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Interest in outlaw Chevelle gathering??

19K views 106 replies 34 participants last post by  Alan F 
#1 ·
Back in October, Tom Parsons started a thread about CB'13. Sensing a potential risk of loss of the event last summer, several of us spoke about continuing in Goodlettsville and I'll give Greg Martin credit for the idea as it was revealed to me.

There have been mutterings in the various threads about it, so it's time to get it in the open.

With no malice to the clubs who are putting on regional shows, I want to gauge the interest in conducting an outlaw Chevelle gathering in Goodlettsville TN the first weekend in June, 6-8th. An outlaw gathering means that there is no official organizer. It's come as you are and be responsible for yourself.

If you are interested, please post. I'm also looking for what people would be interested in doing if you can add that too. For example, we could still go to the dragstrip. We can still do a countryside cruise. We can still congregate in the parking lot. We can still have cooking in the parking lot. We can have a fundraiser for a charity. We can go to the park as individuals, but can't have a show field. We could have t-shirts made, etc. etc.

I can assume you're not interested if you don't post in this thread.
 
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#85 ·
Just another thought along this line is the Goodguys Nationals show in Nashville May 17-19. They sometimes have special parking areas. Weather is nice in May!!!
 
#31 ·
#34 ·
THere was always supposed to be a softball tournament there, but lots of times they cancelled it. You'd think the park would give Chuck priority because he always showed up... :sad:
 
#35 ·
Doesnt Chuck have an open field next to his new home? I mean you said outlaw, I'm thinkin; all the way.An open field, open skies, a bedroll and gas money to get home. All an Outlaw needs.

and I am being half facetious. As many folks wont come unless its a soup to nuts deal, nice accomodations, etc. Then there are those of us where an open field, a jug of hooch, an open pit bbq is one helluva good time - well for a YANKEE anyways.... ;)

I'd even pay for a "rented" patch of ol Dixie for a few nights. That rent is almost all profit to the land owning rebel! Interesting business model.
 
#36 ·
Chuck does have green space around him and I wouldn't want to speak for him but my oinion is the area wouldn't support the traffic and there is no amenities, other than people's homes.

A smaller outlaw gathering (and I'm hoping calling it that hasn't ruined the spirit of the idea) could conceivably congregate in the back part of Moss Wright park (if we don't get run off for trespassing). I don't even think 100 people would be noticed except they were all mostly in Chevelles.
 
#49 ·
I'd like to help in any way I can, time and effort begin prime considerations. I haven't worked with the folks @ RTM for several years, so can't say anything about the studio tours. I DO know they are a lot tighter about the security than they used to be since they moved to their new digs; on previous visits there the receptionist will announce you and let you wait in the sitting area until somebody decides to come and get you. Might be worth a phone call, though. I'll try to keep up with this thread to see how things develop....
 
#39 ·
Lets keep this going like the old CB threads. If we do, we can hammer something out and have some fun!
 
#41 ·
If we all show up on the same weekend as always, stay in the same hotels as always, and go to the park (unofficially) and park together in paved, marked spots, what's the difference? It's a public park.

The biggest obstacle I see to making this happen is agreeing on a weekend. You're never going to suit everyone. I say making it the first weekend in June, and those that can make it, great.
 
#43 ·
Thanks Mike. That's almost exactly what I had in mind. Since there would be a large gap in activities and people get restless I thought it might be beneficial to add a few outlaw events too.
I'd personally like to see the RTM studios.
I enjoy going to the track.
I like the cruises.
I was thinking about working a purpose in like a charity fundraiser.
Seems like everyone enjoys a cookout and I would volunteer the groceries for one cookout in the parking lot. Would love to have the jambalaya back but we can do something else if need be.
I was also thinking about a "help your buddy with their car" session. People could sign up for various light repairs or diagnosis and others could sign up for the assist. Lets say you wanted to change the carpet in your car and a couple of guys volunteered to help.
I could buy a dozen model cars and have an afternoon session of mentor/mentee (youth) model car building followed by a judging. Of course they would all have to be Chevelles.
I was also thinking about recruiting a couple of people to put on workshops on detailing or some other point of interest.
Chuck said he would help and I'd love to hear him talk for an hour about his favorite things without the pressure of putting on a show.
I'm just throwing some ideas out there. What other ideas do you have?
 
#78 ·
Mid South Chevelle Club hasn't talked about the ACES situation since it has been announced. I'm sure the club will discuss this at our next meeting in January.

Sandra Johnson-MSCC
Speaking here as a member of the Mid South Chevelle club. As a group we have not discussed this at all but I'm pretty sure that everyone knows about it. Every year Chevelleabration was one of those things that most of us looked forward to, but we were equally glad when it was over. Standing out in the sun all day takes a toll on you, so when the activities are over for the day we just looked for a cool place to go. You guys that came to the show got to meet and get to know each other, we didnt really get a chance to do that.
Hopefully if you pull this off we will have some participation from the Mid South.
I'll be sure to bring it up at our next meeting in a couple of weeks.
 
#53 ·
I did a little poking around on hotel availability. For June 7/8/9, many of the hotels in Goodlettsville are booked, and the others have jacked up rates. I guess that's the weekend of the CMA Country Fair thing or whatever. Availabity & rates look fine for both the weekend prior and the weekend after. Moving the gathering back to June 14/15/16 might make accomodations easier/cheaper and allow for more folks' kids to be out of school.
 
#55 ·
Hotels: I'm willing to bet that many of the bookings are CB participants who booked for next year, despite the fact that it was to be the last year in M-W Park. The Fan Fair things have never encroached on our hotels that far from Nashville; all the events scheduled for Fan Fair take place downtown. I think that room availability in G'ville will open up once folks figure out they won't need those reservations afterall and start to cancel. As far as rates go, last year we saw some rate jacking (Special Event Pricing) because of CB (not Fan Fair), but we were able to stop that trend with a couple of meetings with hotel mgrs. Regardless, I'd declare a "central" gathering point for the activities and let everyone take care of their own hotel reservations. I doubt that "blocking" rooms and the associated guarantees and obligations is anything that anyone wants to bear by themselves. With two host hotels for past CB events, the financial obligations (had we not been able to fill the "block") would have been serious at best and catastrophic at worst.

I hear a lot of suggestions on what y'all would like to see/take part in to keep everyone occupied, and certainly understand where all that comes from. However, distance, the shared responsibilities of logistics, and getting everyone to "do their part" once they've committed can get complicated, and may even cause some to get pissed off, or at the very least have hurt feelings. And when that occurs, I think you'll begin to detract from the original intent of the get-together which, as I understand it, is to just hang out and enjoy each other's company for the weekend. With structure comes responsibilities, and when responsibilities kick in, the fun starts to come out. In fact, one of the reasons I am so interested in joining y'all is that I'll be able to do so without any of that hangin' over my head.

Not trying to discourage anybody's efforts... Just want to share my personal insights as someone who's BTDT....
 
#58 ·
I hear a lot of suggestions on what y'all would like to see/take part in to keep everyone occupied, and certainly understand where all that comes from. However, distance, the shared responsibilities of logistics, and getting everyone to "do their part" once they've committed can get complicated, and may even cause some to get pissed off, or at the very least have hurt feelings. And when that occurs, I think you'll begin to detract from the original intent of the get-together which, as I understand it, is to just hang out and enjoy each other's company for the weekend. With structure comes responsibilities, and when responsibilities kick in, the fun starts to come out. In fact, one of the reasons I am so interested in joining y'all is that I'll be able to do so without any of that hangin' over my head.

Not trying to discourage anybody's efforts... Just want to share my personal insights as someone who's BTDT....
I was also thinking that organizing activities might not be so great an idea, but for a different reason. As soon as we have activities in the park, someone with a badge is going to come along and want to see our permits. As long as we're just some dudes hanging out informally in the park, it should be OK. I even tend to think that car show judging might not be a good idea.

I am definitely going. As soon as the group settles on a date, I'm going to book my room. As I mentioned, I enjoy the Nashville area, enjoy racing at Music City Raceway, and make the trip to race there 4 - 5 times every year. I'll be at the street drags/test and tune Friday night, in Moss-Wright park hanging out/working out Saturday morning, and back at the race track bracket racing Saturday night.

Just need to know what weekend everybody settles on :)
 
#56 ·
Anybody have any "feel" for the potential level of participation? I count about 20 commentators to this thread so far, and while all have seemed interested, not all of them have been affirmative to attend.
 
#57 ·
Chuck, it's good to have you and your counsel and interest. I've just been jawboning this to see how it develops. I had planned on contacting the primary commentators and ask them each to reach out to their "posse" to spread the word. After that, I was going to run a poll to try to get a count because I think some may push the button to vote without commenting.

I also realize there are many more that have no affiliation to this website that need to be reached. I was thinking about buying an ad in other club's publications to try to spread the word further.

I want to do this for me and my friends. But also based on the outpouring in the other threads on the matter I really believe if it's "official" that we could get 100 cars. If we get only 20 and it never happens again, then so be it.
 
#59 ·
Alan,
Can an interactive blog type scenario be created on TC that allows interested attendees to RSVP in an effort to establish a head count? I know nothing about blogs or I'd volunteer to set it up.

I agree with Chuck, what starts out to be a casual relaxing get together can become a labor monster really quick. Activities I'd like to see are: visitin and sippin, show n shine of the cars, visitin, eatin, and more sippin and visitin.:D
 
#62 ·
I think you've hit the perfect combo, Les! I'm in regardless, but I think keeping it fairly simple will keep it a lot more fun....
 
#60 ·
While all this sounds like fun one concern that I would have is something that Mike just touched on. If 50 or 100 cars just show up at the park I believe a park official may have something to say. All the Chevelles might be parked in the parking lot like the regular cars but with that many Chevelles there will be people wanting to look at the cars. It won't be long before people are walking around the parking lot blocking traffic. This may not be an issue but it's something to think about.
James
 
#63 ·
My point using the open field and jug of hooch analogy - the more building out, the more liability and coordination, and soon it becomes an organized event, without the organization!

K.I.S.S. is the rule. If it wasnt TN in June ( potentially HOT!), I'd say an industrial parking lot open for the weekend, prefreably with a few porta-johns already on site is all we need for the actual gathering. ( although somewhow I am picturing an open grassy field with good drainage and an already built BBQ pit! )

Many clubs, ours included, set organized events up at a single hotel and use their lots for the event. BUT that gets into rates, room blocks AND CONTRACTs! Its a good model as all the folks are together, but its not do-able in an outlaw format.

Some coordination on essentials, rally point, some food /water, potty area, adequate sleeping quarters, are all that is required.( Army field exersize stuff) And someone may/will end up taking some financial risk - outlaw or not.

Leo, indeed which is why I always have to choose between the MCC show and the ACES show.

BTW, off topic, but whats with all the hyperlinks all of a sudden?!
 
#64 ·
I understand the points you guys raise and just trying to jawbone it to get all the feelings and emotions out there before anything develops concretely. As to the date, I am personally flexible.

I manage a large group of disparate people and usually have to build consensus to get anything done. I do that by breaking things down to common denominators and common obstacles. If the graying of our group is part of the problem, then having it during the school year should not be a problem. I've heard heat commonly mentioned as a reason not to attend as well as conflicts with other events. What about if this was like a kick off event for car show season and it was in April? Everyone who has been working on their cars over the winter could get their first showing and informal critique of their peers?

As to blog, I will see what I can do. I'm really thankful to hear that there is a chorus, even if a small one, that is interested.

SSuper Dave emailed me about giving it a name. I agree other than calling it an Outlaw event which seemed to fit at the time. He proposed and I endorse (simply) Chevelle Reunion (CR for short).
 
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