Car Show Today - Got Hosed

[Niles]

Been prepping for 2 weeks for a show today. It was a small show, there were several others going on at the same time, but this one was close to home. I had the car perfect. You could eat off the engine, bay was super clean. Paint is perfect, not even a smudge. Wheels so shiny you need sunglasses to look at them. Day was 80 out, bright sun. I get there early, set up, wipe off and check out the other cars. Like I said, small show. About an hour before it ends, 2 cars pull in. Late, after the judging was to be over. Guy tells me he won a trophy at another show, left after and stopped in. Car was a 40's Ford. Not particularly nice, but ok. Some mods, but nothing special, paint ok, looks like an old restoration. The other car that came with was a nice looking Ford Cobra. Judges walked by in front of them, barely looked. (they were at mine for 20 minutes). The 2 newcomers were there for at least 45 minutes, everyone else, hours. When the trophies came out.... You guessed it. The 40's Ford took first, the Cobra 2nd. A nice restored Ford Falcon took 3rd. There was a lot of nice GM cars and a few Camaros as well, but like me, none were even mentioned. Makes you wonder what are they thinking?

[troyaik88]

has to be a conspiracy a cobra over an ss noway nohow

[02 WS6 TA]

Unless it's participant judged, most shows are pre-determined before anyone arrives- It's about the judges preference, and who ya know. This is why I could care less about trophies- They don't mean anything anyway. Matter of fact, I threw away about 50 I'd collected over the last 20 years last month- Tired of storing that plastic junk.

[Niles]

Thanks for the good responses. I wasn't so interested in the trophy (wouldn't have turned it down), as I was whining about the way the judging went. Now that I think about it, your response made perfect sense. Thanks for the thoughts!

[Firebirdjones]

I used to judge some 20 years ago. And this is just me talking, an older fart so keep that in mind, but the newer cars showing up at shows just don't really jump out at you like a restored classic. So you have that working against you before you even roll in. Newer cars that people just drove off the showroom floor and rolled into a car show never excited me, and not many other judges either. 4th gens are still fairly new cars (10-12 years old isn't really old yet).

Technically most any show shouldn't have classed you with a 40's Ford or a 60's falcon. That's really unfair competition for you. To be judged honestly you need a show with classes specifically for 4th gens so you can be judged against like cars. It's hard to compare a clean 4th gen (still relatively new) that hasn't really needed a restoration,,,,to a classic car that's had a frame off nut and bolt restoration. People appreciate the amount of work involved as much as the car.

I don't mean to sound degrading, I'm sure your car is super nice, but don't be disappointed in the outcome when you are up against classic cars.

The shows I judged in had specific classes with different year break downs for even the same model cars. For instance,,,camaros would be broken down like this.
67-69
70-73
74-81
And even firebirds would have their own class broken down in a similar manor,,,they shouldn't have to compete against the camaros.

Chevelles are broken down into groups as well
64-65
66-67
68-72
73 and up,,,,,Novas, mustangs, so on and so forth. So we have break downs of years within one model of car.

This keeps favorite body styles from taking presidence over a less popular style and being judged unfairly. I think that is what you ran into.

Most of your really good shows still do this, but in the interest of saving money, most little shows group alot of this together nowadays to cut down on trophy costs,,,so there are some very nice, very deserving cars that get passed over.

[Niles]

Thanks Firebird Jones. I pretty much knew everything you said. The whole thing just hit me wrong. The fact that both the 1st and 2nd place winners had already been to another show, and won there as well just got to me. And the Cobra, while a real crowd pleaser and no doubt a nice ride, was turnkey. The guy bought it and did nothing to it. It's old and expensive, but, not a lot different that a newer car, with no mods. I do appreciate your wisdom and am not even irritated any more. Just one of those things I guess. PS. I'm retired and get the "older guy" advice thing.

[Firebirdjones]

Thanks Firebird Jones. I pretty much knew everything you said. The whole thing just hit me wrong. The fact that both the 1st and 2nd place winners had already been to another show, and won there as well just got to me. And the Cobra, while a real crowd pleaser and no doubt a nice ride, was turnkey. The guy bought it and did nothing to it. It's old and expensive, but, not a lot different that a newer car, with no mods. I do appreciate your wisdom and am not even irritated any more. Just one of those things I guess. PS. I'm retired and get the "older guy" advice thing.

Understandable though, just don't take it to heart. I still like the car shows, but I rarely pay money to put my own stuff in anymore, unless it's a really big show with alot of variety, and even then it's just to be able to park with the rest and hang with people that have the same interests. I generally don't stay long enough for the trophy part, I'm long gone by then.
Because of that, I'm more of a cruise inn guy on a friday/saturday night where I can come and go as I please, there is no judging, and it's free. I just enjoy hanging around car guys anymore.

Case in point as to paying for a car show would be the Show Low show up in the mountains in a couple weeks. I'll pay the $35 to enter the car because there is much more to do. Over 800 cars to look at, games for the kids, arts and crafts for the women, rodeo demonstrations, animal petting stations for kids etc....that's a fun 3 day event for everybody that makes the money worth while. Even though they'll put my car in a class to be judged,,,,I don't care, I'll be going Saturday only and leaving, so I won't be there for trophys.