Posted in the NECEG topic just a few hours ago.
Originally posted by frenchblueC2:
It's a meet, not a car show.
I think more members need to realize this. That would definitely increase attendance at meets.
You're an enthusiast. You show up to this site because you like your car, even if it's not quite where you want it to be.
You should treat meets the same way.
Show up, see other people's rides, shoot the shat about everything under the sun, and enjoy yourself.
No one is there to judge you or your car. Everyone is there to have fun.
NECEG has always been more welcoming of the person and not the car. I expect (hope, at least) that Michigan/EGL is the same. I've come to meets in my dirty filthy barely-running Contour (granted dirty-filthy to me is apparently my friends' definition of a spotlessly clean car since I get comments of the interior every time they ride in it) and nobody has cared. My carpet got stained and musty from various candies my sister's ex-boyfriend left on it as well as a nasty flooding issue I had one year. Ronin used to pull into meets with his side skirt barely hanging onto the car, and Po came to several meets with the entire HVAC vent plastics assembly missing from his dashboard. You won't get mocked - maybe you'll even get constructive advice like where the nearest/cheapest junkyard is (or, best of all, free parts from fellow CEGers - skunk alone gave me his SE badges and two of his 8-spoke alloy hubcaps as well as a grille to Goonz!).
Honestly if your car looks halfway presentable and cleanish (i.e. no Biggie containers littering the backseat, no Sharpie marker all over the interior, etc) you're already doing better than half of America. And the fact that you're bothering to come to a Contour Enthusiast meet shows you care somewhat about the car. 
