I'm surprised that nobody has reviewed this year's WCK annual Memorial Day event in Santa Maria, May 26-28. I didn't shoot much, but stayed near my car, having its first SM outing since it was finished. I'll have to show off myself: Don Dillard, builder, and me. Don's coupe in the first picture. My car looks like a 7/8 scale replica: Won an award for "Top 5 Wild Kustom":
There were a few threads of photos. It doesn't take long for them to be several pages back. Mine are here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...s-cruisin-nationals-santa-maria-2017.1064245/ By the way, it was very cool to see your car in person!
Having the pleasure to witness the evolution of this artistic statement, I am pleased to see it shared with others. Congratulations Tony! You've raised the bar.
It seems as though hardly anyone cares since the show moved away from Paso Robles. Years ago there were multiple threads, sometimes with hundreds of photos. The coverage has really gone in the dumper since the change in venue. I went to Santa Maria the first year after the move (2008?) and was pretty underwhelmed, just another fairgrounds show now. The photos in the above posts seem to be proof of that, look how much space there is between the cars, in Paso the park and surrounding streets were jam packed. Good times....................oh, and 50Fraud, your car is beautiful.
There is room to park , because the show area is huge compared to the paso area. I preferred the paso area for the various shops surrounding it, but disliked the bikes, and people who were just killing time there, and could care less about the cars. In Santa Maria since they pay to get in, they are there for the cars or to argue with Penny.
I can't agree more...... Paso was more than just parked cars, it was the whole scene, cruising, etc and there was no gate fee.
Thanks, Stoker. This thread ran in 2017, or two years ago, although I just returned from the 2019 Santa Maria event. The decline of the show in quality and relevance, as described in Muttley's comments, has continued to a really painful degree. The turnout this year was maybe half what it was in the best of the Santa Maria years, and there were virtually NO high-quality new cars being displayed. Years ago, when the show was still in Paso, you could count on there being maybe a dozen new, radical cars, but no more. I think that this will have been my last trip to Santa Maria.
I was busy and didn't make it out until Sunday. I counted 11 cars that day. I think T-shirt venders outnumbered cars. From what I heard, Saturday was better but short of expectations. Mike
Man I hope the poor showing was directly connected to the rainy weather. I was there and was very disappointed in the turn out. Yes!!! I miss old Paso also. There will never be another Paso, just glad to have been a part of it's existence.
I heard the poor showing this year was because of the the poor weather, so much that they decided to do the award ceramony on saterday as opposed to sunday . It was raining all day sunday on and off. I still had a great time. I have been to the paso show the last 3 years it was there, it was great, but you could only fit so many cars at a park, the fairground in Santa María can hold hundreds of cars and usualy fills up all the way to the back fence. Ive been going to this show since 2008. Weather sucked this time around,sure it wiil be better next year
Belated Congrats on the Award @50Fraud...Outdoor events are at the mercy of Mother Nature always and you fellas are getting hammered down there all over...hope things improve on the show scene...
Ebbs and flows. I think it was a down year for Santa Maria. Not letting Lowriders into the fairgrounds probably had a big impact on the amount of cars there. There is a very big lowrider scene in Santa, with a lot of very nice cars but it seems they were only allowed to cruise Friday night and there was another show Saturday just down the road to counter that. Not sure about the turnout for it though. It’ll never be Paso but I’ll continue to go and I’m sure it will bounce back.
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