As I mentioned in an earlier posting, I entered my hobby car (a 1987 Honda CRX Si) in a car show for old Japanese cars. This was the first car show that I have entered as a participant although it was far from the first car show I have ever been to. From the carefully manicured lawns of Pebble Beach, to parking lot of the local mall, to the dazzling halls of the Specialty Equipment Manufacturing Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, I have been to many car shows. The settings may vary and the featured cars can range from manufacturer's concept cars to clapped out, but beloved clunkers, but all car shows share a few similarities.
A car "show" is different from a car "meet." A show is a formal, well-organized event with judged classes and prizes awarded for various achievements. A meet is a much less formal gathering of like-minded enthusiasts who just agree to park their cars in a selected spot at the same time and generally hang out with their buddies. I have taken various cars to car meets and had a great time swapping stories and occasionally swapping parts in a relaxed environment. Generally speaking, a meet differs from a show by the degree of familiarity of the car owners with the other people at the event.
A car meet is a gathering of friends, a car shows exists for the owners of the shown cars to get some love and attention from strangers. Nothing is better for the ego than to have a stranger tell you that he always wanted "a car just like yours," and that your car is "really cool." To be able to tell the story of acquiring and restoring your car (with a few embellishments as befitting any good fish story) to a receptive audience more than pays for the rolled eyes and stifled yawns that greet the same story to your long suffering friends and family who have heard the story so many times before.
There is also the chance to receive official recognition via the awarding of trophies at a car show. For the Automobile Company that needs the press attention of a major car show award to launch a new model to the neighborhood hobbyist who is starved for affection at home, the cheap and ugly trophies handed out at car shows go a long way to satisfying those needs.
But the best form of attention for a car owner is to have your car featured in a car magazine as a result of being at a car show or meet. A judged show is always a subjective evaluation by a jury of questionably qualified "experts." But a magazine editorial board can be relied upon to recognize the truly outstanding car from the masses of cars presented by enthusiasts. To have your car make the pages of a magazine, you can be assured that your car is an outstanding example of the ideal that all other car enthusiasts aspire to achieve.
At both a car show and a car meet it is possible for members of the car enthusiast press to cover the event for publication. All the major car magazines make a point of attending the important auto industry shows like SEMA, the Detroit Auto Show and the Frankfort Auto Show; the specialty magazines (dedicated to a particular make or model of car) will cover the more significant shows and meets for that interest group. When an entire show is dedicated to a particular car it takes a special or unusual version to get the attention of the jaded auto journalist professionals.
Being unique amongst a crowd of similar cars has gotten my CRX into Honda Tuning magazine. At a gathering of all models of CRX's, representing the three model variations of the car from the early 1980's to its last incarnation in the mid-1990's, the majority of the 50 or so cars there were the of the last two model variations and there was only two other early model cars like mine. The other two early cars were lovely examples of the model and worthy of inclusion in the magazine, but my car ended up in the pages of the July 2004 issue strictly because it was the most modified of the early cars and unique amongst the crowd.
At the car show that I recently attended as a participant, (my first entry in a car show) my car was not the necessarily the most modified, cleanest or the oldest. But the wheels on my car caught the eye of a correspondent to for Japan's Car Boy magazine. My wheels are a period correct set of Momo 13x6 "phone dial" style wheels from the 1980's that are different from the typical shiny wheels seen on show cars. That one detail was enough to have him pause, notice my car and learn more about it.
Being a professional journalist (I am not just a blogger but a broadcast journalist for a major multi media corporation) I know the power of the prepared press release that frees the journalist of the rigors of actual research on a topic. When encountered by fellow professional journalists at the CRX meet and at the car show, I was prepared with a fact sheet about my car that makes the journalist's job so much easier. In clear, simple to read language I listed all of the modifications to my car, the specifications of critical components and the manufacturers of the many aftermarket parts on my car. With this in their hand, a writer/photographer on a deadline can more easily present an article with key details that will help insure your car's inclusion in his story.