I love going to car shows. Maybe it's because I went to them all the time when I was a kid? I actually drove 4 hours to go to Slammed Society last year and plan on making the same journey to Offset Kings in Atlanta again this year. Different strokes for different folks.

Autocross is not my cup of tea. To each their own

Same reason I don't like strip clubs. I don't like just looking (such a tease). I want to touch it and use it and have fun with it.

humfrz has the right idea!
Drive it, put gas in it, wash it when it's dirty, take some corners, hit the track or the auto x course, head for the mountains, enjoy it.

When I see a sportbike I always check out the tires to see where they are burned/melted to, same with an FR-S, use it like a sportbike!

Nothing wrong with hard parking either though :)

I started a car club ~2 years ago called 'Just Drive It' dedicated to driving our cars and keeping them exercised. It started as mainly exotics and mainstream sports cars with around 100 members. It now has a wide assortment of sports car from the extreme performance to the affordable. There are several car shows in the area every year such as La Jolla Concours d'Eleganace, and Bella Italia which are geared toward how pristine the car is and cost $100 to enter the car for the show. The other end of the spectrum the San Marcos Car Show which is basically a monthly meet-up of car enthusiast that want to talk cars with other like minded. As was said previously... the car show is not only to show your car, but also to talk to other owners about their cars and mods. Usually for our drives, we meet for 15 minutes, to do a drivers meeting and then head out. At the end of the route everyone heads home. It is nice to get together and talk cars once in a while.

Why the dichotomy?

Car shows are great when there is actual show cars. Cars that you need more information from the owner or reading the car's story / before-after pictures. There's very little point of a car show to only see almost stock cars with aftermarket wheels and suspension mods. A car with hundreds of hours of work on it is something to be admired at a car show.

I personally love any types of cars, but when I go to car shows, I'd rather admire and peak inside a stock pacer or 59 caddy than a rusted VW or hellaflushed Z.

Talking to "car guys" for more than a few minutes makes me want to blow my brains out. Most of them aren't car guys but, rather, Mustang guys, VW guys, etc. Roll in the **** measuring that usually comes in at car shows, and I quickly grew tired of the car scene. It became painfully obvious that car clubs weren't my thing after I started a Subaru club at college. Just not on the same wavelength.

i too would rather drive my car than have it parked
i went to my first "cruise" last year with hundreds of sports cars/bikes and that was a blast
car meets are only fun with close friends

FRS/BRZ owners are so damn smug...

"I don't like car shows because I own a driver's car and I'm above these hardparking peasants who just want to stand around and talk"

I think the rest of the car world is starting to hate us for shit like this, guys.

+1...


I own a FR-S and a Ferrari F355 and drive them like they were meant to be driven, but also like to appreciate other cars and cultures which comes from gazing upon and talking to other car owners about their cars... such cars as an Ferrari Enzo, Spiker, Bugatti Veyron, Keonisegg or Pagani. I actually had opportunity to sit in some of those cars... at a car show by talking to the owners.

Car shows are good for only one two things in my eyes:

1) Showing off your (or someone elses), hard work/money

2)Camaraderie

Camaraderie is the important thing here. I don't know anyone that goes to hang out at a car show by themselves to have fun.

I like going to car shows because I can see rare cars or just cars that have been cherished by their owners. There are definitely cars that you just don't get a chance to look at in close detail, whether it be a hot rod or exotic.

Car shows are often times very inexpensive. AutoX and similar events are around $40 to $60. You also need tires that you don't mind abusing, and time to spend all day for very little driving. You also have to deal with that guy with a fully stripped roll caged "race" car looking at you like you are inferior because you don't have 40TW R-comps. To talk about the hard parkers is to talk about the racers... AutoX is also typically about yourself. Yes you can admire someone else's driving, but at the end of the day, it's all about you. Don't get me wrong, that's not a bad thing, but it defeats the purpose of a group event. I think a simple cruise is the best of both worlds. That opens a whole new can of worms though. If the group isn't sub 10 cars, everyone ends up splitting up. So when you think about it, a car show is the only real group event for car enthusiasts.

The next best thing is probably playing GT5 at a friend's house. You can all drive the same car on the same track.

That's why I don't say "function over form" or "form over function". I like "form with function". :D

I enjoy car shows. I also enjoy going to the track or going out for a drive with friends. It's not against the rules to like both.