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Did you ever wonder where the next generation of muscle car enthusiasts will come from? Most of us in the existing pool of muscle car fanatics were either driving age when the cars were first built, or became of driving age when the cars were 10-20 years old (which is the usual age of automobiles in the teenager fleet). But today's 16-year old would most likely be in a 1977-87 model car -- hardly muscle car territory. (Before all the late second-generation Z/28 and Trans Am owners out there write us a nasty letter, remember there are exceptions to every rule.) Anyway, the numbers are against the next generation, and we're trying to make a point here, so stay with us.

What we need is someone to spread the word to today's teenagers. Someone to explain to the young people that, believe it or not, cars didn't always look like they were carved from the same bar of soap and that chrome-plating was originally applied to metal instead of plastic. Someone like Dan Lee, the Automotive Technology instructor at the DeKalb High School of Technology - South Campus (in Decatur, Georgia). Dan and his students are presently in the midst of a frame-off restoration of a 1960 Chevrolet Impala. It's a two-door hardtop (a.k.a. bubble-top) powered by a 283 cubic-inch small block backed up by a cast-iron Powerglide tranny.

Now, some may question what today's automotive shop student can learn from a 37-year-old Chevy. But think about it, strip away the computer controls and smog stuff and an engine is still an engine; a tranny's a tranny, etc. The physical laws and basic mechanical concepts that result in an Impala running down the road are the same for the '96 model as they are for the '60. Certainly some of the details have changed, but the basics are still there.

So, if you're charged with explaining the inner workings of something as complex as an automobile (regardless of its age) to a group of students who have very little in the way of practical experience, you've got to start with those very same basics. And that's exactly what Dan and his students are doing. He's teaching his students what it takes to make an engine run correctly, and diagnose the problems when it doesn't; and why an automatic transmission works like it does; and how springs, control arms, linkage and hydraulics allow a person to precisely control a 2-ton machine with ease. Basic automotive technology -- the foundation that every good technician builds his or her training on -- hasn't changed in decades, and the DeKalb program is focusing on this foundation.

And by using a 1960 Impala bubble-top to demonstrate these principles in a hands-on manner, Dan is exposing a new generation to our favorite type of cars. And we all know what happens after a little time is spent working on these particular machines -- they get in your blood. So Dan, keep up the good work. Not only are you teaching your students the things they need to know, you're throwing in a little history and adding a dash of individuality to boot. It looks like the future is in pretty good hands after all.