CRG Discussion Forum
Camaro Research Group Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: CanCam68 on June 21, 2008, 12:34:12 AM
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Would like to start a new show and shine in my area, and would appreciate some input as to what should go into a great meet?
I have my own opinions on what should be offered, but would like some info from you guys/gals as to what would attract you into going to a certain car gathering. I have several sponsors ready to back me, so would like this first effort to really get off the ground, so to speak, so they will stay with the even in the future.
Thanks in advance.
CanCam
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Car shows around here are inundated with street rods and late model Mustangs. You can try to limit it to "classic" cars but around here that's 20 years or older. And keep bikes out.
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Ya, I agree with you on keeping the bikes out, but would like to offer the car guys something different than the mill run.
For example, went to a car meet a couple of years ago, and there was an announcer that had a series of questions that he gave over the pa system, re. car in general, and you could attain prizes by answering them... kept us on our toes listening to these. At the time, it was entertianing and informative. So, htought to myself, that's a great idea to get the people involved.
Then there's always the 50/50 that seems to attract interest.
But, is there some thing that you wished that the organizer had included in the format?
capt
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Don't yet caught up in judging the cars! I've run a car show going on our 10th year. What we do is give away lots of door prizes that we get donated & use the money that we get from our sponsors to buy gift cards to local resturants. Everyone that enters a car gets a ticket and at the end of the show we have a big drawing & give the gift cards away. It takes all the politics & grumbling out of the show & everybody has a good time. We tried judging the cars the first 2 years and it seemed like we always had somebody getting mad because he didn't get a trophy or dust collector as I call them. We now have people asking when is our show going to be.
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Thanks for the tip V-J on the judging... that seems always to be a thorn in the side, eh? I often hear of groups or clubs coming in and swaying the vote one way or the other. Ya, politics do get in the way.
I liked one show that I went to, wherein one had to put their ID number down when voting, to keep things on the up and up...but must have been a pain to cross reference.
Anyway, thanks so far for the reponses. Still looking for things that you'd like to see, or things left out a show format.
CanCam68
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At the Carlisle show they have a womans pavillion. My wife now looks forward to the show every year. I was considering doing something esle this weekend, and she said we were going. I go check out the car stuff, she goes to the "womans pavillion". She gets a massage, get her nails done, and meets me later on in a good mood. Oh yea, the burnout contest always draws a croud.
Tom
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Thanks for the "Women Pav"... that's quite the...concept. I know my wifey always asks me.. is there a shopping centre within hailing distance?...she's got the bug!
What do you guys think of a "Burn up"... rather than a "Burn out"...it's fairly common in Canada, wherein you pull tickets from a bag with a time on it, and that's the time that you are stuck with. Then, there is a selected old beater...pref not a GM product (out of respect, I guess?)...a brick or stick is placed on the gas pedal...the car roars @ 5/6K rmp, and the one closest ot the exact time it stopping is the winner. Seems to be pretty popular... but a fair bit of planning/prep must go into setting one of these up.
Anyway, was still hoping to see if any of you out there have taken part in any games/activities or such that might set a meet apart from the rest.
I do appreciate your suggestions to date, eh?
CC68
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We had our 22nd annual car show today. I'd like to thank the inept weather forecasters for scaring away 1/2 to 2/3 of the normal expected crowd...They harped Thursday night on tv, about severe weather, damaging winds, blah blah blah. Saturday was nice, it rained a little last night, and today was sunny and hot, with rain only appearing after 5pm.
That can be a detriment to your show, depending on how much work you have into it, and things like vendors who show up, but no customers. No real good answer, other than to remind people to ignore the weatherman, and look at the radar on the internet before you leave.
50/50 is good and we sell varying lengths of tickets: arms length $5, car length $20, all the way around the biggest car, $40. That's a big seller there, because some people go in together on it.
People's choice awards are good, because it's not 5 or 6 judges; it's dozens of peers.
Good luck!
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If you are going to have raffles have one every hour or so to keep people involved. This means you need a lot of donations from people or places of buisness. If your show is to help support a needy cause this normally isn't a problem. Most shows we go to have "coffee cans" in front of different gifts. You buy tickets $1 each or 6 for $5 and you put your tickets in cans you want to win. 50/50, have the drawing before (an hour??) the awards. If you are judging the cars, don't allow anyone to vote in their own class. A bake sale always goes over big here in the midwest. A DJ with 50's 60' 70's music!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep the entry fee as inexpensive as possilbe and naturally ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, a Dash plaque for the entered cars. Most of the shows here draw around 100 to 200 cars but they only give out a certain amount of plaques to get the cars in early!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did I say to much!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????????? ;D
Dave
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.....and whatever you do - nothing stupid like a water balloon toss contest (or any 'activity') around the cars other than looking!
..about 10 yrs ago at a local Sat show and shine I witnessed first hand such stupidity. Idea was to let the kids have some fun with a water balloon toss. Chance to get wet on a hot summer day. No problem so far except ...... this would have been fine about 100 yards away from the cars. Anyway, on this particular day, the organizers of the event had a water balloon toss just outside where the cars were parked. One kid threw his water filled ballloon to the other person a little to high and hard. If landed in the middle of the windshield of a yellow '69Z which had a cross ram setup. I'll never forget that car - and yes the windshield was original to the car.
Talk about a mess - no one was liable, no one took responsibility. All that happened was that the hat was passed around to try and collect a few bucks for the owner of the Z. At the end of the day he lost his windshield due to pure stupidity and through no fault on his part - he was literally in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It amazed me afteward how many people said, "It was just water." One lb of water falling from 10-15 feet on a hot summer day in south Louisiana was like a brick hitting that hot windshield which shattered upon impact.
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Got it! No water balloons. God what a horror story! I think the 50/50 is a must! Liked at one show, they had a full...bosomed gal selling the tickets, and you could by a strand that stretched... you know where! She sold alot of tickets that day.
Excellent idea of the hourly draw..I think ya gotta have the people tuned in, eh?
And Oh.. if you ever saw any games that didn't destroy windshields... and were fun... clue me in...I am writing down these comments...as some of you are as well, or making mental notes.
Thanks for the contributions, gays/gals!
CC68
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How about bash the ford (or merc, dodge, amc, jeep, import, etc). Grab an appropriate vehicle strip it of glass, and rent out the sledge. Havn't seen it done in some time, but might work.
Tom
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Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Ya, Tom, I can see some merit in this. I've seen only the one in the past... they kept the glass in.. what a mess to clean up!
Thinking of car games to play...I did see one that kind of interested me... but am worried about the safety and insurance thingy. Anyway, what they did was... set out a short course... maybe 100ft or so, had some pylons at the end of it, and the driver was blindfolded, and had to get as close to the pylons as possible. If ya hit them, you were out. They had a judge in side the car as well. The ladies seemed to like this event. But, as I mentioned... would worry about things if the person inside accidently punched the pedal . I hear that any waivers that one signs at these events can be cicumvented by a good lawyer?
Anyway, if there are any more games out there let me know, eh?
CC68
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IMO I would not "bash" any cars. Unless you are limiting your show to just GM products which I would not think would be an advantage. The more cars and different types you can draw is only a plus to you and your group. Besides, liabilities (cost of insurance )I would imagine could be quite high. Keep as simple as possible.
Again just my opinion
Dave
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Not sure where you are from CanCam, but I am in a hot part of the state. Look for a location not on blacktop or concrete. Try for a park with trees. Like William said, limit it to older cars. We have shows in our area where only pre '76 cars are welcome. Also have a Camaro class. ;D
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Good point Gary! I'm from S. Ontario, and it can get hot here as well. Personally, I won't go to a hard top show... they really heat up. Nothing beats shade!
One point no one has brought up, and I think it could cost bucks?... aand that is to provide some sort of music...either a live band or a DJ.
Do you guys/gals think that this is important?
Thanks for the feed back to date.
CC68
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I've been approached by a couple of antique people who have indicated some interest in setting up a couple of tents @ a car event. I don't think that they are car orientated in their inventory...would you invite them, or do you think this might be a bit "tacky"?
Would like some input on this, eh?
CC68
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No antiques... unless they are car related.
Music is a must... usually have DJ's around here.
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One point no one has brought up, and I think it could cost bucks?... aand that is to provide some sort of music...either a live band or a DJ.
Do you guys/gals think that this is important?
Thanks for the feed back to date.
CC68
CC68, as a person involved with music in several different forms, if I were you, I'd simply get some good speakers/small PA system. You can get a fairly decent set-up for a reasonable price. This will include a microphone so you can do appropriate announcements, etc. If you plan on doing this yearly or several times a year, you'll save yourself a ton of money in the long run. Plus, if you use a local shop, you might be able to get a good discount or donation in exchange for a event sponsorship.
From there...as far as music is concerned, I would simply get an iPod and create a great playlist that is long enough to last the entire event. I wouldn't waste money on DJ for this type of event. People are busy talking, looking at cars, etc. and although they'll enjoy the 'background music', it'll be just that--background music. The expense just doesn't make much sense.
Unless you want to make a band a major part of the event--end of show party, for the same reason, I just wouldn't spend the money. I personally go to these shows to see great cars and meet cool people, not see some 4th rate cover band (for some reason I'd always prefer to hear the original recording than a bad version of it)
JMHO....
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Thanks for the heads up on the music aspect...some good points to consider, eh?
Up here, I see the events closing a lot earlier now...in the area of 3-3:30. Many will stay until the 50/50 draw then leave.
One think I think I will definately not do... and that is what happened at the last S&S that I attended. They called all the winners with their cars to line up, took pics and handed out the awards. To my way of thinking it was like rubbing your noses in that you didn't qualify... and some of the ones that they lined up, were not a good as some of the ones still left out of this activity. Least that's how it felt to me....IMHO
CC68
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must have been a real big water baloon?
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One thing my club starting doing several years ago, was to stop classing cars. We award Peoples Choice and Top 30 Cars. No best in show, no best in class. This tends to elevate the nicest cars regardsless of how many happen to be in a particular class. We don't hear nearly as much grumbling.
We've also done away with the the cheap plastic trophys. For the past several years we've purchase Framed Automotive prints from several well known artists and then attached a small brass plac which reads "Top 30". Now the participants have something they can proudly hang on a wall. Most of us have way to many plastic trophys laying around.
Oh this year we are presenting replica disc brake / calipur models signed by the famous Jim Hall of "Chaparal Racing".
Here's my plug, come join us at the "West Texas Cruisers" annual show to be held at the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum in Midland, TX Sept 23rd. The museum is home to all of Jim Hall's Chaparals. Check out the September issue of Road & Track. Article on the Shelby Terlingua Mustang. It has a photo of the musem.
Good Luck,
Kris
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Kris,
Isn't that show on the 27th of September, not the 23rd?
I will see about entering one of my cars at this show...I went as a spectator last year and had a great time. It has been a while since I have actually entered a show.
Here is a link for more information on the show, for those that are in the West Texas area!
http://www.westtexascruisers.com/announcements.htm (http://www.westtexascruisers.com/announcements.htm)
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Kris, you made some great points in the area of "judging".
On the TC site, there's been a fair bit of heated discussion on this very topic, as many feel that it isn't being done in an effective/objective manner.
I remember going to one car event, wherein you had to put you own car # on the voting slip. I think this was to try and curb the "club" voting that takes place at show and shines, thus squewing the system.
And if down yer way this winter, we'll have to quaf a few cool ones, eh?
CC68
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Zegret,
You are correct our show is Saturday Sept 27. We hope you can make it. I see you live here in Midland also, we'll have to get together and swap Camaro stories.
Kris