MSAHPERD E -JOURNAL
Fad,
Cult or Culture:The
Popularity of Street Rod, Muscle Car,
and
Customized Car Enthusiast’s Car Shows in Mississippi
Jim
Gilbert, Ed.D.,
CPRP - University
of Mississippi
Interim
Chair – Department of Health, Exercise Science and Recreation Management
Michael Dupper, Ed.D.,
- University
of Mississippi
Assistant Professor – Department of Health, Exercise Science and Recreation
Management
StephanieBaller, MS
– University
of Mississippi
Instructor – Department of Health, Exercise Science and Recreation Management
Abstract
A study
was conducted with automobile enthusiasts from April through August 2002
at six cities in northern Mississippi.
Each location had a history of longevity related to car shows featuring
automobiles classified in contemporary literature as street rods, restored
classics, muscle cars, and antique automobiles and trucks.A
cumulative total of approximately 850 automobiles were displayed and a
survey tool was either randomly issued to owners during registration or
by the researchers manually distributing them.A
total of 550 surveys were distributed and one hundred forty-nine (149)
surveys were collected.
Introduction
Beginning
in the 1920’s, noted as the ‘classic period’ of automobiles, cars began
to be entrenched in twentieth-century American society for utilitarian
purposes. By 1945, from the close of World War II until the mid 1950’s,
a pent-up demand for automobiles erupted in America.This
explosion was fueled by returning servicemen, young parents, older adults
and teenagers. The evolution of automobiles in America
gradually led to the creation of related sub-cultures identified in literature
(Batchelor [1989], Bright [2000], Dettelbach
[1976], DeWitt [2001], Gahahl [1995], Hirsh
[1985], Montgomery [1987], Warde [2002],
and Wolfe [1965]) as hot rodders, street rodders,customizers,
‘resto-rodders, antique car restorers, and ‘low-riders’s.
During
the affluent post-war years of the 1950-60s, car enthusiast activities
became symbolized through ‘hot rods’, drag racing, ‘customized cars’, and
car shows. This time period described by Hirch
(1985) and Ganahl (2000) was ‘the Golden
Age’ of automobiles.The major automobile
makers in Detroit consistently responded to car enthusiast’s
interests as noted by the 1960s ‘muscle car’ era, the ‘pony cars’ of the
1970s, and the nostalgia-driven market of the late 1990-2000s with Daimler-Chrysler
Corporation (Prowler – roadster / PT Cruiser – ‘woody’ station wagon),
General Motors (Chevrolet SSR - street rod pickup) and Ford Motor Company
(Thunderbird – sports car).Automobile
cult-status evolved nationwide through the establishment of specialized
automobile associations.The movement began
in 1948 with the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) followed by the Kustoms
of America (1950), National Street Rod Association (NSRA) in 1970, Kustom
Kemps of America (KKOA) in the late 1970’s, and the Good-Guys Rod and Custom
Association in 1986.The initial custom-car show appeared in Los
Angeles in 1948, and from that event interest in
car show extravaganzas spread nationwide.During
the 1960s, at the peak of popularity, Carl Casper Custom Automobile Shows
were held at 45 venues nationwide (Nord, 2000).
In
2002, Louisville (KY) hosted the most recent Carl Casper car shows touted
as the nation’s largest indoor custom-car
exhibition (Nord, 2002).The show attracted over
100,000 spectators and displayed over 500 automobiles.
Earlier,
however, in the 1970s interest in car shows and related events waned due
to economic factors of elevated gasoline prices, gasoline shortages, and
the influx of foreign automobiles into American markets.However,
by the 1980’s, a core group of nostalgia-driven ‘baby-boomers’ began to
fuel a resurgence of car-related activities such as car shows and rod runs.These
events again featured restored automobiles, street rods, custom-builds,
and antique machines. In 2002, Louisville
was also host to the NSRA’s 33rd
annual Street Rod Nationals car show, which attracted over 12,000 enthusiasts
who displayed only pre-1949 automobiles.
Further
fueling the automobile phenomenon was the automobile related-components
specialty market supported by owners of street rods, hot rods and custom
cars (Esparza, (2000).In 2002 the Specialty Equipment Market Association
(SEMA), composed of 3,900 member companies,
stated this specialty market represented $21.2 billion in annual retail
business and served over 7 million enthusiasts.
Currently, Gobetti
(2000) noted there are hundreds of car shows nationwide with an estimated“350,000
rods and customs registered in the United
States” and an additional “50,000 under construction”.DeWitt
(2001) stated the current resurgence in interest in authentically styled
nostalgia rods is a reaction and rejection of high-tech contemporary automobiles.He
further noted that adults often focus attention to ‘important’ cars of
their youth, which created rolling museums of car shows.
Methodology and Instrumentation
The researchers
followed University of Mississippi
Institutional Review Board protocol and procedures
to conduct the investigation.A survey tool,
composed of 26 closed-end questions related to demographics, automobile
information, and membership with one open-end question, was distributed
to 550 entrants at six northern Mississippi
car shows.To avoid multiple survey submissions
the researchers were selective in distribution of the tool at each location.Multiple
survey responses, if found, were removed.The
survey was distributed in the northern Mississippi
cities of Amory (100), Iuka (100), Tupelo
(100), Ripley (50), Sardis
(100), and Pontotoc (100).Each survey was issued with a self-addressed,
stamped envelope for data collection purposes.A
total of 149 surveys were returned for a twenty-seven percent return rate.The
descriptive method of research focused on the 26 closed-end questions and
one open-end question to solicit specific data as related to the topic.
Data Analysis
Participants
in this study ranged in age between 14 to 79 years, with 128 male and 21
female respondents.Three responses were
received from Afro-American participants with the remaining 146 surveys
submitted by Caucasians.Ages were grouped
into 10-year cohorts (i.e., teens, 20’s, 30’s etc.) and 61.1% of the respondents
were in their 50’s and 60’s (34.9%/60’s, and 26.2%/ 50’s) age categories.The
mean age of those returning surveys was 51 years of age (see Table 1).
One
hundred twenty-one (121) responses revealed average yearly income where
35 of the respondents (23.5%) fell in the $25,000 – 35,000 annual income range,
and 33 persons (22.1%) fell within the $35,000 – 50,000 income bracket.In
all, 45.6% of the respondents reported an income between $25,000 – 50,000
annually. The remainder reported incomes of$15,000 - 25,000 (19 responses),
$50,000 - 75,000 (18 responses), and $75,000 + (16 responses) for percentages
of 12.8%, 12.1%, and 10.7% respectively.
The year
of automobile manufacture ranged from 1915 to 2003 and was broken down
into decade groups as shown in Table 2
The
decade most represented of manufacture was the 1960’s (27.7%), based on
the surveys submitted and the vehicle manufacturers most strongly represented
were Chevrolet (58/38.9%) and Ford (47/31.5%). Other manufacturers represented
were Plymouth
(7), Pontiac
(6), Dodge (4), GMC (4), Oldsmobile (3), Buick (2), Cadillac (2), Nissan
(2), Studebaker (2), Volkswagen (2), Chrysler (1), Hudson
(1), Nash (1), Mercury (1), and Willy’s
(1).
A wide
variety of car styles included convertibles (14), roadsters (4), cabriolets
(2), coupes (47), sedans (40) and trucks (29). The most represented styles
of car were coupes (31.5%) and sedans (26.8%).Engines were either production
or modified engines featuring after-market equipment with an automatic
transmission (114/76.5%), or, with a manual transmission (35/23.5%).Enthusiast’s
automobiles represented several categories ranging from reproduction non-metal
(6), reproduction metal (11), non-reproduction (22), or production-original
(105). Production original was the most frequent response representing
70.5% the automobiles.Data indicated that
the average number of years in rebuilding and renovating to be 3.5 years,
while the length of ownership ranged from months to 45 years for an average
ownership time of 7.8 years.
Survey
data indicated an approximate financial investment for participant’s
automobiles ranged from less than $10,000 to over $100,000, with 65.9%
of those surveyed having spent $20,000 or less.The
majority of the owners (64.2%) noted that their cars were generally not
used as daily drivers and data revealed annual mileage ranged from less
than 1,000 miles (25.5%), 1,001- 2,000 miles (20.1%), and 2,000-5,000 miles
(22.8%).
Data
indicated that 136 enthusiasts (91.3%) attended and displayed their vehicle(s)
and 36.9% displayed their vehicle more than 10 times per year.Fifty-seven
per cent of all respondents belonged to a local or regional car club.
Responses
to the open-end question (n=149) as to why their personal involvement on
building, driving and/or displaying an automobile in Mississippi
car shows varied.The five primary responses
were fun (29/19.5%), nostalgia (28/18.7%), hobby (25/16.7%), car show attendance
(23/15%), and fellowship (19/12.7%).Twenty-five surveys gave no response
(see Figure 1).
Results
The results
of this study reveal a number of interesting data and relevant
information
regarding car enthusiasts in the State of Mississippi.The
income level of
theseMississippi
enthusiasts indicate approximately 50 percent of the respondents earn
between
$25,000-50,000 per year which generally represents middle-America from
a
financial
perspective, but is above the norm statewide.
The
most prevalent decade of preference for automobile selection among the
study
is the 1960’s, followed by the 1940’s and 1930’s in that order.To
many baby-
boomers
the 1960’s was a coming of age period both from a sociological and an
automobile
perspective as noted in Table 1, 2 and Figure 3.When it came to
enthusiast’s
cars the respondent’s favored Chevrolets
and Fords, as it is historically
conceded
that these manufacturers provided a benchmark for affordability, variety
of
models
and performance emphases which apparently created a fond place in their owner’s
hearts.
Data
revealed that almost two-thirds of the respondents invested less than $20,000
in
their vehicles and, interesting, almost an identical number did not use
their vehicles
as
a dailydriver.Not surprising, therefore,
is that approximately 70% of the owners put
less
than 5,000 miles yearly on their prized possessions.
What
motivates an automobile enthusiast to wash, polish, primp and baby his/her
vehicle?The
answer to this open-ended question indicated that a majority of the
individuals
consider it primarily, to be fun followed respectively by nostalgia, favorite
hobby,
attendance at car shows, and fellowship.
Conclusions
This
survey reflects a small but dedicated number of car enthusiasts who drive,
display
and share information and fellowship with their respective peers.Unlike
the
automobile
mega-shows at Carlisle (PA), Pebble Beach (CA), Petit Jean (AR), or
Cruising-on-the Coast (Biloxi, MS),
the northern Mississippi
car enthusiast’s appear to
represent
the not-so-silent majority blue-collar workers of the car world.Although
the
appears
is that the collector car enthusiast will continue to be active and
committed
to many hours of mechanical and sheet metal restoration, driving to/from,
and
displaying
at Mississippi
weekend car shows.
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30 -
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