I agree with the all of the above post. Another huge factor was the death of the 2 door coupe and the adoption of the mini-van. In the early 80s, when I turned 16 there were several cheap ( 2 door sporty looking) used cars available that could be fixed up easily and driven. My first car was my Dad's 76 Monte Carlo ( paid like $ 500), fixed some rust, bolted on a 4 barrel and added some tires and a stereo. Caught the bug and stayed with me.
Generation after me ( looking for cheap used ) had a selection of mini-vans and smallish front wheel drive sedans. Kind of hard to get passionate about them,they were functional and boring to drive and really did look like crap. The point A to point B mentality took over.
Fast forward another decade and the used cars are Hondas and Toyotas that run 200,000 miles retaining their valve longer making it more expensive to buy used and one helluva lot harder to repair and mod. The used market will always dictate the entry of new car enthusiasts.
$4 dollar gas, insurance payments higher than car payments and the lack of decent jobs for younger people has not helped either. I'm really glad we have as many younger Camaro owners as we do ! The new market has been building some nice looking cars for the last five years. If gas does not break $ 10 per gallon, we will have a whole new generation of "car people" in 10 years.
