Ridiculous car show registration fees. Rant.

[Oklacarcollecto]

Our local Denny's in Bordentown on Rt. 206 puts on a show once a month or so (next Friday the 17th) weather permitting. Free Show and 20% off to all who have a car and their familys. They even give a trophy for Denny's mannagers choice.

Now that is cool and what the hobby used to be about. Greed has taken the hobby over and everyone that can get a drop of cash is sucking it up now. It is the same way with the parts supply. The collecter car is no longer a poor mans hobby.

 

[abodyjoe]

Our local Denny's in Bordentown on Rt. 206 puts on a show once a month or so (next Friday the 17th) weather permitting. Free Show and 20% off to all who have a car and their familys. They even give a trophy for Denny's mannagers choice.

good deal.. the way it should be. they give 20% off and still probably bring in more cash then a normal friday.. i cruise by that place on the way home from work sometimes.

 

[dodge freak]

Back in the 70's nobody paid to hangout in a lot with their cars..don't believe they did in the 1980's either

 

[abodyjoe]

Back in the 70's nobody paid to hangout in a lot with their cars..don't believe they did in the 1980's either

seemed to start in the early to mid 2000's. greed set in.

 

[Revhendo]

Anyone been to a car show where a vagrant kicked your car because you parked on his front porch?

 

[tedsweet]

we used to have free car show, no thropies, couldnt get more than 25 cars. now costs 15 bucks, 50 throphies, now 200+ cars.

 

[dodge freak]

There is something to be said to that "if it cost more, it HAS to be better" mentality , lol

 

[451Cuda]

451CUDA thats a great idea but the bulk of the car guys/gals here are older [set in their ways] folks and/or trophy hounds whom only go to certain places at certain days and don't worry about 20 or more dollars to register so they would go there instead.

And that's the main problem - as long as people as willing, it's gonna continue. Seems $5 worth of plastic bits glued together is enough to give some people a sense of accomplishment, I don't get anything from it and never really got into the show scene.

I'll stick to real cruise nights where people actually drive their cars and hang out, minus the egos and drama.

 

[green1]

Helped a buddy do rotessie up on a 69 Charger. First car show at a church- 4 awards, Next car show- $50, there were old nos hemi;s in there. 2012 Dodge won the event (he was a member of the church). I'm done with this bs.

 

[69DARTS]

i put on a car show every year 1st year it was a $1.00.
five years later its $5.00 thats my cap.
i feed u i have some thing to give away every 1/2 hour.
about 30 cars each year
i love it it also cost me money
but i dont care

 

[lou3500]

And that's the main problem - as long as people as willing, it's gonna continue. Seems $5 worth of plastic bits glued together is enough to give some people a sense of accomplishment, I don't get anything from it and never really got into the show scene.

I'll stick to real cruise nights where people actually drive their cars and hang out, minus the egos and drama.

That's my thinking too i'm over the hoopla of pay shows i enjoy the cruise ins relaxing and talking cars while folks walk and look at your work and sometimes ask questions or comment. The best trophy you can get can't be put on a shelf or hung on a wall it's "DID YOU BUILD THIS CAR,YOU DID A GREAT JOB I LOVE IT" i would rather have comments like that than any trophy any day.

 

[Frankie]

no there really isn't. its not rocket science to put together an affordable car show. and there is no way to justify a $20 car show. especially a local thing.. something like the nats or carlisle is different. i'm talking a local thing.

Joe, you might have missed this, but this is some of the stuff we ran into when promoting car shows. I stopped being involved because it was a money losing proposition.

Here's the list again. I might have missed some things, it's been a while.

Getting serious for a moment, there are usually fees involved in any public gathering. Some of the fees I've come across when being involved in the car show promotion scene are:
Rental of the facility,
security,
guaranties to venders,
portable toilets,
clean up and trash pick up costs at the end of the event,
in some cases it's necessary to get the city or country to run temporary power,
in today's world many facilities owners are requiring that the shows promoters purchase event insurance that covers liability, property, and in some cases, even workers comp, if the property owner of municipality has to supply manpower for the event.
Then there's the cost of promoting the event, posters, fliers, radio and/or spot announcements,
awards,
refreshments for the staff (even if they volunteer their time), most times there are "staff" tee shirts
Event tees
Dash plaques,
Trophies,
and a bunch of other stuff. In some cases even the local police charge for the additional man power needed to cover the event.

I'm not intimating that all event's have all these costs, but hardly any event is free of costs.

Whether or not the entry fees are justified is another matter.

Someone mentioned that the promoters should pay us to bring our cars to the show. If that were to become the standard, I doubt that there would be any car shows.

 

[amoduster]

car craft in MN 45 bucks drove 6 hours to get there and 100.00 for fuel one way and they want that kind of loot ,last time that will happen

 

[cannucky]

we have Mopaerfest which costs 35 bucks for 2 days but there are real prizes and all the proceeds do go to charity , the guy who won the restored car last yerar was pretty happy and If one of us wins the 340 duster this year we'll be stoked ,I think the fee needs to be reflected in the give back , if promoting shows is a business then they should move to broadway , the best show in Victoria has always been free

 

[abodyjoe]

Joe, you might have missed this, but this is some of the stuff we ran into when promoting car shows. I stopped being involved because it was a money losing proposition.

Here's the list again. I might have missed some things, it's been a while.

I've helped put together some pretty nice shows and am well aware of things needed. And the work involved You have to be resourceful. But there is no reason it should cost $20 entry fee. Lots of un necessary wasted money on your list. Plus I think your talking about an entirely different show then I am and what I believe the op is.

 

[6770Dartman]

Here in NJ, a car show just charged $30. I refused to go. This is one of the biggest shows in north Jersey, and it is for charity, but when is enough, enough? After all, as mentioned above, we are the show. Without the cars the organizers have nothing. I think $20 is enough.
Cruise nights have become much more popular in NJ due to the rising cost of car shows.

 

[abodyjoe]

we have Mopaerfest which costs 35 bucks for 2 days but there are real prizes and all the proceeds do go to charity , the guy who won the restored car last yerar was pretty happy and If one of us wins the 340 duster this year we'll be stoked ,I think the fee needs to be reflected in the give back , if promoting shows is a business then they should move to broadway , the best show in Victoria has always been free

Moparfest, Carlisle, the mats and the mats are a different story. Pretty sure most of us are talking about local **** *** shows.

 

[tedsweet]

in albany area cruisenights are disapearing, nobody goes.

 

[Frankie]

I've helped put together some pretty nice shows and am well aware of things needed. And the work involved You have to be resourceful. But there is no reason it should cost $20 entry fee. Lots of un necessary wasted money on your list. Plus I think your talking about an entirely different show then I am and what I believe the op is.

You might be missunderstanding. The things I listed here are things we ran into when promoting shows. (Plural). I don't recall ever having run into all of those things while promoting just one show. lol That would surly be a bust! Although, I'll wager that many of the bigger shows have to deal with most of that list.

What I've seen lately though is that municipalities are getting very budget minded. If they have to supply anything (cops, sanitation, clean up) they want to be paid for it. That's something that has happened in the past 15 or so years.

Back in the day, the cops wouldn't even be needed, but they would show up, anyway, at no cost, except possibly a free burger and a coke. We also were responsible for returning the area back to the way it was before the show. Entire car clubs would volunteer to help out. Remember that?

Small shows, and cruise ins can still be done very economically. again, it takes some volunteering, but, there are plenty of ways to keep costs, down.

Where things get sticky is when the property owner wants to be held harmless, requiring that you provide uniformed security, and the various insurances. That can get expensive, and unless the producers are willing to charge admission from the spectators, the expense will fall to the promoter, and that will be passed on to those of us who show our cars.
About $24 years ago, I questioned the $15 dollar entry fee at a show up in New Jersey. The guy collecting the money said, "Chalk it up to the price of fame". lol

 

[ramenth]

Back in the day, the cops wouldn't even be needed, but they would show up, anyway, at no cost, except possibly a free burger and a coke. We also were responsible for returning the area back to the way it was before the show. Entire car clubs would volunteer to help out. Remember that?

Yes, actually, I do.

Organized a small show one time with a burn-out contest as the main attraction. Cops showed up because the tire smoke was being blown across the bridge next to the park where we were holding the contest. We'd signal up the when the next burn-out was going to happen, they'd hold traffic until the smoke cleared.

None of this was charged to us, none of this was planned. The cops showed up because, in this case, they were needed for traffic. We weren't told to shut it down. As a matter of fact, it was trooper who called in the village PD to run traffic control when he showed up because of a complaint about the smoke going into the marina from one of the campers there. He wound up staying and enjoying the show. The cops on the bridge were having a blast, too, as were most of the folks sitting in their cars, waiting to cross the bridge.

It was all volunteer, held by the club. We policed the crowd, cleaned up, staged everything, rented the park, convinced a buddy of mine to volunteer his roll back to take broken cars out of the staging area, got donations out of a local tire shop for the prize of new tires to the winner. And everyone had a blast.

 

[70DartMike]

Around here they all charge a minimum of $20 now, and that's if you're lucky. The last show I went to, which is the biggest show in my town, used to give out a t shirt and door prize in return for your $20. Well this year they forgot the shirts and door prizes, but still charged us $20. Then the same guys got all the trophys. They even have a "Best Orphan" catagory, which me in my 65 Fargo won a couple years ago, but they lost my trophy and never sent it to me. This year it went to a 35 Chevy.. What?? Last time I looked, they were still making Chevy's.
Carmen and I drove the 273 Valiant out to one in Penticton which was a 10 hour drive with one overnight stay, and paid over $20 for the entrance fee, and got nothing but a dash plaque for the price. Don't get me wrong, there were some bad *** cars there which I hadn't ever seen before, but the entry price was ridiculous.

 

[1beeone]

I spend 93 dollar to be judged in the street class at the Mopar Nat. and when I got there I was told no your going to be judged with the modified, what a joke that was.

 

[stumper]

Cruises around this area are no charge as they should be. They all hold a 50/50 drawing to raise funds for something charitable. I do not mind paying $20 for some of the local shows where the money goes to a charity. I look at it as a donation and a chance to go hang out with other motor heads. I do have an issue with the bigger "for profit" shows that are charging $35-$40 registration - plus the entry fee for spectators. These I feel should either not charge the entrants at all or charge just the spectator fee. That said they sure don't seem to have any problem filling up the big shows with entrants so I guess it comes down to the good ole American supply and demand parody..
There are a couple things that I run into around here with the small shows that irks me. It seems in recent years many of the local churches have found that car shows are a good way to make some money. I don't mind this, but I do mind when they turn the show into a sermon trying to convince everyone to join their church and constantly preaching. I also find it fustrating that some of these small shows don't even take the time to find a few car people to do the judging. The last show I was at in June had the waitresses from the resurant come out to do the judging and my friend with his bone stock Model A Ford won both Best GM and Best Modified ..........
Rant over.......

 

[Mrmopartech]

Me.I stopped going to any big shows all together.It,s local stuff within a 1-2 hours,max.To go to moparfest for me,6-7 hours of either driving the car or on the trailer,bed and breakfast, entries fee,s,food,buy some small stuff,and I have spent a grand.Now I don,t know about you guys,but I am not getting back a grand of entertainment.I agree 100% with most of the members,we are the ones they come to see to re-live the old times of when there uncle had a car like that,or there dad.The under 10$ charge is OK as long as they give you a tax recite for a charity its going to.I would like to see the cost of going to the mopar nats,that I used to go to,with todays prices.Thats a 13 hours trip,plus all the extras.I think my grand is now 2 grand.There is no money around to charge these prices,today with the north american economy in the shitter.Gas prices are insane,5$ a gallon here,times that by a trip from Montreal to Colombus,and return,do the math boys and girls.If a local A&W resturant can put on a show every wednesday night and have some 2-300 people show up and make money off the people coming into the store for food and drink,and give out prices at no cost to the car owners,this is what its all about.Mrmopartech

 

[jedrattle]

I quit the local car shows years ago. None of my crap runs aways. I got sick of seeing the same cars over and over and over again. I live in SoCal, so we have ton of them all year long. I will go to things like the LA Roadster Father's day show and sometimes the Grad National Roadster Show. A few little local shows once in a blue moon. Mainly, if I am driving by and have time to stop and look, then I will do that. I really don't go out of my way for any of them. I understand the cost involved in some of these things like the Father's Day show but, some have little to no cost and still charge.


The one that pisses me off to no f#$king end is John Force. He has a charity car show in december. It is a toy drive for kids. Cool right? Not so much! $80 and you have bring a toy. All proceeds go to charity. Still cool right? Here is the kicker......he has approve your car!! $80 and I have to have my car approved for charity toy drive! WTF is wrong with people?! It's for charity! F him!! I never miss an chance to kick him in the nuts! I have never been to one his shows and I NEVER will!

Rant off...I think.....