HotRod and Restoration Show

Just a few thoughts from our recent trip to the Hot Rod and Restoration Trade Show....
First, the concensus of the folks in attendance seemed to be that the Hot Rod and Restoration Industry is holding up well despite the recent economic downturn. Although there is an awareness that the parts we sell or the cars we build/restore are bought with disgressionary dollars and are therefore not necessities for people.....they do help people define themselves...and that is something folks are willing to continue to invest in. Overall, that was good news to hear.
We spent all day Thursday attending various hour long seminars that started at 8:00Am and didn't complete until after 6:00Pm. The best seminar of the day was conducted by Brent VanDervort, owner of FatMan Fabrications out of Charlotte, NC. He gave an excellent talk on Hot Rod suspensions and steering, explaining how the different configrations worked and why.
On Friday we arrived early to attend the breakfast honoring "Speedy Bill" Smith, founder of Speedway Motors. It was a nice affair and paid homage to a true hot rodding pioneer. After breakfast roamed the convention center floor, stopping at as many vendor booths as we could. EVOD Wheels had a nice display of their new products....some really sharp looking wheels. Nordskog gauges had a really slick analog GPS drive speedometer that will fit nicely in any car and never needs calibrated. Fuel Air Spark Technology (FAST) had a nice self tuning EFI fuel injection unit and Brew City Engineering showed off their RediRad unit that allows an FM radio, CD or iPod to be played through the original AM radios found in older cars.
There was plenty of go-fast speed equipment. Roush Racing had several of their Ford engines on display. These are really nice but very costly.
Thursday evening there was a reception with sandwiches, Budweiser beer and the very cute "Bud Girls" who mingled with the crowd. All in all, it was a good show but we would have liked to see more seminars and vendors with products and information that is more geared to the Restoration side of the business. Still, we were glad we went. With any luck we'll be back again next year.

Next blog will be a recap of our trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.