Spring Green Car Show 2014

[Amigo2k]

I rolled in at 8:30, there was no line … I paid my 8 bucks and was guided to my spot. Cars were lining up at 6AM to get in, to get the spots on main street. Registration was easy and quick. I got one of the last goody bags, which was just bunch of marketing stuff.
This is a participant judge show, but with 500 cars and over +1 miles of roads, it is really just a who you know or I found 1 car I need to fill in my vote for type of show. As we know if they do away with the awards and only have more door prizes, the folks that are concerned about plastic trophies won’t show up to the show.

3D sound was spinning the tunes, and they had all of their satellite speakers out, and I could hear the door prize tickets being announced, but really couldn’t hear the music.

This show also, now has The Taste of Spring Green, which meant a ton of vendors selling food.

The RingBrothers were there with a couple of their rides including the RV they used on the Hot Rod Power Tour.

Overall this is one of the best run shows I’ve been to this summer.

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[jonmandude]

I took the, I want to sleep in a bit, approach to this show. I rolled in around 9:30. There was no line. I was pre-registered so my trip in was quick. I told the person parking my group that there was 5 of us, so they put us on the first corner. We had a nice tree to sit under.

I like this show. It is well organized. I put it up with Road Apples as the best run shows in this area.

This is participant judged with a nice twist…you cannot judge your own class. You get handed a judging sheet with 6 classes not your own. You simply walk around and look for cars with window cards that match the color of your sheet. I enjoy this because while looking for cars to judge, I see a lot of cars that I am not judging. I enjoy that part. Some of the cars that come out to this show are spectacular. That supercharged Hemi Willys was just amazing. I could spend hours looking at just the custom leather work…and then more looking at the engine…and then more looking at the paint and body work..Wow

[circletrack]

This has always been one of our favorite shows – Todd and his crew do a great job making sure everything is organized and work hard.

We didn’t have any problems getting in around 8 and got to park together, which was nice because we’d brought over 15 cars.

The DJ did a great job today, loved the music he played! I’m not a fan of DJ’s talking, and he bordered on too much at times, but did a nice job.

I agree with Jon, the voting can be a challenge at times, but it also forces you to walk around and look at the cars, this show always has some we don’t normally see, I enjoy that.

We’ve been attending this show since the beginning and seeing all the food vendors is a nice improvement.

I know this show has had troubles in the past with some of the businesses and wanted to pass along an experience I had today… We patronize the businesses as much as we can and hope they enjoy the 500+ cars and thousands of spectators that come with the cars. We start out the morning by visiting the bakery, going into several others during the day and had lunch at The Shed, all good.

Towards the end of the day I was in a gift shop next to the flower shop on the side street we were parked on. Several of our members were with me and had purchased items throughout the day. There was an older gentlemen and his wife there complaining to the owner about the cars and how they, along with the people were taking up too many main & side streets and it was a major inconvenience for all concerned. The shop owner agreed and told him she was going to let “the dust settle” and would be filing a complaint with the Chamber of Commerce. He went on to complain about the cars and how he didn’t understand why anyone would allow new(er) cars into a show. I decided to step in and told him for some the new cars are the classic cars to their owners, some aren’t familiar with working on them and feel more comfortable taking them to a dealership. I also stated not everyone enjoys a car that’s 50 years old, it’s a personal choice.

He went off on me, telling me the businesses in town had to be suffering because no one could get to them. He comes to town once a year and doesn’t want to see cars ruining his weekend. I told him the businesses work with the show, and more than likely have a profitable day. He told me he’s from Cedarburg and that town would never think to do this to their residents. I told him this show is always held about the same time every year, did he have a chance to check out the cars? NO, he was not interested, only thought it was very rude of us to ruin his day.

To be honest, the members of our club that bought items were tempted to return them, but decided to be bigger than that. I’ve never encountered someone so rude and encouraged him to possibly check the Spring Green website before planning a vacation again.

I know it’s impossible to make everyone happy, and it seemed some of the businesses decided to be closed today rather than worry about the cars and the people behind them. Again, this is a great show and I’ve never come across anyone that doesn’t enjoy seeing a classic vehicle (heck, even the kids love our cars). It’s possible he was having a bad day, who knows.

We didn’t stay for Best Of’s, there were so many beautiful cars today. I hope the Willy’s Jon mentioned won something.

See you all again next year, keep up the great work!

[jonmandude]

Sorry that older gentleman made such a terrible impression.

Those people amaze me. he comes “to town once a year” and expects the town to convenience him? So what they should do nothing the other 364 days so it is all ready for him? That is outrageous. And to think the shop owners wouldn’t see this as an opportunity to profit also comes across as short-sighted.

I have been a defender of new cars being included, more than most, but I do understand the argument against them too. After seeing stock 1 year old Shelby after 1 year old Shelby after 1 year old Shelby after bone stock Camaro, It is hard to get excited about them. Across from me was a 2014 Challenger that still smelled new. But “hard to get excited” is the best I can get. The owners have the same love and passion for their cars as the rest of us. Their money is just as good as ours. And considering how many of the older cars were also purchased and not built by their owners, they have just as much right. I just walk on by the cars that don’t impress me.

I actually laugh at the newer car owners that bought them as “an investment”. They spent $40k, $50k, even $60k or more on a car they don’t drive, don’t enjoy and just look at. Seems like a waste.

I spoke a guy at a show in Neillsville, WI recently. He said he tries to drive his car sparingly to keep the mileage down because it will be valuable one day. I said “Get out and drive it. Maybe some day it will be worth something, maybe not. Enjoy it now. Remember nobody cares how many miles are on a Plymouth Superbird. 5 miles or 500,000 it is still worth the same amount. The difference is the one with miles has been enjoyed. If you aren’t going to drive it, buy a picture. It will be the same fun.”

Then I added “No one will remember the car show you trailered your car to, but you will always remember that epic burnout in front of the police station”

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