At least I am not the only one that has a bad taste in his mouth about car shows. I have been to a few. Some cool people then some real pieces of work. The comment about the ones who just write checks being jerks is for the most part accurate. I like asking about the build and mods, the ones who just pay someone get annoyed that you ask. Sorry dude not my fault you have no clue what was done to your car. And just for the record, I was born in 87, so on the younger side of the hobby. I pray to god my son will pick it up, born in 2016 and maybe it will pass on generation to generation. I like the late 60's to early 70's cars, Late 70's were kind of lousy if ya ask me. there were some exceptions in there but not many. The 80's were a joke for v-8's really except a few exceptions, if I owned anything from the 80's it would be a GN, GNX, T-type or maybe a square body Chevy with an engine I built, not a stock smog turd. And the 90's were not much of an improvement to me. The early 2000's had some performance cars and then near 2010 the performance market started really stepping it up. I try and appreciate all builds though and try not to hate. And going to the track is definitely way more fun than a car show. I use to go race my 2007 Silverado and it was a blast. I can't wait to have my Skylark out at the local drag strip. It may not beat em all but it will definitely raise some eyebrows.
That's why I like the Power Tour so much. Nice cars and they actually run and their owners aren't afraid to drive them. After cruising with so many other cars for a week shows are even more boring.
It's funny that it doesn't matter where you live its the same all over the country. car show/cruise in starter pack 1. LAWN CHAIR 2. cargo shorts 3. optima battery with undersized cables 4. 1950s-early 1960s pop music played loudly with horrible speakers 5. multi colored flag on a string stuff to separate people 6. be at least 55 years old (no offense) 7. be able to rifle off many of the fancy parts used on your car but have almost no clue on how to maintain or fix it. 8. list of names and or business cards of the people that actually built it. 9. have new custom personalized black and yellow license plate (California cars only) 10. did I mention lawn chairs?
For the most part, car shows & cruise ins : BORINGGGGG Would rather chill back with one or two real car guys and getvto know them & their cars. 'Hey what year is that... Chevelle' SO over it. It's just plain boring. But wait! It's for a good cause! That'll be 65 bucks please.
I may attend one car show a year and maybe one cruse nite. I can't stand being there all day. Cruise nites= same people, same cars parked in the same spot, treated like an outsider because you have not been there "every week", treated like an outsider because you have a Buick. Car Shows = same reasons as stated above, people who bring all sorts of props to set up around their car, the guy with the '57 Chevy that brings the crappy speaker and plays 50's music the entire show, those stupid dolls leaning against the car. The last car show I was at had over 1000 cars and I had the only GS. The best part was that it was hot and there were quite a few pretty ladies walking around..
Some years ago, I was at the Gilmore Car Museum show. I had driven my wife's '79 Z/28 there. The roads were a bit wet from a late night/early morning rain, so I was busy cleaning. The owner and another guy were standing by the trailered-there Firebird parked next to me. The guy asked the owner if he drove his car there. The owner gestured toward me and said, No, I always trailer. I don't want to do what he's doing." I looked at him and said, "And I don't want to do what you are doing. We enjoy our cars instead of dragging them around in trailers, then get pissed if we are not handed a trophy." The guy laughed. The owner said zip.
For real, smokey. Don't get me wrong, I love great paint. I really enjoyed painting my Skylark. But at the end of the day, it's a car. It's meant to be driven. Nothing in life is perfect. Why try to make it that way?
Australia calling. This thread tells me there are a lot of great people on this site. The one time I have attended a a longstanding local cruise night near my house, a guy with a fairly ordinary daily-driver kinda '74 Riviera came almost running over to me and my daily-driver kinda non-concours 68 Wildcat and went ''WOW!" and got all his mates to check out a ''really rare Wildcat, we don't see these here.'' And he loved the fact I drive it to the beach and with dog, and to supermarket, and commute to work in it often in summer yada yada yada. I liked him a lot because he loved and drove his slightly rough and uncollectable Riv ... and he and his mates hated the rest of the cruise crowd. Just so y'all know, the ''rich guys in lawn chairs who have had the same cruise-night spot for 10yrs in their shop-restored $100,000-'invested'' 69 identikit Mustang/tri-5 Chevy etc and frown on newcomers in daily-driver quality cars'' are EPIDEMIC DOWN HERE TOO! 20yrs ago the Harley-Davidson scene bugged me the same way. Dress-up outlaws at every cafe. On brand new Sunday-only chrome-encrusted bikes with almost no miles on em. Sheesh! I have two kickstart-only Shovelheads and I love the difference. It's kinda like owning a Buick. Good thread. Most of us think the same way, it seems. Y'know, I HATE snobs.
Here's what I do with Car Shows. I actually really enjoy going to them, but I have a routine now. 1. It has to be a long drive away, ideally more than 1 hour, so I get a solid few hours of cruising time in 2. ideally I cruise with others, that's where the real fun is 3. get there about an hour after it started 4. Park my car get out and don't come back to it till it's time to leave 5. Walk around check out all the other cars, stop and chat to owners of cars that interest me. Often what I am asking about is not the car but the story behind the car...why pick that one 6. usually in less than 1 hour of walking around, I'm back in my car and heading home I have 2 cars. the Buick is my daily driver and while she's amazingly photogenic, I live on a dirt road, drive it over 100 miles a day and it rarely gets a wash and it's a cool 20 footer. But there is only 1 other 61 bubble down here and on bags laid out it gets plenty of attention. My Camaro however draws a crowd. It's got a LOT into it, I wanted a street driven show car that could hold it's own on the drag strip (done 10.3 @ 130mph but lack of traction first 60 feet and in full street trim inc suspension). I often have to hang around it as people want to talk. I get plenty of idiots who think I've done something wrong or they don't like this or that, my response is always the same....my money, my car, my way, I love it, really don't give a crap what you think.
I like the atmosphere of most car cruises and car shows here in Florida. We do have all types, diaper wipers, California duster -wear my paint out with it – trailer queen types, and the "you should of " guys. It's all entertainment for me! I especially like to leave the place burning rubber and leaving billows of smoke while the "trophy swapper – here every week" crowd stare in amazement with their jaws on the ground
Your first pic is similar to a pic of my Dad in his 14' 1952 Chris Craft kit boat he and his brother built, they also bought a new 14 hp Evinrude to power it. I have many fond memories of that boat up till about 1980
Don't forget the photo album on the core support. Also, those STUPID STUFFED KIDS crying on the front bumper!
I like opening my hood and showing everybody my dusty engine bay, YEAH I DRIVE IT! AAAND, my floor mats with tiny gravel, twigs, and bits of 3M yellow masking tape from my work boots, YEAH I DRIVE IT!
When my wife and I do attend lawn chair parties, we tend to linger longer and converse with the owners of self-built, bugs in radiator cars. They are, for the most part, great people with some interesting stories. All those checkbook car owners do is show us the scars on their fingers from the paper cuts when they were ripping checks from the book.
Went on a car cruise this last Saturday with the Lightning (yea I own a couple of Ferds) 750 to 800 cars, so there was a staging area where we gathered a couple hours before the actual cruise. Go take an hour long walk to look at all the cars / trucks and say hi to some friends. It was hot so left the windows cracked. get back and the interior is completely full of leaflets for other car shows. THAT PISSES ME OFF!
Well, apparently it must depend on location. Car cruise gig is alive and well in this area and I haven't experienced most of the negatives that have been posted. There is a weekly 500 car+ cruise that draws all types of cars and trucks in every condition extreme across a wide demographic. Everyone gets along or at least seems to. Its been going on for many years and is more popular now than ever. No rules other than unwritten ethics; be respectful to others.
I will say thats one thing that's made me such a fan of the biweekly cars and coffee event near me. There's everything imaginable their, from domestic antiques to late model Lamborghinis and everything in between. Some cars don't interest me personally, but I appreciate what went into them. Some are DD's, some show only etc etc but one thing I've noticed is you don't see nearly as much of these attitudes and stereotypes there for some reason. It's a big mishmash hodgepodge of different tastes in the car culture, but everybody's pretty laid back and just having a good time. I don't think I've had a single run in with the snobs or down talkers while their that I can think of. But I have to add, for every one of the guys at a show/cruise that's been a prick, I've met 20X good people who are a pleasure to chat with. I would t let an occasional bad egg ruin it as a whole.
The "I bought it like this and have no idea how to actually fix it" guys are easy to spot. Clean manicured nails, executive haircut, polo shirts tucked into cargo shorts. And as stated by everyone else... enough of the damn 50's Doo Woop music. It like a geriatric convention. You want the younger generation to start participating then diversify the music, and stop being the cranky old man griping "that ain't a classic." Yeah, well, when you were driving that 69 Mustang in 1975 it wasn't a classic either. But you wanted to show it off, didn't you? Most of the classic muscle cars have been priced out of range of the millennial generation to afford. And it's easier for them to finance a newer "muscle" car (Mustang, Camaro, Subaru, etc.) that they can drive every day, which makes sense. Especially in the northern states. Rat rods, tuners, newer muscle are their Hot Rod of choice.
I would drive my car over 300 miles to go to the Bill Rapp Pontiac show in Upstate NY. Its the dealership that I bought my TA from. My mom would take her 25th Aniv TA. We did this about 3 or 4 years in a row till my mom could no longer drive. My mom even won a trophy once. She was so happy. Its the Good memories I try and remember. I don't think I've ever been to a car show where some one talked crap about my cars. Lucky I guess.
