[TxSportCoupe]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

Driven the 68 GTO the least this year. Probably about 15 times. Was done with car shows ~1988.

Rural living means the GTO gets out for beer runs, and Groceries.

Same here. I’m not part of the in crowd , rich or politically connected. Doesn’t matter what I bring, I’m going to get snubbed. Got snubbed by a bone stock Grand National for “Best Old Muscle Car” a couple weeks ago. All good! My car was built to cruise drive-ins and do burnouts leaving the parking lot on the way to have some fun! Not just sit there being judged by folks who couldn’t build it if their lives depended on it. Rather be driving. No more shows!


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[Half-Inch Stud]

@CLIFF. our times are a changin; Spotts put the big V8 in a boat. Hmmm.

Longk ago, up north in PA, I had an idea to use the Pontiac V8 as a stationary home heater, in the home. Run on hydrogen-Oxygen by cracking water.

[HoovDaddy]

I've met so many people at car shows this year. I even saw a couple cars that I built at shows with their new owners. Cool meeting and talking to them.

My passion is building, more than driving and showing. We take our cars to small shows or cruising shows. The huge shows, I leave the cars at home and just like to wander around.

I started a club about 30 years ago where we build cars for guys that want an old car but know nothing about building it. Put sweat equity into a current project and we'll build your car in your garage. It has snowballed. Everyone learns and gains experience on each project. We do all the work ourselves except machining. It's a lot of fun. We go on events, weekend trips, dinner, etc. as a group with the wives.

Part of our group.

[71GP76TA]

I lost interest in car shows years ago.

[fyrffytr1]

I need to clear something up. Our club has one show a year and as long as I have been a member I have supported. I do not have my car judged anymore. My friends and I went back for over 40 years. We would camp at the 3 day Moultrie swap meet and car show where we would sit and watch the cars as they came in and left. The camaraderie is what I miss most. I know other car people and enjoy talking with them but it is not the same. The last of my buddies was like a brother to me. After I retired from the Fire Department I started helping him do trim work in some of the most expensive houses in this area. We fought at times but always left the arguments on the job. We socialized with our wives and other couples and, if I wasn't helping him on one of his cars he was helping me on mine.
I don't think I will find another person to share with like he and I did.

[Keith Seymore]

When I noticed that my favorite part of car shows was the drive there and back that's when I quit going. I continue to support the Widetrackers Dustoff but that's about it.

Having said that - now I have to tell a car show story:

Originally Posted by fyrffytr1

When I went back to my car, it was surrounded by Mopars! There were two on either side and pulled out enough to make my car all but invisible!

This was the GM Tech Center car show and since the weather looked a bit threatening I elected to take my old pickup.

They put me between this original owner, drag raced since new '58 Chevy on one side, and this little Lotus 7 racer on the other.

I had butt prints up and down both sides of my truck at the end of the day after being parked between those two.

K

[MIAGIMAN]

I definitely see where you are at, I always enjoyed car shows, but very rarely participated as I would walk the show, chat and go on my way. I found it boring to sit in a chair(each to their own). I like being part of show and go (race) venues, never boring, just not a weekly thing happening. As I aged it gets harder and harder to go racing like the old days, leaving early am, traffic and everything in between, But one thing that you have is your car, great memories and times as many of us have. Don't give up the ship, give it a shine, pull it out of the garage, admire it and go for a spin, those things are irreplaceable. I've lost many friends through the years but still have my cars and memories and definitely not ready to give in to changing times. I wish we were closer in Georgia. I now started to do larger venues when not a zillion miles away plenty, GTO Nationals/Pigeon Forge Event lots of shooting the bull, and it lasts for a few days. I even found a small track, Paradise Dragway.
Hang in There!

[buds56]

This
" favorite part of car shows was the drive there and back"

I too have lost my good friends to go to car stuff with, but it's still fun to drive them even if its a trip for an errand.

Driving this past Saturday for the first time in a month or two on a trip to Lowes, sorta had the "barn find" look to it

[Formulajones]

My father, even at his age, still loves to drive his goat. Bought it new and still not tired of it.
He just got back from a 3 week long vacation and you know the first thing he did the first day he was back here at home.........got the goat out and went around town running errands.
I think if you're a real car person, you might get tired of shows, but you never get tired of driving a classic car around.

[400 4spd.]

This happened to me on a Sunday drive to the hardware store, back in 2001. I had built it 7 years prior. I was so disgusted that it was 6 years before I got another old driver, my Grand Prix.

[Keith Seymore]

Oof.

[Formulajones]

Ouch!! There are always those worries. Just have to take your chances. That possibility always comes along with driving these things.

Way back in about 1997 or 8 if I remember correctly, I was daily driving my 71 Nova on my way home from work when a car pulled out of a side lot and T-boned me as I was driving by. How they didn't see me is beyond my ability to understand. Needless to say I was pissed, dude wouldn't get out of his car till the police arrived, lol.

In the end, it got fixed and I daily drove it for a few more years before moving on to something else.

[F ROCK]

I always assume that the other driver doesnt see me. I learned that from driving a motorcycle.
Always assumed I was invisible.
I also always assume the other guy is stupid, and on his phone. But yeah, I grew up in the country; now i live in a much busier area and it's scary.

About the car show thing; I've always been alone in the hobby. I go to Atco a few times a year by myself and speak to no one. I dont know any of these people.
I used to do the cruises/ cruise ins; but i got tired of folks bragging about their cars, and critiquing mine. I dont have a fraction of their money.
I dont even like to pull up to a traffic light anymore. Everyone looking at me. Someone is gonna say "Hey man what year?" or," My brother had a Camaro just like that", or there's mustang/challenger/audi boy that wants to race.
Guess that's all part of it but I just like the sound, and the way I feel when I'm driving it. Not at all into the show.
The camaraderie part would have been cool. I had it for a short time when my high school friend and i "restored" his first car. But lost it shortly thereafter when he lost everything to drugs & alcohol, including the car.

[turbo69bird]

Originally Posted by Half-Inch Stud

@CLIFF. our times are a changin; Spotts put the big V8 in a boat. Hmmm.

Longk ago, up north in PA, I had an idea to use the Pontiac V8 as a stationary home heater, in the home. Run on hydrogen-Oxygen by cracking water.

Talk about feeling snubbed-
I went to a POCI - PONTIAC show w a REAL RAIV firebird. W 15k original miles on it, raced by a dealer, w a RAM AIR V pro stock dual quad motor in it . Both from the dealer sponsoring the show and didn’t leave w a trophy or anything. ��. That was one of the few shows I have taken the time to go to , I find them boring at best . I haven’t restored my RAIV bird because then I wouldn’t use it anymore. I raced this car for 15 years, I keep it because I love the car and the fun memories it brought me through the years not because it’s rare or worth a lot of money.

I have 3 69 birds and have had 21 of them through the years it I agree I don’t have the enthusiasm for the classics like I used to just getting too old w too much other stuff going on. But I still get a snails on my face when I get in this ole bird and crank it up!

(Idk why that put that quite in it’s not the post I quoted )

[Formulajones]

Rare doesn't always mean you get a show trophy but still a cool car. I do like the fact you showed up with rubber on the quarters though But yeah, that usually doesn't fly well with the show crowd.
I wouldn't take it to heart, I can tell from the pics you enjoy the car and that's what counts.

[59safaricat]

I quit going to car shows in 1999 when I was 20. I rather drive around and cruise during the times a car show was NOT in town rather than sit and watch people scratch up my ride or try to deal with heavy traffic and idiots acting/driving like fools putting me and my car in danger. Didn't bother with swap meets, especially after eBay came on the scene. Not going to find much for a '59 wagon, anyway, so it wasn't worth paying the fees to enter nor the time to dig through a bunch of junk. Until a couple of years ago, I lived less than 2 miles from a very popular/famous fairground in the bay area where Goodguys and other car related meets were always setting up shop year round.

[turbo69bird]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Rare doesn't always mean you get a show trophy but still a cool car. I do like the fact you showed up with rubber on the quarters though But yeah, that usually doesn't fly well with the show crowd.
I wouldn't take it to heart, I can tell from the pics you enjoy the car and that's what counts.

Yeah I definitely have enjoyed this car 😂. Well this car car has a ton of Pontiac history and cars w aluminum radiators wrong year blocks , heads and intakes won the restored classes so. It’s fine and all I just dint waste my time in Pontiac shows. They consider it modified web though it’s been pretty much as raced by the dealer at most shows . Day 2 stuff gets much more respect at Chevy shows than Pontiacs . Half the people (at a Pontiac show) walked by and commented the RAV was a Chevy engine.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by turbo69bird

Yeah I definitely have enjoyed this car 😂. Well this car car has a ton of Pontiac history and cars w aluminum radiators wrong year blocks , heads and intakes won the restored classes so. It’s fine and all I just dint waste my time in Pontiac shows. They consider it modified web though it’s been pretty much as raced by the dealer at most shows . Day 2 stuff gets much more respect at Chevy shows than Pontiacs . Half the people (at a Pontiac show) walked by and commented the RAV was a Chevy engine.

I love the old cars with racing history. Neat to see old photos with it too with some history to go along with it from previous owners/drivers. There is a pretty big following for that, but I think you're right, sometimes I feel the Chevy guys "get it" more than the Pontiac crowd does.

[poncho-mike]

I showed up at a local POCI show back in the late 1980s with a bone stock 1974 Formula SD455. The registration people were going to put me in the modified class because it had a Trans Am hood. There was no arguing with them, so I told them to forget it and just put it in the parking lot.

[turbo69bird]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

I love the old cars with racing history. Neat to see old photos with it too with some history to go along with it from previous owners/drivers. There is a pretty big following for that, but I think you're right, sometimes I feel the Chevy guys "get it" more than the Pontiac crowd does.

I always bring a big story board with me w pictures of the cars they raced and usually a little bit of it’s history. I just feel like Pontiac shows get a little bland w just restored cars. Dint get me wrong I respect those cast and the work that goes in them and other Pontiac people do too but to bring in newbies sometimes you need some history and some flash t bring in the new people or convert Chevy people or whatever .

I do totally respect the focus , hard work , dedication to details and information the restoration guys have it’s amazing to me . That is a true talent.