Took a few pics. at the Indpls. State Fairgrounds. Very low attendance, fewer cars than last year, VERY FEW VENDORS. Somewhat of a disappointment. Still several really nice cars and trucks. I went with the intention of tech. talks with MSD, Holley, F.A.S.T., GM Performance, and others about their LS efi. controllers. NONE OF THEM WERE THERE! Still worth the $17, but, is this a sign of the times?
Indy Award My family and I have been out there since Thursday, and I agree the attendance and vendors are really down. My wife and I like to play game to find the highest entry number for the show and she saw 920 I believe. Still a lot of hot rods but definitely down. We did the poker run on Thursday and had a good adventure after the last stop in Danville when the fuel pump went out on the old truck. Luckily I found one about 35-40min away. So we sat in the Pizza Hut parking lot as my wife and mother in law went to pick up the new pump. Worst part was Pizza Hut didn't have anyone working old enough to sell us beer with our pizza! About 1 1/2hr later we were all fixed up and the truck was running good and ready to go home for the day. We are going back on Sunday because the old truck got somehow picked again for the second year in a row for the Suede and Chrome Award!
The Back To The 50's show is coming up soon at the Minnesota fair grounds. If everything is down there then it's definitely a trend.
I'm debating a trip to the Columbus, Ohio, show next month. They say it's a big one. So big I've been told you can't see it all in one day. We'll see.
It was pretty neat to win for the 2nd year in a row, there was a lot nicer ones around but we will take it!. We had a lot of driving the old truck approx 40mi one way to the fairgrounds all 4 days. We have been to the Columbus show the past 2 years (not with the truck). It is huge well over 1500 and a lot of vendors, and a good swap meet.
UPDATE... Reading my Jan. 2016, edition of Goodguys Gazette, and , there it is. Goodguys announces they will discontinue the show at Indianapolis, Kissimmee, Florida, and West Springfield, Massachusetts. The East Coast Natls. are moving back to Rhinebeck, New York. Lack of participation, and, dwindling car entries, cited as the reason. I think the muscle car and street rod business is not going to be a growth industry. Look at the people who do attend these shows. Grey beards, and bald heads, everywhere. The young people these days don't have the interest or the MONEY, to keep this hobby growing. It seems to be just the 50 plus crowd. We grew up with auto shop class in high school, and, affordable muscle cars in the parking lot. I guess there are too many things to compete for what little money people have left over these days. Evan, I'm curious, the customers at your shop are mostly 50 plus, with deep pockets...am I right? Steve.
If Goodguys would change their admission prices there would be a lot more grass roots and home grown builder folks there. I quit going to the GG shows about 20 years ago and money was the sole reason. I felt they should let the guys with cars in the show attend for almost nothing... and charge passengers and spectators more. Let's face it... no cars, no show.
Thankfully the car shows here in Pittsburg have grown over the last couple of years. Steve, I like your comment about old farts with deep pockets. That has never been me. (deep pockets that is) But if a person has the patience to wait and save, you can have half a truck rolling in a matter of 10 years~ As long as the original engine/transmission work alright. Man, I gotta get a bed on my truck...
I missed the Goodguys here in Scottsdale a week or so ago - several people told me attendance and the swap meet were good. I agree with the prices - by the time you pay nearly $20 to get in plus the parking plus lunch, it's nearly $75 for the wife and I to go. If you're a young guy just getting into the hobby, why would you spend that money to see old white guy's cars that have 10X more discretionary income to spend on their hobby than you, when you can go out to Scottsdale Pavillions and see a much more diverse crowd and cars for free? It seems like every time I go to a Goodguys, it's old white guys like me showing/looking. The guys that come out for the autocross event are a couple decades younger, on average though. I don't think interest in cars is any less than it's ever been, but I think the reality is that this type of venue for the hobby is a 'dinosaur' scheduled for extinction. This type of event is what I grew up with and will gradually die out with the wave of baby boomers like me. Every time I go, I leave wondering why I can't just buy an Art Morrison frame, a new crate LS7 , a new T56 and a Currie 9", have all new Chinese sheet metal and my body work done by Chip Foose in one week like everybody else does. It takes me about a week to get over the marketing hype and back to the realization that I'm in this hobby for the enjoyment of creating something for as little money as possible that'll satisfy my need for creativity and nostalgia. Don't get me wrong, I get a lot of great ideas and enjoy talking to everyone at the show, but I leave disappointed and with a bit of an inferiority complex. I'd really like some diversity (almost gagging-I can't believe I used that word) Friday nights at the local In-and-Out is crowed with kids with Hondas and turbos/fart cans - some with some great tuning and fab skills. I'd never own/drive one, but I like to see their skills and cars Went to the auto swap meet last week with one of my neighbors who sells there, and there was a good mix of young and old there, but not much buying/selling going on. The number of spaces/vendors was as big as I've ever seen it. Despite all the hoopla from the current administration about job recovery, the US economy isn't all that robust. My industry (aerospace) is still laying off, furloughing and looking for retirement volunteers - I have to assume others are the same and the discretionary money is a little tight right now. Rant over -remember, opinions are like a**holes - everybody's got one!
Phil, if I could "like" a post more than once, I would do it for yours. I guess it depends on what you are looking for in a car "show". The local gathering, "car shows" here in rural Indiana are basically, extended "family" get-togethers. What I mean by that is, everybody knows everybody, and their cars. Heard the stories, know the details, so just sit in a lawn chair and talk. Pretty boring to me, after awhile. The guys that I'm close friends with, already stop by often, in the summer, if my shop door is open. I like big venue shows, because you see those national vendors, and, in the case of Goodguys, there are ACTION things to do. Autocross, vintage drag racing, poker runs, etc. The thing is, Goodguys shows are big business. The cost to produce one would probably surprise a lot of people. A fleet of semi trucks traveling the U.S., rental on the venue, emergency personnel have to be paid, liability insurance, Goodguys full and part-time staff, radio and TV advertising, the list goes on. As I sit here looking at the Goodguys Reg. form for Columbus, Ohio, next summer, the cost to enter as a gold level member would be $45, for the whole weekend. That includes two adults and their kids under 16 for the entire weekend, plus other goodies. I think that is not too bad of a value. N.S.R.A., Louisville, would be similar, I think, without the fun "blow your car out" stuff. You have to be a member, or pay more to attend. The thing is, membership brings some discounts with vendors, that can return your cost if you are building a car. They also have a fantastic magazine, printed on real paper and mailed to your home. (I like that when I'm in the middle of nowhere in the cab of a truck.) I disagree, to some extent, John, that spectators should pay most of the cost. They are the potential future enthusiasts, that might help the hobby live on. I get a kick out of the youngsters that show interest, and ask questions. The comment on the U.S. economy is correct, Phil. We are being fed lies every day on that. This year has been the slowest in my business in many years. Several factors have contributed to that, but, I see "cracks" in the economic foundation, that look much worse to me than the summer of 2008. I must be an immature, old coot, because I can't wait to drag race and autocross my 50 Chevy. In the case of the Indianapolis show, I think Goodguys made some fatal errors. They used to have the show out at Raceway Park, in Clermont, In., a dragstrip in a suburb of Indpls. They decided to move it to the Indiana State Fairgrounds, for whatever reason. Not a good neighborhood. I was told by several out-of town people they would not be back, because of that. Plus, the vintage drags were still out at Clermont, so, you had to go there to participate in that. Just, bad, decision making... Columbus, Ohio is a long drive for me, but, I'll probably go... Steve.
Phil, This: "the realization that I'm in this hobby for the enjoyment of creating something for as little money as possible that'll satisfy my need for creativity and nostalgia" is why we are all HERE. "built, not bought" is what we all have in common. Just like the rich kid in my High School (a thousand years ago), who's Dad bought him a brand new Camaro- zero credibility. But the guy who put blood sweat and tears into the dark green Z/28? major credibility. To each his own, but we definitely have a common thread here. Steve, I agree with the observation that a show, any show, costs big money to put on. The big expense part flows down to the vendors, which is why a $4 sandwich costs 10 bucks (a friend and I looked into selling food at the fair... WOW, everybody had their hand out before you could set up shop). The only car "show" around here happened the last Sunday of every month. Cars being shown and offered for sale, with parts and the like out back. I attended a LOT back in the eighties, and when I visited a few years back, it was the same bunch of guys peddling the same old junk. It finally closed up, and moved to New England Dragway (Epping, NH, about an hour or so away). I just couldn't find the time to go when it was 20 minutes away, and now that it is 1 hr +, I'll likely never go again. This is a SMALL TIME show. I don't even get the chance to race my sedan at the dragstrip on grudge nights. Too busy I guess. It'd be nice to go to a REAL show though. And your comment "I must be an immature, old coot, because I can't wait to drag race and autocross my 50 Chevy" had me laughing out loud. My first thought? Damn, he has that LQ9 6-liter, so he'll probably kick my butt in the drag race... But it'll be a WHOLE different story on the autocross!
I didn't realize they moved away from "IRP"..... that was my favorite part, watching guys actually drag racing their cars there. Do they still have Super Chevy at IRP? John
I think the Super Chevy weekends went away sometime in the 1990s, John. I remember going several times in the 1980s, and, I agree with you, that was fun. That might have been the time Goodguys started, and filled the void. I pretty much abandoned hot rods and car shows from 1994 on, for 20 years. I was too much into air shows, fly-ins, and aerobatic competition events. And, just flying anything, and everything I could get my hands on. That is why my ol' truck was neglected for so long. Mike, I have visions of orange cones scattered all over the place, tire smoke in the air, and the announcer saying, "sorry folks, we'll have a brief intermission, while we fix the course after that debacle..." Steve.
I can hardly wait! Imagine the hits on the embedded link at the bottom of this thread to the YouTube video- of 2 "old coots" manhandling vintage AD tin around the autocross! Zig will be the first to like it! (Zig, with no bed, your trip around the cones would be HUGE fun, but the light rear end would certainly require additional "driver input")
If that would ever happen, I want to mount a GoPro inside Zig's truck. So, I can watch all that "driver input". Big 'ol floor shift, massive steering wheel, clutch work... Talk about hits on Youtube. HA HA! Ziggy drifting his old jimmy around the course... Steve.
And the tread on my back tires is kind of sparse anyway... But you know I wouldn't do that to this old drive line, right? It's old like me, and just getting from point A to point B is good enough...
with a weight distribution exceeding 85/15, there wouldn't be any stress on the driveline, just the driver. The spectators would get ALL of the admission price worth of entertainment in one lap! If all it will take is another set of back tires for you to go for it, LET ME KNOW.
I'd not do Autocross but I have and will continue to drive the twist back roads imprudently fast in my old i6 powered rigs....
