I used to really enjoy winning trophies at the many car shows I attended but I have lost interest in sticking around to the end and usually leave early, especially if the shows are longer than 4 hours. I like talking to everyone and looking at all the cars still but after two or 3 hours I'm done. If the music is bad I really tend to leave early. I've never been a country music fan and after a few hours my ears and waiting around are done.
I know, I am getting old and this was bound to happen. I don't even display my trophies any longer, relegating them to spaces behind other things. See last photo.
A tribute to some of my past wins: This is just a small portion as I attended over a dozen shows each year in the past especially when i have other cars to bring besides the T/A. This year I only went to a handful of shows.






















You can barely see some of the trophies behind the cans.

 

One of the regular cruises I attend had low numbers this year. They had a couple high attendance nights though. I think the older cruisers are dying off and the younger people aren't really interested.

 

I hope that's not the case as I really like attending still. It's just me personally that finds some shows way too long and the trophy thing got old for me. Compliments from others actually mean more to me. When someone comes up to me at a gas station, it feels just as good as any win at the show.

 

I hear you. I love to go to shows to look at the other cars mainly. Any compliments received on my car are appreciated and icing on the cake. However, I've never had the patience to spend the majority of my Saturday waiting to see if I won a trophy. Just a week or so ago I got a thumbs-up from a Mercedes's driver in a slick new uber-sporty model with tricked-out wheels and a lowered stance. That kind of made my head swell since I was in my (relatively lowly) '68 Cutlass. No trophy can give me that kind of feeling.

 

I haven't done a points-judged event for a while, but I wouldn't be opposed to doing them again at some point. They are usually early in the day though, and I'm more of a cruise-night person. Never really cared about the trophies but I did like to see how good I could do on a score card, that was always more meaningful to me.

I've been part of the local show circuit for so long that there aren't too many cars around here that I haven't seen at some point before, so the primary draw for me is the social aspect as I've developed a ton of friends this way over the years. It's basically just a big outdoor party to me. I sometimes spend 7-8 hours at an event if I'm with the right group and the weather is really nice.

Some of our local events have lost popularity, but others have ballooned and gotten so busy that they've outgrown their venues. I see a bunch of younger folks showing up lately as spectators, but most of the actual vehicle owners are older. This is an expensive and time consuming hobby to maintain for younger folks who are either just starting a family or still have children at home, so the absence of this age group isn't likely just due to a lack of interest but also a lack of funds and time to participate.

 

^^^ Points shows are an entirely different animal and what an effort is required to get an award. It's quite a challenge but I did it several times when I had my 1995 911. I really used to 'go for it' by heading to Atlanta which was serious business and competition. I actually placed 2nd and 3rd in my 'class' the two times I went to these points shows. I only had about 45,000 miles on mine when it competed. Quite an experience seeing judges crawl all over your car both inside and out.


Tail of the Dragon


A wonderful ownership experience but unaffordable in the long haul.