HotRod-A-Rama

Yesterday morning we dove down to Tacoma for the 8th Annual HotRod-A-Rama. This is one of the cooler car shows in the Northwest and besides buying vendor space, Car Kulture Deluxe Magazine asked me to write an article about this years show with Dan Brouillard taking pics. The show spans several blocks and a large parking lot around the Swiss Tavern, with rat rods, traditional hot rods, kustoms and vintage race cars in abundance. The weather forecast called for a 40 percent chance of rain, but we weren't gonna let that stop us. We met up with Raegan McKibbin and her bo to caravan to the show. Raegan does auto glass etching so she parked her car next to our booth and to do her thing and thus we could split the vendor expenses,  The morning was overcast but it looked like it might blow over. We set up our booth and immediately sold tons of DVDs and CDs. This was our crowd. The DIY Kustom Kulture people. Most had heard of my last film Hot Rod Girls Save The World and if they didn't already have the film, bought a copy. Dan Brouillard stopped by our booth and we talked about what cars he had already shot for the feature and I mentioned several I wanted to write about. Basic writer/photographer hand/eye coordination. Dan is an incredible photographer with exceptional photographic composition.  So after a few hours working our booth, I walk around the taking notes and grabbing a few quotes with my Neo portable writer. I love that little device. 700 hours on three AA batteries and no internet distractions (i.e. it's not internet capable). So I am right in the middle of checking out a Fiat Bodied Fuel Altered when the sky starts spitting. Not much at first, then as I am walking back over to our Go-Kustom Films booth, it starts to pour. My wife has already covered the back of the TV set that is playing the Rat Rod Rockers! movie trailer on the front corner table of our booth. We pull in the movie posters and "paper" stuff away from the edges of our canopy. It keeps coming down. For hours we keep wiping off the TV and shaking off the rain that is settling on the corners of the canopy. The bands are still playing down the street and the crowd, although thinning, is still hanging on. Some people duck into our booth to shake off the drops. Few brought umbrellas. In the Northwest you learn to live with the rain. It can swing in at anytime, any season. After three hours of the downpour, I talk to some friends who say a bigger storm front is fast approaching. My TV and DVD player are soaked and I unplug them from the gas generator for fear of them both getting fried. We decided to pack up and head home. Still, we made more in a few hours, in the rain than we did at the last two car shows we vendored. Like I said- this was our crowd. Rumors were circulating at the show that this may be the last HotRod-A-Rama. I hope not. Tacoma and the Nortwest really need this car show.