june 25th-28th. I'll have 2 LT1's. coupe an roadster--71-72. Will be in town Thursday. Wonder how Mecom will do? His muscle cars and more was a Huge success last Month in Indy. I bought a nice 70 Chevelle SS at the venue.

 

I have not been in a couple of years. Thought about it this year but talked myself out of it. Bloomington has really changed. Used to be that Bloomington was about restoring a Vette. Lots of vendors selling restoration parts and the workshops were great to learn how to do something yourself.

But now Bloomington seems to be about nothing but auctions. In place of getting your hands dirty and restoring your own vette, you now pull out your checkbook and buy your self a vette.

The workshops are gone, the restoration vendors are dropping in numbers being replaced by vendors selling t-shirts and dress up items for the C6.

But as long as Mecum owns the show I don't think we will see much of a change.

So I am saving the money and going to try to go to Carlisle this year for the first time to see what it is like.

tom...

 

I use to go to Bloomington Gold Corvettes every year as well as Corvettes @ Carlisle, now I only attend the Corvettes @ Carlisle event, it is just a terrific venue. Swap meet, Car corral, exhibits and a ton of Corvettes of all years. Love it!!!!

 

If I lived closer I would go. The last time I drove out there (over 1000 miles one way) I spent the weekend dodging tornadoes and mud Looks like the new area is very nice. Lots of weather out there this time of year.

 

I'll be there. Parked on the golf course with a large cooler

 

Not to bash, but another thing that I miss in the new Bloomington compared to the old Bloomington is the feeling of being special. When the show was in Springfield they would roll out the red carpet for the Vettes. The hotels would have special parking for Vettes, usually roped off and one even had two levels of it parking garage reserved and had specail secutiry from 8 pm to 8 am. The city went all out. Closing off a main street and having bands and food vendors. It was special.

St Charles is a much smaller town so all the overnight attendies are all spread out and not concentrated in one town. It seems that most attendies now are either day trippers from the Chicago area or are those that fly in and stay at lux hotels in Chicago.

In springfield I would arrive on Wed, go to the workshops on thursday and then not depart until late Sunday. It was a major vacation. Now I have trouble finding enough to keep me busy arriving on Friday and departing Saturday evening.

But for those that are local and can do a day trip it probably can be an excellent experence. For me if it was a 4 hour drive rather than a 14 hour drive I would be there every year just because it is a vette show.

tom...

 

Best years were Bloomington Illinois. Many memories of those shows. Think David Burroughs owns bloomington rights Not Mecom.

 

Mecum owns the rights; Dave pretty much runs the show for him.

I'll be there Wed- Sun, just as I have every year since 1981. I will say it's easier these days than it was when I taught at the Workshops every year. Much less to worry about.

I think it's unfortunate to hear people talk about Bloomington the way some people do. I had this conversation with Dave B. recently. Why is it that people can't get past the fact that it's not 1985 anymore?

Yes, the best days were when it was in Bloomington. And the days in Springfield were nice, too. But the people that unfairly bash Dana do not take into account that when Bloomington's rights were up for sale, no one else stepped up to the plate and grabbed it. We all thought Chip (Miller, from Carlisle) would take it, but it didn't happen. Dana took over, enabled Bloomington Gold to continue and uses it as a vehicle for his auction. What exactly is so wrong with that? And, he brought Dave back in order to make sure the show part ran well. If not for Dana, everyone would be sitting here right now typing, "hey, remember that Bloomington show? That used to be fun."

People go on and on thats its not as big, not as many vendors, too far away, blah, blah, blah. I say, things change over 20+ years sometimes. Oh, well. I like the setting on the golf course, it's beautiful. Sure I'd love to see a lot more vendors like the old days, but a lot of that is because of ebay undercutting their business and the fact they leave so early. Not Dana's fault. I also don't really care for how the classes are done now, but... oh, well, I still love the Certification and the Corvette Survivor fields.

Sorry for the rant, but when I hear the same tired reasons why people don't go to Bloomington anymore and how it's so awful as compared to the "old days," it gets under my skin.

 

I'm planning to go on Sunday, hope to see some of you there.

 

Last time I went was in 1976 and there was a pretty decent auction then, but you wouldn't want to know the selling prices.

 

I'll be attending for the first time. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of great cars and auction. I'm interested in noting the differences in their judging vs NCRS. The fact that it's taking place in a country club/golf course is just fine with me....

 

Holy crap Steve, you must've been really upset, you added an "s" and forgot an apostrophe!

I would love to attend, it's just too much distance. Is anyone getting their car judged?

 

After a long post defending Bloomington, I hate to be the one to mention this: I don't know if you've ever been there before, but vendors leave very early on Sunday... if you are picking one day to go, make it Friday or Saturday.

 

I've never, ever said I was above typos...

 

I go every year, usually two days, Survivor and Gold judging days.
And it helps to be there early to take best advantage of the vendors, some of whom leave early Saturday!
This year looks to be another sweltering rainy weekend, tho

 

Sorry Steve, did not mean to be that negative. I thank Mecum for saving Bloomington. It is more that I don't like the direction that the Corvette hobby has taken. It used to be a do it yourself hobby. Now it is a buy it yourself hobby.

I just miss the old days of someone showing off the work that thay had done themself in bring an old car back to new. Ahhh the good old days

tom...

 

True statement.

I was actually told this was one reason for the change in direction for the workshops. Used to be a Fix it crowd... now it's a Buy it crowd.

 

I'll be there Friday. I'm bringing the '05 Canyon.

 

Last year was my 1st year. Weather was great & I saw a lot of stuff that answered my questions about the cars & the hobby. This year I'll be going on Saturday. See ya all there.

 

I'll be there.