Whether it’s the Friday night cruise-in, the Saturday morning Cars and Coffee, or a full-blown local/national car show, you want to make a good impression with your baby. So what do the “professionals” do to get ready to show off their cars? Here are a few tips that might help your car stand out in the crowd.
Make sure that the outside is clean. Taking a dirty car to the show is just not right.
- Take the trash out of the interior. Old bags from Krystal are not attractive.
- Wipe everything down inside, including the windows. People look through the windows – if they can.
- Use an “instant detailing” spray and a microfiber cloth to quickly wipe down the car when you get to the show. Since it is already clean, the finish will then just shine.
- Shine the tires. People like shiny tires.
- Wipe and clean the wheels, including the nooks and crannies. Brake dust is a bad thing.
- Set up your car to “display.” At a recent 80’s car show, the People’s Choice winner had cassette tapes from the 80’s on the console – very “period correct.”
- Be available to talk about your car. People are genuinely interested and go to these events to see and discuss all things cars.
If you are looking for awards and trophies, these and other details have to be picture-perfect and clean-like-new. But since we all tend to drive our cars, concours-ready is not in the cards.
As a regular reader of this site, you may know that I take my 924S “Sparky” to a lot of shows. Just this past weekend, Sparky was seen at Amelia Island on the field at the Werks Reunion and again at the Festivals of Speed. While not a concours car, he got a lot of attention for his clean presentation – and attention drawn by the fact that he is normally the only 924S in attendance. “I used to have one of these” and “Mine is out in the parking lot” were common during these days. I have no plans for wanting to enter real concours events – I drive my cars, not polish them.
In Orlando this Saturday Morning is a Cars and Coffee at the ACE Cafe downtown, starting at 8:00. Sparky will be there, and I hope that you will also join us.
