To pay or not to pay?...

[Jim Bollman]

I don't go to many pay to show events. I do go to several that are for good causes that manage to make a fair amount of money with free or very cheap registration. They make the money selling food, silent auctions, sponsors, 50:50 drawings, etc. They also tend to be my favorite shows because they don't have blaring canned music but live music, just amateurs but usually pretty good.

 

As far as free for older cars and charge for newer, which is harder, getting a pre 1940s car to a show or a 60s to 80s or newer car. I was involved with a club that let pre 1932 cars in free to try and get more early cars for people to see. They also had the lowest fee for a show around so the free cars were not saving a lot, but that class grew from a couple of cars to a whole row and sometimes a second row. I heard people say that were going to bring their newer car but liked to get in free.

[STEVE POLLARD]

We went to the Rhinebeck Car Show last weekend here in Dutchess County, NY.  We had a great time, cost was $20 to drive onto the show field and that price included my wife and son as well. We parked and walked around the show field, had lunch, walked around some more and left. I used to put the lawn chair out behind my vehicle and "camp out" for the duration of the show, I don't do that anymore... I get more enjoyment now with my youngest son who has taken an interest in vintage vehicles, so we walk the fields and check out all the different types of vehicles - he's really enjoying it !

[Frank DuVal]

In addition to helping our local AACA put on the June downtown show ( and I wonder if this discussion is even talking about AACA shows, since AFAIK, they ALL charge to enter and spectators are free) I also go to a show down in Centerville, VA (Goochland County Centerville) in September, called Field Day Of The Past. Lots of old steam machinery, buildings, etc. The spectators have to pay to enter the field, just like a State or County fair, but on Saturday of the event, "they" want old cars to show up for a car show within the other activities, so the cars get in free, along with the drivers and a passenger. There is a small fee if you want to "show" the car and try for a trophy. No charge to park with those "showing". Once the car is parked, you can roam the grounds doing fun things, like watch a steam sawmill in action and sit in your lawn chair when your legs are tired. . I go every year. ?

https://fielddayofthepast.net/

 

So, I do both, help put on an AACA show that has to charge the cars to enter to cover costs (like every AACA show I know of), and I go to a show that charges spectators and lets the cars in free. If youse guys are near Virginia, I suggest you go to both! ?

[1935Packard]

The way I see it, we car guys put on shows because we enjoy it: We get a pleasure out of showing our cars to each other and to members of the public. Given that, it makes sense that we pay to put on the shows. 

 

Another way to think of it is that this is our outreach to the next generation of car owners.  An old car show might be just the thing to wow that kid or teenager into thinking that someday he just has to get an antique car.  Without that show, that kid is a lot less likely to see the cars that make his heart go pitter patter.  So in that sense shows are our way of carrying on the hobby into the future, and $10 or $20 is the price we pay to help make that happen.

[Buffalowed Bill]

I am an old car collector. I've been doing this for about fifty five years. During that time I've seen the best of it when cars could be reasonably restored and there was always a ready market for a good car. Speared on by the Boomers the apex of the hobby was in the late eighties and the nineties. Like everything else what goes up must come down, and so too has the vibrant hobby. If we were talking about the stock market we would call it a correction. If it's really necessary to stop the downward spiral by paying for a venue, I get it, but does the price have to be so high. I can see $5 or maybe $10, but such a large part of our hobby is old and on a fixed income, we are being forced out of the activities of the hobby, before we should be ready to go.

 

Nobody who puts on a car show, has ever asked me what I can afford to spend to display. The numbers that I see today makes me wonder if the venue providers are interested in me and my car, or is it just about the money. So many people worry, so much, about the future of the hobby, but what they should be really concerned about it's health today. Many of us have been the backbone of the hobby for decades. Shouldn't we be allowed to continue until we can't do it anymore?

[Buffalowed Bill]

I am an old car collector. I've been doing this for about fifty five years. During that time I've seen the best of it when cars could be reasonably restored and there was always a ready market for a good car. Speared on by the Boomers the apex of the hobby was in the late eighties and the nineties. Like everything else what goes up must come down, and so too has the vibrant hobby. If we were talking about the stock market we would call it a correction. If it's really necessary to stop the downward spiral by paying for a venue, I get it, but does the price have to be so high. I can see $5 or maybe $10, but such a large part of our hobby is old and on a fixed income, we are being forced out of the activities of the hobby, before we should be ready to go.

 

Nobody who puts on a car show, has ever asked me what I can afford to spend to display. The numbers that I see today makes me wonder if the venue providers are interested in me and my car, or is it just about the money. So many people worry, so much, about the future of the hobby, but what they should be really concerned about it's health today. Many of us have been the backbone of the hobby for decades. Shouldn't we be allowed to continue until we can't do it anymore?

[Lahti35]

I only hit the shows with free entry or that's attached to another thing (like an antique show) so I get something for my entry fee... Am I a cheap SOB?.. nope, just think its backwards to pay to show a car that brings in a crowd that pays to see the cars. Double dipping baby!

 

In my area if people stopped going to shows that required an entry fee I bet they'd drop that fee pretty quick!

[RansomEli]

I'm like most people here - I don't like to pay to show my car. However, I will go to 2 or 3 shows per year where I have to pay simply because I like the venue.

 

I do like the idea of letting early cars get in for free or a reduced rate. Travelling  to a car show 20-40 miles away in my 1921 Franklin takes a certain commitment that '65 Mustang or  '69 Camaro owners don't face. And when I get to the show, I'm usually the only Franklin there. Opening the hood quickly draws a crowd. I get to talk a lot about Franklins and hear about lots of uncles who had a Franklin on their farm.

 

But you know, these cars shows are not really for the old cars. They're for the hot rods, Corvettes and muscle cars. 

[Xander Wildeisen]

I have my business name/logo on the side doors of my cars. So going to shows is a form of advertising for me. I do not mind paying a fee, because I know that someone has time and leg work in putting it together. If the show is in the middle of a parking lot, on asphalt, with no shade in sight, in the middle of summer. I will go once. Put a show in a nice setting, where a person can get a bite to eat and sit down and have a drink/beer. Walk around and check out local stores/shops, I will go back. This picture was taken at the Coeur d'Alene show here in Idaho. That is my  52 Hudson Hornet that I used to have. It was fun parking it next to the little British cars. And I was parked right in front of the cafe/bar with outside seating, that is a good show. Can not tell you the entry fee, it does not matter, money well spent.