Event Coverage Is it just me or was LARS slow?

Another thing I've noticed with some of the younger crowd is a short, fad like attention span. They're skate boarding for a while, then on to music, then on to hot rods.......then to something else. They're easily distracted. I see and get to know the guys and realize they don't show up in the usual places any longer. If I run into them and ask why, they simply say they're over it and have moved on to something else. I guess without the previous mentioned abundance of "hangouts" it's a bit harder to maintain the passion if it doesn't run as deep as it does with us that have immersed ourselves in it a long time ago. If you've done this for decades as I have the rise in cost goes a bit slow and we adapt to it all along. For the younger guys, I can imagine it's pretty overwhelming what shit costs today

 

Yes that is a lot of typing: If you have had 600-700 cars, you have done your share of flippin' .
I have had my share also, and I fixed em and I flipped em, still do, And you AND I sell them for more than we pay, driving prices out of reach of a lot of people.. I didn't really leave old cars, old cars have left me, BECAUSE of guys like you and me, We have Driven prices UP...tryin' stop, I dare ya..

 

I disagree. I buy right and leave meat on the bone, even to the extent where the next guy's often made more than I did. I pay more for the cars and pay more for the parts. I'm just keeping up with the times which hasn't been too bad since I've been on this ride for a very long time and have been able to ride it's waves. Like I said, when it went from a hobby to a business is went it all went south. Guys paying hi end shops $125 an hour to build a hot rod instead of doing it yourself with a buddy. Since the early 70's I noticed a tolerable rise every 5 yrs in some of the cars I was familiar with. I was a big fan of 69 Z-28's for example and watched them go from $2000 to $3500, to $5000, to $8000, to $12000 etc. At some point in the past 15-20 yrs they soared to $90.000+!! That was NOT because of guys like me or you. Trust me on this.

 

Do you blame ( or credit guys like Craig Jackson and his road show.)? I watched the same thing happen to land and buildings, I told my wife, : Where was I when all this stuff took such a hike? I thought maybe I had "a time out" instead of a "play Day"

 

NO - I said OLD - like you know a 79!!!!!

(Ok he's really looking at a '66)

The Cabbie was full of crap. The Fairplex is owned by the County of Los Angeles, had been since 1922. And it is run by the Los Angeles County Fair Association, a Non Profit Corp, and has been since 1922

 

It's still one of those events that's on my "list" as it is for many of the others who don't live in the area.
It's also amazing that it's too "far away" for a guy living 300 miles away but hasn't been "too far away" for a guy from Nebraska for the past 25 years running. How many guys living within a tank of gas drive didn't go because it was "Too far"?
The one thing not mentioned is what other car and hot rod events were going on last weekend within say 400 miles of the Roadster Show? Here in Wa this weekend we have a pretty decent little Saturday show that is two miles from the end of my driveway that usually draws 100 + cars to a nice park with a great burger joint across the street. 65 miles away is Cool Desert nights that is a fully "open" event that lets you register what ever you have up to and including a 2015 Hertz Rental car if you don't have a "cool car" of your own to enter. It draws a lot of cars and a lot of people go back every year. Over the pass is Billetproof and the most popular cruise night in the Pacific NorthWest with hundreds of cars that aren't qualified to enter Billetproof making their way to the town for cruise night. I really want to go to Billetproof Saturday but do I drive 185 miles to spectate or 2 or 65 miles to spectate? The thing is, are other reasonably close good events drawing participants swapmeet folks or spectators away from the Roadster show?

 

I have no idea who he is

 

The Jackson of Barrett Jackson

 

I had no idea his name was Grieg . I thought Grieg was some sort of WWII war criminal

 

Craig Jackson's dad and Mr. Barrett had a good idea,
Young Mr. Jackson made it what it is today

 

Ok, I'm 64, and I've lived on the same street here in Connecticut all those years. Second year in a row at LARS, dressed in a black T shirt, full length Levis, cap, and work boots. No sun block, didn't bother to stop and buy anything to eat or drink., it was a SWAP MEET, you walk around any enjoy the day, see some friends, buy some parts you want and have a GOOD TIME. I didn't notice it was hot, there wasn't any snow to shovel. I'll be back next year. Guess most West Coast guys couldn't handle the Hershey swap meet it has to cover 5-6 times the area. Bob

 

It is kinda weird that they keep changing the layout every year (for the last few at least). Whether I get a single gauge or a truck load of parts, I always look forward to going.........it's LARS. We take our own food, bring extra for guests (food/water/soda) and were the west coast cookie supplier at the HAMB camp for years (did see BadBob this year). It's always a good swap, prices are good to slightly above average and I didn't hear the E word (Ebay) tossed around as much this time. I don't have kids or plan to so I keep the younger crowd interested when I can and try to offer a hand or parts.

 

I damn sure noticed it was hot.

I had good friends in the Swap meet area that hooked me up with free beer, tamales, ribs, and steak. Can't beat that. Made the entire experience for me WAY better!

I will be back next year, by then I should be over the shell shock of the prices in the swap and ready for round 2.

 

So, who's Grieg??

 

Bob... you da Man !!
nother bob

 

It wasn't all overprices stuff, there was a complete Galavin (sp) SOHC engine 5k, I saw three guys selling Kinmonts from 5K for a front pair to 15K for a restored fronts and backs . I bought a perfect '32 grill shell and insert for $400. A buddy went to sell and sold about 7k worth of stuff. The best day for deals is Friday. But the heat this year was unbearable.

 

Edvard Grieg, Norwegian composer, best known for "In the Hall of the Mountain King"..,man, you guys....

 

ahahhahahaaahh blitzkrieg

 

We have been coming over every year from Aussie and we found all shows this year were down in numbers, i.e. So Cal , Waldens, LARS. But we still enjoy ourselves, travelled about 4000miles around West Coast, up Yellowstone NP etc. Most rodders are getting older.
Noel

 

I pounded the swap meet for some of Friday and most of Saturday. Picked up a few pieces but on Saturday i also picked up this! And I also seem to have lost my ankle bones too. My daughter in law doctor told me it was heat related and i learned subsequently that the blacktop had been measured at 160 degrees on Saturday - water at 120 degrees carries a risk of scalding, so 160 is very warm. The blotchiness has now gone and my ankle bones returned too.

Did seem quieter than earlier years but the size of the swap has increased also, so it's more spread out requiring more hiking whilst thinning the crowd. The 'saved' empty spaces were an irritation and simply added to the walk!

Had a great time nonethless and will return for as long as I'm able!

Chris

 

To over simplify the youth getting into the hobby. They are from the now generation which in short means I want it now!!! They don't want to gather parts, Take months if not years to put it all together. They want it now hence the tuner generation. Buy it, Drive it, Mess with it, NOW!!!!

 

This thread is starting to sound like a meeting of the grumpy old men club. Ah yes, I remember the good old days when I was in my 20's and had the patience of a saint. Never a rushed moment or a bit of impatience....Of course I was often busy walking to school uphill in the snow both ways. To be young again....

 

Chris, nice to meet U at Donuts, maybe more donuts may have stopped problems with your legs. Ha Ha
Noel. Aussie

 

Hey, Ryan. I agree with you about age being a factor when dealing with nice cars. Many of the younger guns don't have the resources yet, like a good job, to invest in a nice, road-worthy ride. They make do with what they can afford, which often means a RATROD, for lack of a better word. As they continue in life, most will acquire better jobs, and with that they can spend more on the good stuff, building UNRAT rods that don't resemble shit from MAD MAX. They aren't rookies at building some kind of a ride, so they should fill in for us old farts in time. That is my take on the HAMB/JALOPYJOURNAL surviving. Hope I don't get deleted, or worse, for my opinion, but I am sincere.

 

We drove out from New York for the L.A. Roadster show as we have often done.
We'd purchased Dick Spadaro's remaining inventory and wished to dump it quickly. We did. Priced right most everything sold.
Now for my complaint. Many of the first cars to enter the swap meet area contained nothing but traffic cones and yellow tape to cordon off ten or more swap spots. I believe those spots were often scalper resold to who ever would pay the premium. Many remained empty all weekend. I'm sure that after spending Thursday night in the parking lot line we could have gotten the same poor spot if we arrived at 11 AM on Friday.
I was also foolish to purchase two spots at $140 as I could have claimed as many as I wanted for the $70 a spot fee.
It seemed the Roadsters L.A. felt their obligation ended when they collected my money.
Now I've vented. Ron

 

Don't make it every year but love the show. I think the organizers should manage the swap spaces similar to Carlisle or Hershey and have assigned spaces for each vendor and enforce it.

Great show either way Hope to return next year.

 

Wife and I drove our '32 Highboy roadster to LARS this year from San Antonio, TX. First time but not the last. We had as close to a BLAST as old rodders can with our clothes on. A couple in their topless roadster from Gallup met us there and we all had quite a time. Just enjoyed seeing so many roadsters in one spot. I will have to "tweak" those freaking side curtains so they won't leak quite so much. Our friend from Gallup is an NSRA rep and has attended several years, so it was nice to have veterans to guide us along. Huntington Beach, San Dimas, Seal Beach, and Pomona have so much to offer, from beautiful sunsets to super food. This trip was a happening that everyone should experience. We certainly will return.

 

Even the gate guy said it was kind of slow. Not as many vendors. But, then again, $10 parking and $20 gate entry to get in is a lot of money to some when they are paying for two people. The heat wasn't much of a factor as was the news weather threat of 105+ in temp. I wasn't too impressed with this year at all.

 

Could not agree more. My buddies and I paid for 5 spots and only ended up with 3 because of roped of areas. In the end some aisles only had a handful of vendors

 

Others have said it, but from a spectator attendee viewpoint, the layout of the swap meet sucks! The LA roadster club should consider putting the sellers next to each other without the large empty spaces in between the sellers. Portland and Hershey are great swaps because of the layouts. The sellers at LARS had some great parts, but the swap was so spread out I blew off 1/3 of it because of the heat. Big and full is good. Big and empty is not.