Whenever I read columns in revered car journals such as Automobile, Road&Track, Motor Trend, or AutoWeek, I sometimes feel a bit depressed. Why? Well, it seems like the best writers and car experts are guys in their 50's and 60's who grew up with a garage next to their bedroom. Every few weeks, their dads would bring home old classic cars and restore them, while their sons would look on with admiration. They grew up in the days when cars were art, and working on cars was a real full-time trade. In other words, these guys could change the oil in a Dodge Dart before they could walk. They followed in their fathers' footsteps and lived in their garages, sometimes going into racing, others making a business out of the cars they restored. Now they're retired and write for car magazines, spilling rich, worthy wisdom regarding the automobile. If "old salts" is a term for experienced sailors, then these guys would be "old gears".


What will happen when this generation ends? What will happen to the world of the automobile when these guys are no longer here to dispense fascinating reminiscences from the golden age of the car? Will the "maturiteen", hipster generation take over? The young guns who grew up with Toyotas, Hondas, and Nissans? The guys like me who learned nothing about the inner workings of cars, and just saw them as "products"; plastic toys from Japan that were made of cheap, replaceable parts?

Maybe I'm paranoid, but the future of the automobile looks bleak if my generation takes over the field. For myself, I feel ultimately unqualified to write about cars. If I were ever offered a job a car journal, I would lapse into a serious bout of moral conflict. It would be the opportunity of a lifetime, but am I qualified?

Here's my resume right now:

1. I grew up with my car seat in a Camry.
2. I don't know how to change spark plugs.
3. But I love cars.
   

To me this makes me completely unqualified to work at a respected entity of the automotive media. But isn't this the resume of my entire generation? So who then will be qualified to speak authoritatively on the world of cars when the old gears are gone?

The thing that worries me the most is if my generation takes over, we'll lose what we love most about cars. My generation would forget the magic their fathers and grandfathers wielded with a wrench and a bucket of Penzoil. My generation would praise the coming of the self-driving car, which, to me, would be the end of the world. My generation would praise "alternative energy", which, to me, is just the difference between 91 octane and 87 octane. My generation would kiss the American pony car goodbye to make room for Toyota's newest lost-in-translationmobile. This is what I'm afraid of.

Maybe I'm wrong, which is usually the case, but I can't stand to think of a world without engine blocks the size of a Toyota Prius. (In your face, Greenpeace)