Puttin' on a Car Show?

[ThePidler]

Hey all,

Howz it going? Great here, (though I miss the Cobra...) I have a question(s) and know that you guys are the ones to ask.

First, I was out at the Hot Rod Power Tour on Saturday, AWESOME! Jay, (JaysCobras), was there and fired up that beauty of his...man, WHAT A BEAST!!!! Jay was awesome and spent some time chattiong with us, thanks Jay!

Now, on to the question(s):

My son's elementary school has a great Dad's Club and we do things each year to raise money that the school can spend without having to jump through hoops, (help families w/no money, buy supplies for the school..) Well, for next year, (maybe this Fall), I would like for us to put on a Car Show. There are several of us who have old/new/interesting cars and such. One problem, I have NEVER done such a thing and wouldn't know where to begin. Can any of you point me to a place where I can get some good info/tips on holding a small car show? I assume that the money you make is from the entrants to the show and admission is free??? Anyway, any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Greg 'ThePidler' Rice

[todd]

Give me a call some time. I have put on a few and may be able to help.


Todd

972-466-9122 work

[BMK]

Greg,

Over here, we run a few car shows and find that we get more entrants if you do not charge car owners.



Some car owners take offence that they drive their car to a show and then have to pay to show it off. Even a $5.00 charge can get some off side.

This may not be the case though at a school.



Perhaps, you could charge a small amount for photos taken in Cobras etc etc. Even a $1.00 raffle for a ride.

I have seen a "Wishing Well" set up near a car show and people were encouraged to throw a gold coin in to have a closer look at the cars. They were fenced off by pickets and plastic security tape.

A free steak or beer may encourage a few more entrants.

Many of the bigger auto shops sponsor cars. Try ringing them and offering them a free trade site if they have the owners bring along their cars the business sponsors.

Hope it works out a winner. No doubt a few Cobras will draw a crowd.

I have a few photos in my gallery of Cobras parked and you cannot believe the crowd they draw. The Cobras have been in recreation parks and in restaurant car parks. Guess we should have charged.



You may consider having a few Cobras or race cars in a shopping mall or at your local fast food restaurant Drive Thru. with some signs a week before to promote the event. Consider a small flyer/handout with some details. Hand them to enthusiasts who stop and look.

just my .02 cents worth.

Cheers

Bernie

[Mrs 66 Snake]

Bernie,

How do you do the trophies? That's partially what the entry fees are for here. Although it sounds like your car shows are the same as our cruise nights. Come bring your car, hangout and let everyone admire. Our car shows are more competitions. Some are REALLY competitive and some are just smaller friendly competitions (I've seen a well used '83 Corvette win the 80's class because he was the only one in the class).

I'd say most of the local car shows around charge $10-$20. And the $20 ones are usually donating a portion or all the proceeds to a charity - and those are tax deductible donations. So most folks expect to pay something for the competition aspect - but some people will come and hang out at the show and not enter to win anything and that's free. I guess we US-ians tend to give our money out more than y'all - car shows and tipping.

Colleen

[Mrs 66 Snake]

Greg,

Before you get started, go to a few car shows and really watch what's going as far as the admin part of it. Snag the flyers, look at the classes, look for local car clubs (and get their info), keep your eye out for good location. If your school is in a good traffic area then do it there, if not find a nice local restaurant that would be willing to let you take over their parking lot for the afternoon/evening. Find a way to get the trophies donated or at least partially underwritten. That's your biggest expense.

As far as trophies you'll need to figure out how many classes you want and how many places. AER is a huge show with dozens of trophies - way too big for what you are trying to do for now. But keep in mind the kinds of cars people are showing off around you and make sure that you have something to draw them to enter. I'm working on my 2nd car show this August and one thing we've added is an import category. I deal with lots of high schoolers when I sub and one of our employees is in an import club, and I got comments about not having that in last year's show.

I'd love to give you some help based on my entry into the world of car show organizing last year. If you'd like to email me, my email is colleen_halbert@hotmail.com

Colleen

[Shell Valley]

Hi Greg,

I've been helping put on a little car show in conjunction with a small town festival here in central NE for the last few years. We have been getting 100-120 cars. We generally charge $15 to enter your car. Most people around here are willing to pay that (sometimes a little more) because we usually do dash plaques and trophies. We usually have about 25 categories and give out a top 3 award in each catagory rather than a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. We do this for two reasons, first, it makes it easire to judge, ie we only need to pick the 3 best cars in each class rather than try to decide which is the best which as you know can be very subjective. And second, it cuts down on hard feelings ie "I know my car is better than his but he won" type of thing.

The other thing we try to do is to get trophy sponsors. We like to get local business such as NAPA, Bob's repair shop, and local bars and restauraunts to sponsor trophies for $25 per trophy or $75 per catagory. We then have the companies name printed on the trophy when we have them made.

Hope this helps!

Dana

[ItBites]

Not to be too picky mrs66snake, but there are no '83 vettes. There are 82's and 84's, but no 83's.

I really hated to post this, but just wanted to share some info.

[todd]

Pidler,

I charged $20 to enter the car show. That being said, EVERY person got a show t-shirt. (worth the entry fee) I also had a lot a give-away items that kept the complaining down. I had a few complaints from some of the "professional" show guys that there was not enough classes and the trophies were too small. I had to remind them that it was a event to raise money for the police activities league, a non-porofit organization and we saved a little on the trophies. All our give-away items were donated.


We raised over $2000 for PAL.

Todd

p.s.---try to have food there. Fed people are happy people!!!

[Mrs 66 Snake]

Originally posted by ItBites


Not to be too picky mrs66snake, but there are no '83 vettes. There are 82's and 84's, but no 83's.

I really hated to post this, but just wanted to share some info.

No problem, It was last summer and I remember commenting on how "that car looks like it's been driven hard every day for the last 20 yrs." So it was probably one of the two you mentioned.

I wasn't driving then and not so into cars. Besides most cars in the late 80's when I started driving weren't anything compared to the stuff that had come before. ;-)

Edited to say:

This should have said "in the late 80's when I started THINKING ABOUT driving." There is NO way I am old enough to have been driving for 15 years. Maybe 10, yeah I can go with 10. But not 15.

[fordnut]

Pidler,

The best way to make money at a car show is to find sponsors for the show. Go to auto parts stores and neighbor hood buisnesses, have them sponsor different classes ie first,second and third place. Charge that sponsor for the cost of the trophies to be awarded for that class plus a little extra for the school. You will have to have a sponsor for each class, that will keep the cost low enough to attract the sponsors. Get the students involved in the sponsor serch. If you still want to charge the participants an entry fee it can be a $5.00 or $10.00 donation not an entry fee.

Hope this helps

[BMK]

Hi all

If you are going to use dash plaques and present trophies it is appropriate to charge an pre entry fee for exhibitors/car owners.

This will firstly ensure that entrants who have prepaid will turn up.

Importantly they will stay to the end of the show - because that when you present trophies.

We have used individual sponsors to cover trophy costs particularly the big sports type trophies and framed plaques.



How we get the individual sponsors on board is to give them:

# Free tickets to the event.

# Their involvement in the presentation of trophy and their name on trophy they hand out

# A sponsors board that identifies all trophy sponsors

# Down the track if you do a "T" shirt, then sponsor logos go on the back. But charge accordingly. Say $100 per sponsor.

# A major sponsor for say $250 could get event name rights, plus they can put up some signage at their expense at the event and a trade site for their products.

How big do you want to get?

If you are going to do a small cruise type event and show you can charge individuals a smaller entry fee/donation and present framed awards and dash plaques for all entrants.

'ford nut' 'Todds" suggestions are spot on there.

Over here you can do a "T" shirt with art work for about $15 per shirt for 50 shirt runs. The "T" shirt could be part of the entry fee at say $30. Include other items with it..

Now their getting a "T" shirt, dash plaque and possibly a framed award for their $30. You should make $8 - 10 per entrant.

Ring a few shops such as car polish, car wash, auto caps suppliers, key ring suppliers etc. etc. .. See if you can get samples for each entrant to go in a goody bag along with their shirt and plaque.

$8 - 9 profit from say a $30 entrance cost/donation x 60 entrants Plus a raffle should see about a $1,000 to the school for the day.

Promote the event and come up with a way to get some money from the public ( Cobra ride raffle etc) and you have the makings of a good little PR excercise and money maker.

Run a small sausage, steak BBQ and charge a few dollars for entrants and this will also get a little more in.



We also get the Police, Fire and Rescue along to do displays and the kids love it. Good for us also to meet these guys. Ring their offices and ask for Public Relations.


Perhaps some amusement rides for kids also. They will usually donate back 10 - 15% of their takings.

Just my thoughts. You guys will know how hard it is to get money out of sponsors. Here, we find that we can get a sponsor for a $50 trophy reasonably easy.

Again, most shopping centres will jump at a small car display in their mall area. Try this the week before to promote your event.



'ford nut' "Todds" and 'Mrs 66 snake' who have been kind enough to assist with suggestions are a good source as they know the USA situation better than I do.

Hey instant Show committee

I know if you get a Cobra or two out here, you have an instant car show in the right area.



Just some additional ramblings from "down under'

Good luck

Cheers

Bernie

[Alan Schup]

Last year or so, I inquired about the overhead, "gotchas", and things to consider about car shows (to benefit my Boy Scout Troop that has many boys wanting to go to summercamp that are from low-income families) --- and not nary a reply from this club at that time. So, while at the car shows, I asked the organizers of the shows...

I found a few makers of dash-plaques on-line on the internet that would make them for $1 each in quantities of 100 or more. The dash-plaques could be color or the traditional inscribed brass --- same cost.

I found T-shirt vendors that would do a two silkscreen (front and back design) on a 5.4 oz shirt stock (like the Fruit of the Loom Best) for $3.50 each in quantities of 100 or more, even lower price if they could use overstock shirt stock that is not selling.

The BSA units cannot have raffles, but they can have auctions for items donated by local auto parts stores.

Where I live, a health permit is required if open food is served to the public (like mom's deserts), so the best idea was to resell prepackaged foods and bottle/can drinks at a profit.

Many auto parts and fast food resturants are willing to offset the purchase of trophies or plaques if their store name is put on the trophy/plaque. Some request to have coupons or advertisement handed out in return. If parking lot space is needed, a few fast food resturants will allow their parking lot to be used because it increases their business (but then you cannot sell food and drink, which is the single most money-earner at these shows.).

People that otherwise would not pay an entry fee will pay an entry fee if it 100% of the fee goes to the charity. Then have tax deduction forms for those who want them.

Last item is that one must advertise, advertise, advertise. Most suggest printing up letter flyers to give out at the numerous local neighborhood car shows and at the car club shows. More people bring out their car if trophies are presented instead of plaques. An idea was to get a car club to co-sponsor the show, and have that club advertise to the other clubs that a club participation trophy is awarded to the club with the most entries in the show. (Many clubs help each other by going to each others club events like car shows.)

Hope this helps... -Alan

[Double Venom]

What ever you do, do NOT mention Chocolate Chip Cookies!

DV... It's time to show off...are you registered?

[Mrs 66 Snake]

Alan,
Last year this time, I would have been no help to you. Actually until after Sept 6th last year, I had no idea if what I was planning would work. Hindsight is 20/20.


Greg,

Check out www.gasolinealleycarshows.com Jeff has a calendar on there which will help in finding local car shows to scope out and also to pass out flyers at. Plus if you email him with your event info, he'll post it on the calendar for you.