I think the crybaby dolls are a stupid trend, and I've wanted to do some sort of "ran over one" parody at a car show... but after reading this thread, now I want to make a radio controlled, animatronic version of one and have it run all around the show staring at people with its empty face. That ought to kill off the trend for good!
So much for my plan to find a life size Muppet Chef to stick in the driver's seat of the Molvo when I go to shows!
Ovid_and_Flem said:In reply to Robbie :
Double bonus points if it resembles a youthful j.g.
I have photos if need be.
You do realize that the people we are complaining about here make fun of us for driving Miatas and going around cones? 
None of this really bothers me, if I don't like a particular show, I just don't go. There are plenty of other car related things I can do. Personally there are only so many Camaros and Mustangs I can look at in one day anyway, creepy stuffed kids or not.
I used to work with a guy that did the shows with his '68 Camaro. After driving it to lunch one day, it dawned on me how much I don't miss the old days and how badly these things really were to drive. Ironically, he sold it and used part of the money to buy his wife my R53. I'm not sure how much he likes it, but he had no choice and his wife loves it. It's funny to see him ride up in it knowing what he thinks about small cars.
You have the power to change your local car show if you don't like it. Load up the race car, take it on down and show it off. Answer questions. Talk about racing. Tell them where they too can race. It is all up to you.
noddaz said:You have the power to change your local car show if you don't like it. Load up the race car, take it on down and show it off. Answer questions. Talk about racing. Tell them where they too can race. It is all up to you.
It will attract attention, especially if we fire them up and tach them a couple times an hour. Because real race engine noise is just different from all the other tuner/ricer, cruiser, and hotrod exhaust sounds that everyone at a car show is familiar with. Get an audience, talk about racing, where to go to see it, and how to get started.
In reply to SEADave :
Redmond, you say? I grew up in Sammamish, and I'll likely be back in May after I graduate.
noddaz said:You have the power to change your local car show if you don't like it. Load up the race car, take it on down and show it off. Answer questions. Talk about racing. Tell them where they too can race. It is all up to you.
That is literally what I did, thanks for reading...
SEADave said:Up here in Redmond, in the land of the software millionaires (and sometimes billionaires), there is a weekly exotic car show. It is kind of like a giant cars and coffee but where basically anything worth <$150k is turned away. Hard to explain exactly, but mostly late model, and for example, a 911 GT3 would get in but a "plain" 997 would probably get turned away.
Anyhow, one weekend there was this older couple who somehow charmed their way in with their chromed out tri-5 Chevy. They had set up their regular little display with the fake tray of food on the window, airbrushed sign, a portable post with drive-in movie speakers on it, etc. They stuck out like sore thumbs from all the other Gucci-wearing FerrarPorschLambo owners and it was great. I made a point of telling them that I liked their car.
Hey, I was at the exotics at redmond town center last weekend! Decent mix of vehicles, but I've been spoiled by the late Irvine Cars and Coffee, and the New Canaan cars and coffee in CT.
Where cars and coffee events get it right is that while the larger shows may have a featured marque, they don't have a set theme. It's a lot more interesting to see a variety of cars from different eras than to see ten replication of the same model.
I'm just amazed it took 3 full pages before someone mentioned bringing one to the Challenge.
In reply to Mitchell :
The New Canaan cars and coffee definitely spoils people. It draws one heck of a diverse group of cars.
WildScotsRacing said:noddaz said:You have the power to change your local car show if you don't like it. Load up the race car, take it on down and show it off. Answer questions. Talk about racing. Tell them where they too can race. It is all up to you.
It will attract attention, especially if we fire them up and tach them a couple times an hour. Because real race engine noise is just different from all the other tuner/ricer, cruiser, and hotrod exhaust sounds that everyone at a car show is familiar with.
For the love of god, please don't. Our local cruise in was almost ruined a few years ago because a few drag racers were doing that. It's really annoying to be several hundred feet away from the car, and unable to hear the person next to you talking.
Wait a second. You guys have car shows that allow more than American cars of a certain age?
Around here they are mostly limited to American cars up to 1978. My dad and I were turned away in his '48 Ford Anglia big block gasser because it was British and not a "real Ford". We ended up parking 6 blocks away next to the Cal look VWs and Model As with foreign engines like 20rs and walking into the show. Most car shows are like that here. It is a terrible scene full of crybaby's , beach boys and poodle skirts.
Our local down town show allows anything as long as it is driven there. At least a few blocks.
In reply to eastsidemav :
Agreed. Show up a little late, everyone will hear it when you pull in, that is sufficient. Anybody thats curious will come find you.
Somebody mentioned a robotic doll. I love the idea of one that starts out looking like the one in the original post, then a motion sensor makes it turn around and its a chucky doll. I wonder how hard that would be to make with an arduino and a tickle me elmo.
The dolls and crap are around, but in the minority. I find it ironic that the loud '50s music just won't stop at my local show even though much of that audience is no longer coming and I'm seeing more guys in their 30s with cars from the 70s, 80s and 90s. So the organizers still think their demographic is guys who now must be at least 70 years old... There are probably a few of them there, but this crap is getting absurd.
Other than that I think crybaby dolls need to go away, the main reason I don't go to car shows very often is on me: I'm just a bit too jaded since my job means that I see all sorts of crazy builds on a regular basis. Right now the cars at our shop include a Buick Grand National, a Nissan Skyline, an Exocet, my '66 Dodge Dart with its turbo slant six, a first gen Camaro with an LS swap, and a third generation RX7 drift car with a stack injected V8. A lot of local car shows tend to have more stock restorations or just stuff with minor chroming and dress up.
I will say that when I was in Covington, the Covington Square car show managed to pull in a pretty decent variety. They would let in just about anything, so they had everything from customized S197 Mustangs to Model A's with the original flathead four bangers.
MadScientistMatt said:my job means that I see all sorts of crazy builds on a regular basis. Right now the cars at our shop include a Buick Grand National, a Nissan Skyline, an Exocet, my '66 Dodge Dart with its turbo slant six, a first gen Camaro with an LS swap, and a third generation RX7 drift car with a stack injected V8.
You hiring?
I like all the "restored" cars with engine swaps, dorky wheels and ugly paint jobs.
The two by me (one literally down the street from my apartment at the local car museum) for the most part entertains all cars and years. Occasionally they'll have obvious brand or year days, but that's few and far between.
Not uncommon to see a Ford GT next to a lowered [insert common car here] next to a Hellcat.
eastsidemav said:WildScotsRacing said:noddaz said:You have the power to change your local car show if you don't like it. Load up the race car, take it on down and show it off. Answer questions. Talk about racing. Tell them where they too can race. It is all up to you.
It will attract attention, especially if we fire them up and tach them a couple times an hour. Because real race engine noise is just different from all the other tuner/ricer, cruiser, and hotrod exhaust sounds that everyone at a car show is familiar with.
For the love of god, please don't. Our local cruise in was almost ruined a few years ago because a few drag racers were doing that. It's really annoying to be several hundred feet away from the car, and unable to hear the person next to you talking.
Drag cars, I agree with you on. But I have SCCA/NASA cars on the brain, where most of the cars have a bit of muffler.
MadScientistMatt said:<snip>my '66 Dodge Dart with its turbo slant six
<snip> RX7 drift car with a stack injected V8
I didn't realize I could be so excited and so disappointed in just one post 
(just kidding)
We used to have a cruise in that "only allowed American cars 1985 and older" and they had to be show quality. My '69 Bradley GT was not allowed. Heck, the "show quality" requisite means I don't think I've ever owned a car that qualified (maybe my '72 Dart). Mind you this was a weekly cruise-in, at a McDonalds. They don't do it anymore.
I'll take the local VA Beach Cars & Coffee over almost any show. Exotics, muscle cars, imports, nearly anything you want. Good stuff. I've always wondered what the heck the stuffed doll things were about...they're super weird.
Depending on the show, I sometimes have to stick the magnetic numbers/GRM sticker/other "racy" stickers on there, just so people don't wonder why some shiny happy person brought a Fairmont with bad paint to <*insert show name here*>. All the people that get there after me have no idea. I also try to get there late. I like to leave early too. I see a bunch of "ah, I see now" faces when I leave.
I hate the shows that are pretentious enough to turn cars away.
I've got a friend with a (several) Merkur and he entered it into our local Fourth of July car show. Not a single trophy, mention, anything. This car had the Sierra Cosworth body kit, some engine work, and focus SVT wheels. It was pretty sharp.
Although he didn't get a trophy, the 1996 Lumina with faded clear coat and trash in the back seat did, because it was domestic.
The next year he entered a plain Silverado and won something.
It's a joke.
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