Throwing a car show - Do's and Don'ts

Our little car club just branched off from a national chapter into our own thing. We haven't thrown a show as of yet but have really been wanting to. Something once or twice a year.

I'd like to learn from other's mistakes and hopefully gain some good advice here.

Let me know what you think should and shouldn't be done to make it fun for everyone.

Thanks guys.

 

I think you should PM Kirk here. He would be the man for this one.... regards, DJ

 

Don't throw a show, they are lots of work, and people always want to complain about shit.

Or you could also try to PM "straykatkustoms" He puts on a show each year and it is always at capacity. Nearly 250 cars each year I think. Anyway, its one hell of a show.

Except he planned it on a weekend when it rained this year. (see people always want to bitch)

 

Contact your local chamber of comrance, they can help with free advertising. They gave me $250 and contacted a hotel, who begged me to have the show there. They also gave me $250 and some comp rooms.

Duke

 

Don't have a loud ass public address system blaring music at obnoxious levels and screeching and squelching.

Also... the whole talk, talk, talk crap about door prizes and whatever over the same loud ass public address system... I go to look at cars/trucks/rods, if I want to listen to loud 1950's music, I can do that at home with a better sound system.

These are the two main reasons I never go to car shows... and if I do it is for usually less than an hour.

That's just me though... seems everyone else likes that sort of stuff.

-W

 

The best shows are no prizes with no or low cover charge. Too many prizes brings out the trophy chasers, makes ordinary cars shy away, and screws up the fun. You’ll get a better car count without the trophies. My local club had a show earlier this year and barely broke even. Get local sponsors to donate stuff for goody bags to go to all the car owners again at no cost. Run a food wagon and sell car stuff and t-shirts to get your revenue. Revenue is all about getting a car count, the people will follow. The guy that drives in with a $2000 beater is going to spend just as much as the guy that shows up with the mega dollar enclosed trailer queen.

 

I agree!

 

Best one I ever attended was free... the sponsors "rented" a drive-in theatre, showed "two-lane blacktop" and "American Grafitti" with a band that played until midnight on a stage in front of the screen (I think they volunteered just for the gig exposure)... admission was the price of the movie ticket, the place was packed, cars allowed in that night were pre-70 models only... there was a "warning" sign on the driveway that those were the only addmitted vehicles that night, so the place was packed with not ony those who new about the show, but "ordinary" pre-70 drivers... it was friggin awesome.

 

Unless you can hire people to run the food wagon and sell stuff, you're going to screw yourself. It's amazing how many little issues come up during a show that only the guy in charge can take care of.

I like the idea of prizes and trophies--make them Popular Choice. Donated door prizes will also be good to give out.

And rather than the same old stale '50s songs we've all heard a million times, try some modern Swing (brian setzer et al), the Ventures, maybe go up into the '60s and '70s. People in their '30s and early '40s are just about sick and tired of '50s. And put the speaker on a roof or something, so they aren't blasting everyone to death.

A 50/50 raffle would also be a good way to make a couple hundred bucks.

-Brad

 

Mick (straykatkustoms) throws the best party I've ever been to. The Stray Kat 500 is pure fun from start to finish.

 

Definately don't plan to make money at it. I do the flea markets and the cheaper the spot, the better. Of the 4 shows they have here at the same place each year, the one with the most vendors, is the one that doesn't charge anything for a flea market spot. The one that wanted $25 for a spot last year, I don't even go to anymore (mainly because the folks at the all-Ford show were so cheap I barely broke even).

A new show is going to take time to get off the ground. I'd try not to put myself opposite any other show except small niche shows, within a 100 mile radius, too.

 

Do's

Convince the people to have low expectations and work your tail off try to meet them.

Don'ts

Don't do it on a day that it will rain.

Rain sucks!!!

Good luck and let me know if I can help ya out.....

Happy Trails,

Mick

 

You listen to Mick - he's got it down.

J.

 

Feel free to PM or email me with any questions. I have helped a lot of people get shows started.

 

lo c dan put on a show this year and lost his ass. Only a handful of people showed. Now you never see lo c dan on the HAMB. Maybe he is still upset over the low turn out.

 

Billetproof lost money the first two years. Straight outta my pocket! You have to WANT to do it. I was making much more money back then and a grand didn't seem like much to pay to have fun with my friends.

Even now, the balance of money in and money out needs constant attention. It's always funny to me how the negative people sit around adding up ALL the money Billetproof makes without ever thinking about the expenses, time or hard work. To do a show right there are A LOT of expenses and even more hard work with no guarantee that anyone will even show up! Especially true if you are anal about happy customers like I am. I want to have the best flyers and the best stuff in the goodie bag. The Billetproof goodie bags have $43 (retail) worth of stuff in them and the entry fee is only $20. Each of those items and the bags have to be paid for. But to me the customer is getting pretty good bang for their buck.

 

I just threw the Hotrod Ho-Down in Colorado Springs and it was my first show. I held it at a local bar/restaraunt with a fairly large parking lot. I got the bar to hire the bands and they played inside. I hired a DJ for outside which was not too loud (just background music). My club made the trophies in our garage out of old car parts (they went over very well) and had a trophy shop label them. There were only six awards, not hundreds, and they were popular pics. The proceeds went to a very good local charity organization who was present and working the booth. I got local sponsorship from businesses for door prizes. And I flyered every weekend for two and a half months. The whole reason why I did it was for two reasons. I wanted to have a car show EVENT, not just a normal car show. And, I wanted to generate some money for a local charity that services one of our member's kids. I can tell you that organizing a car show aint easy. Best of luck and visit www.hotrodhodown.com if you want to check out what I did.

 

Well said Kirk!

 

Check Car Clubs in your area that have shows and don't schedule them at the same time they have one. Don't try to please everyone.

 

We threw a show in two weeks notice and pulled it off nicely. All we did was

1st: Didn't expect to make any money doing it
2nd: Made (nice) flyers at home on a computer
3rd: Gave flyers to plenty of chicks
4th: Made sure all the guys brought plenty of booze
5th: Didn't charge shit, put on the flyer...
"Just show up and have fun"

....And the rest was history!

 

Good formula for fun!

 

Our club put on a show for several years. We had it in conjuction with a local arts and crafts festival in downtown Texarkana. A bank donated their parking lot right beside the festival. It was a big success! The festival goers got to see some cool rides, our ladies got the arts and crap, us guys got 3 stages with live music.......and cold beer! Lots of fun! I would also suggest very low entry fee (for charity) and a few home made trophies.

 

Good promotion is important.

 

I started a club in Hartford Wisconsin in 1980. Show-N-Go Ltd. We did over 15 shows and we lost money the first few years. I have also gone to hundreds of shows thanks to a very understanding wife who likes to people watch.

Homemade trophy's are the best. I have seen gas cards given out this year which is a very thoughtful prize. I like low cost admission, SHADE, grass, low level music, No sponsoring club competition for trophy's. Activities for kids is a must if you want to attract a family type crowd. Drinking has declined alot over the past few years and for good cause.

I like more emphasis on best engine, engineering, paint, upholstry, theme etc. over rigid classes. How many '32's can you put in one class?

But, the #1 thing to have is liability insurance. Do not run a show without it. Maybe you can get a ryder for the event if the site is a private business and not a public park. Maybe the private business or shopping center etc has insurance. No insurance, no show. Period. Unfortunately we had 4 people killed as they left one of our shows. Not fun. TGFI. Thank God for insurance.

Many of the members above noted the amount of help it takes to run a show. Never underestimate the help scenario. First year shows usually suck bad unless you are tied into an event nearby, ...riverfest, sidewalk days, Centeniels etc. Good Luck. remember....the family that plays together, stays together.

Kermit

 

Having been the president of a amateur radio club and having swaps I was going to ask about insurance. You have to have it no bull shit. It only takes one person twisting his or her ankle and your screwed.
Also if your registered as a non profit club keep the paper work handy for for your replacements. I resigned cause they couldnt show me the paper work and we had a ton of money in the bank and I wasnt gonna paythe irs for thier fuck up. I still dunno if they really had the legal documents
Dave

 

CI..i have nuttin to add..havent even read the thread yet ..just wanted to tag this bad boy before it got away!! im goin into the same thing at the moment and fellow cc member KROPDUSTER hooked me up with this on a pm.....i just have to leave and dont wanna forget !!how the hell did i miss this?? ive been home with the kids since my dad passed away!!june 11th!!!i must be gettin blind from being on here 24/7!! i will be bothering all of you shortly...thanks>>>>>>>
i do know that marcy is doin the shirts and well, thats as far as ive got!!!aint till june so ive got some time

 

Sure it wasn't as organized as some shows and we didn't have all the extras like vendors booths, and swap area but we did have a show that lasted all day and well into the night.....started at 7am and ended around 10pm. and those "just show up" shows are always a relaxed atmosphere. Thanks for the compliment Kirk...Coming from the show guru, It speaks volume.

 

okay...i thought about not doin a reg fee..but ive done the quick math and im in for 2 grand already...im goin to have to charge aint i????i have the whole damn town to park hot rod's in so thats not a problem...goodie bags???how do ya go about that??had a HAMBER send me a list he uses to fax and ask for prizes..that how you do that???i give a shit about losin money, but i cant afford to lose all my money! kirk, you charge 20 and give out the bags..kool..but then you sell t-shrts and what else to help break even? not doin any of this for charity...just to have fun..but, if it would go great and make more then i spent, then i would for sure give to charity...maybe a couple of 18 years old asian girls could use the money to come to the US

 

top it off

 

One thing I/We did at the end of our clubs 1st show was a bunch of us from the club stood at the exit & thanked every car leaving for coming out and supporting the show.

Not a big deal but we thought it was a nice touch. Granted, this was a small 1st time show but was the " class" thing to do.

Steve