Bad car show experiences...

[Canon20DFan]

After reading some very interesting posts on car show behavior, I thought I'd start a thread dedicated to just that...

I have two to start with...I was at an indoor car show in Denver with a half-dozen other Delorean owners. I have long since used PVC pipe to block the doors, and place the pipe over the door striker posts. The pipes even had a "Do not sit in car" sign taped to them. Well I was leaning in the driver's side of my car when a kid, probably 14, leaped over the pipe and landed in the passenger seat. I was so stunned that it took me a second to recover - and promptly told the kid to get out of my car. He was gone before I could round the car and lecture him about manners. This was the same show where we Delorean owners had to request barricades from the convention center to keep people from the cars. Even with barricades, I saw one little boy (5, maybe) RUN for a Delorean and his mother had to dive under the barricade pole to tackle him just in time.

The other car show experience I had was a little girl, maybe 5, that was dancing around my car. She tipped backward and grabbed my rubber door seal to right herself, pulling up the seal in the process. This happened so fast that I couldn't even say anything before it was over. Since then I keep people away from the edges of the car at all times. At a recent show, another of my cars appears to have picked up bumper damage from a stroller - some Mom must have been manuevering her kid between several closely parked cars with my car the loser.

[Grover]

It still amazes me as to how people react/act to this car. I have toyed with the idea of carrying around a small video recorder and getting up into the face of people to ask them why they did what they just did, and would they do that to the Ferrari I am parked next to, or if they wouldn't mind if I just go and touch/play with some of their stuff.

At some car shows I actually don't even put the doors up and only do so when asked. It is a phenomenon that will likely never be answered, why people must touch or feel as if it is ok to just go into someone else's car. I will never forget at a BTTF showing, a little kid jumped on the seat of my car and jumped back and forth over the center console, and the parents just laughed. NOT FUNNY.

[Chris Burns]

It's this kind of stuff that keeps Deloreans out of a lot of events. When I get one I'll keep one door open and sit right next to it. When I walk away to look at other cars or talk to people I'm keeping the doors locked.

[tyb323]

It's this kind of stuff that keeps Deloreans out of a lot of events. When I get one I'll keep one door open and sit right next to it. When I walk away to look at other cars or talk to people I'm keeping the doors locked.

This is what I do. I also do this:


I've done this at many car shows and only had one woman actually have the audacity to move it so she could sit in the car (no permission of course)

[Michael]

Car shows suck...nothing but a bunch of hoodlems and punks with no manners. Most even lack basic common sense. I dont do shows anymore, I did one or two when I first got mine and I will never do another one. Not only does it take me spending a perfectly good day and wasting it in a chair sitting with my car(booooooring), but you suscribe to the theory that your car will be judged without bias.

Too much politics at shows, its not what you show but who you know. Couple that with a bunch of untrained monkeys dancing around your car with no respect at all for it and you have a perfect recipie for a lousy day. Why put yourself through that, pay an entry fee, all for the hopes of a little plastic trophy that somehow vindicates your car. You shouldnt need anyones approval but your own.

Cruise ins are where its at. It mostly car guys and girls who know how to behave around nice cars(there is still the occasional assclown, but nowhere near as common). There is no politics, nor is there the all day commitment that a show requires. There is just good fellowship, conversation, and nice cars, and some that are not "car show" nice that are just as welcome.

[Bitsyncmaster]

It still amazes me as to how people react/act to this car. I have toyed with the idea of carrying around a small video recorder and getting up into the face of people to ask them why they did what they just did, and would they do that to the Ferrari I am parked next to, or if they wouldn't mind if I just go and touch/play with some of their stuff.

At some car shows I actually don't even put the doors up and only do so when asked. It is a phenomenon that will likely never be answered, why people must touch or feel as if it is ok to just go into someone else's car. I will never forget at a BTTF showing, a little kid jumped on the seat of my car and jumped back and forth over the center console, and the parents just laughed. NOT FUNNY.

I must have had the same kid at one car show. Your console switches can not take much jumping on.

But then at the same car show a nice older woman asked if she could sit in the drivers seat and was very pleasant and thankful that I allowed her to do it.

I think car shows are better than other locations you show the car at like fairs, town parades, etc. because most people at a car only show know how to act.

[SamHill]

Car shows suck...Cruise ins are where its at. It mostly car guys and girls who know how to behave around nice cars(there is still the occasional assclown, but nowhere near as common). There is no politics, nor is there the all day commitment that a show requires. There is just good fellowship, conversation, and nice cars, and some that are not "car show" nice that are just as welcome.

I've never been to a "Cars and Coffee" but the idea of it sounds more like my speed. Early morning, only a few hours, and hopefully people that know how to act. There's one in Virginia Beach this Saturday and I'm thinking of checking it out. If I can get up at 6:45 am on a Saturday.

[Rich W]

I'm working on a new "prop" to put on the seats when the doors are open.

A board with fake rubber nails sticking up, with the fake nails painted silver
with a little red paint on the ends, with a sign painted into the board edge
that says "Do Not Even Think about Sitting in This Seat". Depending on the
number of fake nails, the red ends could be in the pattern of butt cheeks.

I am interested in what kind of reaction this will generate. (LOL)

Later,
Rich W.

[Canon20DFan]

...I didn't mean for this thread to tell Delorean owners to stop going to shows. I enjoy going to them, and my area just doesn't seem to have the Cars & Coffee meetings like other areas do. Any time at a car show is time NOT doing yardwork, so I'm happy to be there. I am just fascinated with the way people behave at shows around someone else's property, and the Delorean seems to invite more than its share of ill-mannered people.

An interesting question for longer-term Delorean owners: has the behavior of car show guests gotten worse over, say, the last 10 years?

[Canon20DFan]

That's pretty bold!

I've done this at many car shows and only had one woman actually have the audacity to move it so she could sit in the car (no permission of course)