Unpopular opinion. I'm so frustrated I hate car shows/cruises.
We had a DJ that used to play for FREE at our shows. He was a club member. His music of choice? The dreaded 50s "Doo-Wop", The Beach Boys" and not much from the 70s and later.
The club President was okay with it since he was born in the late 1940s.
I got complaints about the music quite frequently.
That club member passed on so we had to find someone new for the show. The new guy played stuff from the 60s through the 90s. MUCH better.
Before I had this Charger:
My cars ranged between driver quality and shiny painted but not show car quality. I went to car shows as a spectator only. The shows were always the multi-make events.
Right after the Charger was painted, I entered it in the Capital City Mopars show in Rancho Cordova in 2003. Since the interior was the last thing to do, I entered it in the "Under Construction" class.
I was quite happy to win 1st prize in the category. Before trophy presentation, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd winners are given a generic alert that they were picked for an award without stating the 1-2-3 status.
Another participant was PISSED that he wasn't even picked for the top 3. He started picking my car apart along with another car nearby. He had a 68 or 69 Barracuda with a rough paint job but a nice interior.
The rules stated that the cars in this class had to have at least ONE section of the car in unrestored condition. ALL of the cars in the class met that qualification.
This guy kept on bitching and even took it up with the club members. Just to shut this asshole up, they took some random trophy and tore the title plate off of it and handed it to him, calling it an "Honorable Mention" award.
I was so happy about winning, I joined the club at the next meeting. For many years, club members could NOT display their cars in the show for trophy competition since it was our own club members that judged the show. We didn't want people to think that member's cars got favorable treatment.
I've been to a lot of shows with the car and received a few awards but it isn't why I go. I rarely stay next to the car at the shows. I'm out looking at other stuff...swap meet, car corral, other cars, car buddies that I only see at the shows, etc.