Boyz, boyz, boyz. Here, take a cup of coco, put a marshmallow in it and go sit down for a while. JimA, Im kinda leaning towards Roost on this one. I think you jumped his shit a tad too soon, but then again I dont know what kind of PMs youve got. Weve all got opinions, Ive got mine and I bet not everyone agrees. I go to the GG events, not as many as I used to, I dont think they are as good as they once were but, just like every other group, NSRA, NHRA etc. they are out to make money. So now all of a sudden the GGs have a new suede logo showing how they accept the Rat Rods with open arms. Hey, marketing ploy, more money. Hell, what a set-up; we pay to put our cars up in the 3 rings, the people pay inflated gate to get in to see the show and we all pay through the nose for the beer and food. I sure hope to hell we dont start having special awards for special classes at the drop of a hat. Soon it will be like the entertainment industry, there will be damn near more awards then participants. I personally think we should do away with awards. But thats another one of my opinions. And what about Rat Rods? Sorry guys but I dont remember anything like that on the streets in 63; at least not on the Left Coast. Im not saying that they werent on the salt, just not on the street (at least to the extreme as some of the death rods Ive seen). The shit that was seen in the parking lot at my school (mine included) may not have been all the same color nor as safe as they should have been, but they no way resembled what I see now days. Please dont get me wrong, I like a lot of what I see, and chuckle at the rest. What about the P-town swap meet? It sure as hell aint as good as it was. There are way too many salt and pepper shakers, fake flower arraignments and Aunt Jemima toaster covers any more. You want a swap meet? Go to Turlock. Now, JimA, Roost, shake hands.
The customer is ALWAYS right. If you like the people you read from to have ZERO memory, ZERO knowledge & passion of that which they write about and ZERO integrity for the people they work for that's not me. I only try to add when I know something about the topic and if I am totally mistaken about having this heated discussion a few years ago with this person I am indeed sorry (that's why my FIRST words were "I think", but it may have been a fellow with a nearly identical handle- that's why I prefer to use my name). Despite what you may think, only about 5 people have jumped down my throat- and if one of them was a derivitive of this screen name it was a total mistake on my part. I no longer work for Goodguys, but I know what they do is far more than just trying to empty the wallets of hapless rodders. The broken record that the "Suede & Chrome" area (originally "Garage Grown") is perhaps shady is especially a burr under my saddle because Kirk and I came up with it out of out love of these cars and friendships with thier owners and builders, and it infact COSTS a lot more money than it will ever make to have the people we were hoping to make feel welcome and part of the event in their own SPECIAL area with its own SPECIAL awards. There was NEVER any evil agenda and when it STILL comes up that this "new" area (over 3 YEARS old at this point) must be some kind of warped plot I do indeed get defensive even though I don't even work there anymore.
It's funny how there HAS to be a conspiracy behind everything. Suede & Chrome was and is definitely a place to SHOWCASE the type of vehicles we like. Jim and I are the ones who fought to get it to happen. There's no big brother secret agenda. Well maybe my secret agenda of wanting to get more of what I like to shows that I'll be working. I designed special awards just for the Suede & Chrome area that are cast aluminum plaques. The rest of the winners always get jealous because the aluminum ones are better than the glass ones that they get. I used to be very anti Goodguys too before I met the people who work there. There are some really cool people behind the scenes. Do they make money? Yes. It's called business. Does Speedway make money? Yep. Billetproof? Yep. Cole Foster? Yep. Obviously all greedy jerks. They should all do it for free. My biggest gripes were always parking fees and food prices. The funny part is that Goodguys DOES NOT GET ONE PENNY from either of those things and does not get a say in pricing. Goodguys doesn't even get the space rental money from the food vendors. The facilities get all of that dough. It really isn't fair since Goodguys is spending all the money on the promotion that gets people there. I like working with Goodguys because they have listened to me a TON since I started. Listened to my secret agenda of trying to make my friends feel at home. I'm guilty! Like I tell people who whine about Billetproof...Don't like it? Don't go. It's simple. I appreciate both ends of the hobby for different reasons, and can find reasons to enjoy both. I especially like it when a low-buck car is sitting next to a big-buck car and gets more attention. I gave an award to a guy in Colorado Last year for his rusty Tudor. About 10 members tore up their cards and threw them at one of the Goodguys employees and said they weren't coming ever again if that's the type of cars that get awards. If it was a secret money agenda, actions like that would put a stop to our type of cars being anywhere near anything Goodguys. It didn't make any impact except that we at the office thought those guys were pretty lame. Anyway, you guys are funny.
Hey Kirk: Nice reply . . . as a hotrodder first and a GG member second, I enjoyed your reply. In any group of people, there are those who want everything their way - and if you're not like them, then screw yah. Others like the fact that there is room for different tastes, opinions and even debate. I'll take the latter as long as people have respect for other opinions and those who don't think the same as them. It has been refreshing to me to see all the new styles of cars coming into the sport and at GG . . . as it represents a broader range of what is going on in the real hotrod world. Also, GG (like any business) has to pay attention to the market - and the fact is, that there are literally thousands of new hot rodders who are in the non-traditional crowd. God bless em! Pros picks are fine (I enjoy the flawless work and creativity), at the same time I'll bet 95+% of the GG members will never own a car like that . . . so everybody needs a home. I must say, some of the cool ideas, ways of using parts and attitude/style of the rat rods is worth paying attention to . . . great stuff! Time to get back to my projects . . . this debate crap takes too much time and energy
Well, there is an easy solution. Just enter your car and pay $25. This gets you up close (in the show) parking, you can bring your own food and drinks, and you even get two people in for the price. I went to the show Sat with Sam and we drove in my daily driver dually. Found several good things at the swap. Sun we went to the show with his coupe to sell. We bought a few more things at the swap. It is really what you want to make of it. Did we score a roadster body for $300? No. Did we find a few small parts and some tools we needed? Yes. The moral of my story is you could have saved your money and had a good time if you think about the process before you go. Keep an open mind about what the show is. This show was open to all years, so that means you will mostly see muscle car, 55-57, Mustang, etc stuff. You also need to seek out the independent swap meet sellers, not the professional swap meet sellers. That is where you find the good stuff.
That GG show is only $25 to get a car in? And you guys are bitching? At Indy I usually pay around $50 IF I pre-register, with a member discount.
Yep, the Get-Togethers are cheaper. They're a little different animal, in that they are all years american-powered vehicles. So you have new lifted trucks and Dodge Magnums mixed in with hot rods and kustoms. Cool if you like a variety of cars.
"Like I tell people who whine about Billetproof...Don't like it? Don't go. It's simple." goodguys = drama
I don't know about everyone else... but I had a Good-Time. I saw 25,000+ people, and they seemed to be having a Good-Time. I scored a lot of Good-Deals. Trans crossmember for my '55 for $20 when they cost $100-$180 from Danchuck. Ammo box $7 '61 Vette expansion tank that I'll use on my '55 $10 (they go for $150+ usually) Misc. new '55 Chevy parts, still in the packaging... I checked my Danchuck book and I bought all the stuff for 20% of the new prices. Model B head, clean... it uses the three bolt water pump and I believe has more compression... has the "C" on top. Got it for $10 Early Edelbrock C3BX Manifold, the desireable one for me 'cause I usually run valve covers with no breather holes and it has a filler tube hole... a STEAL at $40. (it's in perfect condition) A NOS Moon door mat... no longer in production... $20 That was on Saturday... Then on Sunday I bought: A vintage "Tahoe is beautiful" license plate frame for $1 Ten 40 grit flapper wheels for $3.50 ea... they run $8 ea here locally. and then I got a KILLER deal on a set of fenderwell headers for a SBF... $10 Oh... I did pay out the nose for some hot wheels cars for my kids. They were there, and bugged me all day to buy one for them... I paid $2 ea when I can get them at Walmart for under a buck. I guess you just need to know how to look for the Good-Deals to have a Good-Experience at a Good-Guys swap meet... Oh yea... I got two Good-Offers on my Model A too! Sam.
Magazines rule? Come on JimA, way too much money for what you get, too many advertisements. Now, back when they were $0.60 you got something for your money. Hell now they cost Say did you ever notice that they aint no price on the ones you subscribe to? Just pulling your chain, Jim. I love everything about this sport, rod runs, magazines and the HAMB.
I had a fuckin' blast, too. Got to hang out with my Pops all day, got a free '64 el Camino fender, two Rochester 2gcs for $5, and several free beers from my friends. The Pendeltons were playing, and they were good, as usual. Always good to see 'em. There were some bitchen' Sprint cars inside one building, V8-60's and Offy powered, and some cool customs. Lots of big money cars, but you would expect that. Still good bits to be garnered from them, they ain't paying a hundred million dollars to drive poorly assembled crap traps. The rain was fun, too. I enjoyed watching people run around and crap themselves on the occasional downpour, slip and fall in the mud, generally do silly people things. I have a couple pictures, maybe I'll post a link to a page when it's ready.
I have seen similar nonsense at NSRA events also...man that is sad. In fact I saw a high dollar tradtional style car getting a ton of attention next to one of those high dollar glass cars that have a body that is not stock...star something...but anyway, this car was way over the top high tech and the other car just had it looks wise and the guy with the high tech car got so angry he started yelling at people and moved his car, burning out (sorta...it was more like a mouse getting run over squeek) to the other side of the park. You gotta wonder about some people... Hey, that was Oklahoma...that guy did not get banned...what is up with that...it's the man I tell you! Man Kirk, you gotta be sick of the anti Goodguys stuff.
Actually I don't realy get affected by the Goodguys or Billetproof crying anymore. You just can't change the minds of those people so it's not worth the effort. I'll give anyone the real scoop if they want it. I used to bitch about some of this stuff too. So I started my own show. I learned a LOT! Now, working for Goodguys, I've learned even more. It's a rough business and when people are happy they just go about their business. When they're not, they want everyone to support them and share in their misery. It's just human nature. It's kind of scary. You put the word out and hope people show up. You have no control over how many people will come, what swap stuff will be for sale, and especially not the weather. For some reason those uncontrollable things are what people bitch about the most and blame the company putting on the show. As for people whining about prices. It's like anything else - it's what the market will bear. There is a huge finacial risk taken on the part of any promoter. There has to be a reward for that or there will be no events.
Shut up! I usually CHARGED for those rides! But honestly that reminds of a funny story. One weekend while manning the cart as the event came to a close some vendor guys approched me and said "Can we have a ride to our cars WAYY out in the parking lot?". I said sure and they handed me an envelope. I said "What's this?" "Payment for the ride". I told them I couldn''t take it. They said "What day is it?" I said "Sunday" They responded "You WIN! You answered the question correctly and just won 150 bucks!" followed by, "actually we are from a radio station and forgot to give away the last prize and no one is left to give it to- if we take it it's stealing and if we bring it back we weren't doing our job." So I helped them out and won the prize- shared it at the bar that night with the other GG employees.
JimA you are a magazine whore.....Roost you are a winney asshole....now that we have established that......I WANT MORE PICTURES!!!!!
I like the Goodguys shows...........I'm headin' to DelMar on Thursday, in fact. May do Colorado this year, too. Haven't missed a single Scottsdale one or Del Mar since they started. I'll check out the swap, the venders, the cars, and have a ball all weekend. I'm driving my car over, which is part of the fun, too. I don't go to win awards........some folks do. I know a guy who won't go back cuz he didn't get one at the first DelMar. That's just sick. At one of the Scottsdale shows, a guy and his wife came up to my Studebaker wagon and asked some questions about the car, and then asked "Has this car ever won an award here?" I told them "No, I drive it, it won't win any award", and they handed me a form and said, "congratulations, you just won the cool cruiser award" Shocked me, but I don't go there for awards. I enjoy the entire show each time I go. I think it would be a shame if we didn't have GG shows, and then some people would complain because they were gone. It would be nice if the staff wore nametags, though. My hats off to GG's staff........they put on a good show. Hope to see a lot of you at DelMar this weekend.
I gotta agree with Geezer. My wife and I go to Columbus GG's every year. As a matter of fact, it's our only weekend of the year without the kids. We go thursday early to make it a 4 day weekend. I have no interest in winning. I have rarely found anything in the swap that I can't live without. But we have a great time. Sure, there's a ton of cars I could care less about. But I walk on by. Shit, you'll have that when there's 6500 cars. There's also a lot I like a bunch. Plus I get to hang out and BS with people I like. I usally BS with aussiesteve and vaphead when they're around the Streamline booth(Eric, sorry I won't catch up with ya there anymore) The HAMB meet and greet last year had...Idon't know, 50 or so people. So that was cool. I'm rambling, but the moral is that we know what it costs, know we're not gonna like alot of the stuff there, but we have a great time every year. BTW, I did win a Custom Rodder Top10 pick from Rob Fortier(SP?)sorry..about 4 years ago. I was shocked. I was like the only primered car(blue)in the awards area. It pissed off all the schmucks who won the CR award too. So we enjoyed it all the more. OK I'm done. Good job KIRK! We've met a few times, and you were always cool to talk to. Not like that JimA guy Just kiddin' Jim
Right on!! I will be there to check it out. I don't care if I have to shell out a few bucks to get in.
Yeah, i think it's GREAT when a tasteful "not so done" Hot Rod/Custom takes all the Mojo away from a Boyd Godagain type car that's "big money" and BAD taste.
I don't give a shit who works for what magazine or what rod association. i like going to GG & NSRA & Super Chevy shows. I like looking at all kinds of cars. Spring is here (almost) let's enjoy our hobby!
On a similar subject I went to march meets and wasn't very pleased. First off, I know the re-scheduling really screwed things up and the rain on saturday (the day I went) also screwed stuff up. That being said I went there just for the swap meet. It cost thirty bucks to get in. There were maybe ten vendors, I never saw anything I was even remotely interested in. There were no races while I was there because the track was wet. It was sprinkling a little while I was there, just enough to keep the cars from running. The only thing worthwhile was the fact that I met a guy running an algon injection setup like what I have and got a lot of good information and some contacts. It was a two hour drive and I was there for just shy of two hours most of which I spent talking about the injection. I know the rain is out of the promoters control. Next time if there is a chance of rain I'm not going.
I envy you guys going to Del Mar. I missed last year and will miss it again this year because I’ll be working. Hope to make it next year. I like being there, but I like getting there more. We’ve always met some great folks along the way.
Gotta agree wit ya Joe. It's funny how the rust crowd are gittn just as nose high, car snobs as the $100K Coddington blue hairs.
and don't forget for $25 you get 2 days of show, 2 old farts, a couple of screamin kids, and a useless mug!
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