I went with my wife and a few of us from our car club, we love driving our cars, hanging with our friends, and seeing cars. We make the show for better or for worse. I have already booked my room for next year and will go back. by the way my bill for this year and next years room is still cheaper than one for a single year at Paso. i get a chance to start the summer off with a good drive and see some great cars if you had a bad time, that is your fault, look at the "Snugglers" thread, all i see is friends having an amazing time. i want to thank Penny and west coast for putting the show on. we all love cars, paso was great while it lasted, it is over and now we have a new show. I will go to Goodguys, billetproof and any show that has cars that i enjoy. Next weekend we have goodguys, then the Road Zombies bbq the following weekend. Hope to see us car folks support all of these shows. I'm sorry so many are comparing it to Paso, these are two very different shows. I recall a lot of bitching and moaning when Billetproof moved from the bowling alley to the fairgrounds, the show just got bigger. We all need to remember it is about cars and friends. do we need Santa Maria or Paso for that, no. But it gives us a destination to drive and to see other cars and friends that we don't see all of the time.
I had a great time! I'm pissed I have to got back to work today. The show had glitches being new like everyone said. The line to get in was screwed because people were jumping in line. One guy asked if he could pull in front of me in told him "No, Sorry go back to the beginning, this was after 30 minutes of waiting. Food was no problem for us cause we went and ate off the grounds then can back. I just don't know why I spent my B-day at the Bowling alley and not Spearment Rhino which was conveniently located. I'm going next year for sure. With bologna, couple cans of gas and a roll of dollar bills.
I thought it was great, even though it was quite different from Paso. We did not stay at the SM Inn, but still had fun. We hung out with friends there Fri night, then met up with others at our hotel. There was a fine mix of cars from scary to extremely high dollar. All the people were nice. Saturday's show was fun, we brought our own food and drinks, and I hooked us up with the taco guys (did some bartering) so no waiting in line. We took a cab to the Shifter's party, so all of us could have a fun time. All my friends that went have already reserved for next year. Now that we know what to expect, we will adjust for that. It is not Paso, so the ones that like the small-town vibe will not like it. To me that was annoying. I hated having to cram like sardines into these little hole-in the wall places to eat overpriced food, after waiting much longer to be served than the hot dog line at the show. That is just me. I got to drive an old car hundreds of miles to meet up with friends, party, and see cool cars the whole time. It is what YOU make it. See some of you there next year!
My wife and I went and had a blast, I just booked my room for next year, Its only gonna get better and bigger. Just look at the pictures posted that was only a part of the show.
Had a great time. It isn't Paso, but it was fun. Great drive up and back (especially this mornin' -excellent weather). Hung out with friends, had tons of laughs,drank way to much, ate lots of steak and BBQ (didn't even know SM was known for it), bowled a few strings and even watched George Barris almost go at it with a local cowboy that was about 3 times his size. The things that can be improved upon like the food at the show etc., I'm sure will be taken care of, but here's the other side of that, they never really busted balls about bringing in your own food or drinks or anything, so I'm OK with the food situation. Now I know to bring my own next year. The cruise could have been a lttle more thought out and not so far out of town. We drove the 200 miles up and got in at 4:30 and then 2 hours later got about 10 miles into the 20 leg of the cruise and said, fuck it and made a b-line to the Hitching Post BBQ, which was great. I think a Broadway cruise for next year is a good idea. The room situation for the Inn does suck. We were told this morning to check back in 6 months and try. Yeah...OK Personally, I think I'll book a room at the Vista motel across the street. looked like a nice old timey place and right across from the Inn. I liked the way the show was setup. I'm not so sure the vendors that were stuck inside liked it so much, but I'll let them comment. All in all- thumbs waay up, in a Snugglers Fonzi 50's kinda way...
Enjoyed the show........super enjoyed all the fine folks i met !!! I already booked for next year. all in all a good show. The venue was great, lotsa CLEAN restrooms, shade, good security. nice places to eat in town.the best part is i had an absolutly flawless trip up and back in the 31 Coupe. this was sorta the "maiden voyage" as far as long distance drive and i couldnt be happier with the car !! any show or meet has its flaws but overall id give this one a 9 1/2 outa 10. kudos to Penny !!! if there were any flaws its Badbobs fault..........
Isn't it always? Sorry couldn't make the early run up, but it was good seeing you and the ole lady...
S.M. was a blast. it was not Paso, but Paso is over. the Santa Maria show is its own show and you can't compare it to Paso. that said, it was great, the S.M. Inn was a blast to hang out at, it was better then the Paso Inn, in that there was more parking and people and cars actually MOVED, yes you had a few power parkers but, the view changed every hour or so. I'll be back.
Burny.......enjoyed visiting with you and your gal!!Hope ya won that card game last night..............!!
Yep. Had them naked as the day they were born not 10 minutes after you left! I'm the Doyle Brunson of strip poker
HAD A BLAST! like a lot of people said....YOU ONLY can make it fun for yourself and the crew you're hangin with!!!!! my fiancee and i had a lot of fun hung out with some really great funny people , got drunk , saw some amazing cars, got inspired, got a flawless decklid from RUSK for 50$, PASO is a thing of the past and Santa maria is just a new car show on memorial day weekend, simple as that...BIG DEAL!!!!
Overall it was really good. It ain't Paso, but it's still a great time. A few things I miss were NOT seeing cars creeping around all over the place on Thurs-Friday. Also, it split us all up. By that I mean, I used to know exactly where my friends from the North were, so I could hang out with them like in Paso. I saw some, but not all. Overall? It was really good. So, for the ones whining about the heat a few months ago, what up? The food was pretty good too
It's pretty easy to find something to complain about if you look hard enough. I'll be back. Absolutely. The cars win out over long food lines and poor parking any day of the week. I booked a suite at the SM Inn before they even knew there was going to be a show, and they wouldn't let me get a room next year. BFD. It sucks, but I'll gladly spend my money at another hotel next year and have just as much fun. Guys like Jeff Myers (Finkd) driving out in is full kustom 57 caddy from Kansas, guzzling 4 gallons (yes....gallons) of oil on the way kicks ass. Talked to people who came out from Jersey, Texas, Michigan, Iowa and even Australia to see the best Kustoms America has to offer, yet guys who live a stones throw bitch and moan? I don't get it. Stay home. Cruising up with my friends (no matter how long it takes) makes the entire trip worth while. The rest is gravy. I just need to decide what capacity I'm going to participate next year. I miss most of the show being behind my booth all day. Both days. I can go back and vend again, and meet all kinds of cool people, or put my car/van in the show.....and meet all kinds of cool people. Kinda sounds like a win win to me.
I also think you can have a better time if you drive some of the back roads and stay off 101 , there are lots of neat places on the back roads and you do not need to be in a hurry , just enjoy the view and the ride..... Beaulieu
I wanted to hug that car. I thought it looked really good here on the HAMB. But, in person, you're lucky I didn't put finger prints all over that delicious looking piece of art by hugging it. Kudos to you and the Gambino crew.
I don't think I could express the same thing any better! I liked the show, were there things I didn't like? sure...there were things I didn't like about Paso, too(not as many...but whatever). This is what we have to work with, I thought it turned out extremely well for the first year at the new venue and I give mad props to WCK and everyone else involved for how well they bounced back from an awesome tradition being sucker-punched by the shity of Paso. Definitely didn't mind the $12 entrance fee, either; it seems to have kept a lot of the idiots out, worthwhile to me! I dug a lot of the cars, made fun of a lot of them and had fun with my friends...which is precisely why I go. Hopefully by next year I'll have something HAMB friendly to roll in. do you mean the ManSpooners?
Ive slept im my car on the streets at Paso 2 years in a row...crashed on floors camped out at the RV park, etc. Finally had a room in my name this year at the inn...nope, cant have it for next year. They said they only have rooms for WCK members and a HAMB block. Not cool, ive been supporting this show for 13 years.
The rooms were a bit dumpy. But, the atmosphere was XLNT! It was near evrything, the owner was cool, and a bunch of us were there. It also had it's own restaurant out front that had really good Chinese food, and a walk-up Taco window inside with Salsa Bar that was XLNT. I'll prolly stay somewhere else next year, but have no regrets staying there this past weekend at all.
I agree with KIRK!. its FNG mike. I deff had a good time with all the guys from the shop. its like any show , youre gonna try to make the best of it. its like sayin paso is fun jus because its paso. if you had a shitty time at santa maria, then that was your deal
The Jalopy Journal
