Art & Inspiration What's a Better Motivator: Shows or Swaps?

That's a good point!.....I use the motivation aspect to get me to the swap meets in the first place....the parts and ''stuff'' actually ''do motivate'' me at a swap meet to be sure, more than a car show....I would be ''motivated'' to continue to search out if I only found one item, and not seen the car show nearby....my cars are so far below the radar in the 'pristine' department, that I'm more excited to spend time looking for parts, dreaming, and the 'mental' image of my own cars in my head, while drooling over an old part that I am suddenly aware of....(it may be me alone, who thinks like this), but ....I truly enjoy the challenge and hunt more for parts at a swap meet, than simply admiring someone else's beautiful car, amongst other equally beautiful cars. I suppose it's what makes each of us individually ''chase our dreams'' with a certain car or project....swap meets do it for me...I always come away feeling motivated

 

I enjoy hunting for parts too, judging by the size of my hoard, maybe more than I should. But it has nothing to do with inspiration or motivation, that's what gets me out HUNTING for the parts in the first place! And motivation is the SUBJECT of the thread.
Now here's a funny thing. We had a table at the Langley swap. There were several other HAMBers at that swap, and one of them even bought a pair of hemi valve covers from me. None of the ones that I met are on this thread telling us they are hard-core swap meet guys that are too cool for car shows, and ALL of them were also at Deuce Days (a GASP!!! car show!!!) a month earlier. So I kinda have to wonder if maybe the guys that go to swaps and ACTUALLY BUY SHIT also go to car shows?
And when I go to a car show, probably 60-70% of the guys I meet are HAMBers, yet when I am on the forum, 90% of the guys posting on these threads wouldn't be caught dead doing anything so gauche as attending a car show. Kinda makes you wonder, doesn't it? I mean, how do all these car shows even survive, right?
Starts to seem a little silly and pretentious after a while....

 

It does seem a little silly and pretentious.....I like cars, and car shows....and I like swap meets just as much. Maybe I have tried to separate the venues more than they should be! Heck, if I see a nice car, I take a lingering look at it with admiration...tell them it's great, and I do the same thing about a unique part I've just found, because it's valuable to me with what I can do with it...nobody is forcing me to look at the cars, or....to rummage around in the swap meets for a ''treasure'' because it has motivated me to want to get back into the garage! Whatever catches me at the moment, seems to be the normal mode of appreciation...a nice car, or group of cars, or....a sweet part, or a lot of parts....one way or the other, it's all about what we look for with our individual cars, and why we desire them, parts or finished cars....it's easy to over-think these things, and whatever the day, or the ''event''....hey, I'm happy to spend the time for an ''extra dose'' of motivation from whatever direction it comes from, to keep my focus within' my own healthy outlook, and my cars definitely need my motivation to get onto the road....it's all good, as far as I'm concerned.

 

I have been going to car shows since the late sixties, and I still don't feel the need to say that I am "above it all". I still LIKE looking at other guys cars. Deuce Days was a mind blower. That Lincoln Amethyst '32 actually changed my mind about the colour I am going to paint my '39, I was going to do GM Royal Amethyst, seeing that car in person in the sunlight changed my mind. Yup, inspiration at a car show!

 

Mom dropped me off at a local car show in 1961, I was 10 years old and there was a swap meet there as well. I had a BIG effect on how my life turned out. I saw great cars, meet friendly owners, and must have figured out building a car from parts was a real life AMT kit. Nobody has mentioned using knowledge to help pay for your Hot Rod build. Knowing what things fit and there market value, is better than a part time job sometimes. Bob

 

Swap meets for me. But I like to look at other's cars to get ideas. You never know what you're going to pick up at either one.

I get motivated at the swaps when I begin to see more Ford parts that I need from more vendors. I mean, when I go to a swap as a buyer, I am already motivated to buy what I need and finish my build. Car shows only give me an idea of what else I can do and I can see another way of doing it.

 

Man, ditto, same here! Straight up, I Learned way more being totally uncool, hanging around at car shows and the track and pestering guys with stupid questions than I did anywhere else, INCLUDING the HAMB.

 

Don't take long for the money to run out at Pate

 

I love a good swap meet
I love rusty parts
And big sausage sandwiches
that give me bad ( )
But shows, on the other hand
can be lots of fun too,
with "Umbrella Girls"
with spiked tongues and tattoos

But I'll tell you one thing , my Hot Rod Brothers
Garage Time's the BEST, whether mine or anothers.

(applause) (HEY! Who threw the tomatoe ??)

 

Bought this '29 a Steelback rear section at Hershey six years ago for a hundred bucks. Guess it was motivation for the ongoing build. Bob

 

swap meets.............when my buddies stop by and ask me is ____ a runner or still ____ ?

 

falcongeorge, following this thread, apparently you and I are the only guys that like car shows/cruise's, get inspiration from them And I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the social aspect of the Hobby, IMO the Best Part for me since the beginning, the HAMB is a social outlet IMO. I do go to IOLA and Jefferson, the 2 biggest swap meets in Wi. Rarley buy anything,(did buy 1 car ) enjoy running into old friends that I don't see much anymore. Car shows are bashed pretty regular on here, If all there was to the car hobby, building, cruising alone, no car shows/events, no social contact, I guess I'd go fishing and sit in the tavern, there's always an Expert on any subject only 2 stools away.

 

Shows are ok. sometimes its good to see what the rest of the nerds are up to.But swap meets are my weakness.I prefer doing a swap meet alone unless the other person is there to help me carry stuff. My pet peeve is when I go with somebody and they are distracting and impatient. Swap meets are really important.

 

Like I mentioned- warm beer, cold pizza and 5 or 6 guys hangin' in the garage and maybe going for a ride together after? ; doesn't get any better than that! (IMO)

 

my biggest inspiration is seeing some old cars moving and hearing them.show are ok too

 

Picked up this license plate light last February. Put it on the next day. Definitely a motivator.



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I like swaps, but they're few and far between around here. Seems I only hear about them after they're over with.
I like the Sat night cruise In's where you go park and look at everybody's rides or just chill out with friends in easy chairs. We go to a couple of shows that "judge", I use the term loosely because usually the judges don't know a Holley carb from a Rochester, they just pick what they like or their buds cars. Never expect to win anything, usually laugh at what does.

Been going to Tupeo MS for Blue Suede the last 7-8 years, they always had a good swap meet up until last year, didn't have one at all. Didn't enjoy it as much for that reason, I like to look through the junk and find that jewel of a part you need or didn't know you needed until you saw it.

 

Again, the question wasn't "what do you like" it was "what motivates you".

 

Well, if you don't like it, it sure as hell ain't gonna motivate you, now is it?

 

where did I say I don't like swaps?

 

I completed two big projects this summer, the biggest being finishing my dad's 57 Chevy for him and the other was a mild rework on my Packard summer driver. Both got done just in time for a couple of different shows, and it was that deadline that was a driving factor. My dad only goes to one show a year in his hometown so I really wanted to have his '57 done by then.

But I didn't come home from a show with motivation, the drive was to finish the cars to get them there. I have more fun at the swap meet but I haven't ever had to finish a car to go to one.

If anything, the swaps and shows eat up the precious little "spare time" I have when I should be finishing projects, a distraction more than a motivation.

Rachel and I have talked about that, how there is one crew that goes to every show but rarely to a swap, and another that only swaps, like it's the swap meet that is their hobby and not really the cars. Glad we're not the only ones who picked up on that.

 

Didn't say you did or didn't. I was saying, I guess in a roundabout way, if you don't like something, it's not going to motivate you. I like both, both make me want to get my stuff up and going or improve upon it.

 

I like swaps and shows, always a good time. If you have ever been to the Hershey show-swap you know it is the very best of both worlds. If Hershey does not motivate you, nothing will. I get motivation from both worlds, hell sometimes I dream up stuff in my sleep that motivates me.

 

I find, that 8 out of 10 times, if I have a difficult problem I am having trouble solving, the answer will come to me just as I become conscious in the morning.

 

Love swap meets if they are good! Hershey usually does it for me. But motivation is the weather for sure. Living with four seasons I have my motivations agenda. Winter for doing what has to be done/repaired on the 32's. Spring get them cleaned up and out on nice days. Summer go to as many things that don't interfere with family functions. Fall use the crap out of the Roadster when its above 35 and the Coupe when it is too cold or rain in the forecast. Again it is all about the weather as I look out the window at the 7" of snow that came down yesterday.

 

Going to shows motivated me to get into the hobby in the first place. Shows contine to provide me motivation, by providing ideas for my projects.
Swap meets are cool.
Interacting with other geatheads is usually a motivating force.

 

Same here! Ten inches of snow, and more falling. And yesterday I got an email from Summit, my "Christmas present" is on back-order till Jan. 17th... looks like I'm getting a lump of coal this year...

 

I like both also. Nice to see what other people come up with at shows. And its kind of like a treasurehunt to find parts at swapmeet.

 

I prefer swap meets. Find that part you need and go home and put it on. Movation and a good day!

 

I like both swaps and shows but neither really motivates me. I try to skip swap meets simply because I've got too much stuff already, but wintertime ISCA shows are a nice break from the garage. My best motivator is waking up in the morning, looking in the bathroom mirror and telling myself " get out in the garage you lazy dumb ass ". Hey , it works for me !!!