Starting Them Young

One of the many successful promotions conducted at the NEW Motorama show (www.newmotorama.com) in Green Bay, Wis., April 1-3 was the Build-Your-Own-Racing-Car giveaway for kids.

This promotion was teamed up with the metal shaping seminars that Ron Covell, Dave Byron and Matt Schmelzer conducted all weekend long. The Freedom High School Auto Club members put in hundred of work hours helping younger kids shape their racing cars and assemble them.

Bailegh Industrial, of Manitowoc, Wis.,—a maker of metalworking and wood working machines—supplied a 75-ton press that was set up to stamp miniature racing cars out of sheet steel. A die formed the rounded oval shape of the simple metal racing car.

After the racing car body was formed, the kids were able to install the wheels and other pieces needed to build the complete car All day long, there was a crowd of kids putting the cars together and rolling them down the hallway between the Brown County Arena and the Skopko Hall, where the car show took place.

The great thing about this promotion was that it got the kids really excited about the car show. That’s a good thing, because we can use all the young blood we can get in the old car pastime these days. Without doing things to get kids interested in cars, there won’t be future generations of car hobbyists.

If you run a car show or belong to a club that runs a car show, please think about including something special for kids in the event. It can be some kind of small activity or project, but if it gets one more kid interested in the cars we love. It’s worth it.