Prizes, Awards and Ribbons

Most car shows offer prizes to the owners of cars that they feel are truly exceptional but the range of prizes tends to vary heavily depending on the particular car show that you attend.  Some are generous and offer huge prizes to those that win top placement in the different categories, while others are only able to afford a single ribbon to give to the winners.  Where the car show you are considering attending falls in the spectrum often depends on the size of the organization that is in charge of the car show.

The really great clubs are well known for giving prizes that are quite large to those who win major at the car shows.  The packages can include things such as ribbons, trophies, and even plaques.  Many places also give prizes that include gifts and sometimes even cash.  The prizes that are given tend to vary greatly, however most of the time at local and regional shows the prizes are small while at the national and international level the prizes are much greater.

Most car shows will announce if they are going to be giving away prizes to the winners of the show.  This can allow you to pick out, which shows you are interested in attending if you have a choice of multiple shows.  There are also some car shows that just make the prizes a surprise and will not release ahead of time what they are.  If you are mostly interested in the opinions of your car, and are not concerned with winning at the present time then the exact prizes that are offered are not usually important.

The majority of the time you should be able to follow the rule of thumb that large car shows are going to have much better prizes.  Small car shows are generally unable to afford the large prizes and typically have much more than a ribbon or small trophy for the winner.  If this is acceptable for you, then you can gain a lot of experience by participating in the smaller car shows before working your way up to the larger and more advanced shows.

Participating in numerous car shows is a great way to gain some useful showing experience and also a good way to meet some of the people that can be very helpful to you if you decide to embark on a showing career for your car.  Most people decide to only show their car on occasion as a hobby, but there are times when people have a very successful car and can win enough money and prizes from car shows to make it a very fulfilling career.

Deciding exactly which car shows to attend is often about the prizes but not always.  If you do not care about prizes then not worrying about the prizes is a great way to remove the stress from car shows and instead thoroughly enjoy all of the fun and experiencing that you are able to gain.  Enjoying a great car show is lots of fun, and if you are lucky enough to win a prize then it is even better.  Never participate in any show that you disagree with if you are unhappy with the prizes that are given.  You have enough shows to choose from that you are sure to find something that will make you very happy and help you see what you can do to really enjoy the car shows the most.

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Planning the Ultimate Car Show

Car shows are always fun events and often they are also considered fabulous family events as well.  Ensuring that you plan the ultimate car show is not always easy, but with a basic strategy in effect first you can usually make the process much easier and have the best car show around.  Always take the time to start planning in advance because without plenty of advance planning you are going to be rushed and stressed trying to organize the entire event.

Some of the first things you need to do is find a good location for holding the car show.  You are going to need to consider how many cars you think will be attending.  In addition, you need to try to determine exactly how many people you think will visit the car show.  These figures are essential to helping you determine the exact size that you need the car show grounds to be.  It is important to remember that if you do not find a large enough location you are going to have people overcrowded, and also have the problem of possible injuries because people cannot move about freely.

Finding a good location is not always easy, but typically if you look towards large parks they can be some of the best options that you have as well as very affordable to rent for the day or the weekend of your car show.  At the same time that you are looking for a location that is large enough you need to ensure that there is ample parking available.  If you do not have plenty of parking, you are going to have issues with people having nowhere to park and it can ultimate hurt your attendance numbers.  However, you do not need a parking lot for all of the cars; a large grassy field can also serve for parking if necessary.

In addition to the parking and the overall large enough location, you also need to ensure that there are plenty of bathrooms located all around the car show.  Without enough bathrooms, your event will suffer.  Ensuring that you have plenty may mean that you need to have bathrooms brought in but this is generally a very affordable expense if it is necessary.

Your other important consideration should be food for the car show.  If you know that you are unable to coordinate all of your food needs for the car show as well, it may be a wise decision to contact some local restaurants to arrange for them to provide the food for the car show.  If you are able to do this you can generally provide a greater range of food for visitors and also help to keep costs down since there is plenty of competition.

With a bit of planning ahead and some careful attention to the small details you can be amazed at just how well the entire planning process can go.  Careful attention to even the smallest details will show people that you are looking forward to a fabulous event and are quite excited to share it with them.  Never discount the importance of planning ahead as it gives plenty of time for problems and other emergencies to appear that need to be handled.  A great car show is like a fine art, the more practice you have at organizing them the better they will be with some time and a source of great contacts.

People love door prizes as well.  Look and try to arrange for some door prizes that you can arrange to give away at the fair.  People always love prizes so the more you have to give away, the more excited people are going to be from the moment they walk into the doors of the car show.  Look to some businesses to donate some prizes so that you are not having to pay for them out of the funds to plan the car show. 

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Making Connections at Car Shows

What is the point of attending a car show?  Is it merely to look at the beautiful cars or can you make some business contacts there?  If you own a business that specializes in various aspects of vehicles and especially specialty cars you could very well be looking at a gold mine in terms of potential business.  So how do you really go out and make some connections at the car shows?

Many people who are looking at car shows as ways to make connections always ensure that they arrive looking good.  This does not mean you need to break out the suit and tie but you at least need to look nice and presentable.  This could be something as simple as a polo shirt or button up and a pair of slacks or nice jeans. You should not show up wearing cut off jeans and a tank top.

You should always make sure you bring along some business cards with you to hand out to prospects.  Car shows are full of people there with actual cars so this is where you should typically focus your time if possible.  These are the people you know you could help in some form or another.  People just walking around the car show may or may not have a car that you could help them with.  Save your time to make the most impact possible by working with the people with cars.

One idea that you should explore is consider having some coupons printed.  This could be something as simplistic as printing them on the back of a business card.  If you already have a large supply of business cards consider having a stamp made that has coupon information on it, this would allow you to put a stamp on a few business cards and still get your message across. This can be a much more affordable rate and still help you to ensure that you are able to catch people’s attention with a good deal.

Additionally, you should always ensure that you are in a good mood.  There is nobody at the car show interested in talking to someone that is in a bad mood.  You should ensure that you are cheerful and optimistic when you approach people to help encourage them to talk to you.  If you are cranky or in a bad mood they are not going to want to talk to you, and will likely tune you out.

It is very important to understand that as a rule you are not going to get business from everyone that you approach.  You are usually looking at a 10% return; this means if you are giving away 100 coupons, you can expect to get back 10 of them from customers.  The other 90 will generally be thrown away.  Keep your expectations realistic when you are trying to determine how effective your efforts have been.

Your last consideration is do you really have something that car show people are going to be interested in?  If you are selling vinyl siding for example they are not likely to care what you have to offer.  However, if you have a detail shop, upholstery shop, glass shop or something similar you are likely to get some business if you take the time to plan ahead.  A bit of preplanning could result in some nice sales and very loyal customers.

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Kids and Car Shows

Have you considered taking your children with you to a car show but not sure how they will act?  Many parents are concerned about the behavior of children but with some careful instructions and careful guidance there is no reason at all why children cannot be a part of car shows.  In fact, taking children to car shows can be a great way to encourage children to enjoy working on cars and also help teach them lots about the inner workings of cars as well.

Parents who carefully explain proper behavior to their children are much more likely to enjoy a positive experience at the car shows.  Parents who do not teach their children proper behavior skills are not likely to have an enjoyable or even positive experience.  Children in general are very curious, if they take the time to carefully consider their behavior and work to teach their children how to behave in crowds and importantly towards the vehicles at the show you may be surprised at how well it goes.

You need to understand that if you are taking small children the best place for them is in a stroller.  This will help prevent them from getting hurt or damaging a vehicle and also helps to ensure that they are not badly worn out trying to walk around the entire show.  Additionally, a good stroller will also give them a place to take a quick nap when they get really tired.  Trying to take a small child without a stroller could turn into a nightmare quickly especially since children tend to get very heavy, quite quickly.

You should also think ahead to snacks and drinks for your child.  If you know the car show will have plenty of drinks and snacks you may not need to take many, but you should still take a couple of things.  Without anything, you could have a complete meltdown on your hands if your child is overly hungry while waiting on food from a vendor.  Having a small pack of crackers in your pocket can give your child something to snack on while you wait on the food that you order and ensure that they are kept occupied rather than pitching a tantrum if they are hungry.

You should carefully teach your children that it is unacceptable to touch things that are not theirs.  This is especially important when it comes to the cars.  Without this lesson, you may find your child running around and touching all of the vehicles, which can potentially cause damage to them.  While not all touching can cause damage, your child may not realize that hitting a prize car with a rock is unacceptable.  The owner of the car will not find it cute, nor adorable and you are likely to be forced to pay for the damages.  Teaching your child not to touch what belongs to others is much cheaper.

You should also ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the car show.  While dressing appropriately as an adult is important, it is even more important for children.  Adults have a much easier time regulating body temperature than children do, so dressing your child appropriately is a wise decision.  Most often, you may discover that it is necessary to dress your child in layers to ensure that you can keep them at the appropriate temperature.

Taking the time to take your child with you to a car show is a great way to bond and with the appropriate planning in place it can be a lot of fun.  Just always be sure you supervise your child closely to ensure that they stay safe and that the vehicles around them are safe as well and you are sure to enjoy your experience.

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How to Plan a Car Show

There are numerous ways to plan a car show, but creating a car show that is memorable and encourages a lot of people to attend can sometimes be tricky.  There are some tips and suggestions that can help you ensure that you are planning the best car show possible to encourage the most people to attend and check out the cars.

Start with the cars.  If you are looking at pulling cars from numerous car clubs, start sending out flyers announcing your show at least 2 months in advance.  Many car clubs organize activities and you want to ensure that they know about your show far enough in advance that they can tell members.  Additionally, you want to ensure that you are telling numerous car shows, most members will not bring their cars so telling 5-10 car clubs is not a bad idea if you have room for a huge turnout of cars.

Bathrooms, bathrooms and do not forget the bathrooms.  Many people do not plan properly and organize a great car show, but forget the bathrooms!  Most people are not comfortable walking far away from their car so you need plenty of bathrooms spread out across the entire show to ensure that there are not huge lines and that those bringing their beloved car are not forced to walk 10 miles to the nearest bathroom.  You may have to have bathrooms brought in if the location is not designed well for bathrooms initially.

Food and drinks are also essential components.  You can choose to do this several ways.  You can rent out space to local restaurants and charge them a space rental fee and allow them to supply food and beverages to visitors and guests or you could provide the food and beverages yourself.  However, be aware that if you attempt to provide the food and beverages yourself you are adding a huge list of things to do.  Your best option may be letting the professionals rent some space and provide the food.  Most restaurants that would be interested already have the equipment they would need to use at the car show as well, which once again makes your job much easier.

Bring some form of entertainment, even if you are just bringing a stereo system and tons of speakers try to ensure that there is an area for people to have some music, chairs, tables and so forth.  This in addition to maybe some games and face painting for the kids will allow everyone to have a great time.  Additionally, if you can afford it you might want to spring for a live band.  You can usually find a great band at a cheap price especially if they think they are going to get lots of exposure and you allow them to sell their own CD’s and shirts at the car show.

If you are organizing your car show during the heat, ensure that you have some shade.  You may need to pull out some tents or canopies for this, but it is essential to help avoid heat strokes and other medical problems.  Additionally, try to avoid having car shows in the dead of winter unless you are having the show in an inside area.  You do not want visitors to freeze anymore than you want a heatstroke.

Your final considerations should be with those who are bringing cars.  How are you going to ensure that they can easily get in and out of the show?  You need security for the cars as well so ensuring you have staff that are knowledgeable about where each car goes and can help ensure that they are safe is a very wise idea.  Realize if the people bringing the cars are upset, they are going to give your event a bad name and talk.  This can severely hurt your attendance in the future if you try to make the event an annual occurrence.  However, with some careful planning you can ensure that everyone is happy and the car show is a raving success.

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Helping Your Car Stand Out at the Next Show

If you are interested in really helping your car stand out well at the next car show that you enter, there are some things that you can do to help really ensure that your car is presenting the best image possible.  There are likely to be dozens if not hundreds of others cars present, so you need to ensure that your car puts forth the best wheel possible in order to really make a good impression on the judges.  Taking a car that is not properly prepared will usually leave you walking away empty handed, no matter how good your car normally looks or how unique it is.

Your first step should always be cleaning the outside of the car.  This includes all crevices on all places around the car.  Do not forget about cleaning the wheel wells, tires, door handles, window seals, license plate and all other places that can get dirty.  Even if it looks clean, clean it again just to ensure that it looks good.

Once you have finished the exterior of the car you can start moving inside.  It is a good idea to do a good detail cleaning on the car before you go to the show.  This includes cleaning out all of the air vents, seat belts, window seals on the inside, dash gauges, switches and anything else that is visible and viewable.  You should also pay extra close attention to the pedals, door handles, window handles, and upholstery.  If the upholstery can be cleaned sufficiently using a vacuum cleaner then it is a faster process but also be sure to shampoo any stubborn stains.  You should also take the time to use protectant wipes on all of the vinyl or leather inside the vehicle to ensure that it is protected and shiny so it looks good.  If you have any wooden accents, ensure that they are also protected and shiny as well.

Wash the windows several times thoroughly both inside and outside.  You need to ensure that there are no spots, streaks or smudges.  Anything that looks dirty should be cleaned again, and even after the first time you clean them it is wise to clean it again just to ensure that there is no dirt or debris left on the windshield.   You should also carefully pay attention to all mirrors and any chrome that is on the vehicle and ensure that everything is shiny and looks like new.

The tired should also be cleaned as well, but you may need do to a brief touchup on the tires once you arrive at the car show.  You should always ensure you bring the supplies to clean the tires while you are there, rather than just cleaning the tires before the show.  If the tires are not dirty on the way, then you can possibly omit cleaning at the show, but always ensure that at least the sides of the tires are perfectly clean and there is no dirt or debris.

Your final steps should be ensuring that the car is waxed and polished before the show.  This can then be touched up if necessary at the show itself but makes the paint job on the car really pop and look quite impressive.  Having a clean car that is not waxed can be a bit of a disappointment for the judges so taking the extra time to wax the car is a great extra step that can score major points with the judges when they make their rounds.

Overall, your car should always give off a car powerful, clean and stately impression at the car shows.  Unless you are taking a car that you are working on as a work in progress for demonstration purposes you should never take a car that is dirty or in pieces.  Only taking beautiful, clean, shiny and completed cars is one of the best ways to ensure that the judge’s notice all of your hard work, rather than the dirt on your vehicle.

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Fun Activities for Car Shows

If you are planning a car show or if you are planning on going to a car show you are probably wondering about some of the fun activities that are available there for entertainment.  Of course, not everyone who goes to a car show enjoys the cars, so there are always plenty of other activities just in case so that it can be a fun event for the entire family.

Your first main activity that usually draws people is of course the cars themselves.  It is usually a good idea to have at least a few categories that you can award prizes on, such as best overall car, and any other categories that you can think of.  This is usually a great way to really have some fun for the people who own the cars at least.  Plus many of the visitors to the car show tend to enjoy watching the award process.

There are often some other activities such as dancing and singing as well.  Most car shows will offer some entertainment that can allow you something fun to do.  While the music may not always be live there will usually be something that you can listen to and dance to.  If you are more of a closet danger you can usually just sit and enjoy watching others dance as well.

Other fun activities can include face painting for the kids, and even contests for door prizes and raffles.  The types of prizes that are offered tend to vary from each car show, but there are generally tons of prizes that are available.  While most people thoroughly enjoy attending the car show, there are also some aspects that can allow you to really branch out their love of cars.

One of the best aspects is of course being able to look at all of the incredible cars.  There are so many cars from different eras and of course there are plenty of cars that are great sources of inspiration for those who are interested in restoring their own car.  There are some car clubs who organize car shows and car races at the same time.  Deciding what your favorite part of the car show is can depend heavily upon your own personality.

If you are looking for a great weekend then going to a car show is a great idea.  Finding something for everyone to enjoy is usually possible and you are almost guaranteed that you will have a fabulous weekend.  Taking the entire family out to a car show is a lot of fun, and can be a great way to allow your family and children to learn to enjoy your love of cars.  There are always plenty of car shows around that you can enjoy and see and with a bit of planning you may be able to squeeze in more than a single show in a week as well.

Look to car shows as a great family activity and you are sure to thoroughly enjoy the time you are able to spend with your family.  Let the kids have their faces painted, sign up for the door prizes and even take the time to admire all of the gorgeous cars that are on display.  You may even discover that aside from all of the incredible cars that are at the car shows, you may decide that you want to start working on a car of your very own.  Going to a car show can be a great source of inspiration at times, and if you family enjoys the car shows with you, then it makes the perfect activity for an entire family to work on.

So enjoy your time at the car show and have plenty of fun sharing your experience with your family.  You can even look around at the car show as a great way to become inspired if you are already working on a particular car since there is no reason at all that you cannot use some of the ideas that you gather at the car show for inspiration.

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Finding Your Perfect Car Show

Deciding which type of car show thrills you the most is not always easy, after all there are so many and your options are so large that it is sometimes quite easy to be confused and lose track of which are which, and what you like, as well as which you dislike.  The easiest thing to do generally is to determine which type of car you are most interested in, this then helps you to narrow down the field.

Some of the most popular car shows are the antique car shows, and also the street rod and hot rods.  These are all different and feature different types of cars.  Everyone who enjoys one type is not always thrilled and fond of the others.  If you enjoy and appreciate the finer things in cars and really enjoy looking at the gorgeous cars of yesterday then the antique shows may be perfect for you.  If however, you really enjoy the idea of looking at cars that are created with the idea of racing you may find that this is not your style to look at antique cars.

For those who love speed and racing the street rods and even the hot rod shows tend to be a much better solution and offer a much more fun experience.  There are generally plenty of shows in both categories and seeing the different cars can be quite thrilling and exciting.  In addition, there are also car shows that are geared towards specific models.  This is typically most common in higher end cars, but is sometimes done for lower models as well.  If you are interested in a particular model such as Ferraris there is nothing better than going to a Ferrari show and being surrounded.

Once you have determined the type of car show that you are interested in you can start looking around.  If you find a car show that you are unsure about, call and ask the event coordinators what types of cars will be present.  Generally, you should be able to gather enough information before the show that you can avoid those that are not of interest to you, and instead focus on those shows that you do find interesting.  Feel free to ask questions, and you are going to have a better time.

You may discover that if you subscribe to a magazine that specializes in the type of car that you are interested in you have a much easier time locating the shows that interest you.  Most street rod magazines for example are not going to list car shows for trucks or even antique cars.  The process of elimination is usually heavily used and typically, only car shows applicable to the magazine are published and advertised to help make it easy for people to find exactly what they are looking for.

There are some newsletters that you can sign up for as well.  These newsletters typically publish the dates and locations for various types of car shows all around the country and even tend to list a few international shows in case people are interested.  While the number of shows that are listed tends to vary depending on the style of the car, it can be a great source of information and make it much easier than having to search all around to find the car that you are most interested in.

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