I was pleased to find out that I would get a chance to return to Chimay Belgium for the 2nd European Hot Rod & Custom Show. I attended the 1st show two years ago and was looking forward to going back, this time my wife Leslie and I would be representing Mooneyes USA.
After a couple 5 hour flights we arrived in Brussels Thursday morning. We had a little time to take in a few sights as we headed down to Chimay. We arrived there in the early afternoon and immediately headed over to the show grounds to see how things were going. It looked like everything was going great, the tents were all up, and many of the vendors were already set up. The weather was perfect, about 70 degrees and a slight breeze. I was hoping to catch up with Kobus but he was out running errands. We headed over to our Hotel, checked in and got dinner.
Friday morning we woke up feeling pretty good but noticed it got a little cloudy outside. Leslie checked the weather on her I-phone and it looked bad!” It says it’s going to rain all weekend” Yikes, we didn’t pack for that! We headed over to the show grounds and met up with Shige and the group from Mooneyes Japan. We didn’t have much to set up as we would only be putting out a couple tables this year and selling shirts. The “MOONSTER” was already there and would be displayed in our booth during the show. Vendors were not selling on Friday so we just checked things out and then headed out and planned dinner. We met with Kobus for dinner and got a chance to talk with a lot of his helpers and other guest, they were happy to see that MOONEYES would be at the show again.
Saturday morning we headed over to the show right after breakfast. The camping section was different then the last show and I was surprised to see how many people were there camping. It was colder than Friday and cloudy but it had not rained yet. We got the booth opened at about nine and had vistors coming in as soon as we opened, The MOONSTER was a hit and the shirts started selling well. At about 11 o’clock the first rain hit and it hit hard. I felt bad for Kobus and his gang, all the work they had done ruined by this rain. I was wrong, I don’t think anybody left. In fact the number of people seemed to still be growing, I guess they have become used to it. We got a chance to walk around and check things out. The cars ranged from aircooled VWs, hot rods, customs, trucks, muscle cars and lots of drag cars. The drag cars were not put away when it started raining, they paraded them around the grounds several times during the day, just were not able to race. Mooneyes was well represented there with the vendors, we had several of our European dealers there including; Jackhammer from the UK, Dr. Low Tuning shop from The Netherlands, Signzz from Germany and Goodies and Family from France. They all seemed busy despite the rain and I was told by a few of them that they did a lot more in sales then the first show.
They do a great job of keeping everyone entertained at this show. Bands play throughout the day in a big tent, they had a Motorcycle circle of death show that packed in the crowds all day. The burnout contest area was busy with cars and bikes doing burnouts and doughnuts all day. Sunday was pretty much the same with a small patch of no rain in the morning allowing some drag racing to take place.
I think this show was a success and hopefully it will continue and grow. We sold out of everything we brought and had a great time visiting with customers and friends that we rarely get to see. Hopefully we will continue to attend this show and it turns into a must attend show for all of Europe.
Thank You,
Bob
