At the end of this post I’m seriously considering attending any more Car Shows, I will explained it all and then you can tell me if I’m over reacting!
Continuing on from the previous post Another Damp Start (part 1) on 31/8/2026 I started wandering down the next couple of lines of cars. The quality of cars at this show was great and lots of nice people to talk to, as I alluded to in the first sentence everything wasn’t good.
Working my way down the rows it was getting really busy with the public looking at cars. I stopped to have a chat with a few people, one guy was super nice after his dog took a bit of a shine to me which was pretty cool.
This Nisan Juke was heavily modified, not my cap of tea, but I appreciated the work that had gone into this. The sound system was like an earthquake and I must admit that it sounded good.
Never seen one of these before and it made the GT40 tower over this little thing.
Another rarity is this BMW I8, a great looking car but it never really took of, I think it was a bit ahead of its time.
Mart’s Car Of The Show:
My first time seeing one of these Chrysler 300 Hurst. Packing a 440ci block producing 375bhp and a 0-60 time of fraction over 7 seconds way back in 1970! Production numbers are said to be around only 500 being made, it was an amazing car.
The place was busy, real busy. The kids had a mini fairground, and music was supplied via few live acts.
There were the ‘stalls’ which had flowers, craft and general non car related stuff. I haven’t forgotten about the hot dog, here is a picture of it!! Oh yeah, I don’t have one because there wasn’t any. There may have been some lurking inside the main food hall which had some long queues, I wasn’t going to wait to be told there wasn’t any, but outside there wasn’t any. Two shows with no hot dogs is pretty poor to be honest.
This little guy was having a good time with the owners in the car parked next to me.
My Rant:
The show was due to finish at four, but I didn’t want to get stuck in the bundle to get out of the event so I left about two thirty. While making way across to the other side of the field to exit, the sun popped out again, then I spotted something which gave me the hump all the way home. Some horrible person had run their hands all down the top of my fender. As soon as I got home I was pretty pi$$ed to be honest. I took some photos which didn’t show the extend of it very well, but I marked up in red. You could clearly see it when you moved your head around and catch it in the right light.
The fine layer of dust from the field had been pushed to a little mound on the head light door, obviously where they run out of paint to interfere with. I got my quick detailer out and soaked the whole top of the fender, left it for about ten seconds or so, then very carefully wiped the fender with a ultra plush 1000gsm microfibre cloth. After the clean and buff I got my high powered detailing inspection light out to see if I was going to need to polish it the damage out. Luckily for me, there was no damage. What I think happened was some selfish a-hole wanted to feel the paint – why? It appeared to be a light touch, so I can only assume it was a kid. I refrain from harsh words on a this website being as its family orientated, but this rattled me – BIG TIME.
This kind of selfish or for the benefit of the doubt, ignorant behaviour is getting to a point where I don’t want to leave my car unattended while I go and look at other cars attending the show. Do I really have to stand guard by my car now?
If so, then it’s not worth me going to any more car shows to expose my car to potential damage.
By not going to car shows, which is something I really enjoy, that is a penalty on me. Yes, I can go in my daily car to the show(s), but its not the same. I want to protect my property that I have spent 000s of hours working on and £000s to enable me to do it, just to safeguard myself and property from people who can’t control themselves or their offspring. Perhaps I should walk into their homes with mud on my shoes straight onto their carpets, or rub crayons onto their walls?
DON’T TOUCH THE CARS.
NEVER EVER!!!
I will be doing the Car Show Etiquette guide very soon, but am I too late?
Apologies to end this post on a rant, but really this needs to be brought to public attention. Organisers should state on their entry conditions, or any programmes; don’t touch the cars, this is beyond asking nicely now.
Other than that it was honestly a good show apart from, trying to get in to the event and the finger run on my paint.
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You are absolutely correct at what others do to our wheels when we step away. I go to see other cars and trucks and hate paying $20 to babysit mine. They touch my junk and I see them it will not end well. I refuse to let others disrespect me and MY things. I love walking the shows with Ron but often one of us circle back to ours with Brady for water.
I always love those big 300M’s and Cordova’s 🙂
If your hobby is attending car shows and diplaying your pride and joy, unless it is a concourse event, where the entries are generally curated, minor damage in terms of scratches etc. are, in my opinion, inevitable. It’s a shame but a fact of car show life. You can of course stick a sign in the window “please do not touch” but I’m not sure how effective that would be.
The other point may be, what else would you do with your time? Personally, I attend selected gatherings, either MG or Jaguar, and I do attend my local cars and coffee when I can. Add to that, the occasional visit to Caffeine and Machine and of course Bicester Scramble. But I get most pleasure from diving my cars rather than parking them for display. Horses for courses I guess.