What if you were a judge @ a car show?

[joebogey]

Re: What if you were a judge @ a car show?

'Cuda, you very succinctly said what was in my head stuck behind my mouth...

[KeithTurk]

Re: What if you were a judge @ a car show?

Groucho I re-read what you said there... and if the answer to the question is Pure "Theme" based... I like theme vehicles... but I'm equally moved by storied vehicles... ( my Dad bought this and it's my tribute to him)

So if I had my choice between a great theme Car, poorly executed and a great story of a perfectly built 67 Impala... ( trying to think of a cool Ho Hum vehicle ) I'd most likely go for the Story car...

Your cars and the skill you have is a bit outside of the norm... most folks simply don't have that kind of talent so seeing a ton of cars like yours is virtually NEVER going to happen.... Your stuff will always win a people choice award simply because it's so cool... the Judges would agree... I'd bet...

K ( not sucking up here... Groucho has some disco bitchen junk )

[Schtauffer]

Re: What if you were a judge @ a car show?

That's a toss-up. A guy can have a great idea, but no body & paint skills. A guy can have awesome skills, but no ideas. Which is the better artist?

Judged shows are not my thing. If I go to one, I make no effort to win. I take the car in the same condition as though it were just a cruise night. The last one I was at, the lady next to us was freaking out because I had not swept the trunk out. She was like "you are ruining it for the rest of us." I told her that I was trying to make it easier for her to win, which really pissed her off, she took it as an insult. It was really funny when she got a trophy. I couldn't have cared less that I didn't win, and she could not grasp that concept.

I just don't get it...

[ls7gto]

Re: What if you were a judge @ a car show?

"It depends..." is right. It kinda needs to be up to the promoter, depending on what crowd he's trying to attract. You want the perfect resto crowd, judge on clean tire treads. You want people off the street, give points for flash and how big of a crowd a car attracts. Watch the spectators and other participants, see what they like. Then develop a legit check list so people trying for awards have a standard to go by.

My own personal answer is, still, it depends. If I go to shows it's to see fresh ideas but like it even more if they're done nicely. If you have a car with neat fabrication or an interesting motor I'd like to see it, but if there's a bunch of wavy body panels and sloppy paint then great but don't expect a trophy for your shelf. I really don't have an A or B answer.

The one GoodGuys show I went to with my purple Challenger, "Best Mopar" was won by a fifties car with crap bodywork (really...I'm not just grumbling) and a Chevy engine. Their were literally dozens of nicer Chryslers there. The owner and master-of-ceremonies looked pretty friendly with each other. After getting over gagging I asked one of their guys how he judged and he said he just voted for "what he liked". Fine, but don't go charging people good money so you can hand out the awards based on "what you like" today.

I would be upset by that too, I will not pick a friend or club members car. and A best mopar should be mopar powered IMHO. but if you go to a GG show for awards, you went for the wrong reason....but i feel that way about all car shows and cruises. I go to see friends ,cars and get away. Doug

[ProRauder]

Re: What if you were a judge @ a car show?

I appreciate the effort. But, I'm surprised on how many aren't quite "getting" the question. Oh well, it wasn't important. I was just curious if people liked polished turds or just cool cars ;D ;) :

The problem is not so much the responses, but that the "turd" is in the eye of the beholder! No two people see the same car the same way.

Honestly, if you have built a car that YOU like and are proud of, then be happy! It may never win a trophy, but then that was never the point, was it?

I constantly get bombarded over my choice to paint a perfectly good black Mercury Marauder that True Blue Candy I did. But I tell them I didn't build it for them, I built it for ME! It is my vision of what I want to drive, race, show, etc. Your car should reflect YOU.

Now, go out and show that polished turd!

:D

[Loren]

Re: What if you were a judge @ a car show?

[....but i feel that way about all car shows and cruises. I go to see friends ,cars and get away. Doug

I and a good-size group of friends used to caravan all over the state to events for just that reason. Drinking ourselves silly and throwing sleeping bags down in some farmer's field...we sure weren't out for anything like recognition (on the contrary).

However imagine going to a baseball tournament or something, all for fun, but watching teams get eliminated based on caprice by the umpires. Whether it were you or them it would be kind-of a bummer and douse your interest in the whole thing.

We know autoXcuda's events are fair and that's a reason to go...even guys who have no hope of ever winning anything, or aren't bringing a car that day. Perhaps that's partly why he's been getting a great crowd for years when other events have withered away.

[OldUsedParts]

Re: What if you were a judge @ a car show?

too many variables to say one way or the other - - aka "it depends"

if you are picked to judge a Show then obviously they want YOUR opinion and preferably unbiased, if that's possible?

anyone who shows a DD in a class filled with TQ's should be prepared for the outcome, no matter what it is !

[ls7gto]

Re: What if you were a judge @ a car show?

ill have to try to make one of his shows. ;D sounds like a good time.
sorry Groucho bout the hi-jacking! ;D

[ghustler]

Re: What if you were a judge @ a car show?

"It depends..." is right. It kinda needs to be up to the promoter, depending on what crowd he's trying to attract

Thats why there are classes, like factory stock, street machine, open.
And year breaks, you can't expect a 79 Trans Am to compete with a 66 GTO. classes breaks like 64/69, 70/75, 76/79.

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: What if you were a judge @ a car show?

I'm just curious here. I've never had a show car, and never will. But, I witness different things when I go to shows that I disagree with. Anyway, "IF" I were to judge a show, I would vote for a car that had a great idea/theme to it even if not in perfect condition rather than a perfectly built car with a lousy/boring theme. How about you. Would you award the guy with the better idea, even though fit and finish weren't perfect, or a perfect execution of a lousy idea?

Some answers are way off point. Lets try this:
Two, 1960 Pontiac Venturas-
Which would you vote for? A or B?
A-Boring color choice inside and out, terrible wheels, but perfectly built.
B-Spectacular choice of colors and wheels, but not so nicely built

Me, I like something different and interesting, even if not show quality. I'm not fond of the same old idea, over, and over again, no matter how perfect it's built. Spend less time polishing, and more time thinking

Great food for thought here!
Hmmmmm. Like seemingly everyone else, I'm conflicted.

I'm friendly with a guy who has a Nova that is a 97 point car as judged by the national historic nova club (I think that's the name of the organization). It's a straight 6 powerglide car. He actually drives it and has run some stunning 18 second ets with it at the track. I respect the hell out of the car for what it is, but at the end of the day, it does nothing for me.

My dad has a 1964 Pontaic GTO that he restored when I was a wee lad. It's a very correct car, not something that's going to win an overall award at a Pontiac convention, but a car that stands out as being execptionally nice just about everywhere else. I love it, and hopefully someday will be able to own it when he no longer wants it.

If I were judging a show and these two cars were in it along with modified examples of each, I'd probably vote for the modified example, assuming it wasn't a hack job or death trap. I remember first hand the amount of work my dad did getting his car "right" but at the end of the day, it's just as it was rolling off the end of the assembly line...nothing more, nothing less.

The modified car shows me the thought process of the owner and the way he or she decided to personalize or improve the car to his or her liking. That puts it over the top for me.

Brian

[groucho]

Re: What if you were a judge @ a car show?

That's a toss-up. A guy can have a great idea, but no body & paint skills. A guy can have awesome skills, but no ideas. Which is the better artist?

Judged shows are not my thing. If I go to one, I make no effort to win. I take the car in the same condition as though it were just a cruise night. The last one I was at, the lady next to us was freaking out because I had not swept the trunk out. She was like "you are ruining it for the rest of us." I told her that I was trying to make it easier for her to win, which really pissed her off, she took it as an insult. It was really funny when she got a trophy. I couldn't have cared less that I didn't win, and she could not grasp that concept.

I just don't get it...

I'm with you. If I pay to get my car in a show, it's to have base camp and hang out with my friends that are parked in it. I've had peolpe come up to me and ask why my hood is down? I'm puzzled as they explain that they're a judge and can't judge my car with the hood down. I'll tell them thanks, but I have no interest in a trophy (my cars ARE my trophies-group hug with them later this morning), and I feel most cars look infinately better with the hood closed and the lines of the car uninterupted. Especially with my Vette. Hell, we all know what a friggin SBC looks like. I had a Gasser 41 Willys. Cool lookin car. Now, the new owner presents it everywhere with the hood open. Big deal, it's a SBC! But, it looks like a bird with a broken beak with the hood open. Look for one of my crappers among the 300 cars parked outside the buildings at the Grand National Roadster Show in January. It won't be pretty, clean, or hood up. But, I'll have a bag of new bought T-shirts and whiskey ;D. Keith, thanks for the kind words

[squirrel]

Re: What if you were a judge @ a car show?

When I go to a car show and park my primered turd next to a nice well done car that the owner is busy dusting and cleaning the wheels and stuff, I make sure to tell him that I'm doing my part to make his car look good