Hunnert, first time there.....

First off, I want to say that I fully understand that everyone has an opinion and they all stink... including mine!

Second, I also somewhat know what goes into putting on a show and how hard it is and I applaud the Czars in putting on a show that continues to grow and be "the talk" of the hot rod community. Kudos to you all!

Third, here are a couple suggestions that may be something to think about for next year, I know that this was the first year at this venue so there was some learning to do.
1. Someone suggested "inspectors" walking thru the staging areas and approving some so the lines move faster thru the gate. OUTSTANDING idea!
2. On the staging lanes, it might be a good idea to let a whole row go before the next one goes rather than a few from each line. The reasoning is that would give the cars a bit longer to cool down while sitting for that long trying to get in. The constant start and stop and having to move up every 30 seconds don't allow for the cars to cool off or some to even shut off for an hour or longer. And lets face it, most of the cars are hot rods that overheat, not late models that can idle for hours with no problem.
3. Either have big tents set up or allow pop ups, its too hot for alot of people (either really old or really young) to stand it all day.
The rest was pretty good I must say...other than the below.

Fourth, this is NOT a whine or a bitch but rather an observation and possibly a learning experience for others.....I sure as hell learned from it!
I have been wanting to go to the show for several years and finally decided to come up for it this year and drag my neighbor up to his "first show" with his just completed 41 Plymouth pickup (really cool truck IMO!). The first plan of action was to go to the "official website" to check what the criteria was to be able to "get in", since I don't want to waste my time if I can't get in right? Right. So looking thru it all, I think that I should have no problem getting in.
All vehicles must have at least 2 major modifications: Check, Louvers, Stripes, Lowered, Whites and steels
All vehicles must appear as a traditional hot rod and custom: Check, same as above with a 348 & Tri-Power
No art cars: Check
No Billet: Check
No modern rims: Check, steels and whites
No digital gauges: Check
No neon: Check
No EFI: Check, Tri-Power
All vehicles must have tires and rims that are reminiscent of the 1960s or earlier: Check, painted steels with bullet caps, lugs and spider rings and wide whites
No mags: Check, steels
No lo pro's: Check, wide whites
No wires: Check
4 wheels: Check
No trailer: Check, drive it everywhere, couple LS Roundups, couple HR Power Tours, couple Salina's and a bunch of everywhere else!
So we head out and drove 7 hours to get there, stoked about the next day! We go to the show and after sitting in line for an hour to get to the gate (my car was pegged on the temp guage and I was having to 2 foot it to keep it running cause it was so hot) I get there. I'm told to go on and then the "staff" dude stops me and asks me what size rims are those? I say 16, & 17's and he says no dice and go park next to the Toyota (not exactly in those words really). I'm beside myself and say you're joking right? They are steels and white walls!?!? He says nope. So, I don't argue but rather bite my tounge and go on since my car is about to melt down anyway. (Which I think that is where I screwed up, not stating my case, IMO) As I go to the parking people are asking me why and that is BS and all that. But I am freaking about to melt down, both my car an me!! I get parked and sit and "cool down" for about 20-30 minutes before I go in. Now I am totaly unprepared for not having a car "in the show" since I have a 1 1/2 and a 5 year old in the back seat with all their crap. But we go ahead in the show and walk around and yada yada yada. But needless to say, I can't really tell you much about the show because it totaly ruined my day and my weekend. But I did notice that there were several AND I MEAN SEVERAL 17" steels on cars, not to mention some American Salt Flats in 17" diameter. Oh and even 2 sets of 20" steels that I saw just to rub it into my face! One even had lo profile tires!!
But that is cool, it is their show and if they want to make sure that all the cars have spider webs and skullz on them, I'm completely fine with that! It's THIER show, just put it in the criteria on the site!! The problem that I have is that NOWHERE on the site is there ANYTHING about size other than "low profile tires", which I'm golden since I don't think that a 275 is a "low profile"! It does say that the tires and wheels must be "must have tires and rims that are reminiscent of the 1960s or earlier", which I would think that I would be golden since they are painted steels (with stock centers welded into larger hoops, not even W.V. Smoothies!) with bullet caps, lugs and spider rings and wide whites from Diamondback.

The point of all this is that I don't want ANYBODY to have to go thru this and TOTALLY ruin thier weekend with a bad attitude, like mine was. It either needs to be fixed on the website with more detialed criteria or the "gate keepers" need to be more consistant. And people need to know that the need to read and FULLY and I mean FULLY UNDERSTAND the line: "Entry is at the inspectors’ discretion" and if the "gate keeper" has a hard on for you, then you just wasted your time AND MONEY for the weekend and you are not getting in! One of my buddies told me that he would not have even got a second look if he was driving because he is all tatted up and has "the look", and since I don't have "the look" the "gate keeper" got a hard on for me.....now that is stretching it a bit and I don't really buy it, but it is definately something to ponder!

The Czars may not give a rats ass about this and that is fine, it is thier show and they can run it however they want......but they don't seem to be that way and with the show as successfull as it is, that can't be the case. But I may be wrong......I obviously have been wrong before!! So this was not a "whine" cause I didn't get in, but hopefully some education to anyone that goes to a "subjective" entry type show and to the Czars about being more consistant about entry inspections or qualifications of entry on the site.

I hope the show continues to grow and get better every year and grow the cause of rodding!!

Oh, and a pic of it for anyone that is interested.

 

I'm not tatted up and have gotten in every year I have brought a car. Nice wagon by the way.

 

Wow, just not right.

 

A buddy said that about the stereotype, it didn't even cross my mind actually. And thanks!

 

Your wagon is bitchin! Their loss.

 

i don't know if you noticed or not but none of the Czars are the "tatted up" type. some of them have a few tats but i don't think they would fit into the stereotype your buddy mentioned... they are definitely NOT the spider web and skull type either...

ya gotta figure that with everything that is going on, all those cars waiting to get in and the inspectors trying to get everyone in as quickly as possible, they have to make quick decisions. i don't know about you but sometimes, even when i take my time to think about it, i don't make the right decisions.

for what it's worth, i dig your car.

 

Dig your wagon! Looks cooler than alot of stuff I saw in the pics.

 

This car got in and yours did not wow. Cool wagon for sure.

 

Sorry to hear about the problems you had getting in. Your wagon is badass and seemed like a perfect fit. You and your family are great people, there loss for sure. Gary

 

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned what my buddy said. Like I said, don't think it was that personally. And I was using the webs and skulls as an example, like polka dots with green frogs. Lol.
Thanks

 

nice lookin wagon..............

its to bad that you didnt get you car in

 

Ii rode over with my brother in his 64 T'bird and we were in the right lane for "inspection". The guys checking the cars in our lane seemed to be a lot fussier than those in the left as our line was moving quite a bit slower. The 'Bird has Astro Supremes with skinny whites, is nosed and decked and dropped and has a flake painted roof and they still looked it over very carefully before passing us through. Our mates from the Road Kings out of Kokomo, IN had their Mercury club wagon there (dropped, period wheel covers, lakes pipes and the club logo on the door) and there were nearly refused entry.
I know that it is hard to make a quick decision with so many cars in line but bitching about 17" steelies when there were several cars with big diameter Salt Flats or Torque Thrust style wheels running low profile tires on the grounds is a little tough.
Again with something like 1500 cars the guys generally do a good job in the limited time that they have but my biggest beef is with stuff like the Jeep bodied whatever with the diesel motor and the 37 Ford coupe with the axe in the front fender. I did not even bother to look closely at the 37 but from a distance all I could see in the way of mods were what looked like 40 Ford bolt circle wheels on something that looked as if it was dragged right out of the barn. The criteria sign at the gate specifically said no "art" cars and I would put this one in that category. As for the Jeep/Caterpillar whatever, when did this sort of stuff become "traditional"?
Kudos to the Czars for having the nuts to take on a venture of this magnitude and pull it off so well but there is still a bit of fine tuning needed.

Roo
ps Thanks to all the red shirt guys and gals for the work that they put in for very little reward apart from getting bitched out.

 

I'm not here to post about rules or opinions. I just wanted commend you on your handling of and stating of the entire matter. You may have been the biggest guy there. And....cool wagon!

 

Your wagon Rocks!

 

Man Jimmy I really hate to hear about ya not getting in to the show.... That is one of
the reasons why I've never thought about going is because of the approval process
not being consistant. I have a tilt wheel in the Merc and don't have any reason or
plans to take it out. If one of the guys didn't approve of it and not let me in that
would suck. I don't have enough $$ and time to commit to a show and get turned
away.

Czars host a kool show and must be doing something right because they draw a lot of
cars. I know a lot of Okies and other Sho me guys that don't miss the show. It just
sucks when a HAMBers aka friends gets turned away.....

Oh, I forgot to say, sorry I've never like your wagon. LOL!! HA, ha, ha, Krap! Where is
the delete button? No! That was the submit button.... Oh well I shouldn't have said
that, see ya in a couple of weeks...

Happy Trails,

Mick

 

It happens at every show like this. When you are catering towards a certain like minded group of people there is always going to be someone that thinks they also share that same taste, but not quite>. I have seen lots of "new" 5 spoke americans at traditional car shows, does that wheel fit the criteria? It sucks to be on the losing end of these arguements especially when you see other turds that got a pass to park inside. Your wagon is cool and I am sure as bummed as you were about not geting in you obviously are a car guy still had a good time looking around anyway.

 

man, i love wagons!!!! i read your comment 5 times trying to figger out if you were sayin 'i' as a general comment or your wagon actually didnt get in....then i read the comments! thats crazy that it didnt get in! if it makes you feel better, my wifes kia sportage didnt either!lol

 

Very little reward? Excuse me???

The members of the RedShirt Army get in for free, and get in before 8 AM so they don't have to wait in line, receive a limited edition t shirt designed by Django, get first dibs on buying regular show shirts so they don't have to wait in line there either, receive a volunteer thank you gift, and get invited to the thank you party in November that is full dinner and open bar all night.

If you have a suggestion on how else they could be rewarded I am all ears.

Yes they put up with crap from people, but they do it with much grace and manners. We truly appreciate them as is evident by all of the posts.

 

I saw your wagon at the Starliner show. I can hardly believe they wouldn't let you in! Definitely their loss!

 

Supermarket checkout, toll booths, inspections lines. I always get in the wrong ones, every time. Different line and you are in no question. Sweet wagon.

 

Hmmm...... so if I drag the Fly behind my stock 57 Ford wagon, neither one qualifies and both are traditional. That would be a letdown, especially after driving 10 hours. Do they do the pre-registration with pictures? That would solve a lot of issues.

 

I'm with ya! Very cool wagon! I think you would fit right in there. Way better than alot of the other cars that are shown in the pictures floating around.

 

Appears the Czars have something yet to learn:... Lose the nitpickin', detail, specific requirement crap and simply generalize. Make a cutoff date (1962 or ealier, for instance), and go with it. That equation has worked for millions of other car shows without hitch and would likely ease the gettin'-in process.

You can be certain that I won't waste my time/effort to go the that show. Ever.

 

Before everyone starts bashing the Czars, let's keep this in perspective. This was one guy in a line with a particular inspector. They had tons of cars to inspect and I know that even putting on a show with 250 cars is a huge undertaking.

Gonmad had some good suggestions and he put them in a format that should be helpful to the Czars. Constructive criticism is a good thing and will help make the show better, if they listen.

I still say pre-registration will help solve a lot of issues. That way a guy knows up front where he stands, before he drives 1500 miles , only to be turned away.

 

Amazing this got in ....doesn't fit .....like someone playing banjo in a porsche...

 

very nice wagon, and i agree. their loss

 

If it would have been my call I woulda let you in I dig wagons maybe the guy who side stepped you was into t-buckets.

That said, letting it "ruin" your weekend was foolish on your part, you were with your family at a great car show, gotta keep things in perspective man.

 

I absolutely LOVE your wagon!!

That being said, I am an inspector at a different traditional show with even stricter and more clarified criteria. It would hurt my heart, but the car would not be allowed in.

 

I've been to many shows you have been to as well. Dewey, Salina and greaserama. I've looked at your car several times and never even noticed those wheels were not 15". I got turned down at okie twist off rt 66 this year. I sent a pic in early. My car was the criteria but 3 years too new. Surprise! When I got there I saw several that didnt fit the criteria big wheels. Happens almost every time
And its one thing for just a you and buddy turned down at the gate but when you drive hours and have a car load, kids and and get cock blocked for something not on the form I can only imagine your frustration.
Your car is way cool by the way.