Amazon: Classic car Show NEC

[saturnuranus]

This year was my first at the Classic Car Show. Ordinarily I'd find myself at MPH which of course is on the same weekend, but this year I thought I'd try it out. If nothing else I had to drop some calendars off at the VOC stand!

My first impression of the VOC stand, and it was shared by my mate, was that it looked just a little bare. Perhaps they were expecting an extra car or two that had to cancel at the last minute but the stand could definately have got away with being a fair bit smaller. A nice 7 or 960 would have looked the part.

On the plus side though, one could stand on the VOC display and have a chat, mingle, etc, without getting trampled by the crowds. One beef I have with the entire show was that I had to pass a lot of stands by simply because the crowd was moving past and there wasn't any room to stop and admire. So the large uncrowded VOC display certainly worked well in that respect and I encourage that approach next year, although perhaps an extra motor wouldn't go amiss .

Good effort all round though and thanks to all those involved for a decent display. The three Volvos on display looked fantastic!

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

I never even realised that the VOC had a stand, I have intended to join the VOC myself, but between reading this thread and reading another thread I'm kinda put off now. I thought this forum was related to the VOC, so why was there no post put up asking for members cars to be put forward for display?? I would have quite happily offered my 740 and made a weekend away out of it.

[AidanC]

I wouldn't let this put you off joining - there'll never be perfect agreement about the makeup of the stand and sometimes the format will be controversial but you'll have more chance influencing things as a member. There's a lot more to the club than the annual NEC stand.

[Peter Keen]

Was there myself, superb show, but the volvo stand was an awful lot of space and only three cars!

[Giovanni]

Peter,

Having read some of the comments from people not connected to the stand I feel justified in my initial assesments. I travelled in excess of 300 miles to visit the stand and although the comments made about the lack of interest in the stall being viewed as a possitive thing I feel that this does not make any sense. I feel that a negative aspect is smehow being spun into a positive, perhaps next year we should go for one car and have even more space for peaople to walk past.
As a member I do not recall having any input into the make up of the stand, however I do agree that the cars on display were lovely but not very approachable with doors and bonnets closed.

These of course are my own personl views of which I am fully entitled.

Regards

Giovanni

[saturnuranus]

Originally Posted by Giovanni

Peter,

Having read some of the comments from people not connected to the stand I feel justified in my initial assesments. I travelled in excess of 300 miles to visit the stand and although the comments made about the lack of interest in the stall being viewed as a possitive thing I feel that this does not make any sense. I feel that a negative aspect is smehow being spun into a positive, perhaps next year we should go for one car and have even more space for peaople to walk past.
As a member I do not recall having any input into the make up of the stand, however I do agree that the cars on display were lovely but not very approachable with doors and bonnets closed.

These of course are my own personl views of which I am fully entitled.

Regards

Giovanni

I'm afraid you have misunderstood my point regarding the stand being quiet, apologies if I wasn't clear. I wasn't implying that there was a lack of interest in the VOC stand, but that one could stop, along with 20 or 30 other show-goers, on the VOC stand, have a look at the cars, chat to the staff etc, without being pushed and shoved. This was unique to the VOC stand as all the others were either too small or overcrowded with exhibits that they had to be viewed from the main walkways, which, at 1pm on Saturday, was impossible.

I am certainly not trying to 'spin' a negative aspect in to a positive one, indeed I agree that an extra car or two would not have gone amiss. For all we know one or two exhibits may have had to cancel at very short notice, preventing any further arrangements.

[Derek UK]

The last couple of NEC VOC stands have benefitted from full factory support. They provided cars which enhanced the display a lot. This year it was all "in house" as it were and so had to rely on members to offer cars to display for the weekend. Finding suitable cars and owners that can commit themselves to this isn't easy.
Volvo didn't support the much larger and more prestigous Techno Essen show this year. No Jaguar either. Ford are strapped for cash and have little interest in "old cars".

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

Derek, that is my point, if there was a shortage of cars, this is, as far as I'm aware, is a forum in connection with the VOC, to me, although my 740 may not have been suitable, there are many forum members with cars that would be, and I visit this forum everyday and I don't remember seeing a single post looking for cars on the stand.

Aidan, I know there is more to VOC than just the NEC show, but the comments made about the behaviour of the repersentitives of the VOC would make me not want to be a part of such a club. An owners club is ment to be friendly and approachable.

Maybe I'm just grabbing a wrong take on all this, maybe the gentleman in question on another thread was fed up answering questions WHY, but there should be a 100% friendly attitude towards the public at such a show, and if these alligations turn out to be true, I would like to think such a member would be delt with and the outcome made common knowledge to other club members.

[charriot 760]

geovani,i think you may have misunderstood my response to your initial comments,so let me reiterate what i was trying to say,sometimes with children you have to repeat yourself,this years theme was six "YES" six cylinder cars so there was no room for the more common classics,and as regards doors and bonnets being closed this was not a problem for myself,maybe with a little courtessay "DOORS COULD OPEN FOR YOU"and maybe bonnets to,so i hope your ,overall experience this year does not put you off from returning to the nec,

I am glad you agreed that the cars on the VOC stand were presented very well,remember these owners have gone to a lot of effort with there classic cars,and dont deserve this level of critisisim ,I am sure if you "OWN" a classic car you will know the work involved in keeping thes cars on the road.

kind regards victor.

[Bob]

The stand may have looked a little 'bare' because it was bigger than I was made aware. We were celebrating 80 years of the Volvo 6-cylinder engine and we had a range from the 1931 car to the display T6 engine we borrowed from Volvo in Sweden.

The problem with a stand that has the cars close together is that it could appear uninviting to walk on to the stand. Also you can't get a good look at a car and open the doors. It also increases the risk of damage. We had space for people to wander around each car and for groups of people to talk to us elsewhere on the stand.

Bonnets up or down. A lot of people like to take a photo of cars with the bonnets down, so that is how they are most of the time, but all the owners were willing to lift the bonnets if asked, and they often did.

This was the first time we were in Hall 4 and I I think most people enter the show into Hall 1, and that means Hall 4 is tucked away and you have to battle through the crowded auto jumble hall. The hall lighting was also poor and many stand owners commented on this. What I found was that people came into Hall 4 in waves, unlike the constant flow in the other halls.

Bob