All GM Carlise PA Event

[gbsean]

I saw only 1 BCA members car there...this is a National Event and people wonder why Buicks get no respect...

[h=5]GM Carlisle Event Overview...The Buick Brand has never been well represented at this Event. I was contacted as well as Jim Chaudrue to help promote this event as it was Buick themed...with the feature cars being the Turbo charged Buick's coming off the 25th Anniversary which the BPG presented last year. I will have to say that with all the promoting I did on FB and other Buick sites that only 18 other Buicks showed up...besides the 53 Turbo Cars. John Csordas Philip Roitman and Carl Rychlik all had cars in the invitational section with Car Rychlick taking one of the top spots. In the show field there were only 3 Gs/Skylarks and the full size/mid size class had 12 car...the Feiro group and 2x that amount. Now this year they had more Buicks than ever before but they want more...do the vendors cater to the Buick Brand...yes they do as I picked up numerous pins patches and decals...Tyler and I will be talking in the next few weeks in regards to what he and I can do to promote Buicks at this National Event...I had a blast this weekend..it is a well run event...thats all they do...[/h]

[Bhigdog]

Buick is the featured car at Macungie this year...............Bob

[Guest BigDogDaddy]

Unfortunately the Carlisle GM event has a reputation as being mostly a Chevrolet event, so they are in a catch 22. Nobody else but the Chevy guys go... because nobody else but the Chevy guys go.

similarly, the Ford event has a reputation as a Mustang event. Although they do have a fair representation of other Ford products, the Mustangs overwhelm the others. Same goes for the all Chrysler event. It is mostly the late 60s to early 70s muscle cars. I applaud you for trying to change that stigma, but it is not easy to change minds. It is a slow process.

[ted sweet]

TOTAL ATTENTANCEWAS TERRIBLE. I WAS THERE with my 77 electra but most likely wont go next year

[Guest shadetree77]

You're right about the Ford event. I went a few years ago hoping to see a good variety of cars. I was dismayed to see 90% of the field was taken up by Mustangs. I've never seen so many Mustangs in all my life. I'll also never attend that event again. Sad to know that the other Carlisle events are plagued by this type of attendance. Thanks for the heads up though. That will keep me from being disappointed again.

[ted sweet]

90% of the GM showfield was empty

[Thriller]

I have to wonder about what some folks call national events and hold them at one end of the continent. Granted, there's a good population there, but if you want to see a national event featuring Buick, hold it in Michigan, preferably Flint, and see what happens.

I'm not trying to be overly negative, but people have to pick and choose what they attend. Getting over 70 Buicks to an event that isn't a BCA event is actually quite an accomplishment overall. Now, if people can only afford enough financially or time-wise to attend one big event, what would be the draw of this over the BCA National meet, or perhaps a regional meet, if Buicks are their primary interest? Some BCA members also have other brands (I can't explain it, but apparently it happens), so may be members of other clubs that also pull on their purse strings and vacation time. I know for me, time has changed what I do...I used to fish a lot, but then the cars started taking priority, so fishing declined...now building the business and my wife's health are taking priority, so participation in car events has declined.

Now, if what the others state is true about the "all GM show" being dominated by Chevrolet, then perhaps the Buick folks don't find it particularly fun to attend. If it has a reputation for that, why would people attend?

The questions are essentially rhetorical. I know what it is like when something you are involved in doesn't go over well, but there are a lot of factors on people's time and money and they may not attend any particular event.

[ted sweet]

gee since most gm cars are /where badged as chevy why wouldn't the show be mostly chevys? sad to see that buick owners don't want to be around chevy owners.

[Thriller]

I don't think it is that we don't want to be around Chevy owners, so much as Buicks are unique. What draws some of us to the Buick marque is that uniqueness (it certainly did it for me, then things got out of control). The issue is that some of the Chevrolets you see at these shows, while they may not be a dime a dozen, certainly appear the same...it becomes monotonous to look at Chevs all the time. Similarly, for me at least, it can be bothersome for folks to fawn over the "aura" (for lack of a better term) of the tri-five Chevrolets. Buicks were more powerful, more uniquely styled, and more well-appointed. Yet, a Buick Special in the value guides rates somewhere around a Chev 150. Go figure.

I find a similar thing if you look at the first generation Mustang - they may have unique options, but they all look the same, until you get beyond the notchback era to where there were some fastbacks and such.

Personally, a big affront to me is the offense taken by the original poster (at least seemingly). He is putting in personal effort to promote Buick folks to come out, but not seeing results. It makes sense that will generate some frustrations.

[BUICK RACER]

What I find interesting he mentions three guys that are all BCA members but he only saw one! LOL!

[JohnD1956]

A few observations from my admittedly "limited" point of view:

Just because someone includes the word "National " in their event’s name does not make the event more attractive. I can think of another organization that has several National Meets each year, and all over this country, and I most likely would not go to any of them. Several factors impact this decision. Finances, time, and accessibility are the big three. Interest is another major factor.

I do not think most Buick guys have anything against Chevy guys, and/ or Pontiac guys, or Caddy guys, or Oldsmobile guys. I don’t even think we have anything against other marquees or the hot rod crowd. But I do have a big interest in all Buicks, and when the factors enumerated above come into play, then I choose to use my resources to follow that specific interest.

While it may be true that most current GM cars are generic and contain a lot of Chevrolet parts, this is not the case before the mid 70's. Hardly anything was interchangeable between the GM family in the old days, at least if you were trying to keep the vehicle true to it’s origin.

As for the Interest factor, my personal conviction that keeps me from many shows is the current trend for people to say they updated the mechanicals of their car for reliability. Honestly, if several hundred ( or more) decades old vehicles show up for a marquee’s National Meet, many under their own power, and with original systems, I have to wonder just how much more reliability could be asked for? IMO these people really wanted a new car, and a new car feeling with some old fenders. Their choice is valid for them, but not my preference. So when I choose which shows I would attend, the subject matter of the program is important.