Reason and rational have very little to do with the the hot rod hobby. Our cars are more to us than transportation. They are ART. They inspire us to do stupid things like cash out 401Ks, spend hundreds/thousands of hours in the shop and plan family vacations around car events. The "best" car that I have ever owned is a toyota sub-compact. It was $12,000 new, has gone nearly 300,000 miles so far, and has delivered 40 mpg. I have no desire to EVER see my daily driver at a car show no matter how good of a car it has been. I want to see the ART that stirs my soul.
It all boils down to one thing, the customer. The NSRA may be dead either way it goes. Seems to me if they would have been forthright with the members we may have been understanding. They have always danced to the beat of their own tune. I own 2 pre-49 vehicles, both Chevy P'ups. I own 12 post vehicles, most are '49-'55 Chevy P'ups/Panels or Suburbans. I go to two NSRA events a year along with the Frog Follies. I go to about 10 other types of shows per year. So my point is I enjoy having a couple weekends a year that I don't have to look through row after row of muscle cars and such to find a nice '40 coupe. Understand that I do like all types of rides all the way up to the '72 cutoff that other shows accept. And as I stated I attend more of those that not.B] In the end I lost faith in the NSRA the first show I attended. Here is a group that boldly states in its entry forms that your vehicle MUST be of pre 1949 manufacture to be elgible. Then it welcomes with open arms hundreds of glass want-to-be '32 Ford coupes and other fakes. Before you burn me at the stake, I have never owned anything close to a coupe, nor have I ever known anybody that does. So I'm not a sore loser. Then to add insult to injury they hand out a majority of the hardware to these mail order rides. I do appreciate them for what they are worth, just not like the nice '32/'33/'34 etc real steel that gets looked over. So this organization has always dirty hands when it comes to the moral honest path. And it seems they may have finally got too full of themselves. Time will tell.
You don't know Louisville. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYw64fz_x4g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTGwW7e3X7U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQwJOVSduCI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwh2ceYc6xs
All I know is the NSRA could of asked their membership one simple question, hey guys and gals the NSRA is thinking about raising the cut off year from 1948 to ?We would like your imput. please e-mail, write or stop by at an event and tell us what you think. Thanks NSRA Just one small part of a page in StreetScene is all it would of taken and what would it of cost them? next to nothing, they own the magazine. But NO! their 70,000 + members didn't have a say in it. Now if everybody including myself showed up and staged some kind of protest. Now that would get their attention. Say DON"T buy anything from the venders, not one part, nothing, go in and walk around but keep your greenbacks in your pocket! Screw the NSRA t-shirt sales too, let them get stuck with 20,000 to 30,000 t-shirts. Voice your opinion's / Freedom of Speech (disrupt) when they start the show for the give away car. You still have freedom of speech don't you? and most of all walk by EMS and give them the good old American 1 finger salute.
Damn Flipper. I could only stomach about 15 seconds of each of those videos, I threw up in my mouth a little. Pass the Pepto. 48 Poncho
Trucked Up it sounds to me that you summed it up the best.....I couldnt have said it better myself. Not only that but you and I are from Kentucky and can be in Louisville in about an hour and a half. I always looked forward to going as I'm sure you did.....I can wait for the weekend cruise and see the same thing now and save myself a couple hundred bucks
Hour and a half I wish. Try about three. Over here in the eastern corner I'm three hours from anything. With the exception of Somerset. Thanks for the compliment. If the money situation over at NSRA is that bad then they sure didn't do themselves a favor by treating its membership as if they had the clap. I may be wrong about this but I can only assume that the former membership, pre 30 year rule, was much more loyal than the new membership might be. Just how many of these newbies will chase the NSRA every where they go. After the newness wears off I can only imagine that many of the newbies will head back to their local stomping grounds. Along with the lost oldies and the lost newbies the NSRA will have accomplished nothing more than a temporary money infusion at best. So I have been wrong before and am not to proud to accept that, but in this matter only time will tell.
Some where passion was lost to the $$. That is where the negative backlash (splash?) is gaining speed. NSRA never had forecast the HUGE outbreak of Good Guy's and this great 'grass root's' following Billet Proof, the HAMB, ect.. Sound's like the NSRA need's a public relation's team to salvage what's left.
We will be taking our 55 chevy. I dont really understand why everyone is crying about the change. There will be more nice cars to look at and if you do come up on a car that you dont like keep WALKING just because it is there doesnt mean that you must look at it and frankly there is some pre 48 cars that are pretty crappy, but you all arent crying about them.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,Was there last year in our 34 ford roadster, we drove from ca. How about you hotrodders try driving out to L.A. Roadster Show.
Sorry, There is nothing in California that makes me feel the need to drive a roadster from Indiana to California and back. Too easy to get on an airplane.
I just turned the big 30 this month and I have been going to the Nats for five years with five buddies. So I am in the age group they are trying to get in the gate. Also I am a foxbody 5.0 (mustang lover) . And I Do NOT want to see any stangs at the Street Rod Nats. I just dont understand why the need more when they almost pack the place with pre 48 cars. I could understand raising the year to 55 or even 60. I have been to 4 street Machine Nationals,2 power tours, an indy truck bash, and many others. And All I have seen drunk dumbass people running over other people doing burnouts,bass bumping and dickhead cops. Just hopethat louisville & NRSA dont let this happen. I will be there this year to see how things go!
Well ...... you are biased ... because NOW you can get in. I am betting there will be less cars registered and less NICE cars overall ... just like at GoodGuys event ( which IMHO is just a big, oversized local car quality cruise in ) Sure GG has some nice rides ... but definately more than half of the rides there ... are just entry fee money for GG. We can see ... ALL ... the 55 Chevrolets and stuff at the local cruise night. We want to see pre 49 rides. In 2009 and before ... The Louisville Fairgrounds were about full ... with the vehicles we drove A LOT of miles to see. If I wanted to see 1955 Chevys ... I would go to Super Chevy or a Tri-Five event. I have NOTHING against 55 Chevrolets ... in fact I have owned a few ... over 30 to 40 years ago. I even still like 55 Chevrolets. I just do not want to drive A lot of miles and then have to PAY to see them. When Shades of the Past opened up their pre 49 event to 1962 and earlier ... the registration count for the event went down. So what did they do ??? they went on up to 1972 and they cannot figure out WHY the car registration is still on the decease and less than back when it was pre 1949. The REAL bad thing about the 1972 cut off for the Shades of the Past event in Pigeon Forge TN ... in my opinion is NOT that the Shades gets less money ... NO sir ... it is the fact that all the sheer number of later model stuff clogs up the highway. Other late models hogs up the motel parking for days NEVER leaving the parking lot for the show and creates a crowed MESS in town @ the restaurants and eating places for those of us who have supported the Shades for years. It will be the same for the NSRA Nationals ... Folks who have motels and restaurants in Pigeon Forge HATE it when the Grand Run is in town. They much prefer the older cars ... and the people who own and drive them. Some of you ( very few ) say Cars is cars ... but we all know deep down inside that is just not so. A Honda Tuner guy ... he is a car guy. A AACA restoration guy is a car guy. A Ferrari guy is a car guy. A custom 49 Merc guy is a car guy. Add in the 4 wheel drive folks, the rock crawlers and the dune buggies. Let's not forget the dirt track racers, the sports car SCCA folks. All car folks ... Maybe but not on the same page ... maybe not even in the same book.
Hey, its nothing against you. I enjoy going to Goodguys events, I go to many more of them in a year than I do NSRA events. Two NSRA to about six GG's, and I would do more GG's if they were closer. The point is that I also enjoy going to an event that is made up of street rods. Seeing 10,000 plus pre-49 vehicles is a different enjoyment for me. If on that weekend I wanted to see later model cars I would drive my later model cars elsewhere. I appreciate everyones opinion and passion, I truely do. Its just that when I pay to go to any event I am paying to see whats on the program, and for one or two weekends a year I love the street rods. Now this bold move taken on by the NSRA without consideration of its membership may or may not work out. But you can rest assured that I will excersise my option to seek other venues to spend my money at.
I agree, they could have asked, and it would have gone down a lot smoother. I think not going at all, and therefore not giving them the entrance fee may be a better solution, but a protest in more entertaining for sure! Certain things about NSRA have always offended me, but the Nats were the Nats so we went for the last twenty years.For an organazation that has a religous article every month, they need to be reminded of "do onto others...."
You think you hate crybaby dolls now, just wait till the new guys bring ones with the pants down to their knees and the baseball cap skewed at an angle. And don't take this as anything racist, I see more white kids around here driving tuner wannabe's with this attire than anyone else.
Over the weekend I received a renewal notice from NSRA, I didn't remember ever receiving a reminder before but I don't remember much anymore. I contacted a friend and he doesn't remember ever receiving one either (he doesn't remember much either). Maybe the message is getting through and they are feeling a membership squeeze.
They always send out a renewal notice. It is what I wrote my little note back to them on. That way they knew exactly who I was...... that I was a member not renewing.
I joined the NSRA in 1988 primarily because it was all pre 1948. I was 25 and usually one of the youngest participants at that time. There were not that many cruise nights and shows around. Nowadays there are cruise nights everyday of the week and car shows every weekend. Why bother with the NSRA events and membership if they allow up to 30 year old cars when I can hit any number of shows that cater to the same thing.
My Dad has been an NSRA member for years. We used to go to Frog Follies and to Louisville. Unfortunately I haven't been to either since I got out of college 16 years ago (although I would love to go back), so I guess my opinion isn't worth much. I think it's a shame they had to raise the date to 1980. I guess I'm not as stoked on making it back to the Nationals anytime soon.
The after show shenanigans that goes on after the NSRA Louisville, has in the past few years has got worse, now with the cut- off being moved up it will be a mad house.....
we are all venting,over and over and over but the bottom line is THEY DON'T GIVE A SHIT. if they did,they would have heard all the booooos at the give-away at the nats. and said rite there, woops we screwed up,changed our mind,ain't gonna do it.but it didn't happen. THEY DO NOT CARE.
H Now there is a comment that leaves a whole bunch of us hanging!!!! What are you referring to? I have been to all of the Nat's in L'ville and have not experienced any SHENANIGANS. BB
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