Parking IssuesI'm a retread from the smallpage days of Rod & Custom. I just got my January 2008 issue and was checking it out over lunch and read your ("up Front") column. The lawn chair crowd has been around for a long time, but in the last few years (20 or so) they have gotten a whole lot braver. They have moved out of the show area, race track, and fairground, and into the hotel and motel parking lots. I have noticed it more in the eastern part of the u.S. than on the West Coast. I've been lucky enough to have gone to the Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield the last three years, also to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Columbus, ohio. I have not seen the lawn chair squatters on the West Coast at the events, unless they're cruising or at a photo shoot and they'll be back in an hour or so. Here in the East, they are alive and well. Thank for your time and a very good magazine.Stu RosendaulVia E-mail
As a reformed power parker, I really enjoyed your article "Necessity" in "up Front," which I was re-reading the other day. I hate driving toward an empty space at a show only to find it occupied by a lone lawn chair. Some stay that way most of the day. I agree that it's fine if the person is out cruising the grounds, but all the chairs holding spaces from 6 a.m. till their buddy arrives well fed at 10 a.m. are a pain. I tried to park next to a guy at a show who was occupying three spaces by parking sideways across the spaces. He let me know in no uncertain terms that his car was so special, he needed that full view showing in order to get "in the magazine." I decided there was a definite smell near him, so I chose another space. Turned out he's a check-writer with a trailer, not a builder or a driver.Alan PageGolden, Co
All I can say is excellent, excellent, excellent! This is a "must send" to the NSRA and I can't wait to mail it to them. Thanks for saying what needed to be said in your January2008 editorial. I truly enjoyed your article. Do you think the jerks with the lawn chairs will get it? I'm going to guess they never will. Scott PearsonVia E-mail
Don't worry about sending it tothe NSRA, Scott. They've seen it and felt that I must live a sheltered life and needed to get out more. I never said it was the fault of the NSRA or that the NSRA had anycontrol of anything that happens off the fairgrounds, so I'm not sure why they responded the way they did. I've always enjoyed the Nationals and will certainly be coming back, just as I'll still be attending several other events throughout the year. Believe me, attending too few events to not know what's happening out there is not really a problem.
I received a lot of response from readers on this issue, although most were referring to people saving spots at the showgrounds. A few of the event promoters are trying to deal with this; for instance, Goodguys tries to police the grounds and remove any chairs before 10 a.m.
As for me, as this is being written, it's Christmas shopping time and my chair at the mall lot is really coming in handy.
Real RoddersI just read the story in the February 2008 issue by Dick Martin on Jim Jacobs' life. What a great story about a real-life hot rodder who actually drives his hot rod. I too like to drive my hot-rodded '46 Ford. I drove it to work (when I was working, I'm retired now) as well as to the market now and then. It has more than 86,000 miles on the clock.
I wanted to share a couple of stories with you about how I've enjoyed this hobby with my grandsons. When my grandson, Nick, was 15 years old, he would come over just about every weekend to work on his '65 Comet. Together we did a mild custom. It took a year to get it in black paint. He's now in college at Cal State long Beach taking engineering classes.