Are You Registered for the New Products Showcase?

	Automotive enthusiasts around the country will once again celebrate their collective passion by participating in Collector Car Appreciation Day on Friday, July 8, 2011.

Spring is in the air, which means time is running out for Automotive Restoration Market Organization (ARMO) member companies to register products for the ARMO New Products Showcase. This annual event is held each year at Spring Carlisle in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The New Products Showcase affords ARMO-member companies the opportunity to display their product(s) in front of one of the single largest gatherings of automotive restoration enthusiasts in the world. The 2010 Spring Carlisle event featured 2,000 collector and special-interest vehicles for sale and 8,100 vendor spaces.

Each year the ARMO New Products Showcase tent is located directly adjacent to the Carlisle Fairgrounds stage, ensuring that virtually all of the nearly 100,000 attendees pass by at some point during the event. For nothing more than the cost of shipping product to the Carlisle Fairgrounds, ARMO-member companies gain a spot in the Showcase tent and have their product(s) professionally photographed. The photographs will be used in a looping video shown in the ARMO booth and during the ARMO reception at the 2011 SEMA Show and will also be housed on www.SEMA.org/armo.

The 2011 Spring Carlisle event takes place April 27–May 1, so time is running out. Registration is only available online this year. If you have not registered for this special opportunity, available to ARMO-member companies only, go to your computer now and register. It takes just a few minutes to fill out the form and click “submit.” If you have any questions, e-mail SEMA Council Director Jim Skelly at jimsk@sema.org.

Collector Car Appreciation Day

A milestone event for automotive enthusiasts everywhere was achieved in 2010 when the United States Senate passed Senate Resolution S513. At the request of SEMA and ARMO, the resolution designated Friday, July 9, 2010, as Collector Car Appreciation Day. Car enthusiasts, automotive aftermarket companies, museums and even cities and towns rallied to conduct events celebrating this historic day.

Unfortunately, Resolution S513 was applicable to calendar year 2010 only. It did not ensure a Collector Car Appreciation Day for future years. While SEMA staff in Washington, D.C., is hard at work proposing a new resolution that would mark the second Friday of July as Collector Car Day each year, that resolution has not yet passed as of this writing. Nonetheless, due to the overwhelming response from the inaugural event, SEMA and ARMO are designating Friday, July 8, 2011, and the second Friday in July every year thereafter as Collector Car Appreciation Day.

In 2010, ARMO and SEMA collected information on more than 100 events in 40 states that wanted to be officially recognized as part of the historic day. We are doing the same thing in 2011, collecting event information from around the country. Visit the ARMO webpages or the ARMO Facebook page to find an event near you so that you may be a part of this national celebration of our collective passion. If you are producing an event or know of an event taking place on Friday, July 8, 2011, or on that weekend, please forward your information to Mike Dingell at miked@sema.org. Useful information on how to solicit media for your event or how to organize an event may also be found on the ARMO webpages.

Select Committee Nominations

ARMO is currently accepting nominations for the ARMO Select Committee. Select Committee members volunteer their time to organize events and projects aimed at benefitting not only ARMO members, but the restoration industry as a whole. The Take a Kid to a Car Show program, the New Products Showcase, awards program, SEMA Show activities and other projects are all initiated, developed and maintained by volunteer Select Committee members. If you think you might be ready for the commitment and rewards of a Select Committee seat, visit www.SEMA.org/armo or contact Council Director Jim Skelly at jimsk@sema.org for more information.