's and 70's were on the increase.
Sign of the times I guess.
Roy

[Roger Zimmermann]

Well, my own case is similar to the one from Roy. With a huge exception: my parents never had a car; I just had a bicylcle until I could buy my first car when I was 25. My  enconters with US cars or Cadillacs were seldom and I was in awe looking at those cars. At the place I grow up, I was surronded by VW's, such an impratical, noisy and ugly car. More people with courage had a Panhard or an Opel; one even had a '50 Chevrolet coupe, green!
I bought my first US car in 1980, a '80 Olds Cutlass I choose at the GM new cars storage because my new job had no more a company car. My first Cadillac was the '56 SDV I bought in 1982. The rest is history.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Possibly the proliferation of online info is having some effect of paid CLC membership/subscriptions?

The CLC dues decrease is disheartening nonetheless.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

I'm the hose guy.

Jeez Roy. The only thing missing from that pic is "an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time..." Ha!

[Big Apple Caddy]

I read an article recently about a big drop in the youth drivers license. This piggybacks to the lack of interest in cars as a right of passage to freedom. The youth sees technology as their right of passage in the form of cell phones and/or handheld computers.

I think recent reported drops in youth driver's licenses is more a sign of the current economic situation and not necessarily a long-term trend.   The current economy has put "bigger ticket" items out of reach for too many people but as the economy eventually turns around, so will interest in cars especially among the young.

A still generally bad economy is not the best time to be trying to assess interest or appeal of typically pricier things like cars.

[R Schroeder]

Thanks Eric. That was the best laugh I had in a long time.
I think all that stuff was in the garage.
Big bucks now.......ha
Roy

[Louis Smith]

Roger,

I must say that my observation here in the US is much different than in Europe. When I was young I was interested in older cars and restoring them to stock. Unlike today, where most of the youth interest lies in tricking them out. I believe the technology of today has much to do with it.

A recent article in AARP talked about the demise of the collector car world as we know it. It mentioned that the baby boomers have more of a connection to cars than the youth of today. We see cars as a connection to our past and growing up. We want to relive that somehow and a car that our parents, relative or neighbor owned allows us to do that.

Technology seems to be of more interest to the youth today. The youth of today are more interested in texting on their cell phones to the point of substituting it for a date...who would have thought. My niece has done that.

I read an article recently about a big drop in the youth drivers license. This piggybacks to the lack of interest in cars as a right of passage to freedom. The youth sees technology as their right of passage in the form of cell phones and/or handheld computers.

Don't get me wrong, people will always collect cars. I don't think it will be what it is today but much less. I noticed in the recent Self Starter CLC Income Statement the over $20,000 drop in dues. Is this a reflection of the future? I guess only time will tell.

Thank you Mr. Tuck for posting this.  I wasn't aware of AARP's article about the demise of the collector car.  It has been something that I have been saying for years, only to be met with more or less telling me how wrong I was!  I have mentioned, one time or another, what was said in the article.  I was not aware of the drop in youth licenses.  Just one more example of the lack of interest in cars, by our younger people.  Could it be, that car ownership is more expensive then it used to be.  Most times car insurance for a young person, can be more then the price of a decent used car.  Maintenance and repair?  Forget about it!  Gone are the days of the "shade tree" mechanic.  About the only maintenance a young person can do themselves on their cars is change the valve stem covers.  Repairing cars is just about obsolete.  Most "repairs" are done by replacing parts, and expensive parts.