Hmmmmmm...

The interesting reading on this matter continues...!


A few impressions as I filter through all of this:

"We need more vendors? Yeah, I'm sure. Do you know how many vendors tell me that they are "done" with shows? Ebay has changed things forever. Sorry, but it is true. Why load up a pickup with stuff when you can sell the same items from your living room?"


While I'll agree eBay has changed things forever, a few things haven't changed... like the weight of a third member, or the crating costs for hoods & sheet metal... Oh wait, I DID forget one thing that's changed... Shipping costs & postage have gone up, due to the price of gas.

C'mon, that's gotta be the most sweeping lame excuse I've heard for why more vendors don't attend - go to Chryslers at Carlisle and wade through the vendor field... know why they are there...?

TRAFFIC! VOLUME! People who are there with wads of cash in their pockets, and who fought traffic, waited in endless lines, and PAID just to get in for the priviledge of wading through those vendors (and, on top of it, have to go elsewhere to see the racing)!

I sort of think whatever/whoever vendors told E-town that they're "done" with shows are 1.) not in the "heavy iron" business, or 2.) not in a "must-see-and-touch-it-before-I-buy-it" product line. Or, are we taking about 'Year One' or 'Just Suspensions' here...? Yeah, I agree - they can afford to be done with shows - they have very established reputations, and sell what are essentially commodity and exclusive items within our hobby... but if eBay has crushed the attractiveness of the swap meet, why do some - who could easily be Internet/mail-order-only business (Gunslinger, AAR Fiberglass, etc. and, oh yeah... all those guys selling JL's and Hot Wheels and whatever...?) still come out to these shows...? Ummmmm... would it be... TRAFFIC? EXPOSURE? i.e., the same personal selling that got some of those bigger guys I've mentioned where they are today...?!? I think, perhaps...!

Convince the vendor that there will be lots of spectator traffic, and he will come. As it is now with the MANats, I think if I were a vendor, I'd just hold out for Carlisle a month later... but E-town has the "early" advantage - Promote throughout the year, tell everyone how great it will be, backing it up with what attractions will be there, and get people (and their winter savings) out to E-town BEFORE they can haul out to PA and blow it on funnel cakes at Carlisle...

"How do we revive this thing? It will take a lot of thought and a lot of work, but as I said earlier, we have not thrown in the towel!"

Well, that's a nice bit of cheerleading, but while E-town may have a twenty-year tradition with the Mopar Show in question, it unfortunately has a now five-year tradition of being a bit worse each year - and that's going to take more than thought, work, and the towel to come back from, and I seriously doubt it can happen in a single year... But the Mopar community is a relatively small and loyal one, and you can be assured word travels fast (another thing the Internet hath wrought...) Put in a good effort in 2007, and I think folks will be VERY GLAD to hear that the show is on the upswing again - and if it's memorable enough, I should think 2008 could be the year E-town is "back on the Map" for must-attend east coast Mopar events.

Oh, and a word about the food concessions... personally, I never thought this was a pivotal issue to a given event, but... since it's been mentioned a few times in this thread, here's my two-cents:

Want to see how a race track burger ought to be served...?

Visit ATCO... enough said.


All comments written in the best of tough-love for E-town,


- Alan