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Disorganized Classic Car Shows

kinleykinley Member Posts: 854
I just returned from a classic car show where again for less than $20 entry fee you park your classic (in a pasture no less) "any where you can find room". IMO, the shows should be segregated by Make, Model, Year, and Body Style. At least put all of the Corvettes in the Corvette Corner and the Mustangs in the Corral. There were scores of really high quality cars and trucks, but no order of presentation. Is this a trend, or just a sign of an economical show? How is it done in your area?
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Comments

  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    ...because if it got put in with all the other cars from that era that people sunk $30-40K into, it looked like crap, but then if it got put into an "original" class, it was parked next to a bunch of junk that could barely run under its own power.

    I think the worst car show I ever went to was back in 1994, at a Dodge dealer in north Baltimore. I believe it was sponsored by the Maryland DeSoto club, but was open to all Chrysler products. They had everything there from 20's cars on up to pimpmobile class late 70's New Yorkers, all jumbled together, with a few of their used cars sprinkled in. One of my friends and I got bored with the show, went for a cruise up the road in my DeSoto, and I ended up finding a '67 Catalina convertible for sale. I ended up buying it that Thursday.

    Some of the people that worked at the dealer were pretty snotty, too. One of them caught me crawling under one of their early 80's Cutlass Supremes that was overpriced, to see what engine it had (the 231's have the oil filter up front, and are easy to spot). If it had a 307, I would've been interested. I ended up telling the guy that I didn't want a 231 because of their tendency to self-destruct (say what you want about how great the current ones are, but the 70's/early-mid 80's ones would shred their internals real quick unless you were meticulous with maintenance). Well, of course out comes his story of a '78 Regal he owned with a 231 that went 300K + miles. Turns out this guy was the owner's son. When he asked which car was mine, and I said "the '57 Firedome", he comes back with "yeah, my Dad had one of those, but it was a '59 Adventurer. He'd never settle for anything less than the best."

    I went back to the show again in '95, and drove back to the dealership where I got the Catalina from to see if they had any other cool stuff. In '94, in addition to the 'Cat, they had a '69 DeVille 'Vert, a '75 Gran Ville 'Vert, and a '65 Corvair 'Vert. This time around, it was all trucks, and some other fly-by-night dealership was in there. I was also thinking about driving the Catalina to that Mopar show, just to be sarcastic, but then thought the better of it.

    I think it's still ironic that I went to a Mopar show, and ended up coming home with a Pontiac!

    -Andre
  • kinleykinley Member Posts: 854
    '54 Ford Crown Victoria with the original 16,774 miles and original paint, interior, chrome, tires. No radio, just a heater. It was a third vehicle on the farm in Nebraska. The other two "rides" were pickups, but the matriarch of the family only drive the Crown Vic. The engine was a n OHV V8 in front of the 2 speed automatic.
    Only the battery has been replaced. The CV was off to one side at the show today and a lot of folk didn't ferret it out. And so it goes.
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    Wow! that would be REALLY rare! :)

    Sure it wasn't a skyliner?
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    Disorganized or not, still love walking through these meets. We don't have many of them around Seattle and when they do happen they are on weekends when I'm working...:(
  • kinleykinley Member Posts: 854
    The largest and best organized show is coming in your backyard 19-22 Aug @ BCC sponsored by Mustangs Northwest. MUSTANG ROUNDUP Be therrrre. Just across the I 90 gulch from BH.
  • im_brentwoodim_brentwood Member Posts: 4,883
    Maybe a Victoria?? Crown Vics were 54-55 IIRC.

    That being said, Kudos the the people at Old Town in Kissimmee who do the saturday night cruises. Amazingly well-run, they get at least 400 cars there weekly.

    Bill
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    Yes, I know...I could walk there. I usually make that every year before work. Great show!

    I'm putting two and two together now...hmmm...tell me, did you happen to have a 65 Impala for sale a few years back?
  • kinleykinley Member Posts: 854
    The only 65 in our family was a Fairlane 500 4 Door, 289, 2V & AT. I bought it from the original owner in 77 for my teen daughter. Until then, she was tardy every day, at school, but when she had to go early to find a parking place for the "Grandma car w Guts" no more tardies. I'm a little familiar with your area due to having four grandgirls near you. Two just off Forest Drive, and two just off 174th Ave. S.E. on Cougar Mt. Have a great week.
  • bolivarbolivar Member Posts: 2,316
    What I know as Crown Vics has the wide strip of chrome across the top of the car. Came down between the front and rear side windows, so they were not 'hardtops'.

    And they were 1955's and 1956's.

    Of course, Ford could have also put that label on a 1954, I just don't remember it being used on anything but 55 and 56's.
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    It may have been a Skyliner. They had a transparent top. Crown vics were 55-56 models.

    kinley, gotcha. There was an insurance guy from factoria area really into old cars. Talked to him at one of the BCC meets. He had a nice 65 Chevy that I briefly considered buying. Thought it might be you.

    Stop by sometime and say hi.
  • kinleykinley Member Posts: 854
    It was the conventional 2 dr hdtp, but it didn't have the wide chrome over the roof. It was the salmon color and the chrome letters plainly said,"Crown Victoria". The owner was polishing the chrome when I happened by and shared the story of how he got it from the original lady owner. He is not wanting to use touch up paint on the rock chips "cause it adds to the originality". I believe it's a 54 CV.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    Kinley, is it possible that the car might have been a Crestline Victoria? I just did a search on HotBot, and found a 1954 Crestline Victoria race car for sale.

    I think the name "Victoria" has been around as a top-shelf model for some time, and maybe even with "Crown" attached, although most people think of the '55-56 Crown Victoria, which was a 2-door hardtop with the stainless steel "basket handle" roof bar, which, I guess, technically made the car NOT a hardtop, atlhough I don't think that piece of trim had any structural value.

    -Andre
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    kinley, never have I heard of or seen a 1954 Crown Victoria and I've been around a lot of Fords.

    I'm also thinking it would be hard to make a Micky Mouse one.
  • kinleykinley Member Posts: 854
    wasn't the chrome word "Crestliner" w/o "Victoria"? I saw a hodge podge of shiny old cars in all shapes and condition and at my age it's possible to be confused. My first memory of a Crestliner was the 51 Ford 2 Door Sedan with a "C" shaped chrome strip on the sides. They were usually puke yellow with black insert.
  • badgerpaulbadgerpaul Member Posts: 219
    In the early '50's Ford used the term "Victoria" to refer to 2 door hardtops. In a similar vein Buick referred to it's hardtops,2 doors as well as 4 doors, as "Rivieras".
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    The only crestliners that I remember are the 1951's. And I do remember that color combo.

    These came with a vinyl top too. Probably the first of these. Very unusual cars!
  • badgerpaulbadgerpaul Member Posts: 219
    I think in '54, Crestline was the name given to the top of the line Ford, the middle line was Customline and the bottom line was Mainline. I guess they must of liked ending any name with "line".
  • sebringjxisebringjxi Member Posts: 140
    to this year's Chattanooga (TN) British Car Show with a blazing letter of criticism. We took my son's 1973 Jensen Healey to the show--trailered it the 140 miles down there because we didn't want our eyeballs and teeth to jiggle all the way down. We arrived, checked in, stopped for the "Show Photo" and picked up our goodie bag. Then, with two other JH's already in the show, they parked us back with the "open" class, which included a TVR, Aston Martin and a Daimler, I believe. When the judging began (popular vote) I realized the other two JH were in the JH class and I was in open. The organizer assured me that they would straighten it all out when the ballotting was done. We didn't stay for the awards that night and drove back home. The next week I got the news letter: the other two JH finished 1st and 2nd in the class (and honestly one was about as original as Pamela Anderson's _______- you know what I mean!). We were not mentioned--anywhere! Well, 4 months and 4 angry phone calls and 4 angry letters later, I was still shut out of the awards, didn't get my picture (which I pre-paid for), and worst of all, got no response from the club! Then they have the gall to send me an invitation!

    There! That feels better now!

    Hal
  • kinleykinley Member Posts: 854
    the other two JH entrants were members of the club sponsoring the show & it was their turn to be awarded 1st & 2nd by all the other members of their club? Popular vote to me means only the entrants vote on the cars in the show. As an independent (non club) I have once taken Third. Usually, another club member does better in the balloting than the independent. As a non club member, I accept this practice while still having fun at the meet. After all, I can't change it.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Well, they shouldn't even judge in a class that only has 2-3 cars in it. They should have all gone into the open class.
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    In case you are interested, this time of year the Triple X in Issaquah...end of Gilman Blvd, has a Saturday night cruise in.

    I stopped by last night and walked around for a bit. Probably 30-40 cars including the NICEST black 57 Chevy Bel-Air 2 door hardtop, fuel injected that I have EVER seen!

    Gets going good around 8.
  • kinleykinley Member Posts: 854
This discussion has been closed.