"car show winner"

[Garandfan]

I took the warpig to car show today. Glad the rain held off....I'd hate to see those $40,000.00 cars have to leave. Anyway, had the pleasure of parking in no man's land again. They didn't want ruts in the grass.. Had the same sarcastic questions....Why and what are you going to do with that...I try to have patience! People were interested in the fact that I had the precleareance customs form that said "Kuwait to USA" stamped "Operation Iraqi Freedom." When they called out best truck in the show--they said "THE DEUCE!" I just about fell over. A few of the truck guys were not happy. I have to make a sign that says PLEASE CLIMB ABOARD! It was cute that my wife was feeding my 2 year old daughter in the back of the truck. Yes, they drove separately.

 

[roscoe]

Hey congratulations. Could use a pic or two.

 

[Garandfan]

Yeah I figured that would come out. This is the truck not taken today though...A true show queen, huh?

 

[Armada]

Congrats on the win!!
You're still going to get this though...

 

[Garandfan]

YEAH, YEAH..... It was a car show to benefit cancer research in the name of a local police officer who passed away. I have the local police officers wondering when I'm gonna take them for a ride.

 

[AceHigh]

Took mine to a show yesterday too. Won "Special" award. 250 cars there and they let me park with the real cars!

 

[319]

Took mine to a show yesterday too. Won "Special" award. 250 cars there and they let me park with the real cars!

No, the other way around, "they let the other cars park with you!"

 

[Stretch44875]

LOL, special award...

 

[AceHigh]

I think it may relate to "Special Olympics"

 

[clinto]

You know, I see these kind of comments on this forum pretty frequently and I'd like to add my $.02.

As someone who was in the Mopar hobby for a long time and who spent over $40K on two different cars (A Hemi Road Runner and a 440 GTX) I think my point of view might have some validity.

Within the old car hobby, you frequently see this attitude directed towards "trailer queens".

I always said to those guys who opined that "trailers are for horses"...... "wait until YOU spend $3500 having pot metal trim pieces replated... and that $3500 worth of replating fits in a shoebox..... Or until you spend 3 weeks organzing hundreds of bolts, nuts, slips, and screws into indivudual baggies so they can be sent out and replated in the correct finish (black phosphate, gold zinc, etc.)-then when they come back, you have to figure out where they all go. Or you drive 3 hours one way to find a junkyard with a car similar to yours just to find a handful of hardware that is correct for your car to replace what the previous Bubba owners had replaced with home cheapo hardware I had to do this for shock absorber bolts).

Then there's the money. The last instrument cluster I had restored cost me $900. That is for a cluster with a speedo, ammeter, fuel level and coolant temp guages. No tach. No clock. No oil pressure. About as simple a cluster as you can ask for. Even though I build my own engines, parts and machining are horrendously expensive. The last paint job I had done cost me over $10K and I took the car more or less prepped (all metalwork done, body media blasted, most welding done) to the painter. it isn't cheap to do one right. You can do em a lot cheaper-but they won't be right. How about upholstery? Anyone priced high end upholstery work lately? Chrome replating?

And then there's the labor-my GTX took me 2.5 years to do. I didn't own a house ( I had a shop to work on and keep my stuff in). I didn't have a girlfriend or kids. I worked on it every night and every weekend. I spent an entire weekend waxing the bottom of the floorpans before I assembled it (it was a bare unibody).

So I can't blame a guy when he doesn't want his $40K investment rained on. Because once you restore it, as soon as you start drving it, it deteriorates. That's just the nature of cars. Go buy a brand new car and then look at it a month later, you can see the difference.

I have a buddy who has a picture of me somewhere in his stack of albums with the Road Runner on a lift cleaning the front suspension with a rag and a toothbrush after we took it to a Mopar show a couple hundred miles away. it was so much work that even though we loved driving it down, I kind of wish I had just put it in the trailer and hauled it.

So cut us car show guys some slack.



Now, if somebody is rude to you, that's a whole different story. I've always considered the Military vehicle hobby part of the collector car hobby and I've always thought that HMV's should be welcomed at car shows. In fact, there's a pic somewhere around here of my '68 383 Road Runner next to a Deuce from a cruise night almost 15 years ago here in Atlanta. I have probably been to thousands of car shows since I started going as a teenager and I have never seen anyone be rude towards the rare HMV owner that showed up.

 

[Armada]

I agree with you clinto. As someone who has done a number of rotisserie restorations myself years back, it's very hard to grasp the amount of labor and $$ that goes into a complete restoration done right unless you've been through it yourself. And when completed, you certainly do worry about anyone/anything getting close to it, the weather, etc. For example, the totally innocent guy that puts his hand on the body unknowingly leaves a mark in the finish from his wedding band, or whatever. You become very protective and rightly so. But I have to say I have met the occasional guy that thought that if someone elses 'entry' wasn't what theirs was, you were nothing and they let you know it.

That is the beauty of the mv hobby. A person can get into it relatively cheap, and restoring one is a whole lot cheaper than some classic car. No chrome, pot metal, high gloss paint, super rare accessories, etc. I've even seen incredible rattle can paint jobs. Try that on a show car. You can still put a lot of $$ into restoring one, but you don't have too. For the most part hey are a hands on vehicle too, unlike a show car, people can climb into one with no worries. And I've never met anyone that had an attitude about being better than someone else.

I also think that because mv's are so utilitarian, and the fact that a lot of people don't truly appreciate the amount of $$ and labor that goes into a show car, the mv's get a popular vote from the spectators. I can see that as frustrating a show car owner. Doesn't give them the right to be rude though.
My fwiw.

 

[N1265]

Altho I have never had anything said to me, I have felt some " tension " when taking the truck to a show and being parked between some really, really nice cars. It is like some people think your truck does not belongs there.

In my opinion, The whole purpose of a show is to get a bunch of older cars and trucks together so people can come out and remember the " good old days " reguardles of the stage of restoration the vehicle is in. what some people seem to forget is that for many people out there, the "Good old days" were when they were in the service.

I think it is funny when I see a guy walk right past 3 really nice '60s camaros and mustangs to look at my truck and spend 1/2 hr. there talking about it. I also enjoy having a couple of people leaning on my truck talking about years gone by as there kids are playing in the back.
( while being parked next to a car that has 5 " Please do not touch " signs on it )


Don't get me wrong, I am not bashing others who have the time and money to make there car premo and in some cases better than it was when it came from the factory. I just believe that any vehicle over 20 years old should be welcomed by all.

 

[crownjewel4]

 

[Pawnshop]

We had a guy at a local parking lot show get all torqued up because jeepJeep parked his XM818 about 10' from the dudes Camaro, he didn't say anything but he DID move it to another space. I think he was afraid something would fall off. Camaro Dude was one of those guys who open the hood/doors/trunk lid to show off the car that he thinks is the King Sht, but when you look in you see all the crappy rattle can paint and electrical tape repairs, and the guy next to him has his hood closed on a 95% perfect car that he is embarased to show because it is not 100%... It takes all kinds

 

[dskchevy]

I have been to alot of car shows......People love their cars & trucks & they come in all flavors .... Good thing a row of red or blue whatevers gets old quick...........I''m a chevy guy but I like to cool stuff......... I"ve seen cool yugo's, Ford's, Jeep's, you name it, I saw a 4 door Deuce on here WOW that was bad a$$.....I say love & respct them ALL....... who cares if they are on a trailer or hualing a trailer, COOL IS well just COOL........ NUF SAID...........

 

[Ridgerunner]

I maybe the oddball, and the only one on this site that thinks this way but.....I wouldn't want to own a car/truck or any vehicle for that matter that I was afraid to drive places. I under stand the work, time and money that people put into restoring them, but to me the enjoyment is driving them. I think it's sad that someone has a car so "Nice" that they don't drive it and enjoy it like it's suppose to be.

I have thick skin, so fire away, but that's how I see it

 

[Ridgerunner]

Oh, and congratulations "Garandfan" and "AceHigh" on the awards.

 

[bubba_got_you]

it looks good! hey c we bubba's ant all bad!!!

 

[jblack6527]

I maybe the oddball, and the only one on this site that thinks this way but.....I wouldn't want to own a car/truck or any vehicle for that matter that I was afraid to drive places. I under stand the work, time and money that people put into restoring them, but to me the enjoyment is driving them. I think it's sad that someone has a car so "Nice" that they don't drive it and enjoy it like it's suppose to be.

I have thick skin, so fire away, but that's how I see it

I agree with ya Ridgerunner. I too understand all the work and money it takes to restore a vehicle, especially one that is out of the mainstream. I could see trailering it to a few shows, maybe for a year, to see what kind of awards you might get, and to show off your handywork, but after that, I couldn't help myself to drive it. You might have $40k-$50k in the restoration, but then again, it's not that hard to spend $40k on a new car either..

 

[Recovry4x4]

I can certainly see all sides of this. One of my buddys and I built a convertible 4x4 Chevy LUV truck for my former girlfriend. Magazine shoots and the ISCA show circuit have dictated the use of a "stretcher" most all the time. We didn't really fit in with any of them. Seems the combination was too much for them to swallow. Something about 40" tires. a supercharged small block and the narrowed Dana 44/60 axles didn't fit too many of their criteria. Petersons 4 Wheel and Off Road was a little nicer. They were waiting on our arrival at one of the Jamborees with the film loaded. It did grace the cover of Jan 87 issue of the magazine. With that said, it's one of the experiences in life that got me into the more utilitarian side of motorsports.