Let's Discuss The 2023 Show - In Detail

This thread is to start very detailed discussions regarding the 2023 show & swap meet.  And amoung other things we need to discuss what classes we have, who does the voting, manpower leading up to and during the show, and when we have the show.

Classes: Traditionally we've had 6 classes that cross all years: Best Paint; Best Engine; Closest To Stock; Best Upgrades; People's Favorite; & Farthest Driven.  But it has been suggested that since we are a Bullnose forum that we segregate things differently.  My concern with that is with only 37 entries this year we wouldn't have had enough to do that, but perhaps I'm missing something?  And, by the way, of the 37 we had 5 of the 1961-66 generation; 8 of the 1967-72; 7 of the 1973-79; and 7 Bullnose.

Voting: Also traditionally we've let everyone that comes into the show vote.  In other words, even kids and adults that don't know a Ford from a Chevy get to vote.  And some of the ballots have been "straight ticket" with the same truck getting votes for every category.  Should we change?
 If so, to what?  How are other shows run?

Manpower: Heretofore I've done essentially everything to get ready for the show, and then people who show up volunteer for the various tasks, like setup, photography, admittance, etc.  But if we are going to make this grow it would help if others would undertake certain aspects of the show.  And the people doing some of these tasks wouldn't even have to come to the show.  For instance there's contacting vendors and getting the freebies, certificates, etc.  And there's advertising, which includes Facebook, forums, etc.  What else can you think of?  Anyone willing to take on one of those tasks?

When: We've done two polls, shown below, and the 2nd week after Labor Day has won in both of them.  Having said that, you'll notice that I didn't vote in either of the polls, and one reason is that Janey and I've traditionally taken off on some kind of a trip about the 2nd weekend after Labor Day.
 So while that appears to be the date most want, we will have to develop our plans for next year before I can commit to that.

Anyway, please chime in, regardless of whether or not you think you can attend.  I'd like to get as much input as possible, and it is likely that I've not even thought about all of the topics to discuss.

Hi Gary,

Maybe am I much too enthusiast, but I cannot keep my idea bouncing under my scalp without sharing it.

I understand that probably more than 97% of the members are living in Continental US.  But looking at the members map, I also see that a huge proportion are based all round and at four corners of USA.  In fact, these friends are as far as I am from the Show.

Next one will go on 2023...  I understand that James Kirk will born 210 years ahead, but some technological tools are already here with us.  Is it crazy to imagine that a part of the Show could be streamed over the web?  Don't know, maybe the prizes section, couple of minutes this kind.

And — why not, let's wander some more!  — maybe a kind of Zoom or Teams link that would enable each of us to log in and discuss in a "real" Ford Lounge, for half an hour?

Now, let's talk about the date.  The US Labor Day is always the same date, no matter if in the week or the weekend.
So, if my foolish idea is gaining ground, the Show should be on a weekend, to enable most of us to participate, since couple of "non-US" members are probably working on the Labor Day.

OK, the seed is planted, now let's see what will happen.


Ciao!

Well, finally someone has responded.  Thanks!  Let me see if I can respond to your suggestions, Jeff:

Video: This could be done via Zoom, but more likely would be Facebook Live. We could do that, assuming that we have someone that is willing to do that.  I've been so busy at the shows that I frequently don't get to eat.  So we will have to have someone willing to do it.  And if we have then we could do whatever we wanted.

And we could do two different things.  One, the dinner the night before, which is mainly for forum members, could be set up for just "us".  But then on the day of the show we could make that open to all.

Date: The show is always on a Saturday, not Monday.  So when we say "Labor Day" we really mean the Saturday of that weekend.

Gary Lewis wrote

And we could do two different things.  One, the dinner the night before, which is mainly for forum members, could be set up for just "us".  But then on the day of the show we could make that open to all.

Gary,

This would be very cool during the dinner. I use MS Teams for online meetings almost every day of the work week, and find it easy to use. I think the most we've ever had on a meeting was 12 or so. I could probably set that up as all it involves is sending email invites. If you had a laptop or computer screen with a camera near the table or wherever you're having dinner, some of us could join in remotely. If you're interested that is. I could even get some BBQ take-out and eat along with you guys;).

As for something during the show, I don't know how that would work, so I can't comment there, but if you wanted to do something during the dinner I'm sure I could administer that for a few forum members.

That sounds good, Cory!  I'll take you up on that.

But do they need to be on a Windows device to use Teams?

Gary, sorry for the late response.....busy on my end.

Be advised Gary, the virtual stuff is just one more thing that you most likely will have to do and we are trying to reduce that. If you can't find someone to do it, are you sure you want to mess with it?

BTW, I have offered to take photos and will gladly do that.  

I'm at work now, but will post my thoughts on the other things later.  

Gary Lewis wrote

That sounds good, Cory!  I'll take you up on that.

But do they need to be on a Windows device to use Teams?

I don't think so Gary. I also use Teams on my Samsung S51 work phone, and I just checked and I see I have the Teams app installed on my iPhone XR as well, although I don't think I've used it on my iPhone. I usually use it on my PC laptop in my office, but I have used the Samsung phone on occasion, and some of my coworkers do the meetings on their phones all the time. I'll try to test it on my iPhone sometime soon and see if it works OK.

Just throwing it out there as an option at least. A virtual meeting is easy enough to set up. All it requires is emails to send invites to, and then people join in at the set time.

We've been using it since just before the pandemic for meetings and training, etc. As long as everybody has a decent internet connection, it works fine.

Cory - That sounds good.  

John - Cory has volunteered to do the video bit on the dinner, although we'll have to set up something like this laptop for our end.  As for a Facebook Live event for the show, if we could get someone to walk around with a phone to show all of the trucks that would do the trick.  But I can't commit to doing that as I seem to be consumed, timewise, at the shows.

Gary it won't let me vote

Are you trying to vote in this thread?  Those are just pics.  Go to Round Two: When Should The Truck Show Be In 2023?

And on the subject of free stuff for the show, we really do need several people to work on this.  Apparently there are lots of places that will contribute.  For instance, I just found this on Eaton Springs: Free Stuff For Car Shows.

As some of you know, John/Machspeed and I attended a local car show yesterday. That gave us a chance to see how others do things and discuss what we might want to do. And three big things come from the observations and discussions:

1. Classes: Traditionally we've had 6 classes that cross all years: Best Paint; Best Engine; Closest To Stock; Best Upgrades; People's Favorite; & Farthest Driven. But it has been suggested that since we are a Bullnose forum that we segregate things differently so that our trucks have a reasonable chance to win. However, with only 37 entries last year we will have to be careful or we will have a class with no entries - a trophy w/o a home. And, by the way, of the 37 we had 5 of the 1961-66 generation; 8 of the 1967-72; 7 of the 1973-79; and 7 Bullnose.
   Wikipedia says there are currently 14 generations of F-Series trucks, so having a trophy for each generation won't work as we have never had an entry from each of them. However, the trophies are actually two parts - the trophy itself and the name plate. Maybe we could have name plates made up and stick them on the trophies for whatever entries we had?
   Another approach would be to change the categories and maybe have: Best Bronco; Best F100/150; Best F250; Best F350, and those would be across all years. And then we could have: Best Engine; Best Interior; Best Paint; Best Modifications; etc.
2. Voting: Heretofore we've let everyone vote. That's been fun and kids really love voting for their father's truck. But do we want to get serious and have qualified judges? Perhaps have Keith Dickson/FORDification/Mr. Ford @ LMC judge the Bumps & Dents? Someone from our forum judge the Bullnose? Etc?
3. Manpower: We need more people. Last year was tough as several regulars couldn't make it, but even when the rest of y'all are here I'm wiped out at the end of the day, and I'm not getting any younger. In fact, at lunch today Janey suggested I hire someone(s) to help. But I don't know who to hire. Thoughts?

So guys and gals, PLEASE COMMENT! PLEASE SUGGEST! PLEASE DEBATE! Just because you might not be here doesn't mean you don't have some good ideas. We absolutely have to kick this around and get it figured out soon.

I was not able to attend last year but reviewing the results after the show, my biggest issue was that not a single Bullnose took home a trophy. Actually, one did, but that truck was given a trophy for furthest driven, which I feel should be given a gift certificate and not a trophy. Something to think about, Gary.

Anyway, my biggest gripe is that we are a Bullnose Club sponsoring a truck show for which none of our members received anything. And, I know for certain, there was at least one Bullnose truck there that should be a trophy winner at every event! And no, it's not mine!

I think part of the problem is that we were handing out ballots to everyone, kids too! We need input on this? I suggest one ballot per entry, only. At check in, we give them the entry form, a decal, and a ballot. Honestly, I think we need a small entry fee too. Gary has been paying for trophy's, food and everything else. If not an entry fee, maybe a donation. Thoughts?

We are calling this a Ford Truck Show, not a Bullnose Truck show, so I suggested to Gary that we break down the trucks into classes and I still think we should do that. Here's my suggestion on the classes: 48-79, 80-86, 87-96 and the Broncos. We can keep with the best engine, best paint, best modified and best of show.

Another thing that I struggle with are the trophy chasers. People go buy a heavily customized vehicle  for which they never turned a wrench on and enter it in a show. Maybe it's just me, but that's just wrong! All of us on this forum turn wrenches on our vehicles and we take pride in what WE'VE done and I think that's deserving of something. That said, I wonder if on the entry form we ask the participant what he did to his vehicle....i.e. did you paint your vehicle, etc???

I don't now, the more I think about this now, I think that maybe we just forget handing out ballots and get judges.

Input please???  

   

I'm going to reply, but I do NOT want this to just be John and myself.  So all y'all please chime in.

What if we had something like these classes:

Early: meaning before 1967

Bumpside: 1967 - 72

Dentside: 1973 - 79

Bullnose: 1980 - 86

Bricknose: 1987 - 91

Aeronose: 1992 - 97

Late: Anything later than '97

And then across all classes we had:

Best Engine

Best Interior

Best Modifications

Best Paint

Crowd Favorite

Farthest Driven

As for judging, maybe we could have gurus like Keith Dickson/FORDification for the Bumps & Dents, if not others, and someone from here for the Bulls, etc.  Then let all visitors vote for Crowd Favorite?

But we'd have to determine how to judge each of the generations.  Are we judging for closest to stock?  Are we going for cleanest?  Prettiest?  How do we judge?

As for "best" anything, maybe I could get my paint/body man to judge the paint?  But who judges the engines, interior, modifications?  And on what criteria?

HELP!

Machspeed wrote

Another thing that I struggle with are the trophy chasers. People go buy a heavily customized vehicle  for which they never turned a wrench on and enter it in a show. Maybe it's just me, but that's just wrong! All of us on this forum turn wrenches on our vehicles and we take pride in what WE'VE done and I think that's deserving of something.

Ha! I get your point here John, but to play devil's advocate for just a second, I think it's actually a fairly sound decision to buy a nice finished hotrod or restoration...since you can normally buy something for only two thirds or even only half of what it cost to build in the first place LOL. I get it though, and I know what you mean. A good friend of mine bought a really nicely finished '78 F100 a couple years ago, and I have to say I sometimes wish I had done the same. I think it's good for people that have other hobbies (I don't lol).

Gary Lewis wrote

But we'd have to determine how to judge each of the generations.  Are we judging for closest to stock?  Are we going for cleanest?  Prettiest?  How do we judge?

As for "best" anything, maybe I could get my paint/body man to judge the paint?  But who judges the engines, interior, modifications?  And on what criteria?

HELP!

I have attended a lot of car shows, but never a Ford truck only show...I guess that is why this one is so unique. My personal opinion is no to judges, but let the crowd choose the winners in pre-set categories. Normally at shows around here it's best GM, best Ford, best Mopar, etc...and then crowd favorite. Everybody gets a number, and then the crowd fills out their cards. I dunno Gary...best 2wd, best 4x4, best Flareside or Short wheelbase truck, best stock, and most modified, followed by the crowd favorite. Keep it around 5-6 lines imho.

The crowd favorites always go to those heavily modified and high dollar restorations with the mirrors underneath them. However, that's generally not a truck...so I'd say a crowd favorite at a truck show could be a 1-ton stake bodied truck as long as everybody loved it equally;).

Rembrant wrote

I have attended a lot of car shows, but never a Ford truck only show...I guess that is why this one is so unique. My personal opinion is no to judges, but let the crowd choose the winners in pre-set categories. Normally at shows around here it's best GM, best Ford, best Mopar, etc...and then crowd favorite. Everybody gets a number, and then the crowd fills out their cards. I dunno Gary...best 2wd, best 4x4, best Flareside or Short wheelbase truck, best stock, and most modified, followed by the crowd favorite. Keep it around 5-6 lines imho.

The crowd favorites always go to those heavily modified and high dollar restorations with the mirrors underneath them. However, that's generally not a truck...so I'd say a crowd favorite at a truck show could be a 1-ton stake bodied truck as long as everybody loved it equally;).

Thanks for the input!

Yes, this show is unique.  Just talked to my brother and our home town of Arkansas City, KS has a show called The Last Run and they've had over 1000 vehicles show up.    That's about 30 times the size of our show!  So we agreed that despite me knowing many of the people in the club that hosts it, which includes Carl Davis that John and I saw on Saturday, there's really no point in picking their brains.  The differences are just too large to try to use their classes, trophies, et al on our show.

So your thinking is just to do these classes and not do anything based on year or generation of the trucks?  (My thoughts/questions along with the classes.)

Best 2wd: I'm not sure all of the voters will know 2wd from 4wd

Best 4wd: Ditto

Best Flairside: What, are Stylesides chopped liver?  

Best Stock: Will stockness be intuitively obvious to the casual observer?  

Most Modified: It might be hard to believe, but there are probably people who think Big Blue is stock.  

Crowd Favorite:

I'm really not trying to take away from your suggestions.  But having recently watched people attempt to pass LS-engined 70's trucks off as stock, I'm not sure the general public is as well educated down here as they apparently are up there.  We have people off the street, little kids, and other non-hobbyists voting.  Or, did I miss something?

Gary Lewis wrote

I'm really not trying to take away from your suggestions.  But having recently watched people attempt to pass LS-engined 70's trucks off as stock, I'm not sure the general public is as well educated down here as they apparently are up there.  We have people off the street, little kids, and other non-hobbyists voting.  Or, did I miss something?

Haha...I said Flaresides or short wheelbase trucks in general...meaning Stylesides would be included. I was just throwing random group thoughts out there since they'll all be the same brand...that makes it difficult.

I don't know Gary...but I wouldn't over think it too much. Most of the crowds I see strolling car shows don't know all that much about what they're looking at. Of course the people that enter vehicles are enthusiasts...but of the rest of the people there, I'd bet 75% often can't judge a vehicle by any more than what color it is lol. The few shows I attended where I actually entered my truck, I watched lots of people actually write my truck down as an entry...a lot of the times women and kids because they just loved the color blue, and I'd never even come close to even being a runner up in any of them. That's all fine...my feelings don't get hurt that easily. The value in attending a car show for me is hanging out with other enthusiasts. The journey, hanging with friends, and seeing all the other cool vehicles are what it's about. Winning anything is far less important imho.

That doesn't help with your original questions though. I'd pick some fairly simple and random categories, and just run with it.

Thanks again, Cory.

I agree that the vast majority of those attending our shows, not including the owners of the trucks, don't know more than the color of the vehicle.  So if we put ballots in their hands I don't think we should be discussing stock or modifications as they won't have a clue.

In fact that means we might not be able to put the vehicles in classes, like Bumps or Bulls.  I say that because doing so would require the attendees to understand that they can only vote for the Best Bump, for instance, if that vehicle is a Bump and is entered into that class.

So letting the attendees vote would seem to boil down to only two scenarios:

No Classes: Just do as we've done and give each entrant a # and then have the attendees vote for the truck of their choice for each category, like Best Engine, Best Interior, Crowd Favorite, etc.

 

Mix: Have classes, like Bump, Dent, Bull, etc and have judges for each of those.  And also have the attendees vote for categories, like Best Engine, Best Interior, Crowd Favorite, etc.

Does this make sense?  Am I missing something?  What do y'all think we should do?

The way most do it around here is like Cory said "best of GM / Ford / MOPAR / ETC.
They hand out award for 1st, 2nd, 3rd in each class.
In our case maybe break it down into generations and then 4x2 & 4x4 with in the group if you have enough in the class?

This is all done thru judging from the people putting on the show.
I thought I had some judge sheets but must had dumped them on a clean up
If you can hit a few local shows and ask for judging sheets they are happy to give you one.
This way you can see how it is done and what they look for and the point system they use, it is pretty easy system.

Then they may have Crowd Favorite they only given a paper to put the trucks number on, no judging.
And / or who ever is putting on the show Favorite (someone from the church?)
Also do the most traveled as some do here too.

Also one of the big things I think most, at least in our club, dont like is when 1 car / truck get more then 1 award. If a car or truck has 2 awards the one they get is the better of the 2. ie: best of show over best motor. The other then goes to the next best motor.
The more awards to more people you will have them coming back as next time they may get something but if only 1 get 3 awards them why come back.

Once the sheets have totals you just have to figure who has the most points for that class.
If you dont break down best motor / paint / etc. it gets pretty easy.

If the weather is nice this Saturday there is a show next town over and I will see if I can get a judge sheet from them and see if I can get one from our club and post it so you can see the lay out.

I know I just added a whole lot more to think about
Dave ----

Thanks, Dave.

We don't let anyone win more than 1 trophy, and we use the order we list the trophies as the priority order.  So just like you said, if you win two trophies the 2nd one goes to the next person.

As for judging, if we had a set of guidelines to go by then maybe we could do some judging ourselves.  So please try to get a judging sheet as that could help.

That would let us do the "Mix" mentioned above, meaning both judged categories and crowd voting.