Pro-car responses at shows, good/bad

I know some people have posted about going to car shows and getting asked not to park in certain places or not being properly judged. I have never had that problem, if anything I have had the opposite reactions. I was at a car show at a volunteer fire department, that a man I worked with was in. When they started calling out the trophies, they said they had just made a new category for "Most Unusual" and I won. That is my first and favorite trophy.
When I first started going to shows I didn't know what kind of reactions I would get, but I have been very happy at all the reactions. I have meet and talked to a lot of people that own all kinds of vehicles. I would never have meet these people if I just had a "normal" car. Not to mention all the place I has been. It makes the gas mileage worth it.
 
I always have good experiences at the car shows/cruises I attend with my hearses.

Our local Black Widow Hearse Club attended a car cruise on Friday the 13th and they absolutely loved having us !

I looked up what car cruise was going on Friday nights and found one about 25 minutes from my place.

The organizer mentioned the hearses a few times on the PA system and asked us to attend his cruise regularly.

I won a door prize that night too. 4.4 litres of oil.

We had 3 fantastic cars out that night. All big black Cadillacs.
They included a 1960 MM 3way Landau, a 1965 SS Victoria Landau and my 1962 MM Futura Limo Hearse.

Never did get back to that cruise but I plan on going to it when I can this summer.

There are some cruises within a 20-45 minute drive that get well over 500 cars on Saturday nights.

2 cruises I know of have hearses show up weekly.


Too bad anyone has an issue taking a hearse to a car cruise.
Shouldn't be that way.


Darren
 
I would also like to echo this as I have received positive responses at most car events attended with my hearse as well. After attending shows/cruises with non-procars for most of my life, I can say that any negative experience with the hearse was no different than that experienced by showing up with an uncommon, non-custom, non-muscle car at an event where most prefer muscle cars or hot rods.

Sure, you are bound to get the "eeeewwwwww, gross!", or "Ghostbusters" type comments. You just have to let it roll off. One thing I have noticed is that some children do this based on the reaction that their parents have to the cars. Others want to see inside the hearse. I even had one grandmother take time to explain to her young granddaughter what the rollers, etc. were for.

Not everyone is going to be excited about our professional cars, but the good outweighs the bad. Kevin and I attended a local event last summer that typically brings in 500-700 high end classic and special interest cars on a weekly basis. The owner of the business that puts on this weekly event was so excited about our hearses that we wound up receiving "best of show" awards. :thumbsup:

To those of you who have had bad experiences, don't give up because of a few people and their negative comments! :my2cents:
 
People just love our Pro-Cars both ambulances and hearses. Never had a problem and we keep getting invited to attend other cars shows as well. xmass
 
I got better responses from my 70 Crown Combo at our local cruize nights than I do brining a stock 1976 Fleetwood Limo or 70 Coupe de Ville. The Ford/Chevy/Muscle Car crowd here in OK almost scorns at stock Cadillacs, Lincolns etc.
 
Ive generally gotten a warm welcome at most shows Ive been to but Ive been a "regular" attendee even before my pro-car. The only negative response I got was at a show at a new burger joint where the business owner personally invited me. I pulled into a spot she had reserved for me right in front of the restaurant. A guy with a white 56-57ish Oldsmobile,that had "Moby Dick" on the 1/4 panel in fancy lettering, turned his nose at me and said "Do you have to park THAT thing here?" to which i replied "I can see WHY your car has Moby P___k on it!" He got in his car and moved as everyone laughed at him!
 
I'd say over 95% of my show and cruise-in experiences have all been good ones! Its just been at that one show in particular that I've been shafted at in one way or another every time I've shown and displayed a car there. I haven't been asked to ever leave the show and I haven't ever made an a$$ of myself even though I've been pretty pissed off a few times at that show. I've just gone ahead and showed the car and enjoyed the company for the day! And note I haven't mentioned the name and exact location of that show but the local guys here know the one (and have seen and even experienced to) how they do. I like to talk to the folks who look at the cars and its great when you come across someone who actually drove one or had a family member that had or worked out of one of our cars or worked in a funeral home back during the ambulance days and to hear their stories about them! And sometimes you can't help but get a laugh about some of the things people say too. I've learned to that when your talking to the folks, they ask you why have you got one of these? Why do you want one? What do you do for a living? And usually when I answer that last question and tell them that I'm a funeral director and embalmer and work at a funeral home that smooths the situation out and they see why I would have and want a car like what we have and don't have one just to be morbid! But for the most part I haven't really had any problems with people in general at a car show about my cars and have been accepted and welcomed.
 
Oh ya, forgot to mention that I have won an award before with my 62 MM Landau hearse at the local Monday night car cruise.

This cruise night is full of Camaros, Vettes, Mustangs but it was my hearse that took the trophy that night.

With all this car cruise talk... I wish it was summer ! Can't wait !!!

As I get older I dislike the winter, ice, salt and cold more and more every year.
When I was a kid I loved the snow and winter. Not any longer.


Darren
 
One of my favorite experiences was at the Great Falls Fish Festival. (There are no fish involved in the festival.) There were two small boys, I think they were cousins and they were with their dads'. The oldest might have been 6 and the youngest was maybe 4. I have a poster of my hearse before paint and after soda blasting, that I put out as shows. The boys were looking at the poster and having a conversation about the pictures.
 
This local car show that Jeremy is talking about, is basicly just your small town politics, and who you know. I have never shown a Pro-Car at this show, but I did use to show a truck I had at it for a few years, and I know that Jeremy has shown his pro-cars at it for several years, and I've seen first hand how they have treated him. I even particularly remember one year, they even through 2 other cars in his class that had no buisness being in a special interest class, obviously just so he couldn't win anything. And by the way, I never won anything there with my truck either. Its usually the same people that win every year. Whitch is a shame, because the show brings in a pretty good croud, and people bring there cars from miles around.

The best experience I've had at a car show or cruise-in, was a cruese-in that I went to that I posted about back in the summer. It is a weekly cruese-in that is a few miles down the road in the next town over, that usually brings in on avrage about 300 cars each week. I had never taken a car to this cruise-in, much less a pro-car, because well, while it didn't use to be, over the past few years, this town has turned in to kind of a snobby town, and about a 4th of the people that show up, are rich kids showing off there cars that daddy bought for them, and the rest for the most part, are usually pretty nice cars. Anyway, I finally decided one weekend to take the 67 M-M, and worse come to worse, I could just leave. Well we got there, and before we could even get parcked, people were sworming around the car. All night long I couldn't hardly even get away from the car to go look at the rest of the cars that were there, for all the people wanting to talk and ask questions. No one really had any stupid comments, or stupid questions. They were all taking pictures, and asking searious questions about the car, and some of them even telling me storys about how they remembered combination cars, and a couple of them were even telling about how they use to drive one. I was amazed at how many people were interested in the car, and learning about it. I even had a few people ask me to bring it back again. I have to say, it was a great night.

Josh
 
I've never had a bad experience taking my ambulances to regular shows or to fire shows. Oh sure, the occasional "Ghostbusters" or "How many people died in it?" comments, but nothing worse than that. Ambulances don't get the "bad rep" that hearses might. Most folks are really interested!
 
We showed a '58 Eureka Flower Car at a local show that also featured a reunion of "old timer" dirt track race drivers. Apparently there is a superstition common among those drivers regarding seeing a funeral car to the point where they moved their gathering to a different part of the show field and vowed never to return if funeral vehicles were included. Other than that one time all of our experiences have been good ones, admittedly limited in number.
 
"Apparently there is a superstition common among those drivers regarding seeing a funeral car to the point where they moved their gathering to a different part of the show field and vowed never to return if funeral vehicles were included."

Dirt track racers (as well as racers, in general) are a very superstitious bunch. Some of them are, no green colors on race cars, no women in the pits, no talking about wrecks, seeing funeral cars anywhere around the race track, all kinds of weird things.

I had a helluva time when I took my 1974 Superior combination to the track one Saturday night. Looked too much like a hearse. They never had a problem with the dark blue 1967 Cadillac Superior though. I think it looked more like a hearse than the 1974 and they were both the same color, just the '74 had a black crinkle top.

Go figure....
 
I have cut back on attending car shows in the past few years, but there are several that I always look forward to. One of them is Motor Muster, at Greenfield Village, Dearborn Michigan. My '54 Eureka hearse, '53 Eureka flower car, and '76 S&S hearse have all exhibited there.

I usually display the '54 Eureka with the side loading table extended, and that always attracts attention. Without a doubt, though, it's the flower car that really brings the people over to see it more closely. Only rarely have I heard a condescending comment about any of my cars. I have heard several people ask "Did you chop it yourself?" Of course I then have to explain the history and useage of the car. Most often, it seems, people just stand back and stare in amazement, not having seen any flower car before.

I haven't taken my carved '39 Eureka LaSalle to Motor Muster yet, although they seem to be chomping at the bit for me to bring it. When I drive it locally, it often attracts great attention in the form of other drivers getting close to it, to see it better. Of course this is the opposite of what I want to have happen! It's hard enough to drive as it is, not to mention being closed in with minimal ability to see out. So when this happens I have to be a particularly defensive driver.

All in all, it seems that my cars have been far more appreciated at shows than maligned. Tom
 

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Well, I also have had no negative reactions to my showing of a pro car. I usually show at local shows with a casket inside, doors closed. Sometimes I get very intelligent questions, sometime really dumb ones. Seems the dumbest come from grown adults and the intelligent ones from very young or elderly.
Because of my unique location (very close to Fort Stewart, home of the 3rd Infantry Division) I have to use good judgement. A car show on the post is probably not a good venue. Out of respect for our returning heros, and those who will never return and any family members, I do not attend shows on the base. Now off post...free game! I have never been asked to park in certain spots or not return next year.
The only award that really had any special meaning to me was from Daytona PCS meet in '04. That 1st place trophy really ment something to me because it came from my peers. But it was also awarded to the car, so when I sold it, the trophy went with it. :( I hope the current owner (Wayne) in NJ is enjoying it. I may want it back!!!!! Wayne, if your reading this, wife is still fuming that I sold it and she wants it back!!!
 
I have a nice collection of trophies from other car shows. From top 20 to best license plate. I have never been ask to move or been shunned at any, other then the PCS in "09".:thumbsdown:
 
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