Event Coverage LA Roadsters Fathers Day Show

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yeah everyone complained but nobody takes a few minutes to make any suggestions and send it to John. Its s the first time for him running the show so there were bound to be a few problems . i sent a few suggestions and he did read them and is appreciative of my time spent writing. I have a few feasible suggestions that will help save the shop. As for those that complain but do nothing that it's their loss if they don't come next year. I'm betting that it will be better than ever next year.


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Oops I mean save the show not the shop!!


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Has anybody researched the cost of renting the fairgrounds and Building 4? It! So how did the LA Roadster club or John Buck pay for it without charging money and every year its possibly going to go up in price because the Fairplex charges more because the County charges more. that is a fact ! I understand that charging from free to $50 is a shock to the usual 200+ roadsters owners but to get so pissed as to not show up at all is just uadding another nail to the coffin. There is a rumor that the show will only be one day now thanks to the roadster attendance drop. To me $50,$80 or $100 is not worth missing out on this formerly great weekend show ,and all the whiners that refuse to show up not only are shooting themselves in the foot but are contributing to the possible end of a tradition. Its ridiculous !


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Good points!! For some reason folks don't think of the cost to run a event like this. Your bullet points help to clarify this.


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No kidding! $11 beer and $12 sand witch ! $4 for water. that's the Fairplex not the Roadster show[emoji15]


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I consider John Buck my friend and me and my other friends from the traditional car clubs are grateful that he let us start Suede palace, the Suede alley and the Mexican Village at G.N.R.S. Something that back in the day niether Goodguys or the N.S.R.A would do, after years of us holding are own specialty shows, a major main stream event gave us a place to show what a new generation of hot rodders and custom builders were into.
By doing this ,it breathed new life into this hobby and has influenced what the current trend is.
I have always said that the L.A. Roadster show is the themometer of whats going on with our hobby. Well guys the
THEMOMETER IS BROKEN! and it´s up to all of us to try to fix it.
I think the L.A. Roadster members are a fine bunch of guys and over the years have always treated us great, but a few years back they made a huge mistake. They moved the show far away from the swappmeet, this coupled with the average age of a street rodder is 70 and are not building any more hot rods has taken a toll on the swappmeet.
Add to this , you can´t expect a spectator to carry a part or even want to look at stuff that is a couple of miles away.
Forget the tram , even this year it wouldént make any stops in the swapp area and would only stop at the back gate.
Yes me and my friends were the guys with the hazard tape that would rope off large areas in the swappmeet but this had a purpose, besides getting spots for are swappmeet buddies, the main reason was to have areas to display our cars, thus giving the swappmeet custermers something else to look at , a place to stop and rest and get offered some thing cold to drink and then their was the best part ; All the different clubs would chipp in and we would host a big
Bar-B-Que saterday afternoon. Besides all the regular swappers and car clubs, most importantly we would invite all the forigners , guys from England, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Germany, and the Neatherlands. These were guys we had made friends with over the years that were into the style of cars we liked. It was important to treat these guys right, for they had traveled half way around the world to attend the swappmeet.
Second mistake; three years ago , fairplex security started chasing spectators out of the spappmeet area and told a lot of these guests that they had to leave by 3 p.m. and a lot of them did´nt come back the next year.
Trust me , it was a lot of work and no fun to try and save spots, we would have to show up wensday night or thursday morning and rot in the hot sun till friday morning so I welcome being able to pre buy and reserve spots.
By not having areas within the swappmeet were car clubs can park together , you lose the social aspect of the swappmeet. it´s not the same to have to park far off on the edge of the swappmeet. Add to this doubleling the price of prefered parking and you end up with an empty swappmeet and everbody leaving by 1 p.m. on saterday.
The swappmeet has always been the golden goose of the show and sadly it´s not doing too good.
The car show; this has been hurting for quite a while, for the most part, most the guys that go to the swappmeet
don´t bother to even go to the show. the main reason is that they are not into street rods or repoduction parts.
The only way I can see fixing the problem is maybe having a section in the show for 32 fords, whether they are roadsters or not.
Having a section for non shiny roadsters, I know that´s taboo but the show has always been about hot rods and shouldént mater so much if they are shiny or not or are survivors in patina.
Spread the pain, charge everbody bringing a car a flat rate of 50 bucks for the weekend.
Bring the swappmeet closer to the show, spectators will feel like they got a better deal when they have more to look at.
One of the biggest mistakes John made was charging 40 bucks to spectators on friday that wan´ted to buy at the swappmeet. Friday use to be the bussiest day for swappers and this really hurt sales.
I have atended this show for 38 years and hopefully it will continue. John Buck has a lot of added costs to run the show so maybe if we all post some positive ideas , we can all help and keep enjoying the greatest show on earth.

 

Sunday has been light compared to Saturday for a few years now and the thought for next year that is being considered is going to Friday - Saturday, NOT a one day show. There has been a lot of chatter about this, including "How can it be a Father's Day show if it's not on Father's Day". It would still be Father's Day weekend and part of the reason for this thought is many families now dictate what dad can and can't do on "His" day - "but the kids want to do this or that". In days of yore, Dad would decide what he wanted to do. Today's wimpy PC society has Mama telling Pop what is going to happen! Just one thought on this ......

 

Some people just like to bitch, we our lucky on the West Coast to have an organization like the L.A Roadsters to keep the show alive for us and the hobby.

The people bitching should stay home and watch there Reality Shows.

 

I had made my opinion known, as I said I would after the show, on my own separate entry but it was not viewed many times. I said that there were problems that needed addressing and I am sure they will be addressed by John Buck if he continues to operate the show (I hope he continues). There is no other show like L.A. Roadster Show except maybe G.N.R.S. so to boycott it because of being charged is pretty petty. Roadsters rode the gravy train for many years and times have changed. I will be back next year and I am sure many minus practices will be corrected.
Here are my pictures of the show.http://www.hotrodhotline.com/2017-la-roadster-show#.WVPaFxThi3U

 

I agree, Sunday has been a drive home day for many years now and making it a Friday and Saturday show might help with the cost.

 

Another option is to move the car show back to the swappmeet area and use the parking lot behind the swappmeet for all the spectators and make that the entrance for everyone.
This is how the show was for many years and it worked fine.
This would cut The cost down for john and solve a lot of problems

 

Lots of opinions and missing information here.
"capable and qualified promoter" - I must have met over 50 people at the show that weekend that would disagree with this statement.
Why not tell the whole story ?? About how John Buck got into the LA Roadsters and his sole goal as a businessman was to eventually take over this cash cow (heard this from several people). Or how about the story of how the LA Roadsters as an exclusive club do not allow new members or young people that could have been potential volunteers to make the show even better over the years. Or how about the story of how the LA Roadsters have millions in their club bank account and that is why they always let the roadsters in for free, (they were making plenty of money), yet they kept the club small because they take really nice vacations as a club and want to keep their numbers small and exclusive. I don't have a problem with how they spend their money as a club, their decision making process on the other hand is another story all together. I just think everyone should know more of the facts before just saying "Oh well, let's all just spend more money to help John Buck out because he's our Savior ...blah blah blah"

 

Man, the shit is really flying tonight.

 

Yep! . . . . Sorry I'm so far out of the loop that I don't have access to the sources that "HellsHotRods" has.

 

Yep. Millions in the bank account, damn Pete maybe we need to get in the club.

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Or how about the story of how the LA Roadsters have millions in their club bank account and that is why they always let the roadsters in for free....

Fake news has finally hit the HAMB.......Sad!

 

For this very reason I bring my own Samwiches and drinks. Probably saves me 40/50 bucks over the weekend.

 

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On the positive side, there was a lot of good parts for sale at reasonable prices and despite few customers, sales were better than last year. I guess the economy is improving and that helps a lot.
Also they are still letting you bar-b-que in the swapp area,
Good guys won't.
Still waiting for positive ideas on how to improve the show, hopefully some guys will do it.

 

*Have a Shipping company on site at the swap meet!
*Have things a little closer together.
Other than that it was all good for me.

 

There are a couple of guys from the h.a.m.b. like Ben that go to the roadster show and haul stuff back to the Midwest and the East coast.

 

I don't know Mr. Buck nor have any association with the previous show promoters but we can do a little arithmetic based on known facts:
1. Assume that the LA Roadsters were either making money on the show or breaking even at least.
2. We know that there were about 1000 roadsters there in 2016 plus non-roadster cars...let's say there were another 1000 cars classified as "not a roadster"
3. It is apparently public knowledge that Mr. Buck's corporation pays the LA Roadsters $150,000 for the rights to the show name, etc.
4. Assume that the LA Roadsters had volunteer labor for many tasks and that Mr. Buck has little, if no free labor. Assume that there were 200 workers that were previously free and now cost $15 an hour times say 20 hours for the weekend = 200 X 15 X 20 = $60,000
5. Assume the rent paid the fairgrounds is the same for both promoters
6. Assume the split with concessions, etc is the same for both promoters
7. Assume security cost was a wash
8. Assume promotional costs were a wash
THEREFORE, Mr. Buck easily saw $150,000 + $60,000 = $210,000 more in expenses than did the LA Roadster club. For a 2000 car attendance, Mr. Buck would have to charge $100 per car JUST to cover the increase in expense OR charge more at the gate OR charge more for swap meet spaces OR charge more for vendor spaces inside Bldg 4 OR a combination of the above. AND we don't know if the $210K number is his total of increased cost....could be more. Certainly Mr. Buck has some staff dedicated to planning the show....and those folks probably demand a pay check.... vs. the freebie LA club labor. Every time I have been to the GNRS, I see Mr. Buck working to make the show operate... and there are continual dumb asses yelling at him because they think they got slighted, the lost their paperwork, or they didn't read the rules. If Mr. Buck was carting profit home in a dump truck, do you think he would take all that shit or would he hire someone to take the shit for him (proxy piss boy?). I am impressed that these shows do as well as they do.

 

My roadster was in bldg.#4 on display with LAR club.

 

ALL MY HAMB ALLIANCE TAGS!

 

Google LA ROADSTERS. Much more interesting Info. than here with pictures and reviews.