Car Show Rant

Tough crowd! We just had Seattle's big car show on Greenwood Avenue- 52 dollar entry fee. I was loking to sell my 71, and was going to do it that way but not for that amount.

I used to do the 6-7 car show a year thing when I got a 442 20 years ago, but got burned out and maybe do 1-2 a year if any. I think it s for the newbies to the hobby.

 

I was just thinking, how many of these guys have to pay for some kind of liability insurance to put on a car show, in this day and age? A show at a car dealership, you might be able to get under their umbrella on, but if you rent a state or county park or a privately owned place for it? You'd be crazy not to have something. The thread "My Legs Hurt" would be one reason why.

Yeah $20-$25 is a lot for a small show, but they have to figure that fee based on a minimum attendance so that if the turnout is small they don't lose their shirt. I have to admit I balk at paying more than $25 for a swap meet spot, but that's because some of those shows if I spend $25 for the spot and $25 for the gas and only sell $75 of crap all day, it seems kind of silly when I could stay home and sell two or three things on eBay and make more than $25.

 

We just did a cruise/show a few weekends ago. They charged us $10 to enter. We did a cruise around town and then parked all the cars in town. They advertised music and dash plaques to the 1st 100 cars. The music was a stereo, not a band like everyone thought. They used our cars to draw all the people to town and the bars and restaurants reaped the benefits. We were pretty annoyed, especially when two punk teenagers threw mountain dew all over several of us screwing around. They shouldn't have charged the car owners to be there. I won't do it again. It's like they charge the entertainment to entertain.

 

I go to shows with the club I belong to we bring any where between 6 to 14 cars. First we go out for breakfast and head to the show. Then we get to park together. ....... And for any profits most car clubs donate the money to a charitable cause.

 

Charging the Entertainment to entertain is exactly what GG and the NSRA does. You pay a high entry fee so they can charge a high addmission fee to those who want to see our cars. What a deal. Without our cars there wouldn't be any of their events. I just wish I would have thought of their Cash Cow before they did. Give them credit for being in the right place at the right time. Thats why Meadors drives those high dollar cars hes pays someone to build. He got the cash and we don't.

 

Insurance is a real concern for most events now. We pay about $750 for ours, but it will not cover any type of game event. Those that want to stage a race or driving event find out that the coverage is astronomical. The vast majority of our cost is in the food we provide to the participants. We've been doing this for 34 years now and have it down pretty well, but we're a minority within the hobby. Most events that center on the participants have vanished in the past few years.

 

This is our 19th car show for our club and if you figure: park rental, building rental, DJ cost, Trophy cost, advertising cost, food cost, INSURANCE COST, ect after 200 entrys at $10.00 per cars does't leave much. If it rains the members pony up for the expenses not meet.
Our car club also put on a car show and feed at the local nursing home every year, and donates profit to the local food shelf, which is funded from our car show.
Our Nursing home show is the most rewarding event I go to each year.

MSRA back to the 50's entry is $25 for 3 days for preregistration and $50 at the gate, that is a bargin.
Myself I do not enter judged events, I'm there to have a good time.
I also only go to pre 72 cruises and pre 64 shows.

 

That happens on this side of the pond too but it costs a lot more, The sunday show im going to this weekend is 20 quid entry which is approx $40 for the day.....no plaques or anything, but we all still pay n do it ?????.................but during the course of the year i hear this type of rant/moan many times.

 

250+ for flyer's. 200 to 400 per band playing at the show. 100+ to buy trophies to hand out. 300+ for raffle prizes. 100+ for pissers. It adds up. Most clubs want to do nothing more then recoup the cost of the show. You cant put a show on for free. It would be awesome if you could but you cant. All the starting costs for the show come from the club members. It would be nice to make some of your money you put out back so your not spending $1000's out of pocket for people to come for free and gain prizes and trophies, while the people who are putting on the show cant gain any of this.

 

Buzzard just reminded me. The "Big" Roundup fee each year, yep that is a huge driving force of motivation to get my ride ready for the show so I dont forefit that hard earned coin. But then again roundup is the only pay show I ever go to and its the beginning of the cruise season in my opionion so if I dont have whatever ready by roundup well then I'm missing out.

Buzzard thanks for the annual motivation.

 

My club has put on 3 (soon to be 4) shows, around 65 cars or so. We hold it at my dads place (Chuck-A-Burger, see link below) We have a band or two. We have never even thought of having an entrance fee. I don't go to any other shows in the area that charge anything. I don't feel I need to pay to have someone look at my car. I can park it in the parking lot outside the show, and just as many people will see it coming and going.
My Dad and Grandpa started putting on cruise nights at Chuck-A-Burger 25 yrs. ago. Never once had an entrance fee. We pay for the band, Johnnys, security guard, advertisement, etc. The only thing we ask is to buy a soda and a burger.

Oh yea and nothing says Nostalgia like a defunct department store.

 

hey guys, just pay or stay home, it aint that big of a deal, unless you dont work

 

Back in the 'good old days' (the 70's), they didn't call them 'car shows'; they were 'Rod Runs'. The point being to hop in a caravan with your buddies and visit a town where another club was hosting a show. The whole point being 'having fun with cars.' The club charging just enough to cover their expenses and maybe so they could throw a Christmas party for themselves later in the year.

Then others entered the hobby who needed an ego boost (Oh I mean trophy) and all the Rod Runs became car shows. Because without a trophies, no one shows up and the club loses their butt on the deal.

Lou

 

I'm in the group that puts on a show called "Woodies on the Wharf" in Santa Cruz each year. 200 woodies on the municipal wharf.

We get the city to cover most of our costs out of their business promotions budget. We don't charge spectators or participants at all. The weekend of our show is the best weekend the wharf merchants have the whole year, and we bring hundreds (if not thousands) of folks to town for the show.

Those folks of course spend on motels, restaurants, etc, etc. so
the city is happy, the merchants are happy, the car owners are happy, and the spectators are happy. Happy. Happy. Happy.

 

Wouldn't it be cool if I could get into a STEELERS game free and the players paid to play??

 

I only got half way through Page Two...people whining about show entry fees comes up about every other month. Without going through the whole post, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess someone also posted the phrase "Greedy Guys" and the "We're the draw, so they should pay US to park our cars to charge spectators" or the flip side, "We just want to look around, they entered the show for awards/door prizes/whatever, why should we pay just to look around?"

So once again, as a show promoter of a regular monthly swap meet and car show...
Most places charge you for the venue. Odd...they want to charge you just for using their dirt, grass or parking lot.
While you're there either walking around or sitting in your lawn chair, you may feel the call of nature. That port-o-john costs me money...twice. Once to have it delivered, and then to clean it out. Multiply by the number of port-o-johns on sight.
If you eat or drink anything, you're going to have litter. I have to pay to have that litter hauled to the dump.
That nice lady at the gate taking your money? Her, the guys parking you, the guy directing traffic, the guy collecting the garbage? Oddly enough, they all want to get paid for their time.
How'd you hear about the show? Flier? TV commercial? Print ad? Again, someone needed to get paid for all that.
Now, some of the better shows are going to have signs made that direct you where to go, give prices, etc. Again, that cost money.
Awards aren't free. Free door prizes? Almost...I had to make the phone calls to get them, and spend the time and gas to pick them up.
Now, when you're at work, you aren't doing it for free (I assume). Why should my time spent putting everything together prior to the show also be free?
Was there music or a DJ? Holy shit! He's not doing it for free either! And not only is he not doing it for free, every one I've dealt with is DAMN proud of their equipment and enclosed trailer. In the long run, it's cheaper for me to buy the gear and do it myself.
While at a show thinking how unfair it is that you actually had to pay to get in, take a look around at the people working it. They probably have orange vests, matching t-shirts or hats. They didn't all get together and compare notes to see what everyone was wearing to school that day.
You also may notice that they talk to one another from great distances away, on these little hand-held thingies. Those are called "Radios" or "Walkie-Talkies" and the workers didn't bring their own to the show.
That chic up front taking the money? Unless the promoter is a real ass, he's probably got a pop-up tent, table and chairs for her, so she isn't just standing there in the sun. A gennie did not just make those appear by magic either.
The gennie didn't make it all magically get set-up either: chances are pretty good someone was there hours before getting everything ready. And will be there cleaning up long after you go home.

Here's another nice one: insurance. As the catastrophe with the ProMod car and the charity show demonstrates, shit happens.

Then, after it's all done, I've got to pay an accountant to do my taxes five times a year, and believe it or not, he wants to get paid too. Did I mention that before doing anything at all, I incorporated so when some dumb ass in a ProMod or with a Pit Bull kills someone, I don't have to live with my family in a van down by the river after losing a lawsuit?

Go ahead, keep bitching about people busting their ass so you can go to a show or hit a swap meet. If it's sooooo damn easy, and you think you can do one better, then by all means, step up and have at it. I did. Kirk! did. Ryan did. I'm sure several others on here have as well.

-Brad

PS: NE Georgia Swap Meet and Car Show this Sunday, July 1. Lanier National Speedway.

 

Bwahahahahha! I went back and read them all, and I was right about Greedy Guys and whining about "we shouldn't pay because..."
I forgot one thing too, especially with NSRA and Goodguys shows that are at NASCAR speedways...have you every even thought about renting a speedway from NASCAR? Grab your ankles and grit your teeth. They get a PREEEEEEMIUM for their facility rental. Often, you also have to have their staff working it. And the big one is the $5 hot dog. NASCAR rapes the food vendors, whether its one of their races or someone else's show. The local, small NASCAR-affiliated track I rent gets 35% from their food vendors, and that's what he wanted from anyone I brought in as well. And that doesn't count the fee I would have charged for setting up. We've since worked around that. I do know at a regular NASCAR track, the venue makes the food vendors buy cups and plates from them, and then charges them to set up, AND gets a cut of everything sold. I was told that of a $5 coke, NASCAR got half the price of the drink, plus the purchase of the cup, plus the space rental.

One last thing, and I'll climb down offa my high horse: How come you expect someone to pay you for the work you do, but don't want to pay a company or an individual for entertaining you, or providing something for you to do? With a very broad brush, I find there are two types of people...those who envision themselves as being rich, and then set out to make it happen; and those who bitch about the rich and how unfair it is, because they can't envision making it happen and don't want to put in the time and hours to acheive it.

-Brad

 

Tell me about it. We've been putting on shows in St. Louis for 25 yrs. Not much has changed over the years, still the same old cars. But now it's tradition. Everyone expects us to put on a cruise night once a month in the summer. Best free entertainment in town, I've heard. My family has never complained about putting on a show, even knowing what it involves, and the amount of $. If someone wants to bitch about how hard it is to put on a show...don't do it. I've never complained about paying to get into a "larger" show. It's expected, I know what it involves. Just like us but on a MUCH bigger level. But Joe Blow charging $20 to park at a Dairy Queen with the money going into his pocket. Leave me out.

 

I think everyone has a bad taste in their mouth with poorly planned and run car shows . and yes with the price of everything like gas these fees will have to come down and shows will have to offer more. I also go to get new ideas see old friends and have some me time. dont want my truck judged thay can give that to a trophy hunter. but we do need to support local clubs and charity this is how these clubs support thereselfs and local charities. I help put on a couple of charity car shows and require our judges to pick a spread of antiques streetrods musclecars customs classic,s ratrods oldschool rods etc . I dont want to see the same cars place everytime or have a top 40 with 25 camaros 10 55-57s and 5 streetrods have the guts to be fair to all .O.K thats my 2 cents now iI will take my meds and shutup. remeber if it aint fun dont go . lifes short so I built a hotrod

 

"Rod Runs" - I just went to one this past weekend. Very Causual event. 3 guys drove 225miles (about 4.5hrs total) one way, 3 cars to go camping with another club. Basically we pay for the camp site and a couple bucks for each car. The club fed us one night, provided music one night, did a "ice cream/poker run", etc.

There are actually quite a few small "rod runs" here in the Northeast. If you're interested in some of them, PM me and I can get you some more information.

Here's a few pictures to break up all the reading that is in this thread

 

Me and some local guys here have started having our own cruise ins. We tell other like minded car guys to come hang out with us a couple Sundays a month. One of the guys in our club landed us the use of on old gas station that sets a pretty cool traditional stage on Main St.
If anyone on here is close to Luray Va. PM me and I will give you details on our little cruise nights. We'd love to have you come out and join us.

 

arkracing, I might have to take you up on that sometime.

My co-workers can't understand why I'll travel hours away and stay overnight for a show when they are like 'I saw one down at the local high school, church, etc.
Then they'll politely ask 'did you win anything?' and I tell them I never open my hood and that's not what the hobby is about for me. They either get it then or not.

One of the reasons I'm looking forward to the Cinematic: cruising the backroads there rather than pounding the freeway!
Lou

 

I belong to a vintage scooter club. We go on 300 mile round trip rides in one day. Drive all back roads and never get on a highway unless we absolutely have to. Why dont people get together with cars and do the same thing?

 

Brad, it almost boils down even further than that. Those who bitch, and those who get things done.

And when did "profit" become a bad word in our Capitolist Economy. Some of ya'll sound like a bunch of Pinko Commies.

 

I usually don't go to shows that I have to pay,except Primer Nats and Mooneyes X-Mas Party. Village Idiots,Tuesday nights...FREE!Anti-donut Breakfast...FREE! Cruise down to the beach...FREE! I did pay to put my car in the Suede Palace at the GNRS,cause I was invited and felt like it was a once in a lifetime chance. If I wasn't asked,I wouldn't have done it.

 

guys, it cost money to have a show for folks to attend. My club has done a bbq / show for the past 8 years and we keep the cost down.
We charge $5.00 for the first 7 and we had to jump up to $8.00 this year. We have NEVER made a profit. We work our butts off to have the show. I enjoy supporting other clubs and going to shows. I see old friends and meet new ones. I get to hang out with my friends in my club and I make sure i bring my two little ones with me as much as i can.

So if you don't want to go to the shows, don't go. But understand that it costs money and a lot of hard work to put them on.

Just my two cents

 

went to the minn back to the 50's show...
3 paid days 25 bucks...
1 extra day at the registration
11,556 cars (10,000 x $25 for sure,,, club is doin fine)
vendors by the hundreds
swap with 400 swappers
a for sale coral
a 2 day auction ..
night crusin all over town....
cheese curd and corndogs
where and how can ya see it all in 4 days
i'm wore out

 

Hooking up with friends (new and old) and going for a ride is about as good as it gets. Going to the traditional shows are worth the entrance fee. The Billetproof, Asphalt, and Lucky Bastards shows come to mind as a great way to spend the day, . Those guys all risk thier money up front, park rental, security, entertainment ect, ect ect. With risk should come some rewards. I feel lucky to have all the events close enough to attend. There are a number of events where the invitation is all it takes to get in. I have gone to the huge events for 30 years they are fun in their own way, I don't attend too many of those any more I just really enjoy the smaller to mid size events..Just my thoughts.
chuck