Worried about the future of the old-car hobby? Relax! SEMA says hot rodding is alive and well.

As manufacturers continue to abandon sedans and coupes in favor of trucks and SUVs, and as automaker lineups continue to trend more toward homogenization and disposability, it’s easy to see how car enthusiasts could grow anxious about what the old-car hobby is going to look like a decade or two from now—or if it will even exist at all.

But if you include hot rodding as an important segment of the old-car hobby, there could be compelling reasons for optimism, according to industry sources, particularly the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA).

SEMA, of course, is an organization whose very existence centers on the industry of modifying stock vehicles for better performance and generally equipping existing cars and trucks with aftermarket parts that can keep them on the road longer.

And as the sponsor of the annual Battle of the Builders competition, now in its seventh year, SEMA is exceptionally well positioned to have a finger on the pulse of what’s happening with the old-car hobby.

In a recent conversation with AutoNewsblaster about Battle of the Builders 2020, SEMA spokesman Ira Gabriel noted that hot rodding is among the key trends in what’s engaging automotive hobbyists and professional builders—especially among many who are newer in the field.

“Right now a lot of the young builders that I’m seeing are building more trucks and hot rod domestic cars,” Gabriel said.

While that was an anecdotal observation, SEMA’s official reports back up the assertion that hot rodding is alive and well. According to a hot rod market trends report that SEMA issued earlier this year, hot rodding today is “a global industry boasting thousands of builders who comprise a $1.26-billion market.”

That bodes well for the future of the old-car hobby. Nevertheless, it’s only inevitable as time marches on that the definition of what qualifies as “an old car” will evolve.

Granted, traditional hot rod platforms like pre-WWII American iron—1940 Fords and the like—still embody the classic understanding of what a hot rod is. Interest in these platforms does continue, particularly with the trend, as noted by SEMA, of Baby Boomers “handing down their [more traditional] hot rods to sons or daughters.”

But many in this same generation that is currently receiving these hot rod hand-me-downs are also creatively applying the spirit of the hot rodding concept to newer or even late-model cars and trucks.

One reflection of this was the 2018 move by Goodguys Rod & Custom to include models up to 1987 on their list of eligible vehicles to compete in their nationwide series of hot rod shows.

Purists of the old-car hobby might raise their eyebrows at the idea of a 1987 hot rod. But it’s important to keep the perspective in mind of where we are in time. In 2020, a 1987 vehicle is equivalent in age to a 1957 vehicle in 1990. And, in 1990, it’s clear that few would have questioned that a ’57 Chevy Bel Air or Nomad would have qualified as a legitimate platform for the old-car hobby.

Time keeps moving, and change is inevitable. Today’s new cars are tomorrow’s old cars. Sure, we want to see the “oldest of the old” preserved. Thankfully, we still have dedicated hobbyists in a variety of age groups doing that.

But the answer to the question of what vehicles in each generation will emerge as the treasured classics becomes clear only through the lens of time. So openness to fluidity in how we define what qualifies as “an old car” is essential to maintaining a vibrant old-car hobby.