Wallace

As usual, I went to the St.Charles show today Sunday. Was it me or were there only a few Vendors there. Did anyone see Breathless Performance Parts? I still had a great time as usual. There were plenty of Corvettes there!
They even had the Duntov test Corvette there. It was really something to see.
Some say it is priceless! :eek: :chevy

BOB'S C6

I was disappointed in the amount of venders there this year also. I believe Chevrolet messed things up when they scheduled the 50th celebration on the same weekend, drawing alot from the Bloomington Gold show.

91Vette

I was somewhat disappointed in Bloomington Gold this year. The wife and I got to St Charles Thursday night to register and stayed through Sunday. We entered our 91 in the Gold Mine ... needless to say, we drove it home. There were some nicely priced Vettes for sale at the Gold Mine, but not many were selling. I do not believe they even came close the their claim of a 50% sales rate. Must be the economy ...

I can't help but feel that the location has hurt the show (and having the 50th celebration at the same time did not help). I had a few questions from locals about the wristbands we wore ... they had no idea there was a Vette show in town. That was too bad.

On the brighter side, I met some very cool people at the Gold Mine. We sat and talked almost the entire weekend while we waited for people to look the Vettes over ... and maybe make an offer.

We left around noon on Sunday ... things were just dead. A bunch of cars in the Gold Mine did not return, there were vendors that had packed up and left.

All in all, we enjoyed ourselves. However, I will not be going back to St Charles for the show next year.

rxbdwl

I didn't go because of the location change. Last year was my fourth and I was really disapointed in the show. Compared to previous years, it just didn't impress me at all. The grounds are very nice but things are so strung out you have to walk forever. I also felt the vendor area was much smaller than previous years. It doesn't sound like this year was any improvement. Too bad, it used to be a great event. See you all at Effingham.

corvetteronw

Left the show Sat afternoon. I felt the numbers were down somewhat also. They auctioned off Duntov's test vette, also Michael Jordan's 40th Anniv ZR1 and Mickey Thompson's Z06 tire-test car. Does anyone know what they sold for?
The locals I ran into at the restaurants seemed to know what my armband was all about and were quite friendly. I saw 91Vette's car for sale on the golf course and thought it was reasonably priced. It looked good too but IMHO that torquoise color is a tough sell as many folks prefer red or black. Have you tried posting it on the forum? I was lookin for some used parts for my 87 vert and either found all of the in the swap meet or got info on where to find them later. I was lookin for an obscure part for another friend's vette and found it too. I also got to meet a lot of interesting folks and for real fun got flagged down by a guy who said: "Wow, that looks just like MY car - I've never seen another one just like it!". I had a great time. I plan on goin to Carlisle where I will be hittin the swap area tryin to find some bargains on wheels. Carlisle should be really big this year and they will give away a stunning black 91 coupe from Corvette Mike on the last day of the show. It was at St Charles and looked beautiful! :cool:

91Vette

I realize that the turquoise color is a major hinderance to selling the car. At the show, there was definitely the mix of "Cool color" and "Nice car, but horrible color". As it turns out, we left the show too early (noon on Sunday). All the cars that were around me (an 89, 97, & 94) sold after we left! I guess the auction ended and people figured that was there last chance to buy.

I did list it here on the Forum ... no responses.

Oh well, if it is meant to sell, it will sell.

Illini Steve

My take:

* Great location, so much better than dusty fairgrounds, even if you have to walk a little more.
* The timing of the 50th stuff made it a little smaller, but Saturday's crowd was huge.
* I went Friday-Sunday, and it really is more of a one day show than a whole weekend. Saturday gets great crowds, but by noon Sunday everyone is packing up.
* My car is not worth what I thought. I sat in the auction tent for a while all three days and the prices were amazingly low across most years of cars. I wish I had a little disposable income to throw around!

91Vette

I am with you on the facility ... the Pheasant Run was very nice. I'd take a golf resort any day over the Interstate Center.

Like yourself, I wish I was in the buying position at the show. There were some excellent deals to be had!

Pete Pulos

I went on Sunday AM with my 5 yr old boy and left around noon.

There just wasnt anything. I went to Bloomington about a decade ago and it was great, but maybe being Sunday and Bowling Green at the same time had something to do with it. The course was beautiful, but I dont know if I'll be back...

By the how was Saturday and the road trip, did it rain out?

Illini Steve

On Saturday both sides of all of the fairways were lined almost all the way to Gate 5 on the west edge of the course. Sunday was a tiny fraction of the cars.

The Road Tour went off with rain and sun mixed throughout. Lots of people were pulling over to put tops up or down and T-tops on and off depending on the weather. There was a pretty nasty accident towards the end that forced some of us to detour off the planned route: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=593642
The Road Tour was a lot better than last year's loop because it was an out and back route so you got to see all of the cars going the other direction instead of just the few in front and behind you.

Biggus Blockus

I was a vendor at the show, Friday was the best day, and Saturday was good also. I sold most of my stuff on Thursday however. St Charles is a great choice, plenty of hotel rooms, fun downtown area. I'm very pleased. No doubt we lost a lot to the 50th celebration - but it is a once in a lifetime deal and the numbers should be up next year at Bloomington - unless some bonehead schedules something else that conflicts :conehead .

My take on the Gold Mine is that prices were much too high on most of the stuff there - that's why many owners took their cars home with them.

As far as the swap meet goes, we were short a few vendors, but it had about the same feel as last year.

rwd

I've heard people complaining that no one was buying, but I was seriously looking, and I saw a lot of others who were, too. Without intending to offend any sellers, I have to agree that the Gold Mine prices were uniformly too high. Same for the reserves on a number of the auction cars.

I'm not sure the strategy of posting a high price and asking for offers is a viable one. Perhaps some lowered their asking price on Sunday, but like most out-of-staters, I was gone by then.

I enjoyed the weekend, at any rate.

flyersfan1088

To those that keep saying Chevy screwed up by holding the 50th the same weekend as Bloomington you are wrong. The anniversary was the 30th, so last weekend is when it should have been held. The 50th should hold precedence over an annual show that's on the decline.

IndianaJef

I agree. Why would Bloomington Gold schedule the same weekend as the "once in a lifetime 50th gathering". Just bad planning on their part. I would have liked to see Bloomington Gold, but was not going to miss the national caravan to Nashville. It was awesome. A good time was had by all.

icemanto

Breathless Performance Was at Bowling Green For the 50th. I suppose that with many C5 Vendors, They went where the people and the money went. That was Bowling Green for the 50th.
I was surprised to see so many vendors at the Museum. It was a Fun Time!
:party: