Hot Rods in the future (2030-50)

I have been thinking about the current crop of vehicles for sale (1980-2012) and about what the "new hotrods" will be in the future. Right now anything from the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's. 60's and some of the cars of the 70's. 80's. and 90's are desirable to make a custom or hotrod. Other than the mustangs, cameros, challenger and maybe the charger, I don't find too much that might tweak the car hobby in the next 40 years. I guess I will include some of the exotics like porche boxster and spyder, infinity G37 hardtop retractible convertible, and BMW 840ci coupe would make the list. Is the futrure of hotroding dead or is just going to change with the tuner guys forming the bulk of the hobby?? I guess what I am thinking is that the current crop of vehicles lack much interest to me and provide very limited choices for future hotrod material.

What do you which vehicles can be elected as future hotrod material will be in the future years.

Oh yeah forgot to include the 2000 -4 thunderbirds, the GM A bodies of the 80's. Maybe we will all have to stop buying new and then recycle and reuse so we can drive a hotrod.

Anyway lets hear what you think the next hotrod body is going to be.

My son just bought himself a 92 Dodge Stealth R/T ,twin turbo, AWD, like it or not these are the hot rods of today for the current younger generation. If things continue along the curent path, in another 30-40 years gasoline powered cars won't probably be on the road.

If there's no more gass in the future...a lot of wives will be happy and the room might smell better !!! BUT Will we still be old farts ??

OK, so here it is..

I think that there will still be rodding, I see it breaking into two distinct groups those that build repro rods of the 30s etc and then those that build rods based on current cars. Just because we can't see current cars as future rods does not mean that others will not either.

Over here there is a big deal for the young to hot up recent model utes (I guess small pickups for you guys) so maybe these guys that area doing that will be the rod builders of the future.

My two cents.

Does that mean hot rod mini vans? PT cruisers, those little silver cars that are all the same except the name plates? Used to be able to tell who made it without the name plate. I vote for Charger, Magnum and ?????

If i could predict the future I sure woudnt be banging on this keyboard. But unless the goverments clone us all to be sheep.There will be some artist or misfit or loner looking at whatever thinking . I bet id be realy cool if i tryed this!

I think the HotRods of thr future will be Black 1978 Pontiac Grand Prixs.

In your dreams Shorts, ha.

Hope all is well mate.

Gary I forgot that is a HOTROD allready lucky me.

I've got a hotrod mini van!.A turbocharged Ford Flex.To see young man hot rods of today.Go to Mission for the friday night street legals.during the summer.Some of these cars are amazing.Although I don't like the cars with picnic table sized wings on the back.Some of them can't make full track passes because they would need a roll bar to do that[the rule is 11:99 needs a bar]There is a Dodge Caravan with a turbo'ed 4 cly that runs 14's.

I think it will be the Japanese/German cars to hotrod in the future.

Nissan GT-R
Infinity G37S or it's predecessor
BMW M6
Mercedes S-Class AMG
Subaru Impreza

I'm gonna go with a few different ones that I think
Caddy cts
Hyundai genesis
Subaru impreza
Dodge stealth(Mitsubishi 3000gt)
Eagle talon (eclipse)
BMW m3
G35 or g37
Gtr
Rx7

Pretty much most cars that are awd turbo or rwd turbo because there more fun

Hot Rods are Pre 1948 or reproductions of that era.............. the end, after that they are street machines, customs or custom Classics.

Wow you guys are such old bed shitters sometimes! I'm 26 years old and live and breath hot rods. Not street machines, not muscle cars, not fox body mustangs. I'm talking model A roadsters, 32 fords, T coupes, flatheads, bias ply cheater slicks, real deal hot rods. Am I an odd one? No! 95% of my friends are in their 40's or younger (as young as 13) and we all build and drive hot rods also!
Hot rods are alive and well, we just run in a different circle. The politics and bull shit involved with "street rod organizations" (such as the NSRA for example) scare off any potential of younger people joining. Honestly, none of us give a fuck if you have a "23 point safety sticker" on your window. Good for you. While your waiting in line to have your car inspected (just so you can have a sticker) the young guys are either hanging out in a garage helping their buddy thrash to get their car on the road, or out cruising around, burning gas having fun and trying to rope some attractive young redhead in to riding in the passenger seat for a while.
We don't go to your sit in a parking lot "cruise nights". Because honestly, their boring as hell, and second you guys (not all, but most) pick our cars apart and give us a hard time. "That rat rod junk, it's got bias ply tires and drum brakes! Hey kid, let me know when your out on the road so I can stay home, your dangerous!", or "Flathead? Why waste your time, those are unreliable over heating pieces of junk"
Well you know what? I HATE my car being called a rat rod, I surely don't like it being called "junk" and I'm not going to sit in a parking lot and listen to you tell me how to build my car. Go fuck your hat old man, I'm outta here.
And thats when I leave, go over to my buddys house, work on his car to get it ready for the night, and just as you guys are finishing up an episode of Matlock and getting ready to go to bed, were just pulling out on to the Ave with a full tank of gas having fun.

Pull your blinders off, crawl out of your cozy little box, and look around. Hot rodding is more popular than ever right now, especially with young people. You guys just need to open your eyes and pay attention. Threads like this make it obvious most of you guys have no idea whats really happening with hot rods these days.

Just as an example, tonight while most of you were putting on your ointment, or soaking your dentures, there was 11 people in my shop tonight, the oldest being 41, and the youngest being 13 all thrashing away until 2am to get our cars ready for the World of Wheels this weekend. Were bringing 4 cars down, the newest one being a 52 Chevy hardtop, all built by young guys!

Hot rodding is dead? Maybe to you, but not to us.....

We didn't say it was dead! Geez, did ya stub your toe tonight crabby? I have only read positive stuff here regarding what you guys are doing. I think we were just wondering what would be considered a hot rod 20-40 years from now (when you are 50+) We've been your age all full of piss and vinigar.Good for you guys thrashing on the cars til 2:00am but you didn't invent it.....I still have all my own teeth. Carry on

Geez Kid, what the hell brought that on? Did you even read the posts? It was a legitimate question that in fact stated the opposite of your rant. If the cars today are being rodded out from the 20's/30's/40's what cars from todays era will will be rodded out 60 years from now? Absolutely legimate with no mention of rat rods, lazy ass kids not doing their part or anything. Maybe you have had some personal run ins along the way but that certainly wasn't the case here (unless there is some sort of hidden fued I am not aware of).

Still, while you're taking pot shots at the older generation keep 2 things in mind. 1. did you obtain all your rodding knowledge from some grade 6 student or pehaps was it partially from a seasoned veteran or two of the trade who knows a thing or two about rodding "through experience" and from watching and listening to their peers , and 2. one day you're gonna be the older generation.

I don't give a rat rods ass how many birthdays you've had along the way. Age does not equate maturity or wisdom. Grow up!

Lee the question 4T6 was possing was what will people be using to build Hot Rods.

I recall when I used to have a Flat Black 36 Coupe and an A roadster pickup and people would ask me when I was going to finish them, we used to race a stock car on Saturday night and then go back to the workshop pull the body off and the engine out and be Drag Racing the next Morning at another town, what you guys do is Hot Rodding alright so don't worry about what someone else might say, you don't need to prove anything, you are already there. A lot of the guys here have been through the same thing so don't let it worry you what others might say.

But what was being asked was what will people be using in a few years time. The term Hot Rod was changed by the Magazines you read about Hot Rodding and engine etc etc, it is in fact the Magazine editors that have mixed the whole bag of fish up.

They will still be using Brookville 32's etc I have no doubt about that, and customes like Daves will still be around.

Someone pee'd in the KID's pool.

I sure did read all the posts, and the impression I got was everyone is afraid hot rods are dying out. The future of hot rodding is going to be imports, and turbo charged minivans. Maybe I missed the point of the OP's question? Or maybe I got this impressions, because many of the older hot rodders I talk to honestly feel this way. I've been in the Edmonton Street Rod Association for over 2 years now. Charlie just joined a few months ago, and before him, I was the youngest member by 35 years. 90% of the ESRA members joined before I was even born. Lots of them say to me, "It's nice to see some young blood involved with hotrods, all the kids these days are in to them whiz bang rice rockets".
When their telling me this I keep thinking to myself, what are they talking about? All my friends are in to hot rods? Since I turned 16 and got my license I've always hung out with hot rodders.


Anyways, I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my old man comments, I did get a little carried away. As for the experience question, I'm not gonna lie, my dad is a car guy and taught me basic automotive skills when I was a kid. However he is not a hot rod guy. He doesn't know the difference between a 32 3 window and a 27 T coupe. Most of my knowledge came from reading magazines, my friends, research and just plain collecting hot rod parts and trying to make them work.

I guess my point is, hot rods, will be around forever. As John said, as long as brookville keeps stamping out new bodies, model A's and 32's will continue to be built in to hot rods for who knows how long.