Chesrown 67 OAI

Who can give us an update? and maybe some good pix?

66-3X2 442

I tried calling Dad(Run To Rund) last night but no luck. Curt Anderson was supposed to get there round midnight,so I guess Dad was wetting all over himself.

citcapp

Now that would be something to see

rocketraider

If Curt has that three-on-the-tree 66 there, make sure to get pics of it.

66-3X2 442

Curt be flyin this trip,no car.

TK-65

Either everyone is having such a great time theres no time to post pics or theres nothing to post pics of.

dejavu442

Arrived this afternoon, I would say there are about 75-100 cars. Pretty hot here, but way cool checking out the cars. I took some pics with my iDrop phone but won't be able to post until Sunday night

Funkwagon455

A great mental snapshot for the NTOC Zone show..........

chequenman

What is with this meet? I have friends who drove their Olds over 3000 miles to get there and they say the Host Hotel is really Crappy that you can't even get a coffee machine in your room. Why haven't C. O. members posted any Pictures or isn't there anything worth posting.
At Seven Springs by this time the Forum was FLOODED with Pictures

rocketraider

Friday is judging day and that's all the cars there? Something is amiss...

The National Antique Olds Club (a much smaller club) had more than that at their Prescott AZ show a few years back. The OCA Nats in WA and CA also both had way more cars show up than that.

Maybe the economy is having a bigger effect on this show than I had thought.

66-3X2 442

If this info is correct,75-100 cars and a crappy hotel,this justifies the call for a same location,same weekend every year. I was @ Seattle and there might have been 200 cars. I'm sorry but the west coast OCA Nat'l shows don't get the turnout. I hope this info is wrong because I really don't like to see weak shows.

TK-65

Something must be up, today was judging day and its the day when all the cars are on the showfield. No pictures of any of it by now?????

We can let the club die a slow death or make some changes to the format. 75-100 cars at a national show is a disgrace, if the numbers are accurate. Something needs to be done about this.

GAOldsman

Thats what happens when they put it on near the left coast, everyone done spent all their $$ and might have gambled their Oldsmobiles away

What happens in Nevada stays in Nevada.......


Bring it to Hotlanta around the middle of October and they'd be turning cars away, better yet Georgia National Fairgrounds(Perry, GA), where people won't have to worry about their prized possessions getting stolen or looted for that matters. And a 1st class show field to boot with plenty of lodging and nicer hotels within 25 miles.

chequenman

I spoke on the phone with good friends staying at the Nationals late on fri. nite and was told they are now guesstimating 350 - 400 cars in the lot and the numbers keep changing on late Fri. 'caused by people taking their cars to the Drag Strip. Comments were confirmed about about a small Vendor turnout.....

rocketraider

Unless things have changed a lot, or there's a lot of non-judged cars attending, they're all required to be on the showfield Friday until judging is completed. 350-400 cars is more in line with expectations.

Even Seven Springs didn't have as large a vendor turnout as most National Meets. The biggest ones I remember were in Columbus OH and St.Louis MO. Those were huge and I came away with a whole lot of stuff and lot less money.

That a hint that Dixie Chapter is thinking about hosting another Nationals?

I thought the Georgia crowd had lost their mind when they proposed hosting the Nationals in Atlanta in 1996, what with the Olympics and all going on the same time. But they had enough pull with that Marriott in Marietta that we got a good price on everything and had plenty of room for cars and swap meet. And there was SHADE!!!

Lady72nRob71

Hotel might not have internet access...
Personally, I think the hot weather could have caused many to stay home.
I hope to go to the Nats some time in the future...

66-3X2 442

Actually the Olympics had already concluded when the Nats were there. I had a buddy going around buying Olympic related signs and such off the bar walls. We had a boys night out @ the Gold Club and a good time was had by all. Well,they said we had a good time.

msco123

I,too, had hoped to to these Nats but the costs of the flights(over $1,000 per ticket) together with 8 hours of travel time(3 hour layover) sure turned me off. Maybe these things need to be changed to a city near a major flight hub.

bigoldscruiser

I, too, cancelled out after looking into the airline schedule and prices. As long as health is not a factor, I will be driving to next year's in Des Moines. I will drive to Milwaukee and then travel together with a friend from there. He is in Reno now and has been sending pictures of the scheduled events but , so far, none of the show field.

chequenman

Hotel has Internet access but I've been told it's from the seventeenth floor and above only, and you purchase it in increments. AWKWARD!!!

TK-65

So you pay by the word??? I hope Im wrong but its not a good sign no one from the show has posts any comments about it yet. Nobody on the forum is local and lives in the area? Thats one thing that surprised me about the Nationals, there are very little spectators that attend.

rocketraider

3X2, I had to approve the 1996 contracts with the Marriott as OCA's "official" rep, so I was pretty concerned about whether we'd get good room and banquet pricing or whether we'd get gouged because of the Olympics- even though we were technically after the Games, there was still a lot of Olympics traffic and related events hanging around Atlanta.

The Dixie Chapter guys managed to get us good rates on all of it, I guess because of the long-term Peach Blossom show affiliation they had with the Marriott. Except for running out of food at the Awards Banquet, the hotel did us very good.

Casteele usually made the approval trip for OCA, but he died suddenly 3 weeks after the Greensboro show and DeNovi said, "Your Zone, you handle it." And there I was thinking I was out of car show planning for a while.

I've had folks ask me when we'd do another one in NC, and my answer was always "when someone else volunteers to be show chairman".

66-3X2 442

OK,I misunderstood your comments. That Marriott is one of the nicest place to have a car show.There was a lot of shade and parking too. Greensboro was a good show and the trip Piedmont Dragstrip was cool too. Did you make it out to the track the day we had the cars out there?

jaunty75

Unlikely. The main goal is to get people to bring their CARS there. Being near a flight hub doesn't help this, and I'm guessing that most attendees are those who have registered and brought a car.

Attending as a spectator only is fun, and I've done it a few times, but I have to believe that, when the show is in a relatively out-of-the-way location like Reno, which is a long drive or an expensive flight (as you found out) from other population centers, any spectators will be mostly from the local area.

chequenman

You got to remember Columbus Oh. It had a great turn out with Venders and with all the Oldsmobiles and to include REO's!!!

jaunty75

No it doesn't. But it does point out why holding the show in the west should probably not be done that often.

Two of the three largest chapters in the OCA are the two California chapters. You can't tell these people "sorry, we're never again going to hold that Nationals in your area." But you can limit it to once every five or six years, so that you limit the "damage," if you want to put it that way, that holding the show in a location that is a long distance away from the majority of members causes.

In the other four or five years, you hold it in the generally middle part of the country where most OCA members are.

Plus, remember that the OCA relies on a local chapter to host the show each year. If only a western chapter steps forward for a given year, what are they going to do? Say "no, there will be no show this year?"

dejavu442

I stand by the car count at definitely less than a 100, unless you are also counting the trucks and trailers in your numbers. Any hoo day two for me, will take more pics

jaunty75

Columbus is about smack in the middle of the part of the country where most OCA members live, so of course it would be expected to have about the best of everything in terms of registrations, show cars, and vendor turnout. Plus, it's a large city with a major airport (though it's not a hub for any airline).

It's not really fair to hold up the Columbus show as the yardstick by which all others should be measured, and it wouldn't be fair to use this as an argument for holding the show in the same place every year. Putting on a Nationals is a big job, and expecting the same group to do it year after year is neither fair nor realistic.

morepwr

Very disapointing to hear the results so far. I sure hope there are more cars and they were just cruising around. I had really wanted to attend but my schedule with work right now wouldnt let me break away.

Hopefully we will get a event report from some of the members here after the show and find out what happened.

jaunty75

If true, this isn't good. That's no better than a large chapter show. The OCA would probably never again agree to hold the show in anything but a large city not too far from other large cities. Reno, for all it has as a destination for a vacation, is a place where most visitors, I would guess, fly to, not drive to. It could be a tough place to hold an event where you want people to bring old cars a great distance in the middle of a hot summer. We don't all have trailers or the means to tow them.

66 Olznut

Posting from my phone. It is HOT, no question. Hovering near 100 every day and all the trees had a large crowd underneith. A dozen or so cars, including ours went to the drags which was fun, once the thunderstorms, wind and rain let up. Bottom line, we are having fun. My buddy has never been to a nationals so he is having a blast. There is about a dozen 65 442/Cutlass alone. I got about 50 pics as of now to go through when I get home.

4rims

I am returning home from the event today. This is my first Olds Nat as I bought my first 68 442 a couple of months ago. I met a lot of great people and did enjoy seeing the cars. My 442 was not ready to battle the desert trip from Austin so I flew. I also did not register before cut off. I did take some pic on the phone that I will try to post (I have not figured that out yet). As for the count... I estimated over 200. I dud ask a judge about count and she confirmed over 200. The Cutlass had the biggest showing on Friday. I am glad I went, had fun & will try to drive next year. Dave

66-3X2 442

If they have so many members in CA.,why don't they support the Nats? This is the second show out there with 200 or so cars. I've been to many Olds Nats all over the country,Seattle,Niagra Falls,Columbus,Minneapolis,Dallas,ST. Louis,Greensboro,Atlanta,Seven Springs,Dearborn,Sturbridge,Somerset,Bowling Green & Lansing-2 times. There may be more that I'm forgetting but my point is,I'm not worried about distance,I'm worried about the OCA surviving. They use to award the Nats 3-4 year out,now,2 years out. Why is that? the chapters are not holding up their end of the deal. IMHO for the 55th time,if they do not go to a central location the same time every year,it's gonna die. How long will it take,I don't know but the end just might be sooner rather than later. If they have it @ a central location,they will not need chapters to host,the OCA can run it with volunteers from all of the chapters. I have nothing to gain by a central location,just trying to help save the OCA. I'm done with this one,these are my thoughts and I'm not debating it.

4rims

How many cars would show up if central? I did not know 200 was low.
Dave

TK-65

Out of 6,000 plus members of the OCA, 200 members brought cars to the National event. Thats pathetic.

Funkwagon455

I'm worried about the OCA surviving. They use to award the Nats 3-4 year out,now,2 years out. Why is that? the chapters are not holding up their end of the deal. IMHO for the 55th time,if they do not go to a central location the same time every year,it's gonna die. How long will it take,I don't know but the end just might be sooner rather than later. If they have it @ a central location,they will not need chapters to host,the OCA can run it with volunteers from all of the chapters. I have nothing to gain by a central location,just trying to help save the OCA.

I totally understand your concern and agree that some adjustments need to be made, but putting the responsibility of a national event year after year at the same location would be exhausting to the hosts, and after a few years would become mundane. The result would be more decreased attendance, year after year and hosts that lose enthusiasm. I think that it would help our cause to have a great website much like this one to have better accessibility to OCA and its members . The club is going to have decreasing membership due to the core members aging, a dissolved marque, and an incoming youth that did not grow up with and do not care about cars let alone an Oldsmobile. Point in case: I wonder what the membership of the Packard club is to date? The decreasing membership /participation is sad, but is not a reflection of how fond we are of these cars. I don't intend to sound pessimistic, Its just a reality I am accepting. In the mean time, I feel its our responsibility to preserve our cars and drive them regularly, enjoy them as much as we can, educate and enthuse youngsters when they show interest and enjoy/participate 400+ car Nationals while they still occur.

jaunty75

But they DO support the Nats. Who do you think is the host chapter for this show? It's being held in Reno, but the Northern California Chapter IS the host chapter. If they end up with 200+ cars, it may not be as much as you'd get if you held it in Columbus or Chicago, but it's not so low that the OCA will tell the westerners "sorry, never again."

I don't know how many Southern California chapter members are there, and I hope that many make the trip. But Los Angeles to Reno is still a non-trivial 500 miles. San Diego to Reno is farther. Everything is farther apart in the west, and not all can make a trip of that distance or bring their old car.

jaunty75

You've hit the nail right on the head. Over the long term, THIS set of circumstances is the greatest threat to the long-term survivability of the OCA

The chapters recently received a mailing from the OCA with some membership statistics, mostly about the chapters. (I was one of them to receive the mailing.) As of last November, there were just over 5,900 OCA members. I don't think the OCA has ever had more than about 6,000, so if they can keep it near that number, that's not bad. But like you say, the hobby is aging because the cars everyone celebrates are getting older and older, and nothing new is coming in to replace them.

By the way, out of that 5,900 members, about 2,400 (around 44%) belong to a chapter. So the work that is needed to put on the OCA Nats each year is being done by no more than half the OCA membership. In other words, the majority of the members rely on a minority of the members to do all the work.

Lady72nRob71

I bet most of who went live in the western half of the US. I am betting the hot boring desolate drive across the desert was the biggest turnoff for many including myself. If anyone had car trouble out there, it would be horrible.
Also I feel more Olds' are located in the NE part of the country anyway...

A drive to Lansing or thereabout I would consider. Across the desert? In summer? No.
Heck, it is so hot here I do not even want to go to the local shows...

I always wonder why all the big shows are scheduled during the absolute hottest times of the year... I know the kids are on summer vacation but that's it.
I am glad the NTOC zone show is in early October when it is at least bearable outside...
Yes, the past two months of this oppressive heat is getting me quite irritable...

TK-65

Has LA or the San Diego area ever held a national event? So what if NorCal is hosting, why is the event in Reno? The San Fran/Oakland/San Jose area cant hold the event? Cant have the thing mid way between LA and San Francisco?

The numbers dont lie, the West Coast again has not supported the OCA Nationals.