My new sign for car shows

[JimC]

In my never-ending endeavor to promote the greatness that is Studebaker, I often find myself encouraging people (especially people with kids) not to be afraid to touch my car. Sometimes it's an uphill battle, as many car shows have "do not touch vehicles" signs posted, and many car owners do the same on their cars.

Now, I can get that if you've dropped $40,000+ on a restoration, there may be a little hesitancy to let dirty-shoed, runny nosed, smelly kids sit in your car (because we all know that there's no known way to get dirt off vinyl ), but hey, despite putting it in shows and taking it to cruises, my car isn't a show car. It's a driver, and I WANT kids (and grownups) to enjoy my car. Hopefully the memory of having fun in that cool Studebaker will stick with them.

As such, I decided that since so many car owners make signs telling people not to touch, it was high time I made my own sign:



I think it gets the point across

[Swifster]

Jim, I've never minded having people get in my cars, but I at least like people to ASK me first...

[8E45E]

For your own legal protection, I will suggest you add that kids may enter only under parental supervision, and a disclaimer if they get hurt (such as burning themselves with the cigar lighter). The last thing one needs is a kick in the pants for trying to be accommodating.

Craig

[JimC]

Jim, I've never minded having people get in my cars, but I at least like people to ASK me first...

Tom,

I generally like the ask first policy myself, and if I were the "guest" at a car with a notice such as mine, I'd likely ask anyway. At the same time, I tend to mingle at car shows. I like to walk the aisles, chat with familiar faces, and don't always hang out by my car. Again, my car isn't the sort that I'm going to be horribly angered if I come back and find a half-melted ice cream cone upside down on my seat. Besides that, sometimes it's hard to know who the car's owner is in the first place if they're not sitting in a lawn chair next to it.

I really like the approach of letting people enjoy the car and then coming up and asking "So, do you like it?". It can stir up a conversation, and opens the door to meeting other car guys.

I will say that my ideology is not for everyone, and I truly don't look down on people who say "hands off". (Unless they're jerkish bullies who scream and cry like babies when someone accidentally touches their car - I secretly want to key those people's vehicles when they're not looking ) If I had a $50,000 show car that pulled a 398 at Concours, I'd be more hesitant. But I've got a bondo buggy that looks pretty, but would never sell for $4000. Every car owner has to make up their own mind as to what they want to allow people to do with their cars. I just happen to set my tolerances at the low end of the spectrum.

For your own legal protection, I will suggest you add that kids may enter only under parental supervision, and a disclaimer if they get hurt (such as burning themselves with the cigar lighter). The last thing one needs is a kick in the pants for trying to be accommodating.

My cigarette lighter is disabled Still, I see what you're saying. But despite the litigious world we tend to live in I've discovered that the more disclaimers you add, the more loopholes people find. I used to run a "we come to your event" type photo and video business where I had camera equipment set up with tripods that could pose a tripping hazard. I asked the attorney who helped me set up my fine print and business paperwork if I needed signs posted at places my gear was set up. He basically said that while anyone can file a lawsuit for being an idiot and hurting themselves on my stuff, actually winning such a case isn't as easy as most of us think.

Besides that, the honest truth is that there aren't a lot of little kids at car shows today. I went to a weekly cruise this morning, and only one family with kids was there, out of about 150 cars that showed up. The bottom line is that there are too many pitbull owners who bark at you for breathing on your car wrong. I posted this pic on my Facebook too, and one of my friends commented how she took her 80 year old aunt and 85 year old mom (who uses a walker) to a car show, and when her mom simply placed her hand on the hood of a Rambler - yes, a RAMBLER, because it was like the one her husband owned years before, some guy came out literally screaming at her "Get your $#* hand off MY car!" She's in her 80's and can't hardly walk, what's she going to do?!

As a parent, I tend to avoid bringing my son to activities where there's nothing for him to do. Because while I might enjoy walking the aisles of a car show, having to constantly grab my son and try to constrain his natural 3-4 year old curiosity is an arduous task. I've had people tell me to "watch that kid" because he was simply standing within a foot or two of the car, as if somehow just the proximity of a preschooler near your car can cause irreparable harm. Who wants to deal with that. Even I, the car nut and self professed Studebaker evangelist, have many mornings (including this morning) left my son to play in his Avanti bed because I personally wanted to get something from the show, and constantly guarding him from rabid car owners takes a lot of joy out of the experience. He loves cars and car shows right now, and I don't want some idiot with a temper to ruin that, so I restrict how many events I take him to. I know others do the same.

I guess what I'm getting at is that if the one family that brings a kid to a car show wants to be jerks because little billy pinched his fingers in the glove box, let them be jerks. For me, my goal is to combat the perception that everyone who brings a car to a car show is an anti-kid moron. We might not realize it because we are in the car world, but that's a very common (and not wholly inaccurate) perception of the car show scene. Sure, adding some fine print couldn't hurt, but sometimes it's nice to experience a simple pleasure of having fun in an old car. With luck, maybe someday people will feel comfortable bringing kids to car shows again.

[Andy R.]

Great sign, Jim.

A couple Pixar Motoramas ago, the mother of an employee was giving the Hawk the once over twice, pointing out details to her daughter that she liked. When she said she liked it better than the cars in the actual show, I handed offered her the keys and asked if she'd like to start it up. She jumped behind the wheel faster than a kid on her 16th birthday and gave it a good rev.
The daughter told her Dad, "I never heard Mom laugh like that before!"
Dad said, "I have. We'd better get going or I'm gonna have to buy it!"

Finding evidence* my 2-and 4-year old have been "driving" in the garage to "Grandma's house" is usually fun, too. - *radio, wipers and lights come on when reconnecting the battery.

It's all good.

PEOPLE > THINGS.

[63avanti.]

Great sign! Nice way to encourage the parents to feel comfortable bringing their young ones to the shows. Like some have said though, even with the sign most people with respect for others cars still will ask first. As I know I would....

[JimC]

Finding evidence* my 2-and 4-year old have been "driving" in the garage to "Grandma's house" is usually fun, too. - *radio, wipers and lights come on when reconnecting the battery.

It's all good.

PEOPLE > THINGS.

Exactly. My almost 4 year old son LOVES to pretend driving in the Lark. Sometimes he goes to Grandma's. Other's it's to the Children's Museum. He hits buttons, turns knobs, does all sorts of stuff. Amazingly, nothing he has done has disabled the car. My line of reasoning is that if he can't wreck it in a few minutes of play, nobody can!

Nice way to encourage the parents to feel comfortable bringing their young ones to the shows.

Agreed. I think if there are even a couple "open cars" at a car show, it could drastically open the doors to families attending. Regardless of whether you're a MoPar, FoMoCo, GM, or Studebaker guy, the bottom line is that if kids don't buy into these cars, they're going to the scrapper when you and I shuffle off this mortal coil. We owe it to the generations of tomorrow to instill within them a passion for the cars of yesterday.

[55champion]

Great way to promote our cars. I enjoy letting someone that is taking pictures of my car get in it and me take a pic of them with their camera. It always brings a smile to their face and they many times come by again with a friend to get another photo...

[Noxnabaker]

For sure a sign in the right direction!

[Kdancy]

love the sign!
I do understand that there are instantences when you need to be more careful on high dollar restored cars, such as one car I did for a customer where a "hefty" adult used the steering wheel for an aid to get into and out of the very low seat (Jaguar XKE) thus bending a very expensive part. This thread reminds me that having at least a few cars at the shows that are accessible to viewers would be a good thing. I've been to some meets where children are given rides in some of the older vehicles and they just ate it up.

[ndynis]

The hand prints on the sign really set the tone! Great job! Maybe the next time my granddaughters are here I'll make a sign like that myself.

[mmagic]

You've given several great ideas for my sign guy.

"Please Touch ! It's a Studebaker and won't break."

"Studebaker-----; Conestoga wagons, Electric cars in 1904, WW2 airplane engines, style and engineering years too soon, and cars that still run after 60 years."

"Take your picture in a car actually built in America, Studebaker"

"CAFE Standards? Dad got 27 mpg in his 1947 Studebaker!"

"Studebaker built electric cars in 1904.. What took you so long Tesla?"

[BeeJay]

Maybe people are different in Nebraska. I have never minded people touching my cars. BUT! I have had parents allowing their kids to slide on the fenders of my '33 Chevy. Actually slide. Came back to my '41 Pontiac after registration at a car show and found a teenage girl sitting on the fender. Also found a grown man sitting in the car. Said he was listening to the radio. Admittedly these are rare events, but there are people out there who have no respect for the property of others. Encouraging them is not something I am willing to do.
Bob

[BeeJay]

Maybe people are different in Nebraska. I have never minded people touching my cars. BUT! I have had parents allowing their kids to slide on the fenders of my '33 Chevy. Actually slide. Came back to my '41 Pontiac after registration at a car show and found a teenage girl sitting on the fender. Also found a grown man sitting in the car. Said he was listening to the radio. Admittedly these are rare events, but there are people out there who have no respect for the property of others. Encouraging them is not something I am willing to do.
Bob

[JimC]

Bob - I said it in a thread elsewhere, but I'm a firm believer that idiots are everywhere. There's always going to be someone going too far. I will admit that a few weeks ago, I almost had a panic attack as I observed from a distance my son and his friend (both 3 and a half) deciding to climb on my trunk lid, pull themselves onto the roof, and then slide down onto the hood. I ran up, expecting dents, scratches, cracked glass. I discovered that even with this unauthorized roughhousing, the only damage was that they left some smears where they were sliding. A trip through the car wash and it was all better.

Stuff like what you mentioned might bug me if I had a fresh $7000 paint job on my car, but the truth is, it's a 10 year old MAACO finish. It's not going to break my heart if it gets a scratch or two.

Some folks want their cars to be rolling museums. I'm happy to have mine a rolling Childrens' Museum