Cruise Night ... Curb my enthusiasm!
 

Now that the GTO is running it's personal best, I polished her up and headed for a local Sunday cruise night haunt I used to frequent. I was concerned with parking but as it turns out, only about a dozen cars showed up. They had a promoter/DJ with a sound trailer set up. Met a nice guy there with an orange '72 Lemans w. white side stripes and had a chat and then took a 10 minute walk-around and looked at the cars.

It was Sunday evening which accounts for the lack of turnout but the weather was very comfortable and I thought more cars would show. I decided to patronize the sponsor and order some food and a beer so I
went to the outdoor patio bar to order. There were a couple tables occupied by families eating and enjoying the weather. After a 15 minute wait, I finally got a waitress and ordered. She plopped a small bowl of popcorn down (no beer) and then disappeared. After another 20 minutes of waiting for my food and still no beverage, so did I.

I guess it's all uphill from here. What's your experience with these cruise nights in your area?

That kinda stinks... my first "regularly scheduled" car show was at a bar in Virginia Beach when I was in the Navy. It was always packed, the cars looked great under the lights, and the bar had great food and service.

Every regular weekly-type show I've been to since then has been a letdown, even the Scottsdale Pavilions.

I live in a village of 500 in the middle of nowhere. Some local guys started a cruise-in every other Wednesday at the bar in town. There’s usually at least 30 cars there. The service at the bar? I couldn’t tell ya as I never go in there.

The Cruise-In scene will NEVER be the same in Virginia Beach since Jenro's closed both the Café' (Bar) on the East end of the lot and the family Coffee Shop/Grill on the North end.
Always a full lot, Ran way beyond 10 pm, and always a good time, never to be duplicated again :(

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7193d7b1_c.jpg

i stopped going to the "Cruise In's" years ago.
I never fit in with those tycoons.
If I do stop in for a peek; I park my GTO in the regular car lot.

My experiences with the cruise in crowd:
"My car is one of ten made with blah blah blah..."
Or the haters:
"Is this a real GTO?" "Big Block?"...etc.
Then they will walk around the car looking to call out any rust or imperfections:
"hey there's a little rust over here..."; "Is that the right dashboard?"
" I thought all GTO's had rally gauges?" " I thought all GTO's have disc brakes?"
Etc, etc.
Not for me I dont need the attention.

I can't imagine the Pavilions being a letdown.

I continue to marvel at the number of cars that show up; must be a thousand of 'em.

K

I realized a while ago my favorite part of cruise night or a car show is (a) driving there, and (b) driving back.

Since then I've been doing the driving part and skipping the rest.

K

I always made sure to visit the Pavilions when I was in the area. Always a big show.

George

Cruise nite is a ritual in my town - there must have been at least 300 people and a hundred cars every sunday last summer.

I sold my T/A last fall and bought another one since then.

I'm looking forward to getting back into the scene here however I find most of the folks are pretty snooty - not sure why.

Run what you brung I always say...millionaires can have the super cars and trailer queens...

The kids really look forward to sundays as well.

Just be glad we got to enjoy it! (Although it spoiled car shows for me for the rest of my life.) I still have a t-shirt, I think.

Just in comparison to Jenros in Va Beach, which went well into the night. Everything in AZ stops early, it seems. I loved the "under the lights" and the bar food.

I hate to say this but this year I've lost all interest in Cruise Nights and Car Shows. Plus, it's either too hot or raining. The weather has been pretty crappy around here this year.

And I'm also losing my best friend to cancer. That alone makes it "The Year That Sucks".

I generally like cruise nights more than car shows. I don't have to pay to have strangers who know nothing look at my car. The people are usually less critical. The cars are more like something I could afford and I don't have to stay any longer than I want. The problem in this area is cruise nights are disappearing. With less to attend more people are showing up with cars that I feel really don't belong. One of the cruises I went to recently had almost all new cars. There was limited parking and it was taken by new Camaros. Mustangs. Vettes, Challengers and new expensive imports. Out of 7 rows they had 4.5. I like these cars too but if I want to see them I'll go to a dealer.

Sorry to hear that GT182.

I agree somewhat Goatracer except we have to hand over the tradition to the next generation at some point - we are the dinosaurs lol

I’m looking forward to the annual Hot August Nights in Reno, NV, it’s probably the only event I’ll do all year. HAN is the largest classic/hot rod event in the country, it takes over the whole Reno and Sparks area. Free concerts from top name rock bands, car cruises, show and shine, organized drag races, poker runs, vendors, you name it. You guys who get bored easily should come check it out! Even if you don’t bring your car it’s a blast. This year the big concerts are Blood Sweat and Tears, Starship, Blue Oyster Cult and KC and the Sunshine Band among others.


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I can live with the kids and their hopped up imports but it's old guys driving all these new performance cars.

The best friend was Charles, Old Goat 67, during the early morning hours of 7/20 from cancer. I was told he died peacefully in his sleep.

His son Steven will be putting a thread up a bit later on. He's taking care of what needs to be done first. There is a viewing today, but I don't have the location.

condolences...