Concours in the olden days, My feelings - the way it should still be Options

[Pat Garvey]

I haven't had a diatribe in 2 years, so I'm due.

I'll admit it - I'm a throwback/curmudgeon when it comes to concours.

When it comes to originality, it's just that - original parts and condition. I'll admit that restoration to original condition means it isn't original. I'll take the hit.

But let's discuss cleanliness. And, I'll discuss it the way I was mentored in 1973, which I still hold to & believe is correct.

Cleanliness, to me, means that the judge(s) should be able to actually FEEL the car! Put thier hands on it.

A judge should be able to physically determine the cleanliness of the car, with hands on. If you are portraying your car (whatever breed) as clean, you should see to it that it is physically clean. A judge should be able to either use his/her fingers (or a cloth) to search for grime. If it's there it isn't clean (as in cleanliness). Should be touched, not merely observed.

In my very first "full" concours the judges wore white labcoats & sported cleaning rags (it was PCA 1973). My 914, at less then a year old, has 48k miles on it. But I had been coached by 2 of the best concours people of the era. I took it off the road for 4 months to get it ready. Unfotunately/fortunately, my mentors were part of my judging team. They found little goo, except for the CV boots and oil stained heat exchangers. I won the event & was pushed on to the next Parade (74). In between, I did 2 other concours & won easily, after learning hardcore cleanliness.

I owe a lot of my success to Jon Lowe, who was a perpetual judge and has the longest fingers I've seen. Jon went GT'ing & eventaully fell out to model airplanes.

The 1974 PCA Parade was my first attempt at national hardcore - scared the hell out of me. We prepped for 3 months (914 had been taken off of daily use then) every evening. It was as perfect as could be, but we had to drive it to Pocono. I stripped it of non-critical front end parts & set off. At that time, the PA turnpike was a mess of loose rocks & busted concrete, and was a rough ride. Arrived a day early & spent 3 days prepping. Had non-correct chromies on the car, and I liked them, so we (Janice & I) spent the time on cleanliness, hoping to make up the points there. We did, and won the class by almost 15 points. Mind you, the judges actually touched the car then.

Won a bunch of firsts & People Choice thereafter, but prepped for the Asheville Parade, based on cleanliness. Won that one by 8 points. Judges were still hands-on then too.

After a bunch of PCA and multi-marque events (another 12 firsts & one Best Porsche) came the Reston Parade. This was the only time I trailerd.
I new that this one would be the toughest, and that I would be going against Cole Scrogham, so we worked even harder & trailered.

I came off the trailer & my master cylinder failed. Cole lent me a new one & proceeded to beat me by 1.8 points, probably because of my cheomies & Yoko autocross tires. Fact is - I scored 4 points higher on cleanliness, but gave up almost six points on originality. OK by me. Cole won fair & square. I made the choice on wheels & tires & it cost me another win. But the judges still had hands-on experience with every car.

Now, the judges can only look, not touch. They can't tell if a car is clean or not. You can put all kinds on slick goo that shows well on the botom of enigine & tranny - even the belly, but they can't touch. I don't loke it.

Jon ("long fingers") Lowe used to tell me that a Porsche was only clean as far as he could reach. I liked those days.
Pat

[Pat Garvey]

Based on the replies so far, and I agree with all, there needs to be some continuity in judging. And the entrants need to be apprised beforehand.
Concours has become so much a "everybody should get to play" event in recent years. No, you either have a concours prepped car or not.

Yeah, I know the PCA philosophy - everyone should get to play. That's wrong & it denegrates those of us who are hardcore. And, it leads to hundreds of people who declare thier cars "concours".

Guess what PCA - you used to have a premier truely concours event, and you have blown it!

PCA had the chance to become a premier concours event with the Parade. Actually, they were in the park until they enlisted so-called professionals to control the event, and made so many useless class designations as to make the term "concours" mute.

Look, to those of us who say our Porsches are as clean as possible (and we may have some personal touches - hopefully Factory authorized), I take afront to judges that will not touch my 914. I have ONE personal touch, and those are my chromies (I have 5 restored steelies, but don't care for the look). I want those chromies to be the maximum deduct for originality, but I want the best I can get for cleanliness. I lost a Parade concours for this very reason & accept it.

Point is - get away from all the reg's. Wanna concours, see the rules, clean it up, try to keep it original as possible, and show up. Let the judges run fingers all over everything (remember, you knew this was coming) & detract for filth and non-originality.

If you declare that your Porsche is a "concours" version, you'd better be able to back it up with "real" placements, else you're just another wannabe.
Pat

[MDG]

Concours has become so much a "everybody should get to play" event in recent years. No, you either have a concours prepped car or not.

This mentality drives me crazy too. And it's seeped into our culture like a disease. In my opinion, if you choose to enter a competition of any kind, you must first except the fact you may not win! If you are the organizers of the event, come to grips with the fact there may end up being some bruised egos. Sheesh. This notion of "there are no losers" is nonsense.

To me, you do it because you love doing it; the challenge, the competition and yes, the win.

Check out kids sports these days. A lot of the leagues don't even bother to keep score until they are 8 or 9 years old - let alone declaring winners, losers, champions . . .

And in the effort to 'spare feelings' what are we actually teaching here? That a half-assed effort will net you the same result as working like a dog to improve yourself.

I'm with you, Pat.