My son is learning to drive. He’s doing well, but doesn’t seem too interested in the whole concept of driving, having a car, etc.

In an effort to spark some interest, I ask him what types of cars he likes and I share stories about the cars I drove and dreamed about when I was just starting out.

After a couple of weeks, I’ve made an observation. It my be my age (48) but I seem to see a lot less customization being done to cars in my area (Inland Southern CA) than in the past.

I know it is still out there in certain pockets. But when I first started driving in the late 80s, it seemed like most everyone was lowering their cars (terrible idea), buying custom wheels, and adding decals or stickers, anything to stand out.

It got me thinking that one reason I might not see as much customization being done to cars is that they’ve gotten a lot better since the late 80s.

The stock wheels on most cars look pretty decent, and for an extra $1000 or so at time of purchase, you can get pretty sweet looking wheels from the factory.

As far a lowering goes (kids, listen to me - don’t ever lower your car, just trust me on this and save yourself years of headache and $1,000s on tires), stock cars have a much more aggressive line to them today.

I know there are other factors that my play into this, maybe this generation isn’t as materialistic as mine, or that overall their interests lie more in the digital rather than the analog realm.

It just bugged me the other day when I asked my son what type of car the girl he’s been seeing at work drives (she’s brought him home a couple of times) and he shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know, but it is pretty nice.”