nice call stratocaster. i don't recall seeing rust in any of the little books. guys wouldn't be caught dead on the streets back then looking like that. thank the modern car magazines for the distortion of what once was.
Ok i just have to say that there are very few period cars that i see. I am only 17, but all i do is read up on my little pages and early magazines such as HOP UP, and Hot Rod (when it was good) At least we can do is try. Im building a 1940 chevy early style kustom Period Correct. No radials no cheesey rims, or billiet. But I had a blast for my first time even though i went only on thursday. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Another awesome year at Symco. Very special show for me this year as I got my car up there for the first time, her first big road trip was not without some excitement. One of my exhaust hangers let loose on the way leading to the muffler breaking, leading to my pipe hitting the deck on I-41...found me some coat hangers and the show went on. On the way home I discovered that my gas gauge reads 3/4 when the tank is full, and it reads 1/4 when the tank is bone dry, the later of which sidelined me for a little while. I had a gas can in the trunk and managed to get some gas, put the gallon in the tank and oh shit, now vapor locked, the car wouldn't fire back up. Damn, I should have saved a little gas to pour in the carb. Well, a fellow Symco attendee stopped to help, and help he did. He didn't have any gas, or starter fluid, but he pulled out a little mason jar of clear solution, MOONSHINE! A little shine down the carb and the beast came right back to life...is known to have similar affects in humans. Anyway, had a great weekend, beautiful cars, rockin bands, great people, good times!!! See you next year! And a special thanks to Larry the Barber for the roadside assistance!
Car count was up. I'm guessing by about 50. I'm pretty sure we had about 425 in the grounds by the looks of how many window stickers left and how packed we were. VIP cars seemed down a lot. I saw a lot parked out in spectator parking on sat. I don't think I had to kick a single car Thursday before Jon took over. We were absolutely more strict this year. I did notice that there were a few cars that did park in the back of the grounds on sat afternoon that snuck in from VIP. Swap meet was up too. 104 preregistered swap sites plus whatever showed up day of. Attendance was up easily 2000 this year. I was disappointed in the amount of people who were asked to follow the rules but didn't this year. Saying that, there were only about three or four I can think of. Still too many IMHO. Far as I'm concerned, if you can't, go to a different show! I will be NOT allowing bagged cars anymore if the owners can't follow simple rules and not slam them out. Seriously. Those who didn't follow the rules, don't need to come back next year. This show is a lot of work and takes a lot of money to put on and having to deal with people who disrespect our wishes is a pain. Far as late models on site, I don't recall seeing any fri or sat in the main show. Show me some photos. There will always be a few by the back gate and up front by the general store. Those are necessary for running the show. Vintage campers were up. As many know, I credited them for their site cost if they made it down to the river camping. This area was awesome and thanks to all who brought vintage campers. One of the highlights of the weekend. If anyone has any idea how to decrease the amount of spectators, be my guest, tell me. I raised prices this year. That didn't help. I didn't promote or advertise. That didn't help. The show did go much smoother and we did seem to have a much more happy crowd this year than last. I got a much better feeling this year than last. I have some challenges to get through if we are to continue this show. Camping is getting out of hand and out if space. The stress on my staff is significant. I put in 20 hours a day for almost three days straight and there are 3-4 others that did the same this year. Having a show from 8am to 11pm is rough on us. Anyone who wants to step forward and help keep this show alive and strong, please do so. We will need help in vehicle inspections next year for sure. We are going to cut back hours for inspections and admittance to the main grounds again for next year. It isn't possible to cater to everyone. My favorite story of the weekend. Local guy and his son spent all Friday finding mini bike parts in the swap. Frame from one guy, engine from another. Box of parts from a third plus some other misc stuff here and there. Took it home Friday night, put it all together. Raced it sat and took second place in their class. Missed first by literally a few feet. That is pretty cool. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Who was the guy that yanked his caps? I'll make sure to I uninvite him next year. I know he came past me sat morning and said the caps kept falling off. I forget what kind of car it was. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
We don't have the staff to have a second entrance for cars. It would take dozens of people plus a cop to enforce another gate. Then you'll get spectators and campers wanting to use that entrance and cause a mess. It's a dusty fairgrounds atmosphere. Doesn't matter if you drive through the field or not, your ride is going to be filthy by the end of the day/weekend. Just hope for rain to keep the dust down. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
For a six year young show, our swap meet kicks ass. It isn't Iola or Jefferson nor do we ever want it to be. We get a pretty darn good bunch of guys who vend with us and they seem to do very well. Many have told me they sell better at Symco than Iola. There just aren't that many local vendors who sell the cool stuff to fill much more than what we have. It was absolutely up this year by about 20% I would guess. Not bad IMHO. We tap out waupaca county for reserve officers. they love our event and we have had nothing but positive relationships with them. I requested more this year but couldn't get any. We will be getting more officers for next year as I believe we are now the largest event in the county that weekend. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I had a nice long reply typed out for this, but the app crashed and I lost it. Short version: love the show, great vibe this year compared to last, don't necessarily agree with all the rules in place, but do try to stick with them. Bags and rust could be a discussion on their own. I guess the question stands, how big of a party do you actually want? Limiting cars and criteria will certainly bring the counts down, but if done right the amount of pissed off people would be minimal. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
We used to have a Poker Run in the San Jose area, started in Willow Glen and ended up in a picnic grounds next to Stanford University. The staff needed some police, I had Porsche customers that were San Jose police. The ones that weren't working that weekend did "pay jobs", working for the staff for minimum cash. Worked out excellent, for everybody. P.S.: After the poker run, two of my police Porsche customers 'demoted' themselves to Model A street roadsters, one a highboy and the other full fendered. SBC power... I love a good, small show that's true to era. Eagle Field does it for me...in my own backyard, damn near.
I usually can pick apart cars that should not have made it in. I did see the 59 Ford with the SSTs on it and the Mopar coupe with the Mopar rally wheels on it. I thought the show was damn good and had a great time. Why bust the promoter and helpers balls about what got in in the show. Give the dip shits that dont follow the rules a bitchin out. If it was me I would not let most of the four doors in unless they were pulling camping trailers or tricked out with some kool paint. Bags and four doors are for getting grocerys. lol
Stratocaster.. Just cuz a car has some rust on it--means it should not be allowed? Last time it was seen--this was not the Oakland Roadster Show--ever been there?? A bunch of trailer queens with pristine paint jobs which will never see the lights of a moonlit drive down the highway.. Imagine that you limit your guests and vehicle entries to nothing but show cars--better expect the demand for paved drives and concrete parking pads and Pop-Up canopies REALLY blocking the views of cameras and joyful show-goers.. I'd be curious about what vehicle specifically you are bitching about--pictures always are of great assistance.. Maybe you'd like to go to a Goodguys show instead??
Cars aren't the problem, spectators are. (In no way am I saying we don't want spectators) If we cut back by 100 cars, that doesn't fix the issue that we grew by 2000 spectators again this year. Hunnert car pileup moved because of the amount of spectators that came to #8. We can not move. We had about 10k show up this year. I'm guessing somewhere around 12-13k is about our limit for what the parking lot will handle. That's probably next year. How do we look forward to fix this problem? We do not want the problem that Morris had. Someone will get hurt. Or worse. It is totally correct that rusty lowered four doors aren't necessarily what we are after but their owners can afford them, drive them and enjoy the hobby. I applaud that. We get close, and much closer than a lot of other shows that call themselves traditional. Perfection is what we are after but that isn't always realistic. I would rather first deal with keeping camping and spectators from getting out of control and worry about our criteria problems second. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
A bit late to the party, but here's our coverage of Symco. Great show folks - and thank you again to all the volunteers who make it happen! http://pistnbroke.smugmug.com/2014-Symco-Shakedown
The Jalopy Journal
