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The type of event you are going to will determine to a large degree the type and amount of preparation and presentation you make. All the situations below assume the car is fully detailed including the engine, trunk, interior, body, glass and trunk. Undercarriage is not so important at cruise-ins but wheel wells still are. GENERAL RULES: WHERE TO PARK: I go into some detail about cruise-ins in that section, but for most regular shows, I like to get there early and park in an end location. Be on a corner if they will let you. I know I have picked up some trophies at popular vote shows especially, because I was on a corner where all the traffic went by. Lazy voters will just see a line of cars they are not particularly interested in and vote for the first number they walk by, or the last number. Being in the middle in a popular vote show is the worst location to my way of thinking. If you can't get the good spot, take what the organizers give you , and don't be a jerk, by parking your car at a different angle or making it jut out. That can tick off some voters. For judged events, the parking spot really should make no difference, but I would still try to bet the corner spot if possible. SOUND SYSTEMS at SHOWS: Most shows have paid music DJ's or radio stations providing music. For the most part, unless they have a separate sound competition, you want to leave your sound system off. It will irritate your neighbors, and maybe the people voting. Most sound systems sound awful outside the car. When you are sitting in the car, they sound great, but most systems, no matter how good inside the car, just make distortion (and rattles in cheap systems or cars that have not been rattle-proofed), that sounds real bad, to people walking by at shows. This rule is good for all types of shows. EXHAUST DISPLAYS: If the show or cruise has a format that allows for flames or a "rap-off:" then enjoy and do your best, but otherwise, leave the car off unless you are demonstrating how smooth it idles. Leave the profiling for when you leave or arrive. MANNERS: This is something a lot of people just seem to forget about. Along with not making noise with the audio or exhaust, you need to think of others and your hosts. Don't litter. DO pick up your cans, cups, towels etc. Don't let them blow around. Pick up other people's trash if they aren't considerate enough to do it themselves. Don't put your chair or cooler right on top of someone else's stuff, or right next to their car. If you smoke, be considerate of others, even outdoors. And of course always remember, no matter how low a value you might put on someone else's car, it isn't for sitting on, leaning on, or leaning into through a window. Treat every car and person the way you would want people to treat your car AND you! With respect. WORKING THE CROWD: Yes, talk to people. You can even ask for votes at popular vote shows, but you can turn some people off if you work the crowd like a carnival hawker. I also dislike the ploy of "I'll vote for you if you vote for me" Usually they say this to everyone, and then they vote for themselves. I like to walk up to people that linger a while and ask if they have questions. Answer them as best you can, and be nice. If you look over other people's cars, remember the rule: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." It does nobody any good to cut down a car, the person standing next to you might be the owner. You may not like someone's taste, and some cars truly are awful or misrepresented, but pointing it out does no good. Others can see what you see, and it is better to be nice than mean. Cruise-In A cruise-in is a more informal than most shows. Also you are not usually going after any sort of trophy, although a few cruise-ins have voting and/or awards. My suggestion is don't worry about awards, just have fun at these events. That doesn't mean you can't improve your presentation though. Start out with your parking spot. You don't want to park a nice modern car like David's SS (top of page) in the midst of a bunch of street rods. Sure you can, and at a lot of small cruise-in events it won't hurt a thing, but I try to park in an appropriate location. Of course if you have a club or group of similar cars going together, try to park together. I like to get a spot where I can get out later, since I don't tend to stay till the cows come home, and some cruise events can get you really blocked in. A corner or up-front spot is always better for traffic, park on the back side or next to the dumpster, and you won't get as much walk by traffic (other than flies from the dumpster!) Since a Cruise is informal, you don't want or need to do things like jack up the car, put mirrors down or lay out a huge presentation. Stuff can blow around also, so keep it simple. I put a small display in the trunk or in the engine compartment. Don't forget to raise the hood and trunk if you care about those areas. I tend to consider a car/truck at any event with the trunk and hood closed as nothing I really need to look at. Or the owner doesn't care. So at least open it up if possible. I don't think trophies and awards have a place being displayed at cruise-in events, but one or two special ones might not hurt. Suit yourself on this because they may not be welcome at some shows, we will discuss that later. I have seen people bring little trailers with gas pumps, radios and other things to cruise-ins but for the most part, there isn't room for these things, and the informal nature of them mean you can go easy and enjoy rather than worry about presentation. Popular Vote Show This is a more formal event, and needs more presentation usually. First, know what kind of show you are going to. Call someone in charge and get the rules. For instance some shows don't allow cars on jacks, mirrors, and trophies to be displayed. Most popular vote shows do allow this, but check anyway. A note about tents, awnings and umbrellas and chairs. Stuff blows around at outdoor shows, and these things can become flying missiles easier than you might think. I had a nightmare a few years ago at a show. I had been given a nice awning as a present. I set it up, turned to get the stakes and when I turned back it was gone! No wind was detected when setting up, but a wind came up, took the thing and it damaged two cars before it could be caught. I was horrified. Thank goodness I had a good insurance agent. I insisted that the company not try to whittle down the settlement on the two cars damaged (both luckily were repainted customs, new paint would not make a difference to their value, and might help them some). Both cars were fixed like new, but I never set up that awning at a show again, only in my own yard from then on! Also watch out with fold-up chairs, and umbrellas. Always fold them up and put them away if you are going to leave them, unless they are quite heavy like the chairs I have. Arrive in plenty of time to re-clean the car after the drive. Bugs seem to sense a car going to a show from two states away. Bring along a travel kit with detail spray, tire dressing, vinyl and leather cleaner/conditioner, a bottle of water and Hydra-Wipe synthetic chamois. Some good cloths, glaze and wax. I put all this in a soft rubber bucket and put it under the back bumper or lawn chair as I get to the show. Detail the car again, pay attention to glass, tires and those wheel wells. You can spray the wheel wells with Vinylex spray to make them look black and fresh. A WARNING about using spray products outdoors. The wind, even a very light wind can carry stuff like tire spray, vinyl dressing and even quick shine several yards. I try to spray into a cloth at close range while shielding the cloth from the wind with my body. Last thing you want to do is cover your neighbor's car with spots! Presentation: Since you did your homework and know what is and is not allowed, you can set up your presentation of allowable things. I like to put glove box things like the owners manual, other papers etc, up on one seat, or part of the console. In a Judged event this would be a NO-NO since anything covered up could lead the judge to think the items were covering a defect. Most popular vote people don't think like this. They appreciate seeing the vehicles history, factory stuff and other accessories. Make sure the seat belts are straight and for older cars, lay them across the seat so people can see the shiny buckles you detailed. Roll down windows if possible. Raise the hood, wipe down any dust, look in the far corners now that you are in bright sunlight (if a day show, use a flashlight for night shows). Check it over like you were evaluating another person's car. A book of pictures is nice to put on the radiator support where people can see it if you have one. Be sure the pictures you use are not rare, use copies, since they will get dog-eared after just a few shows. I have seen neat things like a six-pack of beer/soda cans with a sign pointing to it saying: "This is a six-pack, This (arrow pointing to motor) is a Tri-Power!" This works for Pontiacs with Tri-power and is a cute trick. Something similar could work, but you might tick off all the (other brand) owners in the show, but they probably were not going to vote for you anyway! In the trunk, clean and neat counts, but this is the best place to display dash plaques, repair manuals, showroom literature etc. Go easy, but a neat display is good for the history of your vehicle and stuff counts in a popular vote show. How about jacking up the car, removing wheels, mirrors etc. First jacking up the car unless you have a roped off area is dangerous. Even with jack stands, most shows might not allow it. Check for sure before you do this. Most outdoor popular vote shows don't have the room for roped off spaces, so I would leave this at home if you have it. Mirrors are OK at most popular vote shows, but make them the metal unbreakable kind, nothing like leaving broken glass everywhere to make you "popular"! What about signs? For most popular vote shows a nice sign that tells your story is nice. Giving credit to those that helped is also nice. Just don't overdo it, and remember that signs are REAL hard to keep up in a wind. Make sure they are tied down, or lashed so they can't fly away. If in doubt, lay them down all the way, or don't put them up at all. Leaving doors open is also not usually done at popular vote shows, but if there is plenty of room, you can do it. NOTE: if you have both a trunk and under hood light, and you leave door open, you can run down a good battery in a couple of hours. Disconnect the battery, or pull the bulbs out, and leave doors closed if the battery is questionable at all. David, who owns the SS in the picture at the start of this article, mentioned things like color matching your clothing or chair etc to the car. I think that can work up to a point. As for your dress, if you have a period car, it can be great to dress like the people used to in that era, but for the most part, it won't help a lot, and when you are walking around, you look out of place. It helps to bring a fresh shirt so that when you get the car all cleaned up and ready, you can have a dry, clean shirt to wear the rest of the day. Judged Shows: A lot of what goes for popular vote shows will go here with these exceptions: Displays: Most judged events don't allow trophies or displays in the trunk. Some don't allow signs around the vehicle. Same goes for those books and things I like to put out in the interior. As mentioned above, judges want to see the VEHICLE, not your display in most events. Anything that covers up something could cause you to lose points as the judge doesn't know if you are covering up a big tear or stain or scratch. Know the rules well, and follow them. Some shows require you have a fire extinguisher in the vehicle. This isn't because they like the looks of them, they want people to have one in case of a fire at the show! It is a good idea to have one in your car at all times anyway. Try to get a decent Halon extinguisher. It will be expensive, but if you have ever cleaned up after a typical chemical unit is used, you will know that a Halon unit pays for itself. Buy one from a pro-fire protection company, not a discount store. And get it inspected every few years as required. The inspection is usually cheap and makes sure your unit will work when you need it. Remember that judges love to "get" owners. They will look for cobwebs in fuel doors, or inside the door jambs. Glass that isn't perfectly clean gets a deduction. Pay attention to emblems on the body and on wheels, hubcaps. Touch them up if possible. Use a detail brush in the little spaces inside the car and around lines/emblems on the body. Judges love touches like the period/year correct battery, even if it sometimes is an empty dummy from a dump. NOTE: some judged events require you to start the car, or demonstrate lights, wipers etc to prove the car is drivable/legal, so again, you must know the rules to have a chance to win. Most shows won't deduct for a newer style battery if a reproduction one is not available. Same with belts/hoses. If possible, use a correct NOS part or repro part to get points. TRAILER QUEENS: No not talking cross dressers here, but the cars that arrive on trailers and get pushed sometimes so the motors never get the paint burned. You will run into this in a lot of judged events. Sometimes there are separate classes for trailered vehicles, but quite often you just have to grin and show against them. Chances are, if you don't have a trailer queen, you will have to show against one, so just get used to it. Or go to shows that have separate classes for trailered and non-trailered vehicles. THE PROPER CLASS: This happens a lot, you arrive with what you think is a stock car and get put in the mod class. Your pretty but painted motor against the chrome blower! If you have a "stock" car, then bring showroom books, service manuals and other documentation and have it ready to prove you have the correct wheels/tires, motor etc. Don't depend on the show officials knowing what they talk about. Same with original unrestored cars. I used to specialize in nice unrestored cars and quite often the "experts" could not find original paint if it was on their nose. It is hard to prove original paint, but have things like a magnetic paint gauge to check for layers of paint. I even went to the trouble of having a big emblem on the trunk or body loose so I could take it off to show what was under it. If you have a modestly modded car, then expect to be beat a lot as people with total chrome cars get the trophy. A pet peeve of mine is judging by color. At one show, I had a super nice copper colored car. One judge walked by and said: "Too bad, if the car was red you would win." I was floored. I told the guy that judged events should not take paint color into account AT ALL. Any judge at a judged event should be color blind for the duration of the event. Personal taste in colors should not enter into the judging. Just quality. If you ever do any judging, remember that and be a proper judge. Don't let personal preference enter the picture. Unless the show is called the "Only Red cars can win" show, color should not matter. THE JUDGING SHEET: Many shows do not let you ever see and/or keep the judging sheet. It is nice if they do, because you know what was wrong and you can then fix that and get more points next time. This is one of the things you should find out about before you get to the show or at least as you register/sign in. Don't wait till the show is over and try to talk the organizers out of the sheets. When it comes down to it, unless you restore/mod cars/trucks for a living, getting a trophy or not isn't going to make or break your year. Don't let bad judges, officials or crowds that just don't appreciate your car, turn your fine day into a bummer. I don't ever expect to win, even though I try, and I put on a good presentation. But I never go in to win, I go in to have fun, introduce people to my brand of car or my club, and if I win, that is just a nice highlight to my day. Be happy for others when they win. Nobody really likes a poor loser, and on the other side, be a good winner. I know there are other things we could cover, but I am tired of typing. :) Send me an e-mail and I will add your show tips to this page, or add/change something if needed.
Don Mallinson, President |
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