I suspect a lot of it has to do with the types of shows we each like, as
opposed to the types of shows we find ourselves at. The same would go
for club membership come to think of it.
I am not a wax and polish sort of guy, as my cars will attest to. I'm
much happier with a greasy wrench then a buffing cloth. So I tend to
want to go to shows that have lots of rusty parts for sale, and other
grimy car nuts like myself, where we can talk about esoteric things like
putting Taurus lugs on a Spitfire, do radiator shrouds actually work,
etc. These are shows that you'll find me (and others like me) on our
backs admiring a home made deep sump oil pan and such.
On the other hand, I've got friends who can discuss for hours the merits
of various wax formulations and vinyl protectants. Their cars look far
better then mine, of course. I've got cans of wax I've never even
opened. When it comes to going to shows, these guys will spend hours
sitting there polishing their fender wells and making sure the wiper
blades gleam. The discussions they will have over the merits of precise
details truly are astonishing to a greasy fingered guy like myself.
The problem? When we show up at the wrong sort of events. I have a
ball at Carlisle, pawing through ton after ton of greasy rusty parts.
My friend Mike for example, who's a wax and polish sort, is bored out
of his mind there. Go to the big indoor custom show, and Mike's in his
glory, admiring the thousands of square footage of gleaming chrome,
while I'm the one bored silly.
Compound this with the region. I'm lucky in that there's a lot of
different events around me, so I can find plenty of greasy grimy car
shows where none of us really care about trophies. My friends who do
care about trophies can also find plenty of shows that they can get
trophies at. But if I were to live in an area that only had wax and
polish shows, I'd be very unhappy. As would my friends if they could
only find shows that specialized in rust and grime.
I'd also have to add though, that I strongly suspect it's the wax and
polish guys that financially support the big car shows, by and large.
Greasy grimy folks like myself find the idea of shelling out dollars to
compete for a trophy absurd, and won't do it. If there's a fun field
where I can park my eternal work in progress for $10, I might do it.
But shell out $50 and then spend hours waxing to compete for a trophy?
Only the wax and polish crowd will spend the money for that. My $50
will be spent over in the parts vendor area, as will the money of most
of us greasy grimy folks.
Michael D. Porter wrote:
>
>I'd be interested to hear of interest in this among all list members,
>and will try to generate the means for enabling such a survey.
>
>Cheers, Dave, and all.
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