We've got a lot of free cruises to choose from in the summer. Most die off once the wet weather arrives. There's the cruise every Friday at the DQ in Beaverton, Or. and Saturday mornings at Tigard DQ, and Cascade Station near the Portland Airport. Then there's Wed. night at PIR starting in June for $5, and it gets as many as 1400 cars on a Wed.
Life is about choices. I sometimes attend a couple of 'pay to stroke your ego' shows as long as it involves a road trip to get there - preferably with an overnight stay or two. The shows themselves better be pretty damn worthwhile to make the cut. Then there is a goal but the road trip is the fun part - the show is just a reason. Other than that cruise nights, where I do not get to be held prisoner with my own ride, or good old fashioned 'Sunday in the park on grass with BBQ and band leave whenever you want' shows such as the Outriders Picnic are my choices. L.A, Roadster show for free or paid preferred parking make the cut for sure, but Reliability Runs/Poker Runs and driving with a bunch of like minded hot rodders are the best in my book....
Well it looks like a couple of you "uptights have potentially scared off another Hamber . Ive said it on this website before" just cause your a "newbie" on this website doesnt make you "new to wrenchin on cars"! retiredblue may of had some knowledge that he could have shared with the rest of us. Again this is just my opinion-and you know what they say about opinions !
Boy, some of youse guys get really pissy when it come to talking about car shows. retiredblue must have struck a nerve. But his observation is every bit as valid as yours. Myself, I go to a couple or three "car shows" a year just to see the nicer cars that people have built and put more money into than I make in five years. But mostly, I like the small town cruise nights because it is more about some car guys getting together and talking cars. At cruise nights you see the drivers, not the ego boosting show cars. Car shows, whether or not its true, are starting to look like just another venue for an organization to raise money. Unfortunately, all the money raised comes from those who bring their cars instead of those coming to view said cars. It should be the other way around.If you enjoy the big car shows or you promote them, fine, more power to you, but there are a lot of us that simply cannot afford to cough up 20 or more bucks every weekend and our opinion is just as valuable as yours.
I like both and they both have there place. I am working on putting on a show and we will be charging but the proceeds all go to a good cause. As far as cruise-ins go. There is a Great one in Cleveland TN every forth Saturday of the month from April until October and it draws about 300 cars or more every month. If you ever find yourself in Beautiful South East Tn you should go check it out. It is a great time and its free!!! I have some pics form one of the cruise-ins in Cleveland...ill post them for you guys to check out.
here are a couple of pics form the Mainstreet cruise-in in Cleveland TN along with a youtube video link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBPSWkNZ9qA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz67zhxgbow I also for got to mention that there is a great old school hamburger shop in downtown Cleveland called the SPOT. It has been there since 1937. if you go to the cruise-in you have to check out The Spot!! And I stand corrected...last year average cars in attendance was over 500 per show. Damn good for a Monthly cruise-in http://www.mainstreetcruisein.com/
I don't see the argument here for either side of it. I can't stand fashion shows like Viva so I don't go, you don't want to pay to "show your car" then don't. It's all about what your into, building and driving does not have to be a team sport do what you like. I like just getting together with my friends we sit around drinking beers and talk about all the work we should being doing on our cars instead of stand around drinking beer talking about them.
Car shows or cruise nites, Lets see? I'm in the Outirders, been in it for over a 1/4 of a century. We had a "FREE" picnic, invited our "friends" who in-turn invited their "friends",who really we didn't even know??? I remember the guy who had to park his shiny street rod on the unpaved area of Bob Andersons yard, man-was he pissed!!! Made a scene and yelled at the wife, kicked his door, It was just rediculous! We didn't even know him. It now costs someone who is invited to our picnic $20.00 a ticket, but we have a killer picnic with a killer cash outlay to boot. Hell I don't know 550 of the 800 people that we feed at that thing. We used to know everyone or got to know everyone. We have the cruise nite at the Broiler, That again is free, all we ask is that you eat and support what we have worked so hard to bring back to you. It hasn't always been that way,even last year when clubs or individuals contacted Jim or Lindsay and feed a song and dance how they can pack the lot, when in reality they are charging for their cruise and the restaurant recieves no compensation,sometimes attendees will bring their own food and beverages and leave the trash for the restaurant to clean up. . The Covina In-Out cruise. Well that started at Azusa Ave Sonic and evolved into that ala Beachside Cafe.There was a charge for that one back in like 92 when Lee was still alive and running it. No more raffles,charges or trophries and went back to how it was started at Sonic and it's a pretty cool cruise night again. Guys just kickin tars! Cruising-When the whole Van Nuys thing popped up a few years back, I thought that it was great! Took the O/T 69 Camaro there, The "Johnie's Jeepster" and the 32 and 34 there. It was like the fun times again, cept with out the Kool "Van Nuys Racing Equipment-Super Shops"and of course Bob's Drive-In. That deal was free, only expensive thing about it was having to make it from TC to VN to Downey all in a short time span=that's cruising!
Funny, I was wearing my 25th Anniversary "Outriders" T shirt yesterday (and it is a great picnic) while I was out DRIVING my car....The show is on the road!
ill take any type of car gathering you got but i really like cruise nights especailly when the lot is packed with stuff i havent seen a hundred times
That is a valid point. Just my 2 cents so don't take it personal. I filled out my form for Ink n Iron. It was a bit of a shock to see it would cost me more to bring my wife/exwife for the 3 days than me and my car. Way more. Somethings is wrong with that. Meaning, other events give you an extra pass to bring a Love one, Son, Daughter, Mom, Father, ect. ect. We are part of making the show that makes money for show's. I hope that makes sence.
How 'bout a good ol' fashioned reliability run?.... You know, get together for breakfast and then DRIVE 'em a hundred miles or so to lunch.
I guess you havent been to any "cruise nights" in the Fresno area..................trophies (or no one will show up ) cars that are never driven except there and back and not a whole lot of anything that even remotely resembles fun going on. I almost always stay home. BTW, I wish all of these "cruise nights" would take their DJ's and cram 'em up their colons..........it would be nice to be able to have a conversation without having to scream at the guy next to you.
I'm still here stripnut- I was skared once before, and this aint nothing like that time hahaha- and thanks Kevin- you guys made us feel right at home the times we went to the Broiler and thanks also to Striptnut - and sorry if I pissed anyone off- lets get back to wrenchin-
I'll take my cars to either a cruise or a show... I just like to watch people smile when they see that old iron out and about But, if I had to choose between one or the other, I would much rather be burning the octane than sitting in a chair next to my parked car
WHO ARE WE KIDDING WE LIKE CAR SHOWS BUT NOT AS WELL AS CRUISE NIGHTS BECAUSE THEY ARE FREE. BUT MY FAVORITE IS THE HotRod Reunion in Bowling Green. here is a link to our local cruise night from last saturday. it happens the 4th saturday each summer month http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=692326&highlight=cleveland
We use to goto the Olympic broil on Willow an Grand River is this the same place though they closed up this was backin the late 80s early 90s I also have a frizbee they gave away just wondering
Gotta jump on board with the Outriders picnic fan club. Great guys, great atmosphere. The OCCA Labor Day cruise was a way of life for me from the early '90s to the mid "00s and then I just burned out on it. We went back last year for the day and enjoyed it but it just didn't seem as big or as much fun. I know the "Cruise for a Cure" has taken a lot of the cars that used to do LD which is fine as it's a good cause. Anyway fighting over what kind of car everyone drives is counter intuitive to the whole culture IMO. If you want a resto great if you're into smoothies great too.
I do both, cruise nights around here are fun. North St Paul has a friday night cruise that draws a nice variety of pre-'74 cars. There's plenty of of food vendors, live music and a few bars to keep a guy from becoming dehydrated. Hastings, MN does the same thing every other saturday. Porky's was fun too until University Ave got all messed up with light rail. I also do Back to the 50's (11K+ cars) and Car Craft Summer Nationals (4K+ cars) to hang out with buds and enjoy all of the cars...
Guys liking the Outriders Picnic, Thanx, It takes alot of $'s to rent that private park, have the beer, Tri-Tip, soft drinks and the band who plays all day, but for myself, the fun is in the drive on out from Temple City, that in itself is a run=Lol! Retired Blue, we love having you,cruise the Broiler, heck we even put the lights on for you, so let us know when you're making it out again . El Caballo Loco, A Reliability Run is a great thing, but if someone throws one, we get right back to the thing that I stated about our original Outriders Picnic. We don't know each and every participant,=I'm also part of the Pasadena Roadster Club and have been on several of the run commitees and chaired one. We recently were notified by the clubs legal counsel that "we" as a the PRC were hanging our necks way out there by throwing this RR, and that our Million $ policy probably would not have been enough to cover us as a club, should someone be injured by a participant while driving in the event. Now if we were to continue running this event the insurance policy would need to be up to 5 mil. and cost us an awful lot for basically 4 hrs of coverage while our participants are on the route. So this gets back to knowing each and every one of the participants by name and creating a relationship with them. At that point the event would have to cost the participants nearly $110.00 or so just to partially cover the insurance cost, we still have to feed the particpants and supply an event t-shirt, map book printed,etc. Mind you though, Our PRC RR is not dead, just on hiatus until we can put this together with perhaps a college as a sponsor and a few big name hot rod collectors who could perhaps make this run happen once again. This saturday,we've invited our reliability run past participants to join us for our 10th anniversary picnic up in the San Gabes, that in itself is a run for the invitees,but w/o PRC RR signage and the partipants are on their own to get to the picnic much like our Outriders Picnic, again not a freebie deal, but not over the top either and you cruise your car to the event, what could be better????
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