Phil, you and I agree on much of the same things here but there are a couple of details that is worth mentioning and I am not really sure this is either National Clubs fault....
The National Meet really is not the National club's meet per se' is it? Since Gary mentioned San Diego next year, MARC is sponsoring it but they are not underwriting it or doing the work, so..., isn't it really the Pacific A's meet to do it how they want? At the Dallas meet (which is the last meet I remember you & I hanging around together at), that club insisted that everyone that entered the flea market must be registered for the meet. Since you could not register for the meet w/o being a member of National, I had to buy several memberships for employees that year. There was also chatter that quite a few local people (rodders) that had Model A parts and wanted to come purchase a swap meet space to vend but they were not willing to additionally pay to register for the meet & buy a national club membership too. Now this is not to debate whether this was right or wrong but to point out that the host club set the rules and neither national club either was willing to veto this or override their mindset.
2nd) I just got from attending the Street Rod Nationals and as a part of our registration we received two entry bands, but all other participants and spectators had to pay $13 a day to look. It is the same way at GoodGuys too. So in reality, what you are saying is the admission fee charged is OK and it is more about allowing them to be seen. Again, is this really the national clubs's fault that they are not being seen or is it the meet's hosting club decision to do it the way they want to??
I tend to think in both cases that until the National Meet is produced in-house, some of these issues will never be solved. It is ironic to me that seemingly over & over we are comparing ourselves to how the street rodders are doing their promotion yet when I suggested going back to French Lick annually, there was a wave of cries. The street rod guys have their meets in the same place at the same time each year, ...as does AACA and their Fall Meet at Hershey, and attendance never seems to suffer because of it.
The last thing I want to mention is I wonder how much addition money it would take to have the club magazine "published" where it could be sold at magazine stands in grocery stores and/or mall stores across USA? Have you ever noticed how many men "hang out" at the magazine stand while the ladies do shopping? I realize it may take many thousands of dollars to underwrite this but advertising is expensive. In my line of work I continuously find it is amazing how many people (who are not even in the hobby or car enthusiasts) know where there is an old Model A in someone's garage. Almost everyone knows what a Model A is. Maybe this is a way of reaching some of those people?? Let them see the inside of several club magazines? Could it spark some excitement?
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Although Brent's Idea of an annual meeting place sounds good it isn't apples to apples. As far as the Goodguys meets are concerned they are held all over the country. Now I can't give you exact numbers nation wide but I can tell you there are two held in Washington State alone. One right here in Puyallup and the other in Spokane. Only my two-bits worth but having one Mecca just isn't in my game plan.