OOB Show

If you were there, you know.

The only thing that kept the OOB show from being one of the better shows was just one thing - a complete and total lack of proper organization. After 16 years, it seems they still do not know the first thing about cars, or how to plan and organize properly.

Other than that, it really was a very good show, with lots of great cars - many from parts unknown - and lots of great folks. But the problems were just far too plentiful, and resulted in no less than 56 people lodging complaints.

Among those problems - OOB organizers, please take note, as many of these folks have expressed they will not return:

1) VERY poor class structure. Over 30 vehicles in some classes, while others only had two.

2) Classes overlapped, such as FACTORY MUSCLE and MOPAR.

3) Non-muscle Mustang was in FACTORY MUSCLE

4) Muscle SS, complete with drag tires and wheelie wheels was in Best of 60's instead of muscle

5) Everyone knows the legal definition of Street Rod - it cannot be newer than 1948. Even the DMV laws concerning registering a street rod states that. Yet, a 1950 Ford was in Street Rods, and the organizers REFUSED to do anything about it.

6) All 2x and 4x trucks lumped together, divided only by MODIFIED or STOCK. Only exception was ANTIQUE TRUCKS.

7) 2 classes for a total of 3 years of Chevy, involving only 7 vehicles.

8) Although there was a class for "60's GM" and another for all other 60's, a 60's GM was found among the "non-GM 60's". Organizers again refused to do anything about it.

9) The 70's were split, with many on the street, and the overflow of about 8 cars was shuffled out into left field. Folks voted on the street without seeing the rest of the class until too late.

10) Of the 11 vehicles in Special Interest, only two were legitimate Special Interest. Also in that class were (2) kit Cobras, one kit Jaguar, a '67 Falcon, and '83 El Camino, a stock motorcycle, a stock 2007 Saturn, a 1979 Nova and a stock Simpca - a foreign car that belonged, obviously, in FOREIGN. Duh!

11) Only one class for 56 years of Corvettes, only one class, through '79 only, for Mustangs and only one class for Street Rods. Hello!

OOB organizers could learn a lot by actually attending a couple of car shows that know what they are doing, such as Andover, Settler's Green & Durham.

And then one of the usual malcontents came up and asked me "How many of these are Special Interest according to your definition?"

So, to be as clear as clear can be, for the sake of such people who obviously have no clue, I will say this just once more - IT IS NOT MY DEFINITION! I do not come up with the definitions for classes. The national organizations and associations, such as NSRA, Classic Car Club of America and the National Car Show Association do that. All I do is try to educate folks as to what the definitions are, by reproducing them for everyone to see and learn. Just because someone does not want to accept the standards does not undo those standards or render them irrelevant.

Street Rods end with the year 1948. Period. And Special Interest must either have been built for a specific function OR built to a recurring theme. And if a person does not understand what a theme is, they should look it up before putting their vehicle in Special Interest.

He also infered that, according to the definition for SI, there would only be two entries. My response to that - if the organizers and class-jumpers would stop screwing over the real SI vehicles, maybe more of them would attend the shows. There are a LOT of SI out there. But many do not go to shows because the class keeps getting abused. You can screw someone just so often.

OOB organizers should take the above issues seriously. Many folks have already abandoned OOB because of the high fee. Many more today expressed they will not return next year if these issues are not taken care of.

But I doubt they will be taken care of - several folks complained to the organizers about the '50 Ford in Street Rods, and why it could not be allowed to remain there. Yet, the organizers did nothing at all. And by not taking action, they actively and intentionally cheated every other street rod in the class - any votes that car got would have gone to other vehicles, and could have changed the results.

OOB, if you are going to have a show, and if you are going to hit us for $15.00, then you have an OBLIGATION to provide a fair venue. You have an obligation to understand the classes, and develop a fair class structure. And you have an obligation to ENFORCE them.

But as I said early on, although the organizers refused to do their job, the CAR FOLKS at the show made it a very, very good and enjoyable day. In spite of the lack of organization and effort by OOB.

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