What’s one thing you genuinely miss about the older automotive scene?

Not the cars themselves necessarily, but the feeling around it.

Lately it feels like everything has turned into a competition for attention instead of appreciation. People building cars for engagement instead of building something that actually makes them happy. Every meet turns into rev battles, takeover clips, ego contests, or people trying to prove who spent the most money.

Meanwhile some of the coolest builds we’ve ever seen were held together by zip ties, late nights, scraped knuckles, and a vision nobody else understood yet.

That’s honestly a huge reason Midnight Pretenders exists in the first place. We wanted to build a space where:

— People can ask questions without getting clowned

— Different styles can coexist

— OEM+, drift, stance, drag, track, off-road, bikes, weird projects, all of it has a seat at the table

— Builds have stories again, not just spec sheets

At the end of the day, most of us got into this because cars made life feel a little more exciting. That part shouldn’t get lost.

So let’s hear it:

What do you think the automotive community is missing right now? And what do you think would actually make it better again?