Event Coverage I think I'm getting numb to the hobby

It's easy to become jaded when you have been doing this for so long and you've seen so many cars. I go to an event like back to the '50s and walk right past hundreds if not thousands of cars without a second look. If I saw any one of them in the grocery store parking lot, I'd be over there parking by it, checking it out. But when there's so many of them all together, you gravitate towards only the ones that really turn your crank.

A guy has to think about, is that how I want to be? Do I want to be disinterested and uncaring about other people's pride and joy, that they may very well have built with passion that exceeds my own? I can think back to when I first got in the hobby and every new thing was a source of excitement. Do I want to feel that way again? Everybody is different, but for me the answer is yes! So I work on my attitude when I I begin to feel jaded, and try to appreciate each car for what it is. Even though I can't study every car that's not my style, I can still try to appreciate it.
The other thing is after 50 years of pursuing this hobby when I go to a show I see a lot of stuff that I now consider very poorly done, mismatched, poorly styled, etc. But, then I need to consider my attitude again. What would I have done 25 years ago or 40 years ago? Nowhere near as good as some of the stuff that I find fault in now. I guess that gets down to "how can you even see the spec in your brother's eye, when you have a plank in your own eye?"

I think shows are great for the social aspect. Even if I don't find a bunch of cars that I find really interesting, I always find some interesting people to chat with and hear their story. But still I find driving, cruising, and racing much more exciting than shows. I still make it to one now and then though, and very rarely have I ever regretted spending the time there.

 

I detoured to Bonneville for 15-20 years. Came back and saw I hadn't missed anything.

 

We all have turn-offs,an turn on's. Too much mixed up time frames,all on same car bothers me some. I see way to much primer called a finish,way too many moon tanks not on drag race cars,an very poor engineering copycated{ When in fact,good engineering was at a pretty high point of awareness in 50 n 60s. Even with teens,I think this was do too WW2 info an tech showed our Fathers n us the need, never just slap things together. Research an learn,then do it,being the feel of the times.
I'll try too look passed things I know to be,trendy copycat carp*,so most of a car/rod canbe enjoyed for parts an ways that are right ,like we did do!<That time frame for me is 1950 an 1960s. I was there an very active*,{my own cars in mag. n indoor car shows,all over Florida,plus Miami being a very big city, in 3 car club, I painted Wild car T-shirts an names on cars ,plus striped. I think more than some. Giving me a wider view of how it was an what was going on ,vs those that did there time in a small town,enjoyed local stuff,not as much over view.
When asked?,an I give someone info they asked about,but they then tell me I'm not seeing it right!
That dose burn me out some.

 

I started going to car shows as a child in the 1970s. I remember in those days the larger majority were car builders and were able to share ideas and relate to each others experience in the process of car construction. I have not been to many events for the reason this thread was started. I can only look at cars for so long and I become bored, but I'm getting better. By better I mean I try to look at the cars and see it as someone's vision that took sacrifice to accomplish. If I don't have that attitude, after about 2 hours I might as well be walking around in a used car lot.

 

I don't think numb begins to describe it. Comfortably numb... well that gets close.

 

Not numb, but maybe a bit jaded.
There is a weekly deal at a local cafe that brings in a couple dozen cars, all local and regular, maybe one or two traditional style cars show.
There is a once a month cruise the loop in town that brings steady flow of predictable cars, rarely see a traditional hot rod, maybe a few customs.
Like most here I enjoy building and driving my cars more than showing, especially if that means sitting in a lawn chair all day.
There is a show I do make a point of going to, third Saturday in August in my home town of Vashon at Engels gas station, always brings a wide variety of cars, trucks and boats, everything from hot rods to exotics to farm trucks and vintage hydros.
Hard to get bored with the wide variety that show.

 

I’m with you on loving Jeff’s coupe but it doesn’t live with Jeff anymore, he sold it.
To me that’s like selling one of your kids

 

There IS a solution...



"Street Is Neater In A Beater!" -- Yer Ol' Dad
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Technically the only car at the show that should suit your tastes 100% is the one you bring to it.

 

Well I may be all wrong here and your mileage may vary. However, I think the Covid Pandemic may have affected us all in ways we don’t understand yet. At a minimum it put 18 months of our lives on hold. We were isolated from extended family, friends, coworkers, and social activities including car shows and events. We were being told meeting more then three people outside our immediate family was a death sentence. So any trips to the store be it grocery or hardware for a couple of bolts were curtailed. Not to mention many were out of work for an extended time period or lost their jobs altogether. I’m retired but had concerns about how the pandemic might affect the economy and my retirement income I had worked so hard for. I know I made the decision to not spend as much on my cars until I could see how things would go.

I guess what I’m trying to say is many of us developed different priorities some things like car shows are just not as important. For that matter a lot of car shows are just starting back up after being canceled for a couple years. The same for a lot of people who are just getting back to normal with jobs, families, hobbies and lifestyles. I’ll stand with my opening statement that Covid may have affected by ways we don’t understand yet. Give it sometime and we will get back to thinking and doing the things we used to.

 

I beat this drum here on occasion, but it generally seems to fall on deaf ears. Basically, this hobby thrived when creativity and innovation were still treasured but now that 'tradition' has decided that certain 'rules' apply to what is considered 'correct', that's been stifled, and this sameness has settled over this segment of the hobby. Now I get that certain design elements are required and others should be banned to qualify as traditional, but that should vary depending on the type of car you're building. Anything that's fenderless, you have a lot less latitude; a IFS is never going to look right on that style car. But endless tri-five Chevies with perfectly restored exteriors down to every last emblem and script and a LS/OD auto doesn't hit the mark in my book. Has nobody heard of nosing and decking anymore? Interiors that look like they were lifted out of a late-model luxury car, those GD tilt columns in everything, billet anything (I might give you a pass if it's home-made for a specific purpose) or wanton displays of cubic money with zero originality are all turn-offs for me.

I won't even start on what's happened to customs.

 

About 20 years ago, I had worked really hard on my 57 Chev, and took it to my first car show. It was absolutely nit-picked apart. Guys would walk up talking to their buddy, about how this thing had not been updated since the 70’s, way out of date. Of course they don’t realize that the owner/builder is standing right there, this was a fresh build, and the 1977 look was exactly the idea. I wanted a car exactly as it would have been for me in high school. All my hard work had besmirched the reputation of their fine show. They should have a better watch in the gate. God forbid they let anymore daily beaters crap in with rock chips.

So no, I’m not much into the car show cruise night scene. There are still some good ones out there, like Lonestar Roundup and Gathering at the Roc. Maybe the HAMB Drags will come back someday?

 

We haven't attended any cruise in's this year and we decided to go to one at a local restaurant, It was clear that there were no cars or trucks that appealed to my taste.

We met up with a friend and went into the restaurant and had dinner when we came out there was a few more cars in the parking and still nothing that caught my eye.

Our '54 wagon, a totally original '55 Chevy & a 1960 Chevy Impala was the only early cars there, It seems a lot of people I have known for most of my life have sold there old cars and got into late model trucks with stupid big wheels.

The last big NSRA show I attended convinced me there are very few people building cars anymore and are getting away from the hamb era cars, I joined NSRA in the mid 70's when all the cars were pre 48 and at that time the shows we nothing but early cars, that's just not the case anymore.

I've become selective when it come to car shows, I attend very few anymore. HRP

 

I’ve never liked the formal car show atmosphere but about 15 years ago we had a local cruise-in one Saturday a month
It was great about 200 to 300 cars would show up ,of all kinds ,other people would come to look too
It was good for all the local restaurants you would drive through town and there would be cars in front of them. The Burger King were it was held always had a column of smoke coming out
Then there was infighting in the car club that was sponsoring the event and they split into two groups also people thought they could do a cruise-in themselves
Now there are cruise-ins every Saturday or Sunday night ,coffee and donuts in the morning and you are lucky to get 15 cars at any one event
Just like everything that is successful it just gets overdone

 

I didnt mind the isolation.

I basically just locked myself in the garage and built stuff.

I now have several cars I could take to a show, but I dont feel like going.

I'll just keep building stuff...

 

I'm struggling here - at 77 years old (older than a "Boomer" ). Recently went to LARS, a little over a 1,000 mile round trip. Had a nice visit with the kids and latest granddaughter. And another visit at the Motor Transport Museum in Campo, CA (I am a member). Arrived at LARS early on Friday morning, the cars were just starting to roll in and the smaller venders were still trickling in. Probably walked 2 or 3 miles, looked closer at some project vehicles in the swap area. Bought about $68 of tools and supplies at the tool space. Was on the way back to Arizona by 10 AM - definitely burned out.

I have not attended a local car show this year. Partially due to sameo-sameo and partially due to the fact that I have stepped up to some family obligations (The car "thing" never came first)

Lead Ain't Dead 2020 - The road trip to the Starbird Museum in Afton, OK. The white "OT" mild custom is mine - it won the Koolest Kustom award at this event. Missed 2021, going to attempt the 2,200 mile round trip this September.

My Alliance membership just expired. I don't regret supporting this web site - and I actually was able to provide some technical information on a bad batch of lower anvils for the common (HF) English wheel. My build thread was deleted (Not American). I posted in the "Traditional Customs", maybe it would have survived if I faked my address as Sweden or France (I am 1/4 French-Canadian...).

Last trip in this mild custom was to San Diego, CA. We arrived home at 3 AM on the back of a AAA flatbed truck. The engine is apart, 3 out of 4 exhaust valves were deeply recessed, the worst exhaust valve is curled (sort of like a cowboy hat). The head is out for valve seat inserts and a rebuild. I will attempt a rehab of the bottom end (new bearings, a quick hone and new rings) - I'm 77, if I don't learn new things now, I may never get another chance.

Russ

 

just don’t post em here

 

I get excited seeing a stock painted orange engine with black brackets and air cleaner

 

Can you make yourself go back-to-basics? This is really hard for most guys, I get it, the older I get the better I want my end result to be.... yet I have found no real satisfaction in that approach. Just make yourself look at the old black-n-white photos, no magazine cars, but the REAL hand made cars, my favorites are the real basic cars that got driven all the time and raced at the local drag strip from time to time, the REAL original Street-Strip car. Nothing fancy about them, in fact, the opposite, mostly all stock engines, no headers, single carb ... make the car 100% a reliable driver as they did back then .... just "plain-Jane" .... that's where I want to go now.

 

I'm kinda getting that way.

 

This is the rabbit hole I go down.......if a 283 is good a 327 is better.....if I spend the money to build a 327, I can spend the same money and build a 406, but I can get 434 CID out of the same small block and then I do nothing, because I can't make a decision.

 

Cashed my first check from ROD & CUSTOM in 1962. I still consider my self a car guy and there are a hell of a lot of interesting cars and trucks out there that would get the stink eye from traditional rodders. Growing up in the fifties, we were always looking for new and better ways to build and modify cars. Traditional hot rods have almost become paint by number projects

 

"Analysis paralysis" is a great term. That is the problem, I had it bad growing up and REALLY bad when I joined here. My brain said it has to be perfect or don't even bother. Don't get me wrong, some inter cranial arguing helps you get better, but too much and you're stuck in place. I realize now that I'm NOT a pro builder, the paint doesn't have to be prefect, every part doesn't have to be excellent, I just have to keep pushing my abilities and build what I want. It's little details that please me that most don't see, but as long as I'm moving forward and I'm happy....fuck em.

I go to about maybe 2-3 cars shows a year, 1 is 90% stock Model As (and pancakes to boot), another one has a swap meet attached (LARS), the last two I don't even go to every year (GNRS and a vintage truck show that has old semitrucks in a steam train museum WITH a swap meet). I don't show my stuff unless the parking is WAAAY better (like specialty parking at LARS).

Lastly, you're not going to feel the same way like you did in the 90s/00s when the resurgence hit you like a ton of bricks. You can't look to current shows for inspiration, you have to look to the source......it's the only way in such a niche "hobby", especially if you weren't born (or anywhere close) in the time of Hot Rods you're after.

 

That's exactly what I'm doing with my 32. As it was, dual purpose and fun. The front disc brakes and 10 spokes are staying. The tilt steering is gone. The Hurst shifter I bought in the 60's is back in. The first gen Americans are back on. I just spent a week reinstalling the Stock 32 hand brake lever that required me removing the Body again because the Lokar (POS) hand brake was just out of place. Yes it will get some kind of real paint and probably done right where it sits and No it won't be base coat clear coat.

 

Haha, interesting discussion. I'm not feeling burnt out, especially after 2 years of covid crap, it's good to get out and do things. Just attended LARS last month, and according to the reactions from you all to my photos thread a lot of you aren't burnt out on it either. But I get where you're coming from, even traditional hot rods are getting to be same-same. It's what happens when everybody wants to show their individuality, by doing things the same as everyone else. Kind of like tats. But I see @Paul build his newest T roadster, and damn, how can you be burnt out over something like that? Awesome little car.

I try to just do my own thing, whether it's approved by anyone else or not (and generally it isn't); and I try to find something to like at any event I go to. Went to a cruise night just the other week, one I've been going to for about 6 months now, last Thursday of the month. It's been pretty small, they're trying to build it up but they need more attendance. Well, last month a local Corvette club showed up and took over, brought out a bunch of brand new Corvettes, took up all the front parking spots; I guess we were supposed to be impressed. Fail... But as I walked past them I found several really nice HAMB era cars to appreciate. So the Corvette guys sponsored a couple of trophys, which anyone can do, for 20 bucks you can sponsor one too, and choose who gets it. Of course, the trophys they sponsored all went to members of their own club. Geeez, is it possible to be more obnoxious than Corvette guys? I decided then that I need to start sponsoring a trophy each month, giving one to the most deserving HAMB era car at the show, since they always get overlooked in favor of the most blinged out piece of shit street machine with LS power plant, 20" wheels and rubber band tires. I just need to decide what name to use as a sponsor, I have some ideas.

 

I'm probably in the minority here, but if it has wheels and an engine, I'll look at it! I don't limit my tastes to a certain year cutoff, but I do get tired of seeing 100 point restored Camaros and Mustangs. Point me toward the ones that have been hot rodded with big tires and big motors. Not much into factory built stuff, I prefer owner modified, and if they did it themself, even more so. I look at other's cars to get ideas for mine, where did they mount their coil, what kind of exhaust, how they did their dash gauges. Big or little ideas I can steal or borrow. I don't see street rods or hot rods or restomods, I see cars modified to the owner's tastes, even if it's not my taste. Most of the time even stuff I wouldn't be caught dead in has some detail that I might like, even if the rest is pure garbage.

I guess my vision goes to about 1979, before tweed and pastel colors. Orphan cars always get a look, as does pre 48 stuff. But I'll look at a nice Tri 5 or Smokey and the Bandit TA, too. And I've got a weakness for old farm tractors and machinery.....

I guess what I'm saying is, don't just look at the whole cars, look at the details, even if the overall isn't your style. Sometimes you find a hidden gem among the gravel.