Brent said it very well for me there, too. Even though I am in my thirties still (just barely), that whole car show scene got old for me long ago. A guy locally found a beautiful '57 Belvedere in the hills - a real nice two door SEDAN, rust free, excellent project, and just butchered it. Powder coated bumpers, blower engine three feet high, of course the obligatory flames in the now purple paint, etc etc etc. We've all seen it a hundred times. Now my Fury next to his car is never a contest at shows - you know how it is.
It ended for me at the Forest Grove Concours d'Elegeance a couple years ago. This guy with an early 50s Mopar won best original paint. He had told me early that day that the paint was about a month old. This was right after judging. I reported it, but it was too late, as he won the best original paint anyway. When questioned about his statements by the judges, he
said, "but it's original color" and they let him slide. Made me sick.
I tend to just like to go to my shop and look at my car myself. Or drive it, just me. My dad - when I first brought Mr. Finzzz home as a rusted out basket case nearly 20 years ago told me I'd never get it fixed up again and was crazy to even make the attempt. He sells real estate. Now he'll occasionally get some client or friend and drag them the 25 miles from his place just to show off my car to this stranger. Especially now after Tulsa.
Hello All,
Just wanted to add my pennies
as well-
It USED to be that for a car to be considered a 'survivor' it had to be at least 75% original. How that was determined was determined by the judging people before the Nats took place. That- as MANY of you have noted, has changed. I think I know why. Because 'survivor' status for any mopar these days will make the car MUCH more valuable. I'm sure many of you have seen how much a 'survivor' brings at that joke of an auction Barrett-Jackson. Always more than a correctly restored car of similar options, etc.
Sorry, memory is getting shorter as I get older, but someone told the tale of their nicely original/restored 66 Charger getting beaten by a modified Charger at a show. I am sad to say this is why I stopped entering my Chargers in shows as well. The Modified Charger is what many in the hobby are now calling 'day two' restorations. These are cars with period correct speed/appearance parts. In other
words, the car appears as it would have after the first owner had put on all of the hop-up items that he would of the day after he bought the car. Generally, this means aftermarket wheels, headers, gauges, steering wheel, etc.
The thing is that these items, if done correctly, MUST be from that era or be direct replacements from that era. A good example is Torquethrust wheels. They never went out of production. OR Anson aluminum slotted wheels. These came back into production for this very example.
Now, the problem is that most judges don't bother to check the authenticity of these items. They just note them.
All of this is why correctly restored cars get beat by the modified cars.
Any decent car show will give the 'day two-s' their own category. Many (most) do not.
So- I just don't show my cars....and it appears many of you don't either.
This really is ashame.
Why? because, again as someone else noted, you can
now go to shows and see nothing but the day 2's.
Soon enough everyone is going to forget what the original cars looked like because no one brings them out anymore.
Personally, I go to the Nats every year. I have since 1989. I showed my Chargers there until 1996. That's when I saw the trend appear. I wouldn't pay the money now (or lets face it 19 gallons of 94 octane aint cheap, and I would burn 4-5 tanks in a weekend) to take one of my cars to this show. Not to be stuck in the middle of a huge dusty field and have people pass the car over simply because it ISN'T modified.
Now- on a positive note-
I did see some very nice FWLK cars there this year. A 60 and 61 300 letter series cars most notable. Beautifully restored or just original I don't know.
BOTH stuck in the middle of that damn field. At least the 61 was near the Dodge test drive area so you had to pass it on the test drive route, but a crying shame
that two such beautiful cars weren't even given their own areas. This is on top of a couple belvederes, a coronet, a couple desotos and the 413 cross ram powered 61 Dodge Seneca? that was the topic of discussion here not long ago. The people who run the Nats have no idea how to 'run the nats' if you get my meaning!
Anyway,
Sorry for the rambling,
Charles.
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This is just a general philosophical question to the board that I had to ask myself a number of years back regarding this same issue.
When it comes to old cars and the related social aspects, the standing paradigm is that we "have to" inter-relate by way of this
established "car show" medium. It is just the way it is, or always has been.
Being the type of guy who likes to think WAY outside the box, I got grew a whole heap weary of the same old crowd and the same old cars and the same old same old, over and over again. It was the 3 of us FL guys and the ocean of Chevs, the mags, the hood scoops, even the poor dope with the really nice original 57 Chev complained like we FL guys did that if it wasn't a chrome ball and had the engine coming up out of the hood, it was entirely overlooked by the crowd AND the show people.
The question I came to was WHY do we only think of cars in terms of standing around in parking lots all day in hopes of going home with a gold colored trophy / trinket that is really of
no value anyway ?
Afterall, the power rests with the guy who shells out his coin to enter his car for such a pointless venture.
Why do we behave and accept this behavior as only medium in which to "do something" with our cars ?
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The best answer I came up with was the observation that there are really TWO distinct personality types that are drawn to old cars ....
1. The
sentimental, nostalgic types who enjoy the cars as part of some sort of warm-n-fuzzy they feel toward their past, or history as a whole, and
2. Those who are more personality driven. Those who are into the competition and the jockeying for recognition for themselves by way of the car/s they present.
Then there are the not-so-cognitive masses who just go to shows and never question why. It is just "how it is done" kind of thinking.
I fall into group 1. I love the cars. They are part of a fabric for me. A time when things were cool and exciting. It isn't just the cars, it's the clothes, the architecture,
an attitude I recall from youth. That is why I like cars. It is part of the cool stuff.
Group 2 ? Well, since they are personality driven, guess who organizes and puts on the shows ? Guess why shows are run the way they are ? It is pretty much self evident.
But it leads back to my question, ..... why do we have to accept this medium as the only route to enjoy our cars as a group ?
Maybe because it is easy. Putting on a car show is a lot of work. Let the "look at me!" guys do all the fussing and we just roll in and take advantage of the venue. All good, until you add the whole "neglected" angle
into the equation. Then the chrome-n-flash crowd dominates.
I do not believe most car people ever think this through. They just do it because "that is how it is done" and never consider that there may be other ways of thinking about it.
I have a car show every day at my house. And just like at a car show, an occasional person sees one of my beasts and gets excited. The substitute mailman did this just the other day. I showed him the cars and he had a great big smile. It was great. Also like a typical car show, most days it is just me and own appreciation for the cars. There have been times when I had nearby friends of similar thinking and we had a lot of fun enjoying our cars together. That was
always good. Better than just about any large car show I can remember. We expected no trophies and got just as many as we would have had we taken our cars to a show. It was the same deal, except at our get togethers, 100% of the people there appreciated the cars, as opposed to .000001%.
I am done with cars shows as they stand. I think a new type of show is in order. The cruise in, the specific FL-oriented gig, or maybe just a bunch of friends who meet up ? You can see my cars, enjoy my cars, pour yourself all over my cars, and even talk my ear off if you so desire. I am always pleased to put joy into someone else's day. But that whole "chasing a feather in the wind" game ? To quote good old Lowell George ..... "Thanks, ... I'll eat mine here".
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