We’ve always had whimsical and throwback designs in automotive. It’s a way for manufacturers to remind us of their past, to tug on the nostalgia strings of some buyers, and to use words like “heritage” in marketing materials. In the past few years, though, this nostalgia throwback trend seems to be becoming a larger part of the market. I posit that this is because we need to remember the good ol’ days even more now.
Shows like Stranger Things brought back the ‘80s for a lot of people of my generation and the generation after. Millennials and Gen-X are all about the 1980s and early 1990s. Just like those before us seem to have been obsessed with the 1960s.
That’s because nostalgia-based anything, including collecting and marketing, is usually 30-40 years behind the newly-empty-nest and near-retirement demographics. I’m solidly in the center of Gen-X at 53 years old. The stuff I find nostalgic is mostly from the 1980s and early 1990s. About the time I was a teenager and young adult. I remember the original Star Wars films, Mario and Donkey Kong on Nintendo, Back to the Future, and computers without hard drives. And I remember square-bodied pickups.
Currently, those old Chevrolet K10 trucks are super hot collectibles. What was just another old pile of crap a few years ago is now what every country-listening wannabe (or really be) lusts after. And people my age are collecting them. In droves.
The good news for would-be collectors is that there are a lot of these trucks still out there as survivors. They’ve had a lot of modification over time, most likely, but they haven’t had their bodies cut up and are relatively easy to work with. Parts are everywhere, drivetrain modifications are almost endless, and costs are still relatively affordable. Assuming you don’t mind a few scratches, dents, and a little rust. These were working trucks for most of their lives, after all.
The bad news for collectors in my age group, however, is that the nostalgia for these square bodies flows all the way down to teenagers. Because these trucks and SUVs are what every country music video now showcases front-center. And kids want in on that.
But it’s interesting how nostalgia works. We want what we either couldn’t get or once had and have a need to have it now. And it’s always something from our late childhood. Because those were the last of the good ol’ days.
Originally published on the author’s Substack.
