A concours represents the ultimate test of your restoration abilities. Having personally redone more than 50 cars in my 45-year career, I can tell you there’s no better way to figure out if you’re really good at it than having it judged on a showfield.
In fact, just receivin…
I've had my car judged a few times now, and I think I'm done with it. I enjoy driving my car too much, and if you expect to win anything then you really just need to park your car in a garage until the next show.
While I have taken home some awards (Silver, Gold, Best in Class, and Best in Show), it's just not worth the effort. Especially when judging is wholly inconsistent. When I look at the score sheets, I've found deductions for things that shouldn't have been deducted, and the last judged show I couldn't even get my score sheet after multiple emails.
I still enjoy the shows, and still show my car at a number of events—but it's display only now. Even though it's fun to take home some hardware, I've never been competetive anyway. I take great care of my car and keep it as original as possible because that's how I like it and how I want to keep it—not because I'm trying to get an award… anymore.
In reply to dyerhaus :
The trick to winning with little effort is to be the only car in your category.
Being judged by someone that knows the cars can be a learning experience.
I used to judge MGs and Triumphs at local shows. You'd be surprised how many cars came through with non stock bits that some previous owner had installed and the current owner was oblivious. I've seen lots of MGAs with radio blanking plates from MGBs in crackle black that should have been either painted or covered with vinyl, depending on the year, and several that had the defroster vents pointed the wrong way and I had to explain that they were supposed to blow air at the windscreen not at the driver. And quite a few cars that had been modified with non stock parts that the owner then swore were stock.
Some of the stories people told to try and justify their unfounded belief that their car was stock were quite amusing "Yes, this is a very rare factory Triumph that they put a Chev 283 into..."
And that was in a low key class - you should have seen the Jags being judged under JCNA rules where everything had to be absolutely stock.
I did a couple of concours events with the PCA with my 911. The judging part was optional. Otherwise, you could just show your car and hang out. There was food.
They had full-on PCA judges there, however, and the purpose was not to make you feel bad about your car but, rather, to show how the process took place. It was very educational and I learned some stuff about my car.
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