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Sun Jun 13, 2004 6:11 pm

It was great seeing all the volkswagens at the show. Also, was nice talking to all the VW enthusiast. :D However, the show could be a lot nicer and more organized. I know it is very difficult to put on a show of this size and magnitude, but you need to offer more to the participants than a huge parking lot. :oops: All the buses were packed in like sardines. We couldn't even open our doors to show off our buses. Hopefully next year you will get it together. :idea:

Sun Jun 13, 2004 7:03 pm

Hey I agree man. I had a few problems of my own. Without talking bad about anyone I would simply say there was room for improvement in the organization and the PR skills. We are all there for the same reason, we love v-dubs. Check out my link to the pic's from the show. Pic's from the classic....

Mon Jun 14, 2004 7:28 am

Surferbus wrote:
Quote: All the buses were packed in like sardines.

They've done this year after year with parking the vehicles. If they gave each vehicle another two feet, I wonder if there would be room in the lot for everything. All I know is my side view mirrors took a real beating with people trying to slip between the buses.

When you (Surferbus) left the Classic a few minutes before me, I had this big space on my driver's side and people stopped and took photos saying "now we can get a photo of the whole bus, not just the front and rear"...

They definitely need more room to show the buses.

Mon Jun 14, 2004 7:43 am

This was my first Classic also and well I was a little disappointed with it. For some reason I thought this was gonna be a HUGE show. Maybe it's because Im comparing it to theLowrider super shows held in LA and SD and Minitruck Jamboree these shows are at least twice the size of this show (Classic), Pomona IMO is a better swap and "show". Your right about the parking being better organized. There was at least two rows that had the assend of the cars (busses) facing the spectators, you had to get inbetween the cars just to take a better look at these cars. Not really a big deal but when your in a wheel chair, it was a little difficult to get a good look and appreciate the vehicles. I did get to see some nice VW's though even thought it was from afar. I will be taking a look in the gallery to see more pics from the show. Hey Omar PM and let me know if you did end up showing.

Mon Jun 14, 2004 1:30 pm

Skate wrote: Check out my link to the pic's from the show. Pic's from the classic....

Here's his link:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=75327

Mon Jun 14, 2004 9:09 pm

I live in the bay area,almost brought my bug to this show and I'm glad I didn't. The idea of sitting in a hot parking lot all day would have been a real drag. Great cars there,but I would never go again. It was 45.00 for me to bring in my family,should have been $15.00 per car or something more reasonable. The food selection,shade,were almost non existant.If You want a great VW show,Madera is excellent,Atascadero show was really excellent,shady,lots of trees,grass to park on,good food and nice setting,great raffles etc,etc,etc.I will never go to this show again.Looking forward to Angels Camp and Wolfsburg Wickest show at Modesto Jr College in Oct.Why not have a nice setting where people can kick back and enjoy the day without staring at asphalt!!

Mon Jun 14, 2004 10:14 pm

ottobahn wrote: I live in the bay area,almost brought my bug to this show and I'm glad I didn't. The idea of sitting in a hot parking lot all day would have been a real drag. Great cars there,but I would never go again. It was 45.00 for me to bring in my family,should have been $15.00 per car or something more reasonable. The food selection,shade,were almost non existant.If You want a great VW show,Madera is excellent,Atascadero show was really excellent,shady,lots of trees,grass to park on,good food and nice setting,great raffles etc,etc,etc.I will never go to this show again.Looking forward to Angels Camp and Wolfsburg Wickest show at Modesto Jr College in Oct.Why not have a nice setting where people can kick back and enjoy the day without staring at asphalt!!

I'm sure if you could find a place THAT large with all the items you mentioned above in Los Angeles that they would listen...but I think your dealing with a rare case of UNOBTAINIUM.....

yeah the above shows have nice shade but are about 1% the size.

Mon Jun 14, 2004 10:20 pm

i had a blast, my 3rd year going......Entry fees aint changed, and the swap was on hit! there were many great deals out there...you just had to ask and dig. My buddy snagged a splitwindow gas tank with cap and petcock for 50 bucks.

For those that are penny pinchers, the classic weekend is a big money show, people come from around the world to make this week......Thats when the part prices go though the roof. Fransico from argentina needed a swap spot, he forked out 65 bucks to use my bus in the swap area....now thats big money for a fuckin swap spot.

Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:43 am

I just got back from the classic weekend, we were there from Thursday - Monday. I had a great time, it was an awesome show.

We flew in from florida, yeah we spent some money, but it was all worth it. From Lenny's Party, DKP cruise, OCTO,to the classic itself, I think the point of this show and this whole weekend is to meet and hang out with VW people from all over the world, there are people i see once a year at this show.

Again, I had a Blast and i will be back, Driving my bus from florida next time.

Tue Jun 15, 2004 8:10 am

Here's my $0.25

You can't please everyone all the time! (Adding a gratuitous "sheesh" & rolling eyes here)

If it's asphalt, you want grass,
if it's grass, it's too wet,
if it's trees, the bird dumped on your car,
and if it's dirt, you want asphalt!

Could almost make a song out of it!

They could have secured a bigger area so as to give more spacing inbetween cars, but all things considered it went well. Most people that complaint about shows in general usually do not have a clue of just how dificult it is to actually put one together. As with anything, if it won't turn up a profit, why bother at all! Insurance alone will take a huge bite out of any income right off the top. How 'bout them "executive" outhouses they provided this year? Everything has a cost but if there's no profit there's NO SHOW! :o Surely you wouldn't want this show to go the way of say, the Jamborees!

And yes, there were plenty good deals to be had. Cruising the swaps early we spotted a box with 5 complete carburators. Two of the were like new right out of the box, maybe used for a couple of miles. When asked, the seller said "$5 each!" :shock: So my friend said "I'll take the box!" Can you say $HA$HING! :P

Tue Jun 15, 2004 12:19 pm

I didn't have a problem with the show, but I had a huge problem when one of the organizers got in my face and started yelling at me for no reason. The issue was where my car was parked, even though a staff member parked me there, he needed it moved. I was out walking the show and he was talking to the people around my car saying he was going to tow it. When I came back to my car he just got in my face and started yelling at me. I attempted to calm him down so I could figure out what the problem was, but he wasn't calming down so I moved. He was so angry and out of control that my 6 year old daughter got upset and started to cry. I take her to all the shows that I attend, and that's a lot. She is always excited to go, but now she says she won't go to another show. If that isn't sad I don't know what is. I was molding a fan, and this guy killed it. On top of that I'm building a notch for her 16th birthday, and she said she didn't want it anymore.

Tue Jun 15, 2004 7:43 pm

I enjoyed the show quite a bit. I saw a few people I have not seen in a long time. This was my first Classic in a few years due to me working on the east coast now. It still felt like the classics of the mid to late 90's to me. This year I did not bring a car so I was not so irritated by the parking situation.

Wed Jun 16, 2004 7:06 am

Last time I went to the Classic was in 98-99 ( I forget) I remember it being a tad bigger, and not so hot!! :roll:
Man, that heat was crazy!! I have no complains, It was a nice show, tons of vendors, swap heaven, and the cars were sweet. Overall the 4-day event was amazing. I will be there next year, but this time I will bring a ezup tent!! :P

Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:59 am

Skate wrote: I didn't have a problem with the show, but I had a huge problem when one of the organizers got in my face and started yelling at me for no reason. The issue was where my car was parked, even though a staff member parked me there, he needed it moved. I was out walking the show and he was talking to the people around my car saying he was going to tow it. When I came back to my car he just got in my face and started yelling at me. I attempted to calm him down so I could figure out what the problem was, but he wasn't calming down so I moved. He was so angry and out of control that my 6 year old daughter got upset and started to cry. I take her to all the shows that I attend, and that's a lot. She is always excited to go, but now she says she won't go to another show. If that isn't sad I don't know what is. I was molding a fan, and this guy killed it. On top of that I'm building a notch for her 16th birthday, and she said she didn't want it anymore.

That's really too bad. This kinda crap is very discouraging to hear. Do you remember what color shirt the staff member had on? Apparentley there was a mix of Bug-O-Rama and non-Bug-O-Rama staff people working the show. Just curious which one it might have been that hassled you so badly.

Wed Jun 16, 2004 9:57 am

I think it'd be wise to mail a letter with that particular experience to the event promoters. It will help you vent to the appropiate entity and may even get you an appeasement goodie as well as making them aware of something they may not have known about thus correcting it in the future. May or may not do any good but I think it's worth a shot! 8)

Wed Jun 16, 2004 10:05 am

The guy at the front gate yelled at me for not stopping when he said "Stop". My windows were shut and I could not hear him.

He asked my name and said he was going to come find me later. LOL.

Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:24 pm

Quote: That's really too bad. This kinda crap is very discouraging to hear. Do you remember what color shirt the staff member had on? Apparentley there was a mix of Bug-O-Rama and non-Bug-O-Rama staff people working the show. Just curious which one it might have been that hassled you so badly. All I know is this guy had a radio and said HE was in charge of the show. :-k I think he was wearing a green shirt, but I'm not sure. I realy don't want to talk bad about anyone, but this guy was out of control. I just hope that if he reads this he see's how we as adults can affect children. He was so hot :agrue: that I don't even think he noticed that my daughter was crying.

Wed Jun 16, 2004 6:00 pm

EverettB wrote: The guy at the front gate yelled at me for not stopping when he said "Stop". My windows were shut and I could not hear him.

He asked my name and said he was going to come find me later. LOL.

Guy told me I had to park with the rest of the crew members. He pointed to a row of American cars out front. "But i'm working the show... don't we get preffered show spots?" "That's news to me" I drove right past that smart guy.

Wed Jun 16, 2004 6:09 pm

EverettB, You guys should put some of those cookie's that you had at the octo meet in the classifieds. Damn those were good, I finaly got myself a samba t-shirt too. Oh and for the record, I asked the lady selling them and she said the LOWERED bus shirts sell better than the stock ones. \:D/

Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:43 pm

Can say it was my first classic, was fooled by all the hype in thinking it was huge. Def was a good size, huge? NOPE.

As to the above comments about dirt, grass etc. the lot was not bad sitting under a small cheapy 20.00 awning i bought.

My only beaf was that i was parked with the splits and ovals, which were nosed up against freaking buggys. i mean wtf? ALL the cars i saw were parked nose to tails "for the magazines" WTF??? Who parks cars like this?? It should be tail to tail, and needs some better seperations of classes, like the baja guys parked next to the watercoolers.

OH and as for judging, most original car 2004 mexi? WTF? of course its original its freakin NEW!