Hello Sam, My name is Mike Brienza and I am the organizer for the Bergen County Cars and Caffe Invitational Display (presented by Hagerty) at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Feb. I want to tell you that your letter gives me hope that your generation will keep the hobby alive! 2020 was the first time for the Invitational Display which I geared specifically to introduce new enthusiasts like yourself (aka Youngtimers) to the older crowd (aka Oldtimers) and vice versa. I'm GenX and I have a very large collection of Camaros but also care about the environment and the impact the automobile has, and I am actually very excited to see what the EV future will give us performance junkies. I like to consider myself a bridge between the two groups and have been stressing to the hardcore old guys who shun anything post-1972 or Import of any kind how critical you guys are to the hobby. I also have been trying to stress to the new guys how important it is for you to understand the history of the automobile (both in terms of the actual history as a machine, and the cultural history) its evolution, and how the old cars are relevant to the future of the hobby. You cant have one without the other. Since Philly suburbs is just across the bridge from the AC Convention Center, I would like to offer you a personal invite (and your parents) to the 2021 event, where I will introduce you to all the car owners and car builders I have displaying their cars. I will also give you private access to sit in them and get personal tours of the car by the owners. We will have Ferrari, Bugatti, Porsche, McLaren and other exotic hypercars as well as JDM and American Muscle of all kinds on display. Who knows, IF I'm able to locate a Corvair and Karmann Ghia that would like to display I'll set them next to each other so you can compare them side by side. That's a blatant call out to you Karmann and Corvair owners to hit me up if you want to display. Hold on to your passion and dont get discouraged! The future for automobiles and the hobby is looking great as long as we have guys like you who have the drive to carry it on! Please contact me ASAP so I can get you on the VIP list. 201-627-4506
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