Event Coverage 2017 LA Roadster show

I had just the opposite response. Two vendors I know very well were charged or were told that the fee was and it was double what they paid last year. I found one sitting at the hot dog stand outside building 4. He started as a hobbiest about 50 years ago at the Great Western Exhibit Center and has grown into a major and very successful car builder in SoCal. He was weighing buying his usual double or triple space in building 4 and watching quoted double the price of last year. So he and his wife were enjoying the show as spectators for the first time. At the great and I mean great BBQ Saturday night I talked to some club members and they talked about many long time exhibitors that balked at the 100 percent increase and stayed away. Maybe Buck played favorites, who knows. It's pretty sad to see building 4 only 2/3rds full and several non car vendors selling plus the L A Roadsters cars brought in from their usual midway positions to fill up space and still having to put up a curtain near the stage. Personally I had a great time with many old and a few new friends to visit with for the weekend. I will be back until either me or the show dies!

 

My very first post....
Well, I missed it. I had had no idea of the changes and controversies. I just couldn't get out Friday otherwise I would have done the SoCal Speed Shop Open House, that is where you're likely to see pilgrims from out of state and across the country all excited to make the LARS bringing cars you haven't seen before. As for Saturday and Sunday, the heat wave was being hyped, I had just done 6 hours at the Pomona Swap two weeks earlier so I wound up skipping the whole weekend. I used to grab a parking spot in the hotel lot at dawn and then hang out at Gate 1 watching the cars drive in from 6 AM to about 9 AM and then go for an all day hike looking at as much as possible. Eventually, I stopped paying attention to the finished pre-36 Roadsters. I mean how many times can you look at the same 600 finished cars? I get it, the club was polishing the B-Movie image of the hobby but the interesting stuff was rejected for free entry at Gate 1 and directed to Preferred Parking. That's where the good old junk is. I went to the show last year, it wasn't as dense as the year before that. I don't know where this is going except a lot of people in the hot rod niche are just getting older.

 

Waiting in line, maybe not for the members but for everybody else. I strangely don't remember it going smooth as silk like you do when the club ran it. Good old boys were already in and parked while the rest waited. You must have been one of the the gob crew !

 

Gee, I thought maybe I was the only one who was thinking like this.

 

You are comparing apples to oranges. LARS is a CAR Participation Event, Your touting Trog as a Specatator Participation Event. Thats like comparing The Lone Star Roundup to the NHRA Nationals.
If standing mosh pit style trying to see flathead cars racing each other is your thing the LARS wasn't your show, but arguing that El Mirage contributed more to street driven Hot Rods than Scritchfield and the LA Roadster Club is a fantasy imo.

STREET RODS were and are the builders of this hobby. Without them, Pete and Jakes, SoCal, Edelbrock, Buttera, and the thousands of other builders/businesses would have gone the way of the old speed shop and literally thousands of cars would have never been built.

 

Been to TROG and just about every show in CA so I know the cost to get in and participate in these shows. Hiking the price by $30 just to drive in is plan ridiculous. Spectators pay to see cars, some of us being them. So you raise the price on the guys/gals who bring them to the show? No thanks.


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Don't know if there were better deals negotiated by some vendors but like I say I was told first hand by Limeworks Steve, Speedway Engineering and the Kershaw knife guy that they paid the same as last year and they were good with that.
I was also told by both a vendor and a Rod Shows employee that the number of inside booths was up slightly, but that they had set them up more like a real trade show which tightened everything up and made it look like there was less. The Club used to just kind of let people spread out more which took up more space. There have been "Non Car" vendors in the past as well.
Either way, I think they will have learned a lot and work to improve the show. Like you I will continue to go and have a good time regardless of the drama and politics of others - look forward to maybe meeting up with you next year!

 

I assure you, I am NOT "one of the GOB crew". If you knew me, you would not even think that. My ass has had to wait in line just like everyone else. I have always enjoyed meeting, and talking with other roadster owners in the line. I always thought it part of the weekend experience. If you found it such a nightmare, you should have got your ass up early, and show up Friday morning, like I've always done. And I don't want to hear crap about can't get the time off. If you are really into the hobby, you'll find the time. Why don't we just stop all the arguing and name calling and wait to see what happens next year.

 

The one thing I want to do next year is have the kid on the cover of my January 1962 issue of Hot Rod sign it, he's always impressed me. Bob

 

"My ass has had to wait in line just like everyone else. "
Now Dean I am quite sure the rest of you had to wait in line not just your ass.

 

You mean this kid?

 

This post I started was not about the success or frailer of the show but what I saw. I have been going to this show since 1988 and yes this was the worst I have ever seen it. We still need to support it since its the only show that has a amazing swap meet which is what I go for along with seeing friends of mine who live in CA that only get to see a few times a year. The swap was easier to navigate and get a space. I hope it continues to be so. I hope the show comes back to how big it was like before. I like my feet killing me by the end of the day just trying to get through the swap.

 

No, Fuzzy, I just sent my ass out to wait. The rest of me showed up later.

 

Why don't we just stop all the arguing and name calling and wait to see what happens next year.

Fine by me, I already know what will happen next year if LARS is held
Good Lord Willing:
I will either have a prepaid swap space with my car parked there or......
I will be in the non roadster preferred parking with my chairs and umbrella driving a sedan
Cost will be irrelevant to the amount of enjoyment I will get as long as there are porta toilets close by.
Hope to meet you personally.

 

I don't know about others but as soon as I'm through the gate I'm heading directly to the first Swap Meet spot I can find. Once I'm out of money or can't find anything to buy I'll look at cars, trucks and the Roadsters on the way out. Bob

 

Well, as I stated earlier, going to the L.A. Roadster Fathers Day Show has been on my bucket list for some time now. I plan to drive there. As we can all see, our hobby is ever changing and venues are going away. I plan to commit to being there next year. My hopes are that the glitches from this year will be remedied in 2018.

 

I see a simple remedy. Return to the old format. I will go either way. Jim

 

Thank's for posting your side of it. I don't know exactly how your email got such widespread attention, but I will say it was only one factor that kept me away. Two much larger ones were A) none of my buddies were going dye,to supporting a local show in San Diego put on by a good friend and supporter of our clubs shows, and B) the damn roadster broke just prior to it (alternator, I think) and with my current 80-100 hr work weeks, I haven't even had a chance to look at it. I do agree with most on here that we need 5 support the show, and plan on being there Sat. next year, and here Sun. to support my friend.

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All of the changes can be corrected, and often are, to continue success. Lets hope so here.
I've wanted to go for years,(especially the years I drove a roadster), and plan to attend next years event, among others. My retirement date is set for June 1, 2018, so that will give me a few weeks to drive there and take it in. Won't be in a roadster, but my coupe.
Hope to see some of you there.

 

HMMMM!!---My club roster says 67 total MEMBERS!

 

NOPE!!-----The "Rules" still stand!----Shiny paint,no primer spots, good upholstery, good appearance.

 

I'm good with that, enjoyed both trips out there but the Swap Meet is the reason it was on my Bucket List for years. Bob

 

Yeah, They should have a traditional vintage roadster class too.

 

The wife and I drove down from Seattle to attend this show again. We've always had a blast in the past. What a disappointment. We knew something was up when we pulled into Lot 9 at 7:10 Saturday morning and got clipped $10 for parking and then were in the first row behind the handicapped cars. Nobody was manning the ticket booth so we walked in for free. At least we saved $40 there. The place looked like a wasteland compared to previous visits. I talked with a couple of volunteers and they claimed the low attendance was a result of the forecast for triple digits. Several exhibitors said it was the raise in prices/reduction of mugs and trophies and the absence of the traditional after hours dinner. Who knows.

Some of our photos:
http://sunsethiwaycruisers.com/la-roadster-show

 

OK, lets see - parking in lot 9, which is controlled by the fairgrounds has been $10 as long as I can remember. Walking in for Free due to the oversight of the employees was a mistake that ended up costing the promoter but hardly something to bring up as part of your "Disappointment". The heat was an issue, and certainly nothing anyone can do about that. The last couple of years have been progressively hotter (But there is no Climate Change ) and that definitely plays a part. The entry fee did turn away some folks and it's been beat to death about how it is still one hell of a bargain compared to most shows. There was no "Reduction in Mugs" they have only provided 500 for a number of years now, although if the turn out went over that the club would order more, and Rod Shows would have done the same. This is NOT a Trophy Show - never has been. There are a few special awards the club does, but I do not believe there was any reduction trophies because it has Never been about trophies or awards. The Traditional After Hours dinner for the Roadsters still happened ~ and it was delicious.
As for the turnout - last year there were less than 500 roadsters, I don't recall the number but it was quite a bit under. This year it was right at 350. So Yeah, it was down a little - but 350 Finished and Done roadsters? tell me how many other shows get anywhere near that?

 

Saturday 2012


Saturday 2017 about 1 PM

You may have had 350 roadsters registered but I think 200 or more of them went to the beach instead. It's hard to tell how many cars were in attendance with them scattered all over the Fairplex but I doubt there were 350 cars total (excluding ones in the swap meet) at 9 o'clock Saturday morning. I'm not much for words but pictures don't lie. After 2400 miles of driving, your horrible traffic jams (two hours on "the 210" to get from I-5 to Claremont) and two more hours north of Sacramento last Monday on I-5 in 113 degree heat, I can only think of a four letter word beginning with F to describe this year's show...F-L-O-P. I haven't seen the credit card bill for our trip yet but I'm guessing we put about $3500 into the California economy on this trip and comparable amounts in years past. Multiply that a few hundred times over (the 4 guys from Detroit in the room next to us said they'd never recommend it again as did one of the indoor vendors I talked with) and you have a significant dent in revenue. Somebody needs to step up to the plate and rip one over the fence next year or this show will have a tough time making it back to the lofty status of "bucket list" that so many of us outside of the basin see it as. I won't dispute your "truths", hotroddon, but your observations don't gel with mine.

 

I didn't have any roadsters registered - I don't work for the show. Well I did have mine registered. I find it hard to believe that approximately 350 guys paid and by your estimate 200 of them didn't show up. The 350 number came from a few different sources within the club and the promoter maybe they are all in cahoots.
As for my "observations" - I'm not sure what you are trying to say since the only one I really made was to say that it was down a bit, and I think you are saying the same thing. Wait, I did say that I still thought it was a bargain at $50.00, and I'll stand by that - this past weekend I did two shows, $35.00 each (and that is pretty typical around So Cal, although there are a few exceptions like the invite only Outriders show) - the first one had about 200 cars that included Vettes, Mustang,s Late model stuff etc - the other was Mainly Hot Rods and had around 100 cars. Neither one had any Hot Rod vendors of any kind, No Cool Pewter Mug, No free BBQ Dinner. Is that a complaint NO, but it drives home for me how $50.00 for the LA Roadster Show is Still a good deal.
Just my perspective - and I will be back as long as they have it

 

I went back and counted cars in my photos. I'll admit I missed a few, the guys over by that convertible top manufacturer and the 30 or so under the trees to the left of where those two pix were taken. Total count 103. I don't disagree. The point is this trip was like a Christmas present that I finally got to open only to find out it was a half a pair of socks and my brother got the other half. Considering the venue, no, $50 isn't bad but the majority of grousing I heard about was about the mugs and the increased fees. Wifey and I talked with 5 or 6 exhibitors during the day. Sitting in the shade seems to do that. I've only spectated over the years, never entered so I know nothing of the process. The chap at Industrial Chassis inside was quite a lot more vocal about his displeasure. You give something away or sell it cheaply then withdraw it or inflate the price then there is going to be griping. This sounds a lot like the demise of the Seattle Roadster Show many years ago. Hope that isn't the case but I doubt that I'll be down that way again just for that show.

 

No idea why anyone was complaining about the mugs. Except if they were looking for and excuse. The fact is LA Roadsters have had "Pewter mugs to the first 500 Roadsters" on their flyers for at least a few years - and this year was NO Different. Every Roadster that showed up got a mug.
Steve from Industrial Chassis is a member here and I believe it was his first time exhibiting at the LARS. At least I don't recall seeing him in previous years (But I do know he has driven out in his F100 in years past).
Regardless, all this Bitching isn't going to do anything to make it better. Those who are taking the time to talk to the Rod Shows guys and give constructive Criticism and Ideas of how to make things better are the ones who will help make or break the show. As has been said numerous times in this thread, the show was having issues for a while now and the LA Roadsters needed help. Rod Shows is the group that turned the GNRS around when it was falling apart and they will do the same for this, IF people will work together and give it a chance.