Car Show Idea

"DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!" (daft-ryosuke) 07/22/2018 at 14:46 • Filed to: None

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If you’re like me, then you spend a lot of time around the Malaise community. Within these communities, it’s not rare to find pictures or videos surfacing of old auto shows from this era. I’ve always wished there was some way to go back in time to see some of these cars from this era in their prime... gleaming, clean with fresh paint and that fresh smell of a new car. It got me thinking...

Why can’t we recreate that?

There are car shows and meets all across the country with a certain criteria, such as Radwood and others...how neat would it be to recreate an auto show of a certain year. We’d need a bunch of clean-condition cars from a certain year, multiples from different brands, and a big indoor space to show them off.

Of course, I have access to none of these things, so this is no more than a pipe dream at this moment.

In order for this to become a reality, it’d take a lot of blood sweat and tears in order to put it together. But I think it’d be a really neat idea to let people walk back in time and see these cars as they once were...and it doesn’t have to be Malaise only, we can even go back as short as 5 years, or even 50 years.

I don’t know, maybe I’m rambling though.

RT > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 07/22/2018 at 14:53

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A part from the misuse of the word ‘malaise’, I approve of this post/idea.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > RT 07/22/2018 at 14:58

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Do you have something against the Malaise era?

Urambo Tauro > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 07/22/2018 at 15:18

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Sounds pretty exclusive , to limit entries to just one model year. Maybe it could be a series of weekends- like 1993 one week, and 1994 the next...

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 07/22/2018 at 15:18

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These cars are post-malaise.

Malaise era generally refers to the economic malaise period between the 1973 gas crisis, through the Carter administration, and into the early 80s’, ending as the Reagan-era economic boom took over, buying power, and product quality and variety rebounded significantly.

A late 2nd generation F-body would be malaise-era. A Chevy Vega would be Malaise-era. Convertibles were unavailable for much of the malaise era, in view of roll-over risk... which is why malaise era cars generally had T-tops, instead of convertibles.

Cars introduced or upgraded after 1982-83 tend to be post-malaise era, in the 1980s economic resurgence that lasted through the mid-to-late 1990s, before the dot-com bubble burst, and post 9-11 economic recession.

Ra dwood is intended to be that sort of neo-classic movement as that period of time is passing the 25 year mark into new classic status.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 07/22/2018 at 15:28

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I’ve had this argument before. I think it’s more or less down to what a particular person classifies the era as. I’m used to calling pretty much all of the unloved cars from 1973-1995 because that’s what the Malaise Motors group on Facebook classifies it as, and they’re the largest Malaise collectors group I know of.

I understand the sentiment of saying that 1983 or so is when the Malaise era stopped, I’ve just gotten comfortable with this definition, rather than trying to sort all sorts of different sub-categories and eras.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > Urambo Tauro 07/22/2018 at 15:30

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Nah, it would definitely change from event to event, that’s part of the charm I had in mind. People could look forward to a certain year if they wanted to. Of course it could be tweaked to include a few other years if it’s a car that had minor changes throughout its lifetime.

RT > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 07/22/2018 at 15:33

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I like cars which people say are part of the ‘malaise era’, but I’m not a fan of the phrase itself. Hear me out...

First, everyone has different definitions of what ‘malaise era’ means. So, I don’t exactly know which cars are being referred to. I’ve heard it came about as a reference to Carter speech from 1979, yet I’ve seen a few people even use it to describe cars made well into the 80s or 90s, which is odd.

Second, and this is the big one - it’s far too derogatory.

Malaise, as a word, means: ‘a general feeling of discomfort, illness, or unease whose exact cause is difficult to identify’. Many of my favourite cars can be classified as ‘malaise-era vehicles’, so using the term implies it’s wrong or ironic to like these cars. Simply put, it’s undeserved, false shame.

Even if times were hard for Detroit (and Coventry): plenty of progress was made in the 70s, 80s or however far you stretch it. Fuel injection, supercars, computers - all brought the car into the advanced state it is today. Generalisations like these are best avoided for sake of keeping perspective.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > RT 07/22/2018 at 15:51

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I think the term became the established one in recent years, as before the upturn in respect for most of these cars didn’t come until then. Before, most of these cars were lauded, hated, and mostly just used for nothing more than derby fodder or the maligned first car that grandma handed down to the unappreciative 16 year olds of America. I always took the “Malaise” terminology to be tongue in cheek, as most people outside of us look away from this era, except for the few important models such as the supercars of the era or the Grand National.

But your sentiment is a really fair one, as most of my favorite cars are also a product of the era and it’s not fair to be looked down upon for liking them.