Viva Las Vegas - Shifters Car Show - A Great Success !

Hey gang,

My wife and i are still in Vegas and finally taking in the sights and food around town.
We want to thank each and every one of you that attended and supported the show. We had close to 800 cars and on Saturday there was an estimated 30,000 spectators! We changed a lot of things this year including getting rid of the OSR type of ratty cars,late 60's Caddy's, VW's,and theme cars . For the past 6 or 7 months we have encouraged finished cars as well as projects. Our motto of "Quality as well as Quantity" really paid off this weekend. We denied at least 100 cars in the recent past but replaced that number with a lot of nice machines that never attended before. Granted, a handful of ratty stuff still made their way in the show when we were not manning the gates, but the overall look & feel of the show was Night & Day compared to previous VLV shows.

Shutting the show down every night and only allowing wristband wearer's access made all car owners feel safe. Beefed up security & off duty LVPD presence also put everyone at ease.

A few people still say they prefer the top lot over its present location and although i tend to agree, we simply outgrew that area. With the numbers previously mentioned , plus 55 vendors ,there is no way to have that many people up at the top parking structure.

All in all it was a great event and not one major problem occurred the entire weekend.

Having live bands back was also a major plus !

Show winners:

Best Hot Rod - Joe Ferris with his radically chopped 34 Ford three window coupe from the Lifters of San Diego. Way to go man. I heard that you agreed to sell your car then decided to keep it. Good decision.

Best Kustom: Shawn Phillips with an early 40's chopped Chrysler coupe with a Lincoln Zephyr front end.

Long Distance award: Sam Gable from Atlanta Georgia , with a 57 Ford wagon. He drove 2300 miles in 2 days!

Other long distance awards: Yancy from the Road Rockets of Indy with his 50 Studebaker Gasser.
Also, the guy with the Hemi powered mid 30's Dodge coupe from Alberta Canada !

West Coast Kustoms favorite pick: Went to Hudson Joe's 40's dry lakes style track nose 29 Roadster .

Lonely Knights of Colorado favorite pick: Also went to Hudson Joe's 29 Roadster.

A special thanks to:

Tom Ingram

Ernest McIntyre & Gasser magazine

A32Flathead

FiveWindow Johnnie

Notch with the Giant Tiki.

Alex Gambino.

The Road Rockets.

Lifters.

King of Knights.

Lonely Knights.

Road Zombies.

Swanx.

Road Devils.

And every other club that came out and supported this show. Sorry if i didn't mention someone's name. I'm tired and its not intentional.

Next years event will remain at the Gold Coast and be on Easter weekend April 9th - 12th 2009.

This show is back and its gonna kick ass next year.

Take care guys, Axle

Shifters So Cal.

 

I'm gonna take a beating here and probably get deleted but my two cents. I think the show is a victim of it's own success. The fence around the show and no accesss thurs, fri, sat night, and sunday to the cars really sucked. I'm there primarily for the cars and don't want to be made to pay for a wristband just to see the cars. I'm not there for the bands or the vendors. I'm sure the Gold Coast required most of the changes, but the shows had a large number of empty spaces to put more cars. I don't know, I just know it was better when it was smaller and less successful. It's still a good show, and a ton of kool people to see, and the live bands outside really was cool. I'm greatful it's here and love going but as a photographer, it's hard as hell to get all the cars in one day with thousands of people in the way. I'm sure you don't care, just MY opinion.

 

Hey congrats an a great show man.
I was vending in the Orleans (Thanks to all who stopped by) but made it over to the show Sat morn.
Great cars.
Great people.
A ton of fun.
See you there next year!

 

well "boxrod" since your a photographer maybe you should buy a wristband since you WILL be making money of the pictures tookin in there. so you should be lucky that The Shifters even allow you to take pictures at their show. as far as the show being fenced off and only wristbands i, that was a great idea. as a car owner it definately made me feel a whole lot safer that only car owners could get in. AND THATS JUST MY OPINION!!!

 

wish I could have gone...wife was/is sick though so no trip for me. I was thinking they should have a inside only wristband (there are a lot of people only there for the bands and could give a rats ass about the cars), a car only wristband (there are a lot of people that only come for the cars and could give a rats ass about the bands), and the normal all access wristband. Maybe the band only and car only wristbands cost 40% less. just my opinion

 

Although the car show lot is a tight fit..load in went smooth,no issues,pleasant and kicked back as it should be..Much better than the year before..If I had any input I would try to leave a lane open towards the front,that runs from the Gold Coast to the rear..this would make it a piece of cake to let other vendors get by to access other areas for setup as the only lane that runs in that direction is the back vendor wall and one vehicle stopped blocks the whole deal......Overall a much better layout over the previous year!

 

I took over 500 pics, and most of them were on Friday afternoon....as a photographer, I made sure I was there early Saturday morning too.

Alex, good to see you...we never did get that beer!

 

I should say amature photographer. I like to provide pics, but I sell very, very , very few pics throughout the year. I do it for the love of the cars and photography more than anything. I sucks to have all that kool tin sitting there and only have access for half a day. I guess I'll have to by a wristband so Mr. Ingrams pockets can get a little fatter.

 

You know, you don't HAVE to go to the show, it pisses me off when people bitch & moan about 'fattening Tom's pockets", think yourself lucky the shows near you...literally thousands of others have no problem buying a wristband, or traveling many hundreds, and in a lot of cases, thousands of miles to attend the show.

Why don't you go put a show on & see how much fatter your pockets are at the end of the day.

 

That's pretty bad a when a guy who lives there complains about buying a wristband. I had to buy Wrist bands for myself and my girlfriend, plus hotels, (Luxor and Paris) and flights from Michigan for the last two years. Guess you can't please everyone

 

AMEN!

 

Had a great time this year..Seemed like alot of quality cars this time. It was nice to meet Axle in person as well as Alex Gambino and his wife. Got to sign the HAMB banner too...Overall it was a great time no drama this year and yes i felt safe with the car being there this year..Can wait till next year..

One more thing...The wirstband isnt all that much either. I dont see why people complain about this. I buy one every year and sometimes dont even get to see all the bands, but the great time I had with the car show, friends and music out weighs the $80.00 wristband for me!

 

Thanks again Alex for a great time.....awesome job on keeping the trouble to a minimum and quality cars IN the show.

 

Anyone have pictures of the early 40's chopped Chrysler that won best kustom?

 

Congrats to Joe Ferris for best hot rod. I heard that he gave us props for the work that we did to get that car to him. Stand up guy. Alex, sorry that we could not make it down. With these gas prices you have to pick and choose what shows to attend. I am happy to hear that the show went off without a hitch. You guys were up against a wall there for a while. We will see about next year. Hope all is well.
Steve Glucoft
Amocat Speed Emporium
Hotrodarama

 

Hell, the cost of the wristband is minor compared to the amount of fun to be had, Viva, my best friends wedding, my birthday, I got engaged, and saw family for the first time in 30 years, oh yeah and a great car show to boot, thank you, thank you, I will drive my shoebox there next year for sure... a great weekend!!!!!!!

 

I made it out to the show for the third time.. I went in 2001,2004 .. I first off have to say thanks to those who have the means and guts to put on a carshow on the scale of Viva Las Vegas. Overall I had another great time. On a critical note. I agree that the show is a victim of its own sucess. It seems like the interest in events like Viva Las Vegas has really taken off.. I think the overall quality of the cars has suffered a bit compaired to past shows ..where were the Choppers?. there were too many warmed over stockers and rats.. 30,000 people on Saturday.. I am from Maine and our major city Portland's total population is around 60,000.. I find that number amazing! I am a cold weather animal and a New England Yankee..so I was up early and took the show in before the crowd got huge and the sun got high. I would recommend that to anyone who goes in the future. I am glad to cough up the sixty bucks for the wirst band ... but I don't feel it gives you any special ability to comfortably attend many of the events. When Tom Ingram sends me emails warning that the event will "sell out" I think he is kidding. Everything is overbooked to the max. If I didn't get to the carshow early Saturday morning I don't think my wristband was going to help me negotiate a crowd of 30,000. If I wasn't staying at the Orleans and in the pool area two hours before the pool party I would have been in line with the 100's of folks waiting hours to get into a show that lasted a few hours. I have tried in the past to see a few bands and usually find myself on the outside looking in.. I have accepted this as reality .. I still go because It is a nice break from the cold and I do meet some interesting folks and have a great time. I thought having a wristband system would help manage the event so you have a better chance of getting your money's worth. I know it isn't easy to please everyone.. I have seen some good shows die on the east coast .. not from lack of interest.. but too much interest. It will be intersting to hear what others have to say..

 

Thanks to Axle, the Shifters and Tom. I had a great time as I do every year. My ride didn't make it this year but I still came and bought the wrist band. I really enjoy this show every year and will keep attending. The $80 for a wrist band allows you to do alot of stuff over the 3 days. The bands, the cars and the vendors make this, at least to me, one of the top 10 shows in country. See ya next year!

 

I was suprised to see no security Sunday morning when I went to get my car and the lot was wide open allowing full access for anyone that wanted to go check out the cars. There were poeple wandering around taking pics and looking at cars. I had no issues but I thought my car was going to be in a secure parking lot. I could have just parked it in the Orleans parking lot Sat night.

 

Wow,respect to those guys,thats' some road mission in 2 days!

 

The show was great ! That mellow vibe that used to exist in the evening a few years back was there again. All the Lonely Knights that came had a great time, and the first timers said they will be back from now on.

Making the car show wristband accessible only outside of Saturday is a wise move. It seems to have eliminated the source of the trouble over the past few years and I was completely unconcerned about my Deuce being there. Talked to a few of the security guys Saturday night and they all said the show was a no problem dream. Kudos to Alex and the Shifters for a great effort.

Hudson Joe's '29 Roadster is to die for. We awarded Joe our "Kingpin" award for a couple of reasons. One, his efforts and vision of his Roadster are to be admired, and Two, Joe is the kind of guy any car club would be honored to have as a member. Congratulations !

Johnnie.

 

Funny,but not to rain on anyone's happy fest,but their was another car show during the weekend.Rat City Rukkus,and over 200 cars and 1000 people showed,no security,bands played,and there were no problems.

 

A big salute for adjusting to the ever changing time's. Your undertaking a HUGE responsibilty. Good job, people!

 

We're actually glad they did an Anti show up the road this year. It gave the OSR rust piles a place to park & leak oil . Only problem that all of us had was the fact that they snuck kids to our show on Saturday to pass out fliers, but they were quickly removed from the property by Security & us !


Look, unless any of you have ever organized/promoted an event of this magnitude in your life i can tell ya that its not the easiest thing in the world to do. There are expenses,safety,time,planning,etc,etc. We couldn't resolve all problems in just 6-7 months but we can guarantee that by next year it will run smoothly and the cars will be even better.

As far as fee's to purchase a wristband? Once again, look at it this way. 50 bands, 25 DJ's, over 200 vendors, purty gals, and all of those cars......seems very little to me when you break it down to 4 days.

As far as getting in to photograph cars without a wristband. I let every film crew & magazine editors & photographers in as long as they asked and met with me early in the morning each day. This not only gave them best dawn pictures but allowed them to work without any interruption's. Pretty simple procedure.

But, at the end of the day you can't please everyone.

Axle

 

Thanks again Steve! I gave you and Amocat 'thanks' first and my club secondly. You guys did 99% of the work and deserve much credit. The car was a huge hit and people were coming at me from all angles with compliments. Hopefully we'll see you and the gang real soon. Beers will of course be on the Lifters

 

You still haven't learned Axle..Funny that I remember your version of The Shifters starting out as a rat club,not traditional.Hell,I remember when Marky first started on the Purple People Eater,I remember hanging out with you guys at Hot Rods in Norco,back when you were still level headed.By the way,the bands and Dj's,Tom flips the bill for that,as well as some of the Casino,and the booking agency that deals with the show,not the car show,which is technically a seperate entity.You've changed Axle,you used to be a great person,but now you're just another judgemental dick like a lot of other people,or should I bring up the RAXX incident that me and my family,who live across the street from RAXX experienced at one of your events because we didn't fit the mold.Or what my club faced(One member is 20 and a quiet mormon kid,and the other is 19 and grew up restoring rods with his dad)?I'm not going to knock VLV,because it is a great show,but all the bullshit hating on both ends hneeds to stop if rodding and customizing is going to survive.Haters and purists are what kill any hobby or "scene"

 

Great show had fun for days.Great bands , great cars ,great gals ,cold beers, come on what else do you need.I love a show this sweet is in my back yard.Cant wait till next year.Keep up the P.M.A.

 

I guess we know which one you are!

Jeez. How many threads are you trying to kill in one day?

Don't go away mad....

 

Which one am I...Define me..