Car Shows

[Guest Mark G]

Hi All I just went to my Local chapters monthly meeting and we were discussing our car show and A question cam eup on what year to cut the cars off at and do we allow Modern special interest cars to be in the show. <BR> I felt and you all can add or correct me if I'm wrong...... <BR> that if this is an antique car club we should only have antique cars in our show, But some classic cars wouldbe accepted also. up to what year. Since a classic car is a car 15 years old then I guess up to a 1987 would fit into the show. But for me that seems to new. I would like to see them kept to 1950-60 the newest car. But the our members feel that we would loose money if we turned the other cars away. How do you feel about this. Pros? and cons?<BR> What do you other clubs do for your annual car shows what is your year cut off and how do you handle these new cars that come in to be shown off?<P> Thanks for your input.

[1937hd45]

I'd need to know what you do at your meet before I make a comment.

[Guest Hal Davis (MODEL A HAL)]

The folks in the CCCA would disagree with your definition of "classic", but that's another story.<P>I tend to agree with you. It would suit me fine to limit registration to cars 25 years old and older, and even exclude hot rods. Unfortunately, that will greatly reduce the participation in a local show and probably tick some folks off to boot. <P>We allow any and all to participate in our local show. This year, some guy in a 2001 Trans Am showed up with less than 100 miles on it. Must have picked it up on the way to the show. The bad thing is, he won a friggin trophy. Guess he had to, it WAS is showroom condition. <P>I guess it comes down to how many cars you want. The more restrictive, the less cars. If you feel you can get an acceptable number of cars, then pose a few restrictions.

[Guest]

Mark -<BR>What is the objective of your show? I assume that your club is an AACA region. If you just want to attract the maximum number of cars I guess you could accept any car that shows up. I don't know what the purpose that would serve.<P>Most of the AACA region judged shows around here only have classes for cars 25 years and older. And they usually don't accept modified cars. I've seen some shows that accept "collector cars", with a cut-off of 20 years, in a class that is not judged.<P>FYI, the much misused term "classic car" is a specific term that covers cars designated by the Classic Car Club of America - click on the following to see which cars a truly classics: <A HREF="http://www.classiccarclub.org/CarList.htm#Nash" TARGET=_blank>http://www.classiccarclub.org/CarList.htm#Nash</A>

[Guest Dave Mills]

The local region here limited participation to 25 years or older for years. I am still a national member but I dropped out of our local region because of their attitude toward the newer (let's say 15 years to 25 years old) cars. Now, they want to include some newer models and hot rods at the local events to get more cars. Most of us will have nothing to do with them because of the attitude. Now the problem is that the members are all aging and they have trouble attracting younger members because they look down on newer models. I can understand that reasoning for a national meet, but for a local show? You may want the newer models just to improve the turnout.

[novaman]

a couple of the regions I was invovled in (part of the time as a child) would have classes for street rods. The one region simply let the street rod classes judge each other. example pre-war street rod car onwers judged the post-war street rod class and vice-versa. The same with the street rod truck clases. Also the restriction was 25 years old on the rods as well as the antique classes.<P>If you want numbers of cars and spectators, you need the show opened to any car wether the owner belongs to AACA or not. Unfortunely, the street rods seem to draw the younger crowd. Therefore they would be a benefit if you are looking for the specator numbers. Remeber too, that "this guy" might be entering a street rod this year, but that doesn't mean he might not have an antique car back home in the garage that is restored or in the process. So we need to be friendly to him and not just blow him off because he has a rod. That is how we can gain and lose prosective members. (I'm not saying we need to accept the street rod vehicles themselves into AACA. That's not what we are about. But these onwers like to show thier cars too and can be beneficial in possibly finding that part one of our members need to finish their car.)

[Guest]

Mark, Having only been entering shows for 4 years, but I see a large discrepancy in all the shows I have entered. Some shows really don't know how to class the cars, one show had a class that went from "all cars 1929 to 1954" wile another had 1920 to 1940, (but the Model A's had their own class), only the AACA, Springfield, TN, I go to has a class for classics, as describe by the CCCA. I own a 1936 Packard, Model 1404 Club Sedan, and it's a driver, I put about 3,000 miles a year on her, and it's hard to compete agents a 54 Chevy, or a 34 Ford. I love to show my car, and like to see the young people taking an interest in all the old cars, but when they put a 29 Rolls in the same class as a 36 Packard, or a 36 Packard in with a 54 Chevy, something is wrong. Most of the people I met the 1st time I showed my car, now just bring their car and sit in the parking lot and never enter the show, they love to show off their car, but they say, it's not worth the time, trouble, and money to enter the show if you're in a class that's so big and so mismatched. this is something to think about when you are setting up for your show.

[OlJalopy]

Novaman hit the nail on the head! Just because someone is driving a street rod today, doesn't mean that's his only interest, and is by no means all that may be in his garage. Some of us (most ) like Fords, some Chevys, etc. Just because someone else likes street rods, is no reason to exclude them from local shows. Diversity is part of the hobby. Their excess parts are often original and useable in the restoration of our vehicles.<P>I was President of one of the Regions Novaman was a member of in his youth, and was instrumental in starting their annual show. We recognized that there are many facets of the "old car" hobby, and made provisions for antiques, production, special interest, and modified vehicles at the show. In just a few short years, the show grew so much that registrations exceeded all expectations, and we were having a space problem, because of the number of vehicles.<P>I can also recall when a neighboring region, one of the "purist" pursuasion, refused to allow '55-'57 Chevys. That did nothing but alienate the owners, and many of them simply weren't interested in joining the region by the time their cars were "old" enough. <P>Bottom line: It's your club's show. You need to do whatever will be in the best interest of your organization. Remember, it's only one day, but what you do will become the basis for the future and will be remembered by those who can't participate, as well as those who can.<P>Guess this Ol' Jalopy has rattled enough!<P>Good luck! Have a happy!

[Dave@Moon]

I really think a lot of us really overthink this one too often. The real key, I think, is to structure the show physically to accommodate as many types of cars (and owners) as possible, while also diffusing the friction that the inevitable intolerance among factions brings.<P>When I was part of the council that ran the show at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, this problem was endemic to the event. We were more or less required to be as inclusive as possible, yet there were major factions of purists (notice that purists come in multiple factions!) that simply allowed their intolerance to disrupt their own enjoyment of the event. Many of them were inevitably dissappointed in our event, but we made a lot more friends then enemies and <I>never</I> allowed someone else to dictate their tastes to the rest of us or our clientelle.<P>I always reccommend that shows be opened up a broadly as possible, and that like cars be located together and visually isolated within the show as much as possible. The Cord owner will not object as violently to the Saleen if that car is visually insignificant from his/her location. <P>And when a 2 day old Saleen Mustang wins "Best of Show", as happened at the PVGP Sunday show once, be as supportive as you can and accept that it's only a car show. <P>Actually it'd be a real good idea to avoid that one by limiting competition among dissimilar cars. "Best of Show" is a good trophy not to have on hand.

[novaman]

For your "Best of Show" it could be hsndled in a couple of ways. <BR>1.A Best of Show-Antique and Best of show -Modified. <BR>2.Could be a popular choice from spectator votes. Give them a "ticket"(form) to write the entry number of thier favorite car on. Or make it the choice of the car owmers that registered instead of the public.<BR>3. If you point judge cars, the highest score wins. If tied you send out a team to look at only the cars that are tied.

[Dave@Moon]

Novaman,<P>Using seperate "Best of's" for vehicle type is (I think) by far the best approach. I was a judge for the SAE Car Show (Society of Automotive Engineers, their world headquarters is in Pittsburgh) one year when I judged their foriegn classes. My first place car was easily the best MGA I've ever seen or judged (among many hundreds), easily a 385-390 point car. (I actually had it at a 99 on a 100 point system.)<P>When the Head Judge got my form for that car there was a big conference, and it was re-judged by custom car guys. It was decided that the car was "tied" with several others, although I doubt that any other cars were judged that high. <P>They were able to find door gaps that were less even then their firsts, and the car didn't even place in the overall standings. If you've ever even tried to work on an MGA, you know that comparing their door gaps to those of a much more modern design American (not to mention custom) car is absurd. It was like judging an orange as inferior to an apple for the bumps on it's skin.<P>You cannot fairly compare a 1904 Rambler, a 1960 MGA, a 1967 custom Harley and a 1969 Chevelle using <I>any</I> encompassing criteria (as i recall those were all among the cars in the running that year). <P>The people's choice idea is the one I go for most often, because it absolves me of the wrath of those who feel cheated. But their wrath and indignation at their "loss" still exists, and is often still a problem. I've seen clubs organize boycotts of major shows when "cloned" cars win out over the genuine artical in a "People's Choice".<P>I think it's just best to remind everyone that hopefully they didn't buy the damn car for the trophy in the first plase!

[Guest Dave Mills]

Personally, now after 30 years of collecting, I stay away from judged shows and just do the "fun" shows. It is a lot more relaxing and a lot less work. I bought my cars to enjoy, not to collect dust catching pieces of plastic,

[JanK]

This has been a sore point without our Region for years. We have those who insist on closed shows, AACA members only, with AACA compliant cars. We have others who insist on accepting all cars, regardless of age, make or modification. And plenty of opinions in between.<P>For the past few local shows we've arrived at the following compromise.<BR>1. All judged cars must be compliant with AACA classes. HOWEVER, we modified the special interest class to include modifieds, customs and newer cars that were "special."<BR>2. We set up a separate "display only section" for those people who just didn't want to be judged, or who didn't want to be judged "with those other cars."<BR>3. Our region has several established traveling trophies (including Best of Show), and those may only be awarded to Wis Region members. (We lost one of these trophies many years ago, and don't want to go back down that road again.)<BR>4. The president of the region awards a President's Cup to the vehicle of his or her choice. Although the parameters of this award are loose, it has turned into a quasi-service award, and therefore is traditionally given to a Wis Region member.<BR>5. All participants are given dash plaques or meet magnets (dependent on number of cars participating). Dash plaques are getting more expensive to produce, especially with high minimum quantities, so we've changed over to magnets when the numbers don't appear to be there. <P>Good luck on whatever you decide best suits your region!<P>Jan K.<BR>Wis Region<p>[ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: JanK ]

[Guest]

some how my heart agrees with the 25 year rule, but in my mind i guess you have to open it up.<BR>one thing i would like to see in more car shows is orginal class instead of the orginal/restored class. us folks that have orginal unrestored cars can't compete with the restored vehicles that set next to us in the same class. i personaly do not agree with the orginal/restored class at all. it is not a question of restoration money, but of keeping my cars as they came from the factory without restoring them. and they are very strong #2 cars, but i can not compete with trailered "concorse quality" fully restored cars in my class.<BR>winning a trophy is not that important to me, but myself and others like me would a least like to have a fighting chance.<BR>any other veiws on this?<BR>ed<BR>58 buick 66R<BR>60 studebaker wagon