Hip to Be Square: Why Young Buyers Covet 'Grandpa' Cars

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Jabari Bryant didn't go to a car dealership to buy his new car last fall. The 28-year-old went to a retirement community in Tybee Island, Ga., where for $2,000 he bought a navy blue 1988 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Brougham from a man who was "at least 83."

The seller said "his eyesight was going and he had no use for the car," recalls Mr. Bryant, an automobile glass installer from Savannah.

Young people today don't want their father's Oldsmobile -- they want their grandfather's. Some of the hippest wheels for under-30 drivers today are models commonly identified with seniors: Oldsmobiles, Buicks, Chevrolets and Cadillacs from the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.

From Collins Ave. in Miami Beach's South Beach neighborhood to International Blvd. in Oakland, Calif., teens and young adults are cruising in "grandpa" and "grandma" cars that they have painted bright colors like lime green, outfitted with fancy sound systems and propped up on monster-truck-style wheels. They're sweet-talking their grandparents into giving up old cars and offering to buy them on the spot from strangers.

Television shows, such as MTV's "Pimp My Ride," and rappers, including Snoop Dogg, are helping to drive the craze. There's even a new magazine, Donk, Box & Bubble, dedicated to the tricked-out-oldie-car culture.

For U.S. car makers, struggling to lift sales, it's a painful irony that the models striking a chord with young buyers aren't those rolling off the assembly lines today but rather ones made decades ago. Detroit's marketers are trying to figure out how to ride the trend without ruining it.

I'm 58, my first car was a 1929 Ford, Model 'A' Tudor Sedan. We bought it from an old farmer that had it in his barn. With a battery charge and some brute crank force it actually started. It was old and full of chicken feathers and poop, the seats were just wire, and the floor boards were gone but the structure was strong and without rust.

I had $200 and the farmer wanted $250 for it. I was 15 years old, just turned 15 as a matter of fact, and I gave the guy my $200 and a friend took me home to beg for the other 50. My dad wanted to see the thing before he gave me another 50 bucks. When he saw it he was in another world, transported to the days of his youth. He agreed to the loan of $50 and we hauled that thing to our garage.

My dad knew I wanted to make a custom hot rod out of the 'A' but we talked about it. He wanted to fully restore it to factory new quality with a USAAA certificate (United States Antique Auto Association). The more I thought about it the more sold I was on the idea.

One year later that car was perfectly restored and registered with the USAAA, and that's a hard registration to get. My dad and I got very close working on that car, as did my uncles and a few very good friends.

The day I took my drivers test for my first driver's license I took it in a perfectly restored 1929 Ford Model A Tudor Sedan, complete with shining chrome spare fender mounted tire and a real leather motor trunk. Two days before my driver's test I waxed (hard Simonize) that car and polished every inch of him (His name was Fernado Ford, I liked the Latin influence). The day of that test I was ready.

My friends had told me what a horse's butt these guys could be, so I studied and studied, and practiced and practiced. The day of the test my "testing officer" came to get me after the written portion was done. We very coldly walked out of the building where your "vehicle" was to be parked in 3 reserved places. A '59 Pontiac, a 52 Ford and Fernando. My dad came out with me and just stood there. The guy asked me which "vehicle" was mine, when I pointed to Fernando his eyes got bigger that a moon pies. He reverently walked around it, stroking the finish and smiling (something that these guys didn't do very often). He asked my dad for the title and registration for the car and my dad said, "Sir, my son owns this car, and it's insured in my son's name. Skip, give the man the papers". The man was more than impressed. He asked me if I had done the restoration and I told him that it was a group affair but I knew every inch of that car and I could repair anything if need be. Again, he was impressed.

During the driver's test the man was in a state of grace, I swear. He gave me instructions on what to do, but he was totally enjoying the ride. He became a poet of sorts during the "test", that had now turned into a joy ride for him. He observed, aloud, that the Model 'A' was a perfect automobile, functional, beautiful, simple, and durable. As we were out for a full hour, I didn't mind (the average driver's test in those days was about 30 minutes), as long as he wasn't writing on that terrible "clip board", and he wasn't.

When we got back to the License Bureau he and I got out of the car and he instructed me to come into the building and take a seat while he graded my exam. My dad was out waiting for us. The man stopped short and turned and said, "I didn't hear a horn, do you have a horn"?. I replied, "oh yes sir, we have a horn", and I blew it. Arrrruuuuugaaa, arrruuuuuuga, came the sound from my beautiful beast. His eyes lit up and then quickly narrowed again. "That's fine", he said, as we walked into the building.

The next thing I knew I had my driver's license and my Ford all to my self. I drove my dad home, gave him a hug and I was off to the drive-in for a little "show off" time. And I did show off. You see I kept Fernando a secret for a whole year while I was working on it. My friends all thought I'd be driving my mother's Opal Record when I finally got my license. Fooled them!

At 58, I'd like to do that all over again. Anybody know where I can pick up a '29 'A', in bad shape?

Thanks. I'm happy with it.

You may want to go to this site:

http://www.kitcarmag.com/featuredvehicles/142_0409_unique/

You can read the feature article about the kit car manufacturer I bought my kit car from, Unique Motorcars. Be sure to click on the pics. They have a really clean operation. And Allan and Maurice are very nice guys. Jean is their mother and answers the phone and does the bookkeeping.

If you're really into Cobras, get the book Shelby Cobra by Friedman. He was Carroll's PR guy. It's a great read on the history of Cobras. All the way to the GT40.

If you have any questions, FReepmail me.

Notice my first test drive before the hood, doors, fins, and internal parking brake installed (note the 2x4 chocking the rear passenger tire)!

My first car, purchased from a friend's brother in 1975, was a 1960 Pontiac Catalina station wagon. It had been painted an olive drab, and we had quite a few different nicknames for it --- it was variously referred to as "the lead sled", "the green machine", "the TANK", and sometimes even "old faithful".

It was often said that the lead sled had more rust than new cars had steel to start with, and it was true. If you got on the roof of any car from the modern era, and jumped up and down, you'd have ended up with a crushed roof ... if you tried that with *my* car, you'd just end up with sore ankles.

I went to school in Canada, and one night, on my way back to Waterloo from Toronto on the 404, I'd picked up a couple of hitchers, and I'd just said "Not too much breaks that I can't fix (as I reached over the seat to pat my large Craftsman toolbox).", when the green beast made a terrible sound, as it swallowed a broken piston.

I discovered then that in Canada, Pontiacs had been built with Chevy engines, so there were no Pontiac 389's to be found.

I ended up buying a small-block Chevy 350, and spending two and a half weeks at a junkyard where they thought it was really funny that this young American was determined to get the old green tank running again, with this unlikely engine swap.

Actually had to fabricate a driveshaft, from the front half of the Chevy and the back half of the old Pontiac one. The transmission shift linkage was also a bit of a challenge.

One of the motor mounts (had to do them from scratch too) ended up breaking loose from the frame the first time I punched it ... a visiting "professional" had done the welding ... and was later repaired by wrapping metal chain around the mount and the frame member and welding each link to the next and to the frame.

It was quite an adventure for me, at age 18.

OK then :) Well, I like to restore old British Sports cars, and until recently, drove new Jags for my daily drivers (Just turned in an S-type lease) and am now driving a 2006 Corvette. First time I've owned a car with real power. As far as the restorations go, I'm doing three right now (but only one that I'm actually nearing completion on) I getting close with the 1962 MGB. I'm taking my time with this one, as it is car number 374, and from what I've been able to find out, it is the 4th oldest surviving MGB in the world (they made 500,000 of the dang things) Here's what the shell is looking like now:

Here is the engine, all ready to pop back in.

I also have a 1960 MGA and a 1964 Austin Healey 3000 that are in pieces. I've done several other MGBs in the past, and the next project after these are done will either be a 1965-1967 Jaguar E-Type roadster, or a 1967 Corvette. :) Oh, and someone was complaining about all the bells and whistles making modern cars boring. I disagree. I love all the tech stuff on the new cars. And as much as I love taking the old classics out for a drive on the weekend, once you get used to driving in something like a 7 series BMW, Jaguar, Lexus, etc… I’ll be damned if I drive one that has no AC in the 98 degree South Louisiana heat!

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