American Car World - Lazy Sunday

Lazy Sunday is a joint event organised by American Car World & Japanese Performance magazine, so I imagined a show that would look more like a movie scene from latest Fast & Furious film rather than a car show in Berkshire.

Set in Wellington Country Park near Reading, the ingredients were there for a great day out. But I woke that morning to driving rain and a very grey sky. My positive side told me it would dry up and it did to a degree, but the weather proved to be a mixed bag in the end.

As we entered the showground the yanks were to the left and the ricers to the right almost like opposing armies preparing to do battle in the clearing amongst the woodland!

Walking round there was a modest turnout of yanks with good representation of Corvettes, but strangely one had broken ranks and parked up with the ricers.
A Vet amongst ricers!
I’m not sure if he was the first there and all the other yanks arriving decided to park on the other side or whether he was planning to defect!
But by mid morning I’m glad to say he came to his senses and broke away from the ranks of the ricers and took refuge with all the other yanks.

There were prizes for the best exhibitors along with a host that invited selected vehicles to the arena for display and a discussion. The weather no doubt had a bearing on attendance, and whilst there were only a handful of yanks, the ricers were well represented. Trade stands / representation was sadly lacking, so it proved to be a smaller show than I had expectedThe Arena

One thing I feel can influence attendance to the greatest degree is whether you charge exhibitors. The charge was £6 per person irrespective of whether you were an exhibitor and for what the show offered, this in my opinion seemed a little steep.

It’s probably a personal thing and it is just my opinion, but when holding a show that is purely a car show, I don’t believe you should charge the exhibitors. By all means charge spectators and for trade pitches, but an exhibitor has taken the time, trouble and cost in fuel to attend the event and without exhibitors and their cars there isn’t a show.

I’m not wanting to criticise this or any show because it takes a great deal of dedication, time and effort to bring a show together, and there were some great elements to this show. But for me it was not all that I had hoped it would be.Jim T's 1968 Camaro

To view the pictures of American Car World - Lazy Sunday “click here” to visit the gallery – is your ride in there?