Almost everywhere you look, you see headlines claiming
that the Car Culture has died. Elizabeth Rosenthal of The New York Times claimed that "America has passed peak driving." in an article titled, "
The End of Car Culture." And also the Washington Post has the same opinion that Car Culture is "
Cruising toward Oblivion." Now some may agree with these claims, people don't care as much about cars as they used to when they were younger, but a new generation is coming up. Many guys and girls in this new generation have a huge love for cars, especially import cars. Mix together a bunch of young people and some import cars and you get a culture known by many different terms like Stanced, JDM, Slammed, Car Modding, Tuner Scene, or Import Scene.
Customizing and modding cars has always been popular not just in the US, but everywhere in the world. In the two articles above, clearly that have car culture highly confused with commuter culture. The youth is at work on their cars, building and buying. Usually, they are buying cheap cars and building them with after market parts to create something totally unique and custom to them, then going to car shows to show off their hard work and dedication, not to mention paychecks. The articles above believe that if you are not spending a ton of money on a classic car and taking extremely good service care on it, then you are not an enthusiast and know nothing about the culture. Which is totally wrong and not the case.
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Most cars that are modded by the youth are either Japanese like, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, and Subaru. Or German such as, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Audi. American cars like Dodge, Ford and Chevy. And for the rich enthusiast they would mod the legendary Italian cars like Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati. Of course Japanese being the most affordable, these are common among the youth. There are also many young YouTubers who talk about the car culture and work on their cars on Youtube.
TJ Hunt is one of my favorites. All these bloggers and Youtubers that can be found from a quick search proves that our Car Culture is not dead and wont be dead for a very long time.
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I love your post. I agree about seeing tons of articles about the car culture dying but I have to disagree with what they clam. Never before has modifying cars been so convenient and easy. With the internet anyone can find and buy parts and have them delivered to their home. I think the articles focus too much on the raw numbers on how many people own cars and miss the ever-growing passion for cars in general. Not only the interest for modding cars, but for collecting classics and foreigns. I think that no matter what people will always have a passion for automobiles. Although it will vary and change in the years to come, it has been around for a hundred years and will continue to evolve.
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest with you in that this post isn't about me as a reader (I'm not your traditional audience for this). My cars include a 2003 Jetta, and I have no idea what car culture is. Really. So watch "you" use here. Who are the "youth" buying and building cars? Can you put the spotlight on one in particular? Anecdotal evidence will actually show the culture in action.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I know Car Culture is definitely not dead. My fathers sells cars and his costumers are mostly young adults. Many times parents want to buy cars for their kids and don't know which one to get but instead of going to an expert they ask what kind of car they would like to get. I agree with you when you say that car culture won't be dead for a long time because I've seen first hand the passion that the younger generation has for cars.
ReplyDeleteRight from the start you gave good examples in your first paragraph. I think you did a really good job giving examples of places that believe car culture is dying. Hyperlinking to the websites you were talking about made your post stronger. I can tell that you did research on what you were going to talk about. I like how in the second paragraph you refer back to the previous hyperlinks to say why you think they are wrong. I really like how you used a moving image of a car, it really made your post look nicer. Also I like how you gave credit to where you got your pictures from. Overall, I think you have a really good post.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very relatable topic because nearly everyday I'm driving I see many "modded" cars. It is interesting to see that there is a whole other side to cars that most people never touch. Most people just get a car and keep it stock straight off the lot. The common maintenance on a car is mainly just oil changes, getting new tires when needed, and getting new brake pads when needed. Maintaining the car is most people's priority, but it is very interesting to see the various modifications to cars such as lowering or "slamming" them and putting more sleek details on the car. This definitely gives me something to think about for when I end up getting a new car!
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