Vendor installs at Camarofest

['14-ELLIE]

Reverse hood, lambo doors... c'mon folks! You can make some money! (and drown mine!).

[michael's maro]

Originally Posted by '14-ELLIE

Reverse hood, lambo doors... c'mon folks! You can make some money! (and drown mine!).

I have a reverse hood kit I will sell you, I had it installed but it didn't work for with my hood.

[Ryanbabz71]

Originally Posted by skipinminn

I want a 2014/15 Hood scoop installed

this guy too

[Heaven_is_inferno_orange]

Where is AAC at? I need to plan what im gonna buy my husband for his ZL1 and for once I don't want to have to install it.

[Djinn]

Whoa...vendor list is sooo weak this year, whats going on guys??

[MarylandSpeed]

I am not decided yet if we are coming. Here is a post I made after the 3rd fest in a thread where someone was complaining about the show-

I can give my thoughts here as a vendor who has been to all three fests now.

First off, I want to thank the staff. Putting on a show in a town where most of them do not live, with 1000 plus people in attendance is not an easy task.

One thing not obvious to customers, but is a huge issue for vendors is the sheer cost of going to a show. The cost of entry is high with the rig, trailor, tents, equipment, and so forth. Even once you have that, we spend several thousand dollars to go to an out of state show like this. Costs like hotel, overtime, gas, meals, and so forth add up fast. Honesty, we have never come close to breaking even on one of these shows in terms of what we sell at the show. It is about getting your name out, and maybe people call you later.

Now we don't sell keychains, shirts, mats, and so forth. We sell bolt on performance parts for the most part. The first two years, we brought out substansial inventory of our best sellers...and took 95% home. We did a poll after we got back from the last one, and most people told us they buy our mods BEFORE events like this because they want the parts for the show. Also, we have several manufacturers of parts we sell also at the show offering discounts they normally don't, and free/discounted installs, which makes the middle man kind of pointless.

This year, we bought less stuff, and still took a lot home. For bolt on performance stuff, the reality seems to be that people just don't buy a lot of it in volume at shows. And it's not just us, I obviously look around and see what is going in the booths of the people around us. I mean who wants to stuff a catback, intake or headers in a Camaro with luggage? We were told a lot by customers that they did not have room. We looked at installs(which seems the popular way to sell both on stuff), and decided that it is just not a good idea to work on peoples cars out of state 1,000 miles from home. As a customer, I am not sure I would want a shop who I will never see again working on my car in a parking lot either. That being said, we talked to a company selling decals, and they were really busy.

Some other things to think about. This event is 1000 or so Camaro's only. On top of the vendor ally, there is drag racing, Autocross, shows, cruises, parties at the hotel, and so forth. It is very different than say Corvettes are Carlisle, which is large enough to fill up a whole fairground, and is essentially nothing but a show and swapmeet.

If you are going to a big Camaro drag race/autocross, odds are, all your performance stuff is done already before the show. The vendor ally had a lot of foot traffic during vendor hour, but as soon as the autocross and drag racing started, you could almost see tumbleweeds blow by. Like Friday afternoon I think we talked to 3 people the last 3 hours. Basically with the way Camaro5fest is now, there are so many other things going on, that the vendor alley is more of a side thing to the other stuff going on. This has been true all throw shows.

So again...as a vendor, you obviously have to think about this when deciding whether to come, or how much the bring. We intend to keep coming to the show of course, however we will likely go more towards displaying stuff, and shipping it to you for free from our warehouse, vs. setting up rows of tables with stuff we hope to sell there. I really hope this does not come across as negative..just want to be realistic with people so they understand why there is not row upon row of parts to chose from.

[toyosuprablue]

Maryland Speed. I agree with the comments made in your post.

I'm speaking just for myself and not C5 as a whole... I will be attending Camaro Fest this year (first time) but have no intentions of making any performance part purchases during the weekend. It's likely I will ask vendor opinions on what to do next to my car so that I can make a sound decision after the show.

[hrpiii]

Sometimes, a resource/representative there to speak to questions, comments and concerns is also helpful. Many of my purchases have not just come before the fest, but also after the fest. I have greatly appreciated the vendors offering great deals at the Fest. Last year, when I returned home, I ordered some G-Force equipment for my car.

[Roto-fab 1]

Originally Posted by hrpiii

Sometimes, a resource/representative there to speak to questions, comments and concerns is also helpful. Many of my purchases have not just come before the fest, but also after the fest. I have greatly appreciated the vendors offering great deals at the Fest. Last year, when I returned home, I ordered some G-Force equipment for my car.

Agreed. Each year we like attend Camarofest with as many products on display as possible. One of the most common things we hear is, "I've been wanting to see one of those up close." Beyond air intake systems, many Camaro owners are seeing our other products for the first time. We answer tons of questions about our custom fabricated components-how they mount, what they are made of, etc. We are extremely dedicated to the Camaro market and we continue to add to our Camaro product line. Therefore, Camarofest is a great place to have our new products on display as well.
As a manufacturer, it's also a perfect time to meet with some of our dealers face to face. We are able to share product features and options with them and they share their opinions and suggestions with us. The more knowledgeable our dealers are on our products, the better they can serve the you all.
So for us, this entire show revolves around better informing you on all of about our products. I hope each of you can take a moment to stop by, say hi and ask any questions you may have.

[fastfreddie]

Magnuson was at Indy just handing out product information and talking with anyone that wanted to ask questions. Guess what supercharger I now have in my car....

I enjoy just talking with the vendors about their products. It works!

[PQ]

Originally Posted by MarylandSpeed

I am not decided yet if we are coming. Here is a post I made after the 3rd fest in a thread where someone was complaining about the show-

As a business owner myself I have done an estimated reconcile in my head of a lot of the vendors I've seen at the fest. I always want you guys to do well because having the vendors there makes the fest all that much more enjoyable. Even if it's just checking out potential purchases or shooting the bull.

What I came up with in my head was tough as I saw vendors losing a lot of money. Not counting the PR and Branding aspect. But PR and Branding only goes so far at a small show like this. I hope more people understand this and appreciate it.

[skipinminn]

Originally Posted by Roto-fab 1

Agreed. Each year we like attend Camarofest with as many products on display as possible. One of the most common things we hear is, "I've been wanting to see one of those up close." Beyond air intake systems, many Camaro owners are seeing our other products for the first time. We answer tons of questions about our custom fabricated components-how they mount, what they are made of, etc. We are extremely dedicated to the Camaro market and we continue to add to our Camaro product line. Therefore, Camarofest is a great place to have our new products on display as well.
As a manufacturer, it's also a perfect time to meet with some of our dealers face to face. We are able to share product features and options with them and they share their opinions and suggestions with us. The more knowledgeable our dealers are on our products, the better they can serve the you all.
So for us, this entire show revolves around better informing you on all of about our products. I hope each of you can take a moment to stop by, say hi and ask any questions you may have.

WHAT you say is True BUT you guys did a SUPER JOB on my CAR. My only complaint is you don't make YELLOW filters! For those of us who aren't DIY people having installs is great I will be looking for somebody to do a Catch Can install.

[taf21979]

I haven't seen to many venders responding to this post which bumbs me out
I have been saving a good chunk of cash for this event in hopes of buying the parts and getting them installed right on the spot.

[RaceAir]

I was hoping there would be more vendor responses for installs. Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised when we get there?