Am I the first one to see this ? NSRA open to 1975

[Dave]

According to street rod builder the NSRA has opened events up to 1975 model years. We wont know what events untill the 05 schedule comes out.
Hummmmm I guess its ok but seems to me the Good guys did that already and I kind of liked the pre 49 for the NSRA events but thats just my opinion and im entitled to it This should open a whole new can of worms ... Well? YA NAY :x OR
Dave
ps: Keep it friendly Fat Cats under a lot of stress lately. Ive heard he wants a Pink tux for the wedding...

[Dave]

According to street rod builder the NSRA has opened events up to 1975 model years. We wont know what events untill the 05 schedule comes out.
Hummmmm I guess its ok but seems to me the Good guys did that already and I kind of liked the pre 49 for the NSRA events but thats just my opinion and im entitled to it This should open a whole new can of worms ... Well? YA NAY :x OR
Dave
ps: Keep it friendly Fat Cats under a lot of stress lately. Ive heard he wants a Pink tux for the wedding...

Ok i went to the web site and they have 2 new events for 05 and thats where the newer model year thing starts...
Dave

[alchevy]

I thought it was strange that they would open it up to pre-75. Somewhere I read they are going to do this for 2 events. Probably the smaller NSRA events.
My opinion:
You can apply street rod techniques to just about any car these days, but the pre-49 cars are still in a class by themself and will always be. That's just like in 2003 when the Hot Rod Power Tour came through Mississippi, there was a little bit of everything there...cause all street rods are hot rods, but not all hot rods are street rods.
The street rod industry has been making parts (that used to be for pre-49 only) for newer cars. I have a Fatman Mustang II front crossmember on my '40 Chevy 2-door Sedan. I can buy a kit (from Fatman) to do the same on my 1981 Chevy Pickup...but there's a lot of difference between the two vehicles.

And no, you are not the first one to see this.

[tom]

they will be the milwaukee nationals and the richmond(virgina) nationals

[Kctom]

According to street rod builder the NSRA has opened events up to 1975 model years. We wont know what events untill the 05 schedule comes out.
Hummmmm I guess its ok but seems to me the Good guys did that already and I kind of liked the pre 49 for the NSRA events but thats just my opinion and im entitled to it This should open a whole new can of worms ... Well? YA NAY :x OR
Dave
ps: Keep it friendly Fat Cats under a lot of stress lately. Ive heard he wants a Pink tux for the wedding...

This is the hardest thing to adress. I also think it should be left to pre 49 cars.  I now have a 99 Prowler so can't attend with it. But what If I get a 34 title for it ? Is a speedstar a 34 ? just wondering. Will have the 30 Pontiac ready this spring if I don't work this winter. { Yes I have gone back to laying brick for some rod money}

[n.c.rodder]

Only the two new shows will be open to 1975! They will be the:

Milwaukee Nationals
July 15-16-17, 2005
Wisconsin State Fair Park
West Allis, WI

Richmond Nationals
August 26-27-28, 2005
Richmond Raceway Complex
Richmond, VA

The other 11 events will remain the same.

Mike

[Crafty]

Kind of interesting... I did read this somewhere else a while ago.

Over here our NSRA is not pre49, never has been ( far as I know ). I guess probably for numbers..  If its pre 69 its allowed on the showfield.

I dont have an issue with it, it brings *alot* of different styles and ideas into one place. You will see the odd stocker about but the classic guys generally arent to be found at NSRA shows, so we never seem to be swamped with mustangs, camaros and the like.

Its the same old story, the pre 49sers will say they are staying "true" to their roots and the post 49ers will point out that half the cars are 6 month old glass shells, and there cars are 50s steel..

Personally I don't care.. if it looks cool it doesn't really matter when it was built does it ? ( standard disclaimer here: nothing under 30 years old looks cool! ).

[Dennis the Menace]

Only the two new shows will be open to 1975! They will be the:

Milwaukee Nationals
July 15-16-17, 2005
Wisconsin State Fair Park
West Allis, WI

Richmond Nationals
August 26-27-28, 2005
Richmond Raceway Complex
Richmond, VA

The other 11 events will remain the same.

Mike

I think this will be the death of the NSRA.

[tomslik]

I thought it was strange that they would open it up to pre-75. Somewhere I read they are going to do this for 2 events. Probably the smaller NSRA events.
My opinion:
You can apply street rod techniques to just about any car these days, but the pre-49 cars are still in a class by themself and will always be. That's just like in 2003 when the Hot Rod Power Tour came through Mississippi, there was a little bit of everything there...cause all street rods are hot rods, but not all hot rods are street rods.
The street rod industry has been making parts (that used to be for pre-49 only) for newer cars. I have a Fatman Mustang II front crossmember on my '40 Chevy 2-door Sedan. I can buy a kit (from Fatman) to do the same on my 1981 Chevy Pickup...but there's a lot of difference between the two vehicles.

And no, you are not the first one to see this.

[cause all street rods are hot rods, but not all hot rods are street rods.]

i disagree.
not all street rods are hot rods...
75% couldn't pull a fat girl off a tricycle and i'll even veture to guess that 95% have NEVER been on a track(mine included, but i'm working on that).

[phat46]

According to street rod builder the NSRA has opened events up to 1975 model years. We wont know what events untill the 05 schedule comes out.

  I'm not liking this, if any of the other events are like the Nats North there won't be enough room if this eventually goes to all the events. Think of Louisville if it were open to pre '75, there has to be at least as many cars around that are post '48 as pre '48; probably more. (think muscle cars) If the participation goes up by even 50% where will everyone park....or stay?
I like the feel of the pre '48 events, even if a few of the cars are actually only six months old. I can't put my finger on it exactly why this is, but I know the events wouldn't have the same attraction for me if they were opened to '75.
I appeciate the later cars, most of them are pretty cool, heck I've built a '59 Stude two door station wagon gasser in my head a dozen times, but I wouldn't want to take it to a streetrod event if i ever did build it.
 I'm hoping that it will be limited to the two new events, i know i would probably not attend any events if i found them to be that crowded after they were opened to '75
 Hopefully the NSRA won't be a victim of it's own  success...

[enjenjo]

You aren't looking at this the way the NSRA is. Their numbers are down, at nearly all the events. this is an experiment to see if it gets their numbers up. Like it or not, Street rodders are dying off, or moving on. Most young people can't afford to build a pre 48 any more, we have raised the prices so high they can't afford it. But there are a lot of reasonably priced 50'and 60's cars out there yet.

Don't believe me, look at the growth of Good Guys. They are attracting a younger crowd, which is where the money will be in 10 years. Like it or not, most people define an old car as one made before they were born. And most of us want one that has memories of some type. A 20 year old has no memories of cars much before 1980, so anything before that is irrelevant, just as a 1905 Buick is to me. A neat old car, but I don't want one.

If you recall Street Rod history, when this whole thing got started in the 60's, most rods were 34 or earlier regardless of the make. Even though up to 48 models were eligible. And 48 was picked because that was 20 years old, I have that from the man who decided that. Very quickly, he was no longer involved, because the cutoff was set in stone as 48, rather than 20 years old.  Some years later Good Guys started with a 20 year cutoff, but soon started manipulating the cutoff year to control numbers. Which give you a situation where my car is eligible for Columbus, but not Indy.

So what is going on here is a servival strategy for NSRA. The numbers have been showing on the membership decline for several years now. The situation is adapt or die.

Some of you older guys will remember NSRA had a Street Machine division in the early 70's. It was neglected, and then killed off, because they didn't need it to make money. Now they do. Simple as that. By the way, a 78 Cutlass is older than a 48  Ford was in 68. The times, they are a changing.

[40 Chev Coupe]

I kinda like the old cars to, but only so many can be had. Nothing against the fiberglass cars but by the time you get one of them put together, it's out of my range.
But by the looks of some of the new cars these kids are building, they got more money in them than I do in mine.
But any kinda a car show is good to me, I just like to see whats going on.
Besides, a lot of older cars are putting these modern parts on our older cars.
That's my 2 cents worth.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

as pointed out , times are changing.

On a local level we visited a local show that has been "The All British" car show for years.

Well now they are the "British and European" car show. They say this is to bring in the other European cars in for a wider example of cars.  I think it is money.

It is always money.

[HOTRODSRJ]

This is an interesting thread and I have done an industry research paper for a customer with two years of collecting data that has shown this very trend.  Here are some excerpts that I can share.

1. Nationally, NSRA event numbers are down dramatically, especially if you compare to the overall market "pie" growth. (Don't just use an anecdotal experience such as Louisville or ? to make YOUR judgement and moreover don't believe the windshield numbers as well.  There are ways to make the numbers bigger than they really are and many events do this all the time.  While I cannot reveal the true number because it's a customer's property, I have done satelite photo counts of the Louisville (and other national events) over the last four years and you would be surprised at the counts.  This years event seemed very crowded due to the construction areas blocked off too.....so go figure). Someone here prudently said, "adapt or die" and this is absolutely true.  The average age of the "pre-49er" is up 7 years just in the last 3 years.  What does this mean.....means traditional guys are either dying, getting out, or moving to other segments.   Classic and muscle car average ages have moved down while growing profusely.  What this means is that many youngsters are coming and appreciating this market.  This is especially true in muscle cars.  This is the reason that some "classic and muscle cars" have gone thru the roof in pricing due to demand.... and street rod pricing has not anywhere kept pace (don't confuse this with the price to build one).

2. While the shear numbers at GGs is up, they still are not growing as fast as the total pie!  Some of their shows are stagnant and boring, but others are growing and very good! They are smart about this. They also have several "open" events realizing that modern cars can be "hotrods" too.  This will catch on whether YOU like it or not......follow the buck!  I personally like the diversity.

3. The commom "sit, park, show, shine" show model is antiquated and boring now.  People want more than looking at each other and getting sun burned.  If you want to see REAL growth look at the shows that "move and entertain" you such as Cruise the Coast,  Back to the Fifties, Hot August Nights, etc.  These shows have shown exploded growth far outpacing the conventional models due to their diverse content.

4. Market specific shows are also losing attendence.  I offer up SuperChevy as an example.  Trending line is way down and simply put alot of the same ole stuff.  I expect the Mopar Nats and others to be the same way even tho I have not studied them.

5. It used to be that it was just a guys event, so to speak.  At least more "male" content or attendance.  Now it's include not only the wife but the kids and grandkids.  And to effectuate this, you have to have something for everyone.

6. Shows are going toward higher end vendors and vendors are going towards high end presentation.  I think we have all noticed how the vendor community has really stepped up and done well here.  While "swap" meets are popular, they are not as popular as they were just a few years ago.  You will see some shows go away from this and utilize the room for higher shear car numbers.

7. While I thought this next trend would be just the opposite because of the internet, parts suppliers and manufacturers are putting MORE dealers in place meaning that "middlemen" are driving up distribution costs (don't confuse this with overall prices).  I think this is a temporary hitch but it's surprising how many manufacturers do not sell directly.  This in an effort to get people "on-the-pavement" at shows etc.  The good news is that the proliferation of new parts and competitors has made parts pricing hold the line.

Just way toooooooo much information.

[purplepickup]

This is an interesting thread and I have done an industry research paper for a customer with two years of collecting data that has shown this very trend.

I'll bet collecting that data gave you some insight when planning the event at Indy that you promoted earlier this month.  I haven't heard whether or not the show was a well accepted by the attendees and if it met everyone's expectations.  Care to share?

I'm sure there's a lot of data gathering and crunching going on behind the scenes with all the big organizations to help keep the attendance market share up.