German Car Day Is This Saturday!

Can you believe it? It looks like we will have three weeks in a row of good Saturday’s! We’re probably on again, and we’re in center square and along 164th once more. All exotic and rare cars are still welcome, but we pay special attention to those from German brands that will be in center square and up 164th. Come join the fun! Check on Thursday at 3PM in case the weather changes. It’s known to do that around here.

We did have additional bad behavior. Be on the lookout for a while E63 AMG that’s not welcome back. Redmond PD will be keeping their eye out too. There were a couple of others we’re not letting in any more either. They know who they are and Redmond PD will be there to help.

Criteria Complainers

As most of you know, we’re very clear about our Criteria on our page and we’ve worked hard to update and refine it each season while pacing around the room as we debate the issues. To anyone outside the process, we look like we had too many Red Bulls and some bad blow. You probably imagine us standing there licking the air. It’s not that horrible, but almost. It’s not an easy thing to explain. Sort of like that one date that ended up in handcuffs.

If your car doesn’t fit our show’s criteria, it’s not the end of the world, we promise. We have a very specific brand identity that we try and maintain to meet expectations of both participants and spectators. We’ve had this theme since the day we began, so do us all a favor and get over it if you disagree. It’s tricky enough to define as it is. It’s not just random like your mom’s hookup.

Yet, in spite of our criteria, every year we get a few brand/model Nazis who either try and sneak their car into the show by moving cones, or our favorite, walk around and argue with our volunteers after we didn’t let them in. Yup, one at a time. This is followed by calling us names when we don’t give in. That approach has never ever worked. Our moms didn’t give in, and look at how we turned out, so we don’t give in either.

We don’t capitulate to tantrums no matter how good you are at monkey-stomping in perfect sync to angry words and music. Put a box down and people will toss in a few bucks with that act. Impressive as that is, giving in to screaming brats is how your parents created narcissists in the first place, so we don’t want to feed those vegetables.

One particularly individual walks around after repeated “no”s, and argues about our not admitting Honda Civic Type Rs or S2000s because of some “special edition” marketing series. We’re not listening because they just don’t fit our brand no matter how they argue their case. Every car gets the same overlook and it doesn’t fit our show. While they are fine cars, they are not the right fit for our event. What, you’re next going to argue those cars should also be on the Pebble Beach Concourse? The point is, every car show has a criteria. It’s up to you to decide what it is at your event, just as it is ours. You could call a Safeway parking lot a continuous car show too if you really want. Do you see there is a line in there somewhere?

It would be like you throwing a theme party and a guest argues about the theme. They either join the theme or they don’t go to the party. It’s that simple and not a reason to get mad. It would be like you brining a stripper to your uncle Ralph’s funeral for one last grind. Some things just don’t fit the place. A nice restaurant in Fresno would be another.

What makes these individuals think we’re any different? We’re a private event, open to the public, but we have our criteria for entry. Live with it, or better yet, start your own car event. Read below and we’ll help you get it off the ground. We have a theme, we adhere to our theme, and we set our own bar and we reinforce where we stand. We cover it to death on our Criteria page. While we’re open to suggestions and we keep refining it, we do have limits.

Following us around, trying to get us to change our minds is only going to get you kicked out if it keeps up. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, and thinking we’re giving in, the answer is still, no!

Tomorrow, when you get up in the morning, put on those clean socks, have a nice breakfast sandwich, guess what the answer is still going to be? That’s right. “No!”

You know on your birthday when you open a card from your mom, it will say a sincere Happy Birthday from her, but even she will say, “no.”

A year from now, when you ask us again. You know what the answer will be? That’s right! “No!”

Ask 31 of our 32 volunteers who just said no, and you know what the 32nd one will say? “No!”

If you climb Mt. Everest, and you get to the very top, you will find a rock that’s a different color from all the others facing north. Underneath, you will discover a small flag on a stick. You know what it says? That one in particular says, “F*ck no!” because it was expensive getting someone to get that flag up there in the first place.

Stop arguing with us because we practically died making the list as it is and once it’s set, that’s it. We’ll refine it again next season.

This all leads to our next point, and we still want to help the guy out who wants to show his car somewhere.

How to Build Your Own Car Show

Every other week, unrelated to E@RTC, but also free and non-commercial, a few of us have been hosting a series of Zoom calls for budding entrepreneurs and managers as another way of giving back to the community. We cover every topic imaginable for entrepreneurs, all based on what the group wants to talk about on that call. We cover some great stuff. Our upcoming calendar is here.

With all the hubbub about car shows getting canceled because of bad behavior of a few, someone asked if I could do a call about car shows and how to make one last. I thought it was a great idea. Rather than just our usual group, I thought I should open it up to the greater car community for those interested in starting their own event. We will get the word out in other places. This won’t be as much about E@RTC, but more about what’s required to make a car show last longer than that donut you just ate.

I’ll cover the backstory behind E@RTC and the homework we did prior to ever starting the event and the lessons we learned refining E@RTC along the way. It wasn’t as simple as getting a corner in a parking lot and months of research went into identifying the criteria to make it a successful show. Since E@RTC began, just in the Seattle area alone, I’m guessing there were at least two dozen maybe even more car shows that came and went faster than Milli Vanilli. Some for the same reasons, now that I think about it.

This has a much bigger message about products and branding and touches on how we think about products and consumers in general and refining and acting as steward to a brand. A lot of thought and refinement when into what we do and we’re happy to share the secret sauce.

E@RTC is about having fun and that’s our primary goal, but we’ve always cared about the overall wellbeing of the car community and we support it. We’d love to see it thrive everywhere. This call will be in the arena of helping those who want to expand on what we’ve built in other venues. We may have to move the time from our normal call to accommodate people who’d normally be at E@RTC, but for the one call, we can make it work. If you want to participate, click the link above to our calendar and hit the event sign-up button and we’ll make sure you get the call details.

Bathrooms

Weird topic I know. People ask where they are as they dance around. We’re not allowed to use the tree anymore. The bathrooms are located by Starbucks in center court. Go past Starbucks towards the parking structure and they are on the right. Plan accordingly.