Post-Show: What I've Learned

Now that the GNRS is over, I've had a few days to digest what went on, what went wrong, and what I can do differently in the future.

I don't see entering a car in a major car show as personal entertainment, it's far from it.  Apart from being a lot of work, I also risked damaging the car due to Sunday's rain and transporting it back & forth.  In addition to the loss of sleep and the stress, I used two days of vacation from work & spent hundreds for dollars out of pocket.

Unfortunately for me, my black roadster, the car that represents me was relegated to a dark area of the hall, up against the wall.  It was packed in tightly between a green jalopy and a row of tables.  In retrospect, I should have spoken up and asked to be placed among the rows of other cars.  But by the time I realized it was in the worst spot in the place, it was too late, the place was full.

Entering this show is really more for networking, or promoting one's car or building talents, or other reasons I don't know --rather then for fun.  So in many respects, this enterprise in self-promotion was a bust, a failure, a total wash.  So, I'll have to chalk this one up to experience once again.

I came to the show because I wanted people to see the car that they may have only seen on the internet. I wanted to talk to them about it.  And show off all the cool things it has, that no other roadster does.
Perhaps the general public would take photos and publish them on online forums, I hoped... or maybe have one picture in car magazine's show coverage.  The magazine coverage is a wait & see.  But I have a feeling I won't be seeing any pictures of the car.

Ryan from the Jalopy Journal, who happens to be quite fond of my car, was my only saving grace.  He picked Daytons as one of ten HAMB cars to compete for the Jalopy Journal: Best Roadster trophy.  Not surprisingly, the car that won was in contention for the AMBR award, and is the sweetheart of the HAMB membership. Daytons came in next to last --I'm not disappointed at all by that. Just happy to be nominated.

I did talk to one person momentarily about the car... but that's it.  I also spoke to Dave Valles and family on Sunday.  He's the fellow whom I bought the car from in October 2009.  It was nice to show Dave the car now that it was fixed and complete once again.  But he's known the car almost all his life.  So I really never connected with anyone new about the car.

Perhaps I should have spent more time beside the car rather then strolling.  Unfortunately again, it was parked near the stage where bands were playing at volume levels so high it pained me and many others to stay in the room.

I'm not sure why the car was put where it was, I'd like to think the organizer was well intentioned.  But in the future (I'll still go back), I'll push for where I want to be first, and not compromise.

For the average spectator, if you can afford the entry & parking, it's a fabulous show.  For the participant, it's a major pain in the ass!