Quote Originally Posted by vteckidd
ITS CAUSE THE SHOW SCENE IS DEAD!

car shows DONT SELL PARTS. its a trickle down effect. The main reason for these shows is MONEY. Vendors want to make MONEY. AN the car scene now a days, it aint selling parts.

Drifiting, Drag Racing. street racing is what is selling parts an putting money in companies pockets.

Car shows are lame for the most part, out of the 400 cars in HIN, i would bet maybe 5 would impress me. its all shit that has been done before, nothin is original anymore, an if it is original, its a matter of days until its played out (think neons, lambo doors, suicide doors, etc). It used to be a civic with a body kit was a show car. now, everyone an there brother has one, and the competition is WAY beyond civics. sorry, i aint paying $50 to go look at some halfassed civics or a supra, i can see that shit on my way to work. an the qulaity cars that are there, i would rather sit at home an see them in a magazine that i paid $5 for.

bottom line, car shows are on there way out, the "teams" are not what they used to be, the cars are not what they used to be, the people that want to do shows are not what they used to be for the most part.

As paul said, its coordinated events that will bring money. Show, Drag, Drift.

my .02
I love it, another automotive enthusiast that is bias toward his line of work. I’ll give you this; unlike others on this site at least you’re an enthusiast!

Vteckidd, if you don’t think that marketers, companies and websites are looking to be involved with the show world you have blinders on, they do sell parts to the show world and its no small dollar amount, so the trickle down effect you refer to is an incorrect analogy plain and simple… Little companies like Styling Concepts, JC Whitney, Summit, Year One (just to name a few of the thousands) all have the same thing in common, they sell mechanical parts and show parts to the automotive enthusiast for the same reasons, money, interest of the customer and the love of cars!

To put this in prospective, yes every aspect of the automotive industry is about the all mighty dollar (to companies like yours and the ones I represent), so we agree on that point, but your forgetting that the all mighty dollar is not what an enthusiast is concentrating on or necessarily cares about, that is your job as a marketer, their enjoyment is for the love of racing, showing or sounding off ageist someone that is on the same level they are on (rich or poor) and loves competition. Think about it, you love to race, are you not purchasing, putting your sweat love and tears into going faster and beating the competition? That’s called an enthusiast and competitor in any market! It’s the same in show and sound.

I write sites for venders that sell go-fast parts, engine swaps, drive-trane, and mechanical services, but all, and I mean all of these sites also sell some type of show parts for some aspect of the ride(s) they are marketing performance parts to, that and there are a lot of performance parts that are both functional and show from the get go for a reason, they sell better and look good! Tell me this, if you build your car for racing and you have all kinds of people looking at you in the pits does your ride look like a beater or something that will get there attention and attract sales? And by attention it could be your cage, motor, body color, battery relocation, headers, power adders, intakes, pulleys, you know, things that you are marketing? IMO if you’re not selling these kinds of parts to your customer base along with building then your loosing out on business.

Believe me when I say the show scene is here to stay, again I couldn’t disagree with you more than on this one. We’ve been doing it for well over 50 years and it will continue as long as people love the hobby, competition and collecting.

Just for background purposes (so you don’t think this is coming from a noob) I do have a little time under my belt, hell I think there is only one guy on this site that is older than me (trust me this is not boasting, I wish I could give 20 years back). I’ve seen and been involved with just about every aspect of the automotive industry since the 60’s, and along with racing (yes been there, done that) there has always been the hobbyist/marketer like me that will build a ride for go and show, show only, go only, or just for the heck of it. Why do you think we are so inundated with companies wanting our business?

Don’t get me wrong your opinion is valued to me, points are well taken from a racing stand point, but I think your opinion is slanted toward your line of work. Look at the whole industry, who knows you might make more money doing it.

Last, Pablo and Kathryn are both correct; you need to support your love for the industry no matter the interest…

T

P.S. After reading your second post I will say only this, I have fun at all the shows I attend. It’s about friends, competition and working on your pride and joy. Often enough it’s also a break from the bills, work and stress you need to let go of to enjoy life…