With The Coming Car Show and Cruise Season, Its time to brush up on and share Car Show Etiquette with New Attendees!
By fondly reflecting on our former days and uniting us over our common bond, we frequent car cruises and shows, a great activity to escape the rapidly changing, and sometimes troubling world. But political and societal trends have leaked into other aspects of entertainment in our lives such as sports. These same political trends promote a sense of entitlement, envy, and a lack of both individual responsibility and respect for others’ property.
While we hobbyists do value and respect others’ property (especially with the skin in the game as exhibited by our own examples of pride and joy), its becoming more common for non-hobbyists to show up at our events. Unfortunately, this is where the spillover can potentially occur when these attendees touch or even help themselves to our vehicles without our permission.
Our initial reaction to a stranger putting his or hands on our vehicle may be take a defensive posture and criticize the trespasser. But instead of creating a conflict, a better approach would be to say something like “Hello, do you like the car?” and “Would you like me to show it to you?”
After showing the vehicle and answering his questions say “After I park the car sometimes people like to come up and touch it.” As you can see, this car is a labor of love and I hope that people attending would ask permission before touching it.” In other words, it would be better to shame this attendee without directly confronting him or her.
We can also look out for each other- if you notice someone touching a vehicle that you know is not theirs, mention that you know the owner stepped away but will be back if they have any questions. (You are making he or she aware that they are being watched without accosting them.)
Ultimately, we should take this approach to promote interest in our hobby as well by turning a negative into a positive experience. Contributed by Alan Power
