Car show, I just don't get it...
 

So I've been auto crossing for 6 years now, been a car guy since I was just a kid and my dad would take me for rides in his firebird, t-tops off, 4 cylinder roaring?? Umm yea. Anyway when I was little I had no idea, when I glanced over and saw that needle on the right going way towards the end of the gauge it was awesome. I always check out every car going everywhere wether it's a beater old honda or the Bentley that I passed on my way home.

Well I keep getting invited to all these car shows, typically I don't go. But today was beautiful so I couldn't say no, and the few bucks they asked to enter your car went to a good cause. No trophies basically just a bunch of guys hanging out and talking, similar to cars and coffee. Bunch of Hondas, subarus, nissans, a few old Chevys and a couple other random cars, all in all about 100 cars, for our area that's a heck of a turnout.

So I hang out for a bit check out all the cars, make a round or two say hey to all the people I know.

Perhaps I'm just different then most people, it's neat to check out the cars that everybody has, but come on how many hours can you just stand around and look at other peoples cars. These things were meant to be driven. My idea of a fun meet up would be planning a trip through the mountains, finding a good meet location and then picking a great restaurant way out and carving my way. Or how about an autox?

Not trying to diss car shows or make anybody upset. Just not my cup of tea. I'd rather be autoxing. There is just something about sitting at the line when the starter gives you the go and you launch the car and hammer through first and second and try to position the car perfect for each turn.

http://i.imgur.com/fIp3gwh.jpg

If you go to a car show and want to do something other than stand around and look at cars, you're gonna have a bad time...

Make it exciting and fly through the parking lot dodging people and cars. Act like they are cones that you AutoX with. Everyone will love you.

For me a car show is...i go see other peoples car, i look at each car once, then i leave.

Staying at a car show is another story, i'm not that type of person.

OP " I hate standing around all day doing nothing, so I do autocross....where I stand around all day to get 5 45 second turns to drive!"

Lol, irony

The point of car shows is to interact with other individuals who share the same interests.

If you show up at someone's door with the idea of simply looking at their house, I'd be damn bored too.

Maybe he likes doing coursework... HA!

I'm going to start a flame suit sales business.

im exactly the same, I see no point in car shows. That's why when we use to do meets, me and my friends would organize drives, and after that eat and leave.

You have to go with friends or else it sucks honestly. Going to a car show with friends in their cars (especially if it's a FR-S/BRZ club) is probably one of my favorite things to do. It's more of a club bonding environment than individual entertainment.

Noted.

As they say in the old country ..... "to each his ...." (something or other).....:)

Personally, my idea of nice auto outing, is to load up mrs humfrz in our FR-S, head up into the mountains with no timetable or particular destination, stop and see whatever looks interesting and stop at a motel when we get tired.

Haha ur right I love shagging cones.

My thoughts exactly. Cars are meant to be driven, not polished.

Maybe I have a different idea of a car show.

I've never been to one that was lowered Hondas, Acuras, and other tricked out everyday cars.

The ones I've been to have million $ supercars, 100+ year old perfectly restored vehicles, gorgeously maintained Le Mans cars, and so on. Those are interesting to see. They are things you'd only very rarely see on the street.

But I'll take a road race with screaming motors, burning brakes, and race gas every time!

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.

What's the big deal.. Car shows are a great way to hang out with other fellow enthusiasts and talk cars, what's wrong with that?
You don't like it, don't go.. I fail to see the point of this thread.

In my opinion, car shows aren't necessarily about the cars, but more so the time you get to spend with your friends.

Some of my best times have been at car shows just messing around with my buddies.

Really? I guess maybe that's the good thing about having a small region, it's pretty tight knit and the majority of participants here are very nice people that help each other out. The top drivers are more than willing to help out others with driving and setup tips. There's a lot of jaw jacking and joking around too. I'll concede that to race takes more cash to particpate in the event, although car wise in auto-x you don't need to spend much, I drive bone stock.
I go to occasional car shows, but being pretty introverted I usually don't talk much with the people there. It's a lot better if some friends are there, and most of the ones I check out are for classic and old school vehicles.

I used to have a 77 show truck liked going to events. The truck had lots of go besides show to. Now days when I do goto shows I talk to 90% of owners I like to learn what they've done to their rides and BS I'm general. Do i stay all day long?, well no. But I do enjoy them and also of course enjoy driving events as well for sure. To me these events are about the learning and friendship more then the flash n dash..

are these type of threads really necessary? ...sigh..

I like real car shows that show museum quality muscle, exotic, collector type cars. Along with the OP ... I prefer not to go to car shows with ordinary cars or the Car and Coffee. C&C (exotic or super cars)probably has more poser owners than any other car get-together. Autox or a planned drive is better.

Well, yeeeees......:D

It's the first in a series called ..... "I just don't get it" ..... :popcorn:


humfrz

A lot of you in this thread are also using the term "show". What the OP is more talking about is a car "meet". There is a very big difference between a show and a meet. Get it straight before you talk crap about it. (not targeting the OP)

Hahaha, this thread. Yeah, I don't really get it either: I'll check out cars + coffee for half an hour or so a couple of times a month, but I definitely prefer driving to staring. I don't see anything wrong with hanging around checking each others' cars out for a bit, but it weirds me out a bit that when the staring is done people just split off and drive home. Why not go for a group drive as part of the day's fun?

Canyons > being parked. I wish the local cars and coffee crew did drives... would be nice to see (and hear!) all those classics, exotics, and classic exotics out and about for a change.

Then again, big group drives can get messy too. Whatever, the most fun thing to do is meet up with a few friends and go drive some fun roads. If you go early on Sunday morning you can often swing by a car gathering on the way home too! Best of both worlds.

We should start a thread why people dont like Pasta! Same reason ... Because people have different opinion... i dont get why people make thread like this...

I just went to a car show, cost me $12 to get in.

Pics:
http://tacomapowersearch.com/files/2...61-300x225.jpg

http://www.sportscardigest.com/wp-co...May-Museum.jpg

Has it ever occurred to you that the opposite might be true? That maybe the 86 crowd appeals to a non-hard-parker personality and that's considered a good thing to most folks, especially outside of enthusiast circles?

I just like being the devil's advocate.
:popcorn: