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pay for cruise nights

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by gatordave, Apr 6, 2012.

  1. KoolKat-57
    Joined: Feb 22, 2010
    Posts: 3,073

    KoolKat-57
    Member
    from Dublin, OH

    When I lived in Connecticut there were "Cruise Nights" nearly every night of the week, and they were and still are FREE!
    So I move to central Ohio and there are a few sporatic cruise nights run by a couple of "entrepeneurial" types that charged to park your car at a local business.
    If you were "lucky" you would receive a "thank for coming award"!
    I thought this was BS and started a FREE weekly cruise night at a local eatery.
    We, for what ever reason do not have the number of cars that the PAY to PARK guys get, but the quality of the cars and the people that attend our little get together are the BEST! They are there for each other what ever the need might be, and I'm grateful for their continued support of our gathering!
    We will be starting our 9th year of incredible mediocrity May 3rd @ Wholly Joe's Chicago Eatery on Polaris Parkway in Lewis Center, Ohio.
    The fun and great music starts @ 6:00 PM
    Cars must be at least 25 years old to participate.
    If you're bored on a Thursday night stop by, free icecream too!
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2012
  2. tfeverfred
    Joined: Nov 11, 2006
    Posts: 15,791

    tfeverfred
    Member Emeritus

    That's the best observation. I like hanging out for a bit, but driving is more fun. We used to have a little HAMB meet-up here. Once a month, on a Sunday. Met some fellow gear heads, had a few drinks and talked cars. No freakin' trophys and it was just for a few hours. We came and went when we chose.

    Cruising is DRIVING.
     
  3. jcmarz
    Joined: Jan 10, 2010
    Posts: 4,631

    jcmarz
    Member
    from Chino, Ca

    What difference does it make anyways? It's not true Cruisin', it's Mickey Mouse Cruisin'.
     
  4. GassersGarage
    Joined: Jul 1, 2007
    Posts: 4,727

    GassersGarage
    Member

    We use to have a weekly cruise at a local hamburger joint. Cost to get in was $1. They had a raffle, 50/50 drawing and trophies. The raffle prizes alone was worth the $1. I won a folding chair, duster, work lights and "Best in Show". You know, the club that put the cruise on, pays for insurance and buys the raffle prizes. I've seen TV's and stereos as prizes, so paying for a set-up like that doesn't bother me.
     
  5. chopperfugger
    Joined: May 29, 2009
    Posts: 83

    chopperfugger
    Member
    from austin

    I believe if you walk into a bar and you are the only
    human willing to patronize the joint - drinks should be free.
     
  6. young'n'poor
    Joined: Jan 26, 2006
    Posts: 1,281

    young'n'poor
    Member
    from Anoka. MN

    In anoka, the small town I live in, there is a show every summer Saturday where the cars park on the street and a whole section of the town is basically a car show. It costs 3 bucks to cover insurance and the dj and since I spend 3 bucks on crap daily it doesn't bother me. I look at it like I'm paying for the other cars to show up. I just get a good parking spot to see them from
     
  7. Jimbo17
    Joined: Aug 19, 2008
    Posts: 3,959

    Jimbo17
    Member

    Dave:

    There are many shows that charge to enter even for cruise nights.

    There is one show up on Long Island where they charge I believe $5.00 for not only hot rods and muscle cars but for anyone else that comes to look at the cars.

    It's run my the local fire fighters and they draw between 750 and 1,000 cars every Tuesday night in the summers.

    Ronnie Setzer as run the shows over in Tampa for years and it's always been $5.00 to enter and he also gets 50 to 150 cars on a Saturday night.

    Dave do you happen to own a 1956 Chevrolet?

    Jimbo
     
  8. LeftCoastCruiser
    Joined: Mar 21, 2012
    Posts: 139

    LeftCoastCruiser
    Member
    from So Cal

    As a self proclaimed bidness man, I understand the need for anyone putting on an event to 'cover costs'. But that's IF there are any costs to cover. And even so, why charge the folks that are luring people to your joint with automotive eye candy? Why not charge local vendors to participate? They sell their shit, the promotors get more hot rods in, more people show up to see the cars, restaurant makes money and gets their parking lot repaved every couple years. Everybody wins!?
     
  9. mike hohnstein
    Joined: Dec 4, 2011
    Posts: 262

    mike hohnstein
    BANNED
    from wisconsin

    Best comment I've ever seen!
     
  10. OneBad56
    Joined: Dec 22, 2008
    Posts: 535

    OneBad56
    Member

    We have a casino at the western edge of town who holds a weekly cruise-IN.
    Wacky Wednesdays its called.
    Get about 600+ cars depending upon weather.
    More than ample room for the cars and the casino patrons.
    And lots of spectators are drawn to it.

    Best thing: Free
    Next best thing: free food and pop to the participants.
    And sometimes they offer incentives to go inside for the gambling.
    or there are door prizes. But it all costs nothing.

    The third best thing: I live on the eastern side of town and it takes a 45 minute cruise to get there. Low and slow.
     
  11. fuel pump
    Joined: Nov 4, 2001
    Posts: 3,620

    fuel pump
    Member Emeritus
    from Caro,MI

    I live is a small town (less than 5,000 people) and we only have one cruise and thats only every other week at that. Its put on by the owners of Big Boy and they pay for everything. They pay for a DJ, door prizes and give all the participants a 10% discount on all meals on cruise nights. They appreciate and benefit from the extra business we bring in so everyone wins and thats the way it should be..
     
  12. It's 700 plus cars at $10 each = $7,000 per month x 5 shows (with no rain outs) comes to $35,000 for the year. And yes it all goes to charity after expenses. Which is not high because it is all volunteer help.
     
  13. Hemi Joel
    Joined: May 4, 2007
    Posts: 1,528

    Hemi Joel
    Member
    from Minnesota

    Well, maybe the restraunt owner who is charging $5 to get into the cruise figures the $5 cover will weed out all the skinflints who complain about anything that costs a few bucks, hog a table all night long and spend only a few bucks for a couple cokes, never leave a tip, steal all the sugar packets...
     
  14. blktie
    Joined: Aug 26, 2007
    Posts: 338

    blktie
    Member

    Let's face it trophies are cheap. An investment of $100-$200 to bring in 100-200 potential customers? Doesn't sound like a hard decision to make. Then again, maybe it makes more sense to spend $1,000 dollars and HOPE someone shows up?
     
  15. 61falcon
    Joined: Jan 1, 2009
    Posts: 772

    61falcon
    Member

    cruise night at the local quaker steak, if you register your car for one dollar you get 2 raffle tickets. one is for the raffle and one is for 15% off your dinner check. i dont stay for the raffle drawing but i do stay for dinner. good way to get business on an otherwise quiet monday.
     
  16. c_dime81
    Joined: Aug 26, 2010
    Posts: 160

    c_dime81
    Member
    from tupelo

    Pay to park? That sounds pretty ridiculous to me. Sounds like a scene where the vehicle owners just want to be seen. I say let em do their thing and check out the checkers crowd. Maybe your chances of making a few new buddies will be better there. And use the 5 bucks you save on an extra half gallon of gas!
     
  17. There's a local "so called" cruise where some DJ takes it upon himself to setup in a parking lot and charges a fee for the cruise.

    Fuuuuuck that!!!

    Cruzin' has always been free in my book. After all aren't we the show??? Without us and our cars as the draw the business has no business. It is "us" and our cars that attract people to a particular business, it's advertising! These dumps should be glad we don't start charging them.
     
  18. william.ali.kay
    Joined: Nov 20, 2009
    Posts: 824

    william.ali.kay
    Member
    from Milwaukee

    Ive stuck enough into my ride. I aint paying to let others enjoy looking at it. Nor do I want them to pay to look at it.

    And I dont have room on my shelves for car trophies, they are all full of car parts and tools.
    Not that Id win one anyway.
     
  19. Rocky Famoso
    Joined: Mar 30, 2008
    Posts: 3,000

    Rocky Famoso
    BANNED

    17 MPG in my Studee...so that means I can CRUISE for about 20+ miles on $5.00...
    ...
    As far as trophies go, I would turn right around, and re-award them to a car that I thought was cool,
    but in the judges eyes wouldn't have a chance in hell of winning anything.
    Pretty soon, I didn't get anymore trophies.
    ...
     
  20. afaulk
    Joined: Jul 20, 2011
    Posts: 1,194

    afaulk
    Member

    I just push in the clutch and make a little noise as i pass all the parked "cruisers". I'm usually coming in from the track or dinner, etc. Personally I prefer the smell of burnt rubber to the smell of burnt hamburgers LOL. At $4.00 a gallon i may rethink it though!
     
  21. Dino
    Joined: Oct 22, 2002
    Posts: 225

    Dino
    Member

    Yep, what he said.

     
  22. Dino
    Joined: Oct 22, 2002
    Posts: 225

    Dino
    Member

    Sounds fine, but did you consider that there might be costs such as insurance, promotion, permits, etc. associated with putting on the gig?

    I absolutely agree that the old cars are the draw, and I further agree that it should be possible to get $$$$ from the spectators. The trick is to find the intersection of the two curves which allows making a profit after covering expenses.

    In the long run, the old car hobby benefits from these shows, IMHO, because we increase awareness and consequently are less likely to run afowl of poorly reasoned ballot initiatives designed to outlaw old cars in favor of POS crap like Chevy Volts.

     
  23. I see as well as understand your point, however......

    When I had my business, if I wanted someone to come in and do a promotion for me I still had to pay out for proper insurance and permits as well as pay the company doing the promotion.

    I my eyes "we" and "our cars" are doing the promotion.

    Businesses run promotions, ads, specials, etc. to enhance their business. This is to generate more profit. There are always costs involved to generate more profit. By announcing that a business is having a "cruise night", they are generating a lot more foot traffic off of our cars.

    And what do "we" get???

    The simple answer is that we get a good time but we shouldn't have to pay for it! The business is profiting off of us.
     
  24. BAD PENNY
    Joined: Aug 22, 2011
    Posts: 1,250

    BAD PENNY
    Member
    from mass

    All the cruise nights around me are free...a couple ask for a donation which most if not all goes to charity. Paying to go to a cruise (park) for a couple hours is just silly.
     
  25. philly the greek
    Joined: Feb 15, 2009
    Posts: 1,863

    philly the greek
    Member
    from so . cal.

    Like my friend says , " That's like charging the clowns to come to the circus" .
     
  26. need louvers ?
    Joined: Nov 20, 2008
    Posts: 12,903

    need louvers ?
    Member



    Absolutely!!! Back about twenty years ago when Central ave was stull the cruise spot, I worked a deal with the Monterray st. Jack in the Box to let us park our cars... The trade off was having to buy food at their restaurant. Seemed like a fair trade when the cops were hassling everybody to go, but couldn't touch us. THAT was no different than paying for a cruise night.
     
  27. grazy
    Joined: Jun 21, 2008
    Posts: 223

    grazy
    Member

    Trophies at small local cruises is just plain silly after while you get the same 30 regulars showing up every time so why trophy?
     
  28. 4t7flat
    Joined: Apr 15, 2009
    Posts: 266

    4t7flat
    Member

    This is my first winter in SW Florida,with a rod. It seems that a lot of cruise nights are charging $10.,down here. I get a list every week of about 20-25 cruise nights,and shows,from Sarasota,down to Naples. Plenty of free cruises to go to,so I have not attended a Pay for cruise night,yet. Don't need any trophys,just want to drive my car,and hang with other car guys.
     
  29. Rocky Famoso
    Joined: Mar 30, 2008
    Posts: 3,000

    Rocky Famoso
    BANNED

    As far as trophies go, I would turn right around, and re-award them to a car that I thought was cool,
    but in the judges eyes wouldn't have a chance in hell of winning anything.
    Pretty soon, I didn't get anymore trophies.
    ...
     
  30. $5 bucks aint bad for havin fun.. WTF else can you do for five bucks?
     

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