Re: Car Show Etiquette
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: roeville</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I've noticed that the car shows that charge an entrance fee have a higher percentage of genuine car enthusiasts resulting in less problems. Even the younger children of real car enthusiasts seem to respect cars. It's the local car car gatherings, city car shows, and cruise ins that require more attentiveness. I find myself taking my car to less shows but I have been driving the car more often. Mike </div></div>
I don't know. Everybody's experience is different, but I've found that "genuine" car enthusiasts are often just as disrespectful as the general public.
About 10 years ago, I picked up a 65 Barracuda Formula S. Original owner car, and everything, all the hard to find parts, was there. Correct AVS, dual point dis., exhaust, woodgrain wheel, tach, etc. Awesome little car. A few buddies and I decide to clean it up and take to one of the larger local car shows that Saturday. We arrive and park in a row of Mopars, right next to two 70 440 Six Barrel Cudas. The really interesting one was a black on black 4-speed. No shaker, standard dash, and 15-inch wheels with wire wheel covers. Neat car. Too bad the owner was a ****.
So about 15 minutes after we get there, an 87 Mustang GT convertible pulls in with an older couple inside. It's a gorgeous car, black over titanium, and obviously very well maintained. Right on cue, the ******* with the black Cuda starts complaining about letting "new" cars into car shows (as though the thought that anybody might appreciate seeing such a car had never occurred to him). After a good five minute rant, he caps it off with possibly the dumbest comment I've ever heard at a show. "I didn't spend a hundred grand restoring this car to park it next to that." Well, then why did you spend a hundred grand restoring it? And why are you here?
I walked over to the Mustang and talked to the owners. Turns out they bought it new the year their youngest daughter graduated from college, and it was creampuff. Never saw rain, less than 10,000 miles, and completely original. Now that they were both retired, they were having fun taking it to shows, Sunday cruises, etc.
After telling them (for the tenth time) what a great car it was and thanking them for bringing it, I headed back to my car. Cuda guy and his buddies were looking at me funny, so I loudly announced as I walked by "That's the nicest ******* car at this show." The response was crickets.
That was about it for me. I don't think I've been to a show since, because, unfortunately, situations like that have always been the rule and not the exception. Complaining about imports. Complaining about late-models. Complaining about too many Chevrolets. Or too many Mustangs. Or too many (insert car here). I've got better things to do than waste a day listening to grown men act like jackasses.
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