There has been a lot of discussion of late particularly in regard to the demise of the Flat Four Shootout.

The question is, does the Volkswagen ‘Car Show’ have a future? (I know the Volkswagen scene in general is in good shape).

The Ford, Chrysler, GM, etc enthusiasts all have the single make show which are very well attended but they also attend open shows, together. This is not the case with Volkswagens. I attend many open car shows and I’m often the only VW there (air or water). This is always puzzling to me as our hobby has many beautifully prepared cars and could hold their own at open shows.
My Beetle competes at National Street Machine level winning at the custom Auto Expo (MotoreX) 2007 Top Engine Bay Post ‘48 and in 2008 Top Tudor Post ‘48. Also this year at Summernats getting into Top 60, plus runner up Top Tudor. So don’t think just because it’s a Volkswagen you wont be taken seriously, its irrelevant what make of car is entered as its all on points won and the judges at these shows are very professional and unbiased. I know the open scene isn’t for everyone, preparing your car for days before hand, up early and sometimes travelling many kilometres to get to a show and not getting home till late, but I am addicted. The people I have met are great and often these are people with $300,000 plus show cars. But they are still happy to chat about my little Vee Dub. If you think going to so much trouble to win a 20 buck trophy is “stupid” that’s fine, each to there own, my beetle has won over 100 trophies I don’t need any more, I don’t go to shows to win a trophy but I still attend because its enjoyable I take the car so other enthusiasts can see it and enjoy it.
In NSW, judged (not peer judged) Volkswagen shows have diminished to one, the Nationals. I am sure we will see this well run event grow in strength but 12 months is a long time in between shows to show off your pride and joy. Of course you don’t need to enter MotoreX or Summernats there are many charity shows around each month just log onto http://www.pinky.com.au  for a complete run down on shows in your state.
So dust of your Vee Dub and take it along and stand proudly next to it.
This is just a personal view as someone who has been around the collectable car hobby for over 30 years, not just VW’s but R Series Valiant and Model ‘A’ Fords. I just love old cars and love to see them on the Road, at shows and being enjoyed.

So has the VW’s Car Show a future I hope so as show cars are important part of our hobby.

very well put ,i agree there are plenty of vw's that can hold there own in all makes car shows,i took my chop top to cruisetime and won best mild custom, so yep dust em off and get out and promote the marque

Newcastles Euro day sees heaps of vdubs, while it was cancelled this year because of the weather, 2007 saw something like 70 vdubs if I remember correctly, good day, but havn't heard if it's on next year.

I think you'll find there are a lot more dubbers into the non-VW scene than you realise. Myself and most of my mates are into the Kustom and Hot Rod scene, and our dubs always create a bit of interest whenever we go to these events. The thing for us though is not the trophy, and I'll quote Fonz off Melburg Luft here, because "the car is the trophy". Just driving, cruising, and mixing it is what it's about.

Whilst going to VW shows was once nice, to me there's not enough variation anymore. I agree with Pete here - it's great to see some nice rods, sleds, kustoms of many different makes and models, instead of going to a VW show and seeing the same cars, year after year - with the occasional new car. This is my personal preference though. Others think differently.

Whilst I didn't attend the Flat 4 Show this year, I noticed that there was a band there this year. This is a good start, and a way to get things moving and to have people think differently about shows.

I've suggested for the Nats next year the possibility of a kustom bicycle show as well, and maybe a Rock n Roll band to change the vibe, and keep the show morphing instead of becoming stagnant. I believe there is a lot to be taken from the Hot Rod and Kustom scene that can be bought across to the VW scene. You'll notice in the US that these areas between Hot Rod, Kustom and VW are becoming a lot more merged, and this is gradually happening in Australia too. You've just got to find the shows to get your hit. Expand your horizons of the forums that you're on, and see what else is out there. Whilst we might be VW enthusiasts, in reality, we are car enthusiasts. It doesn't take just a VW to rock my boat anymore.

On a slightly different note - the global economy is taking a hit, businesses are pulling in their belts and watching their margins. This could lead to some smaller businesses pulling out of sponsorship.

there are stiil lots of vw folks out and about we had about 39 veedubs at our last Annual - Morpeth pit stop cruz .
Its on again in 2009 so come along for a FREE sausage sandwich and a chat.

very well put ,and i only started the topic to see if there was a new lean to the shows decline, now i have a better idea and a direction to go with and bring it to the notice of the clubs committee
keep the ideas comming as all will be put forward and discussed and hopefully bring a better show or cruise in 2009 you are being heard
greedy

in vic we have "picnic at hanging rock" each year which is attended by a growing number of dubs. its a general get together of all makes/models from various victorian clubs etc and a great day out.

my 2c is Boris's picnic Day is the go at the moment

Location Location Location & time of year

Compare Botany Bay to Milperra Water Ski ramp
To me the spring morning by the water after a cruise down is the best day out - and there isnt even a trophy in sight.
The new Boris location families can play on the beach, picnic and enjoy them selves.
The VW bit is on the side.

The other thing is to encourage swappers
Dunno - no (or bugger all) fee for swappers??

as i said - a whole 2c

Sorry to hear that the Shootout has ended (in its current format, anyway), as I've enjoyed the show over many years - I can still remember going to the first one, at the Warwick Farm homemaker centre, I think it was?

Yes the Nationals will continue as the major NSW Volkswagen show, and will be much bigger next year - there will be a VW Supersprint at Wakefield Park, Goulburn on Saturday and the show day at Fairfield on Sunday. Stay tuned for more details. Of course we are always looking for new ideas to make the Nationals better every year, and we value input and help from VW enthusiasts - if you've never helped out on the day, this is your invitation! We also value Flat Four's help with the judging and so on, and we look forward to seeing you guys there with us again in 2009.

This year we tried moving the layout around a bit to make it fresher - we put the swappers together at the top, rather than the bottom, but people complained so we'll probably go back to the old way. Likewise, we split up the trader stands to reduce the 'tension' between competing companies, but again some of them complained, so I'm not sure what we will do next year yet. Input and ideas welcome.

This year we tried a category for VW trikes for the first time, which was popular with most people, but again some people complained ! And we have greatly expanded the categories for newer, water-cooled VWs. We got more modern VWs at the Nationals this year than ever before, which was great.

We've tried having a live band at the Nationals before, but it didn't really work. Most people found it annoying, like loud car stereos, and I agree. This year I set up a large TV playing old VW ads all day, which was popular. I'll expand that for next year.

If anyone has any ideas on how we can run a better VW Nationals, come along to a Club Veedub meeting - third Thursday of every month at the Greyhound Club, Yagoona. It's on tonight, as a matter of fact.

Good ideas there Phil...
it was too hard to talk to anyone with LOUD music..playing
but I'm an oldie... lol
I don't like the Trikes, but Many people do, I wouldn't complain as they do Use VW engines and the engineering in them is amazing..[plus the amountof money]

I don't mind going to Ford etc days as I am interested in old cars... whatever they may be...
I rarely see the trophies given out as I have a 3 hour+ drive home..
and I had left home in the Dark to drive down there..

Only problem I had with the 'NEW" swap area, was it took Me hours to find it.... lol

I'll be there next year.... whatever..

LEE

So, are we all going to help ??? or just type ???

last time i tried to get a cruise going, everyone was busy ........ i am still interested in shows & cruising
many good points made.....

who is paying attention....?

hopefully this will gain momentum..............

i'm in.

me for 1 after xmas things should start moving

Well, Rose has already asked about a dyno day in February. It would be a good cruise up from Sydney. Likewise the Supersprint at Wakefield, even if you don't enter it would be good to go watch and support. If numbers don't turn up at these events then they can't be considered any more of a success than a static show. Lets hope they work!!! The problem that will always be run into is kid's sport and more and more people work on the weekend. But I'm just getting my beloved to add the dates for the dyno and Supersprint to next year's calendar. If I book early I'm OK

Not much on the program for the rest of the year the show calander slows up mid November till Christmas still some events on though ,you can attend the Singleton Street Machine Show on the last weekend this month, a well run 2 day show.My bug is being torn apart this weekend for a gear box change and some engine work,need it back together by mid January for the start of the show year. As I said earlyer events can be found on Pinkys web site but to wet your apitite Pinky is running a 5 round show "Pinkys car park showdown'' the first round was last Sunday(I picked up top streetmachine and some points towards the final)These are stand alone shows at differant locations around Sydney the next is at Uncle Leos Roadhouse at the Crossroads on the 18 of January starts 9am and the next over at Frenchs Forest(Park hotel) on Saturday Febuary 7 starts 12 noon, love to see some Vee Dubs come along this 5 round event carrys prizes in excess of 13000 bucks (you gain point at each round to find the over all winner) If you know "Chubbys" Commodore he won the best of show at round one so will most likey attend all rounds and take out the main $5000 package,again full details are on Pinkys site.Sorry but I only have knowlage on NSW shows maybe others can help with their states.After attending most of the shows around Sydney you get to Know the good ones from the not so good you just have to go along and see, there all fun just some more than others.

So there's a show and shine on in Singleton soon, anyone know anything about that, although it's to vw based.

In Qld the show scene has like everywhere else become somewhat stagnate. Not so many show cars but more so daily drivers or semi restored cars. Up here there is a bit of a shift towards motorsport and the performance side of things hence why Pete and myself started Dyno Mania. Gives the average punter to compete with everyone else even if his car is far from show worthy. Yes we have a lot of modified cars bolstered by the large group of drag racers up here but we are encouraging people with stock cars to have a go to. Alan Agyik's oval drew just about the most attention both years as people were guessing how much HP it would make. While it is greeat to hear Dangerous' drag car at full noise up close and personal it's also good to hear and see a stock 1200 doing the same thing. We have categories to suit most and all in all it creates nice level playing fields for all involved. our participation numbers nearly doubled from last year and spectators were also up by roughly 40% as well. 2009 we are going to run the event during the day then all will cruise to willowbank to run the qtr at a test and tune meet. this si just something for those who don't have something show worthy but it gives them the chance to compete alongside the fastest VW's in the country.


The VW show scene has succombed to the "people's choice " style of judging. Unfortunately the best presented cars are not winning the awards. Something with half the work done is winning cause he has more mates there voting for his car. Don't say it doesn't happen cause it does but why? Is is that hard to organise people to judge? well to get people to judge a VW show who actually know VW's is. Someone who knows the difference between original and restored and the always contreversial "daily driver" too many times I have seen full on show cars win this trophy. I remember one car doing this so I recored the speedo mileage. 3 months later there was another show. It won daily driver again. I checked the speedo and it has done a whopping 11.3 km's!! mmm daily driver eh??

Maybe the solution is to get the VW brains trust together and write some form of universal guidelines for judging a VW show for all in Australia.

thoughts anyone?

With judging, there just isn't any one system that is going to make everyone happy. No matter how we organise it, someone isn't going to like it.

The Nationals have been going since 1988, and I know we have tried almost any variation you can think of. For example, we tried 'static' judging, with the cars parked in the show and the judges moving from car to car. This took too long; sometimes a car was parked in the 'wrong' place and couldn't be found, or a car would be locked and the owner was off wandering somewhere (so the interior couldn't be judged). Now we use 'dynamic' judging, where the cars line up and pass through a judging bay before going on to park in the show. But then you get a long queue if everyone arrives at once; the judges feel greater pressure; and the owners don't like it if it starts to rain (as their cars are wet and earlier cars may not be). Which way is better?

As for the judges themselves, we started with just Club Veedub member volunteers (who did not enter their own cars). But those people wanted time to look at the show themselves, rather than working all day, or they wanted to enter their own cars. So then we asked the Street Machine association to provide judges (non-VW guys). Guess what - people who didn't win trophies complained that they 'didn't know anything about VWs'. So now we try to get a balance of judges from Club Veedub, Flat Four and any other VW club who would like to help. But we still get complaints about the same cars winning all the time etc. Handicapping or banning cars that have won before is not the way forward - if you want a trophy, build a better car!

Apart from the judged trophies, we also have a 'people's choice' award, which yes would be subject to stacked voting by mates etc. But then you could do the same thing for your car; it does balance out. And we also have the VW Australia Car of the Day, where a rep from VW Australia decides which is their favourite VW on the day. At the end of the day, the trophies are just dust gatherers!

I'm happy that the Nationals will the still be the major 'formal' judged VW show, but I'm also glad that Boris' Picnic Day and all the other Sydney events and runs are just informal gatherings or cruises in the sun - just fun days, and a lot less stressful!