It’s kind of funny (and totally off-topic) that this space/column/whatever we want to label “Barnstormin” actually started as a concept for a video series on Car Junkie TV all those years ago. It also started when I was welded to a desk at a real job and about the only place I could storm was the warehouse section of the building I was in charge of. Cut to today and my life is literally one long Barnstormin’ exercise these days. If you think that is a complaint you are very, very wrong. There’s no such thing as perfect in life and the stresses and strains of life these days are different but still present in their own ways as I spend lots of time criss-crossing the country for various events and work. What does any of this have to do with the price of tea in China? Read on and you’ll get it.
Like lots of kids, I had a couple of huge influences in my love of cars and making them faster. The first was my dad who was a racer and hot rodder long before I showed up on the scene and the second was my gas station job in high school where I worked the pumps and also served as assistant, wrench grabber, floor washer, and sacrificial teeenager in the garage of said gas station. I learned so much about what to do, what not to do, and how to get your balls busted into oblivion by mechanics who actually did this stuff for a living and were reliving their own misspent youth through the kids that worked at the station. That place was less a garage and more a classroom. Best education ever. Thousands and thousands more like me got the same education with varying levels of profanity, second hand smoke, and frustration. Sadly these classrooms are a dying breed.
I love gas stations and one of the things I pay attention to as I am on the road are those most humble of American institutions. We’re not losing gas stations but we are losing COOL gas stations. Places where generations of gearheads spent some time learning how to fix stuff and learning how to get around a garage or shop. They are being gobbled up with convenience stores where shitty food, shitty coffee, and aisles of crap that will shorten your life have replaced lifts, lube racks, rows of cheap tires, and gleaming red Snap-On tool boxes. The very station where I worked and screwed around at as a kid has been gutted and the shop is now a store. You pay for your lottery tickets in the very spot we used to sneak beers at night in high school. No one will ever learn anything at that place again. In my time there, about half a dozen guys worked, learned, and went on to make a success of themselves with their hands. This is a bad, bad deal because it is being repeated all over the country thousands of times a year. Any vestige of the old school gas station where someone actually took a modicum of care in the condition of your car is gone. We checked oil, we filled tires, we used a squeegee or the old man would chew your ass. There was incredible personal value in that.
But you’re rolling your eyes and taking pity on this old man writing the words because you know that there’s loads of technical schools, training programs, and hand holding programs that will take anyone and make them a master mechanic in a few short months. You know, the types of places you pay 10s of thousands of dollars to in order to have the opportunity to learn whereas I was PAID TO BE THERE EVERY DAY. While I am not discounting the value of education, I am telling you flat out that more hot rodders, gearheads, racers, have learned by doing than they ever have sitting in a classroom. These old gas stations with their two bay garages were the perfect classrooms for a generation interested kids that lived, ate, breathed, and dreamed about hot cars day and night. Today they are a place to buy Ho-Hos ad look at someone earning minimum wage in a job that’s about as fun as a trip to the orthodontist.
This is a problem. This is a legitimately big problem that needs to be considered when we look at the future of hot rodding. How are tomorrow’s rodders getting the proper hands-on education in a semi-professional environment that they need? The short answer is that they are not going to get it and they are going to rely on stuff like YouTube videos and forum posts of varying levels of expertise to make their buying decisions and their mechanical work…work. I am not an ace wrench but if I didn’t have three years of seeing Manny Fernandez work his magic at the Shell station I’d be way lesser for it. Those do-all service station mechanics are a dying breed and they were pretty amazing guys. The variety of machines they had to see, had to diagnose, and had to fix would flummox lots of guys today. My kids don’t believe my stories of helping with engine swaps and other big jobs at the gas station. They live in a world where such a thing pretty well does not exist anymore.
The last real shame is that the great stations with garages were the spot where people with cool junk hung out at during the night. On a recent 15 mile drive to the beach with my family, I nearly put them to sleep pointing to random buildings and telling them what the station was and what car lived there. If you can believe it, they actually like these stories. My wife, not so much.
The classic American gas station has served as a launching platform for so many others like myself. Their departure/absence leaves a big void in the world of wrenching and the development of the next generation of hot rodders. How do we fix it? Do we fix it at all? Has it been fixed?
I’d love to hear the answers those questions.
Exactly. Glad you find time to tool up the article.
I agree with the first few lines about neighbors not talking to each other anymore. Growing up we had neighborhood block parties and people sat out front and BSed after dinner. Now everyone is so busy running their kids to traveling sports leagues they don’t have time for much or like one of my neighbors they just don’t come out of the house.
I don’t agree with them only being interested in 4 cylinder FWD stuff. I just sold my 90 mustang GT to a 16 year old and gave him one heck of a deal so he could afford it. I know his dad and he’s a good kid. There are a lot more like him out there so before you go writing them off as having different interests talk to them you might be surprised as to why they are driving the focus with the loud exhaust. Maybe that is all mom would let them get.
I know I had a chance to buy a 67 mustang with a built 289 when I was 16. Mom took it for a drive and said no. I ended up with a 75 mustang 2. I would say that is about ford focus territory back in 87.
As long as they are into working on things and getting in there and getting their hands dirty I really don’t care what they want for a car. Just have fun with it.
PS…worked in a two bay greenway gas station while I was going to tech school. Pumping gas, washing windsheilds, changing tires and oil. Know what got me that job? They had a 68 mustang with a 428 cobra jet who’s father let his son drive it and it has bent pushrods after that. Guess who had a bunch of FE parts and had swapped a 390 into his 77 F150. That car was a pain in the ass to work on but it’s something I’ll never forget.
Funny the comments I was replying to have been removed.
I’m a licensed electrician/ self taught gearhead and a good portion of what I have accumulated in fix-it knowledge is and was gotten by hands-on hanging around garages. In my neiborhood garage which is a 711 now I learned from all the locals everything from oil changes to curb feelers. We would converse in the original machine language and learn every swear word, a few that I coined myself. Brian, you,ve touched a nerve in me and it’s true it’s a dying source over education never to be retrieved. See you at Norwalk!
We, those in the hobby, need to do more to get the younger gen’s involved..
volunteer your time to maybe bring a group from a boy’s girls club to a car event…
I never said that ALL the younger generation want 4cyl or fwd.. but the fact is, most are going to be driving them..
They are not going to be driving a rear drive car never mind a v8…
Most of those from my age group would not allow their off springs to have one as they know what they were like with one..
Sure, the old gas station job’s are almost a thing of the past.. but they are not needed or a requirement for the younger generation to get into the hobby..
I had a gas station job, but my start was way before that..
Erector sets made of thin metal, screws/bolts/ nuts.. that the safety Nazi’s would never let fly today..
Wondering how things worked, and opening them up..
It started there…. an electric homemade gocart only up it, once I felt the power pushing you forward.. And it was only one ride, as I cut the top of my finger almost clean off.. rear end of 66 impala so what, foot mashing the go pedal, and didn’t let off..
Next was making the snapper rider faster.. dad wasn’t to happy seeing it do a wheelie, I thought it was awesome and had to show him, grounded was the outcome..
etc.. the working at a gas station came much later..
Today, erector sets are dead,, sure you have lego’s , but not the same,,
car models you built are also dead..
no vcr to take apart to see how it works,,, not much to look at in a dvr as far as mechanicals go..
no cassette decks, 8 tracks, turntables,, t.v’s with removeable backs covers..
Vehicles that you don’t have to do much to, and most can’t do it anyways..
so, no helping dad do a tune up.. or belts/hoses/etc..
Back in my high school days.. everyone could get a cheap rear drive car, silly simple to work on, that basic tools could keep it on the road..
today, not a chance, go walk through a school parking lot, the rear drive cars the students are driving, is a small % of the ones in the student lots..
Most of my age car guys turn their noses up at the kids with the FWD pos, with add on’s.. yet I remember the same themed parts added to more than a few of the vehicles in the high school parking lots.. Take one pos with a gutless v8 and jack up the back, put on silly wide tires, chrome exhaust tips, and other really dumb mod’s .. turning over the air cleaner lid, anyone,, anyone??
Face it, the v8 rear drive car is not the new breed’s platform.. as very few have the means to get one.. be it parents that say no, the lack of job’s, the lack of cheap vehicles.. the insurance cost, the place to work on it..
So they have a FWD 4 banger that if they showed up at a cruise, that isn’t of the same type, they get shown the door..
hell even my rear drive 4cyl. got laughed at when I brought it to a big cruise night..
Hot rodding has always been using what was avail. and cheap. at least for the younger crowd without cubic dollars..
today that’s an egg shaped 4cyl.. with four doors..
And what does the old guard do when they see one, mod’ed??
And some wonder why the hobby is slowly going the way of the doe doe.
The three-bay, cinder block garage where I worked in high school (and for a little while after) is still there, but it is a used car lot now. In a way, I’m glad that it hasn’t been torn down and a quick check put up. But, it is kinda sad to see the old Amoco Station (McCoy’s Corner Garage) just serving as a parking lot.
I learned a lot about cars, and about myself, there. And, those places are definitely disappearing…and that is sad to see
The lack of gas station job’s isn’t really the problem..
There is more info out in the web, than ever avail.. just look at the you tube video channels that are all vehicle repair, or how to’s..
The lack of vehicles dad has to work on ,on his day off,, is..
The lack of vehicles that look like the rodded out loud fast car..
There once was a time you could see a loud/fast chevelle and then see 15 normal chevelle’s the same day..
today.. you only see the hobby vehicles out on cruise nights or week ends..
A few field trips to a cruise/track with scouts or boy’s girls clubs, ymca/etc.. would open them up to the hobby.. years ago, everyone drove their mod’d car a ton, as you could get a replacement if needed easily.. today, to fold up a 76 cutlass,, or a 84 monte or a 84 t-bird.. you are going to have to work to get a replacement that isn’t a total pos..
Harrys Standard, Lombard Illinois. Mid to late 70s for me. Harry left out enough cheapo tools so we could change oil, belts and headlights at night. Keep your greasy hands off Harrys good tools. Now it’s a Buy Here Pay Here car lot.
I think the age difference between the younger gen and older is being shown in the comments section.
Kids are still “rodding” only they aren’t using rods. They are building Subarus, Nissans, Volkswagens, Toyotas and the like. They are putting time, money and effort into their cars and most are turning the wrenches themselves.
The difference is if your a muscle car guy, you’re not going to notice the Subaru with the wheels, slightly lowered suspension, loud muffler and a wing. Many will even say its garbage and “ricey”
Fact is, they have car meets for the kids almost everywhere. They are out there. The hang out spots have changed, but they are still out there.
I have a long deep history of VW and Toyota interest. As I got older I was able to afford to buy my dream car, A round body Ford Falcon. All my import cars are gone, my daily is a not stock Trailblazer SS. I have been afforded the luxury of being in both the import scene and the muscle car scene.
The import kids are looked at like they don’t care, and are far less “cool” to the general public than the old cars are. But when you talk to the old timers who remember the late 60’s novas, falcons, valiants they never expected them to be anything special. Now Muscle car guys flock to them. Its just the way the world is.
I’ll agree people need to keep the youth interested, and to do that you must respect whatever work they are trying to do. Give them advice and support their interest. Because if you do that, 1 day they just might have a vintage car they restored because of the knowledge you pass on along the way.
Yup, Facebook is littered with car meets for the Car guy or gal..
Many for the groups that the muscle car guys and rodder guys shun.
They are building what is avail to them… That includes what they can stroll into the junk yard and get parts for and mod..
AGAIN I’ll say that the older guys in the hobby, need to stop turning our collective nose up at the new breed, that isn’t going to build a 60’s car or a muscle car, or a 80’s fox mustang..
Factory five figured this out, but the hobby in general has not..
Just look at hot rod mag… more tech on an ls or a hemi, but almost none if any on a flat 4..
They don’t want a 60+ thousand buck turbo engine that is so great, it became garage art.. (F-Bomb, here is looking at you) .
They can’t afford to have a daily driver and a hobby car, for most of them it is one and the same…
The aftermarket didn’t help matters…. You can build a 55-57 chevy/a 64-68 mustang /a 67-69 Camaro/ a 68-72 chevelle without having any oem parts..
And many other vehicles are covered mighty well, even the full sized tanks..
need parts for any 73-77 vehicle, you are pretty much screwed, even the #1 selling vehicle of the late 70’s in this country… the cutlass, parts for them not much of anything, body parts,, forget about it..
Same with the 78 up other than the mustang/Camaro/firebird.
even the monte SS and g/n are vey limited on what is out there.. and it’s got much better in the last 5 years.. tons of grandma/pa regals or base montes but no parts..
Has anyone gone into a junkyard in the last 10+ years and picked up a working th350/c4/c6 or a first gen 350 or a 351, 318?? the yards are not littered with parts that are not so far gone that they have to be blown apart before dropping them in..
I remember in the early 90’s, walking into a yard with a battery and a few jumper wires and some gas.. and could trip over v8’s that you could pull out and stab in..
today, you have to look at trucks,, and then the ls isn’t just bolting in, nor is the hemi or the 5.4 ford..
But you can trip over Honda’s ,Subaru’s, etc.. tis the reason they moved to those..
They can keep them on the road cheaply..
and don’t take much to have a slot car..
try that with a gbody/b-body/ mopar 80’s rear drive platform,
When was the last time anyone of the authors of this blog hit any of these meets… One is not 10 minutes from Brian every sunday night.. but it is later than most,, and they do the same things the car guys did in the 60-70-80-90’s.. that is taboo for the hobby to look at..talk about..
These “Service Stations” are a dying breed. The only way to save them is to PAY them. Patronize the facility. GO There. Get gas there, even if it costs a couple cents more. Get an OIL CHANGE there. KEEP them in business!!!
If you ever go near White Horse Beach in Manomet, MA… Go to GELLAR’S Filling Station. Get an ice cream cone while you fill up. And check out the Gellar family Rat Rod sedan. It’s got a 330″ flathead from a fire truck in it.
People who bought new cars got in the habit of taking them back to that same dealer for their service. Dealers survived by their service departments and the manufacturers enticed new car owners to use them with warranties and free oil changes for 50,000 miles. Then the car owner is in the habit of going there.
This took away business from the local gas/service station.
The other thing was the lack of full service in service stations. The ones that still had charged rediculously high prices for gasoline to get that full service.
Scott, I\’m sure that is partly true.. but, fact of the matter is many people can\’t afford a new car, yet the American way is to \”get \” it anyways.. So a few things happen.
1) They lease it, this can come in two flavors, the lease with all service included, or the fear that the lack of service records at a dealer will haunt them when it is time to turn in the vehicle..(end of lease)
2) The new vehicle buyer ,gets offered all service for 50k as part of buying from that dealer or brand.. Brands do this as it gets the customer back to the dealer and wandering around the showroom,, and with the American mind set of newer,better,etc.. most times it works..
3) The buyer can\’t afford any service other than oil changes, as they couldn\’t afford to buy the vehicle in the first place, and uses coupons from the jiffy lube and clones outlets..
The local shops are still out there, when I moonlighted at Advanced, I delivered to 100+ in that stores area, and this store has 6 other stores within a ten mile diameter.
They tend to have customers that are lifers, and some of the others did tons of fleet work, or the right off the highway breakdowns..
Another part is much of a newer vehicle is warrantied by the oem, so even if the vehicle ends up at the local shop,station, it\’ll end up at the dealer for repair, emission controls was 100k and I think they either up it to 150k or are try\’n to.. The honest stations/shops tell the customer it\’s under warranty, go to the o.e.m. dealer..
The last piece of this puzzle is that todays vehicles don\’t need much service at all.. brakes go 40-60k and not unheard of them going almost 100k on the same parts it left the line with.. Transmission fluid changes,, 100k, coolant changes 100k, plugs 100k,, and no ign parts to replace or adjust,, no fuel meter to adjust and clean. Fuel filters in tank good for 75-100k. Rack and pinion doesn\’t need to be serviced like a recurc ball set up, less moving parts, shocks used to last 20k , struts last at least 80k, exhaust 100k plus..
Today it\’s buy it, and drive it, oil changes when the idiot light tells you it\’s time,, and maybe the owner checks the tire psi once a month.. speaking of that, tires go 60-80k+
Todays vehicles don\’t need much, and the amount of service outlets was to large for this,, The major oil companies saw the writing on the wall 20 years ago.. and started changing over to mini marts.
The local service stations and shops that are still going are because they found away to keep customers, and to get new ones through the doors,, oil change specials,,, and coupons.. People don\’t like feeling like just a number, and the local service stations and shops that make the customer feel like more than just another number, get new customers and tend to keep them for life..