The incongruities of a car show & "concours", ..and we wonder why we bother Options

[1970 Neun vierzehn]

At a recent PCA car celebration and (alleged) concours, the awards were based on participant voting. I imagined that to consist of presentation, cleanliness, and popularity. I had no expectations of recognition, although I did spend the better part of two days preparing the car.

The somewhat irritating aspect of the event was the resultant awards presented.
The bad: in a field consisting of a least a dozen 356s, including a couple of normal 356 Bs, the "judges" conferred the "slowest car award" to a 1976 914 2.0 . I'm not that familier with 356 performance figures but I'd be hard pressed to believe a 1958 356 B Normal coupe would be faster than a 2.0 914 of any vintage.
The good: that aforementioned 1976 914 DID win a very deserved award in the standard "concours" judging. It was all OEM as far as I could tell and was a past PCA Parade Preservation class overall winner (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif)

The real annoyance, however, was the two awards given to a (remember this is a PORSCHE Club event) a car (keep in mind the 914-not-a-real-Porsche controversy) that was a Beck 550 spyder with a VW engine. Granted, it was well done, and I am sure fun to drive in the right venue, but, just what qualifies it as a Porsche?

I suppose with the relatively "mass market" approach that corporate Porsche is pursuing of late, I shouldn't be surprised at the general casual approach that car show organizers need to take to attract uninformed and mildly interested participants.

Paul

[Tom_T]

Paul,

At Zone 8 the Beck 550 could have been in Display only AFAIK - even if it had a "proper" Carrera 4 engine in it.

Maybe I should drop a Boxster/Cayman or 911 waterboxer in our 88 VW Westy & enter it there! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

However, at our OC Region CdE in June they did do a "judges choice" overall for best of show, instead of the traditional points count. I don't think that's any better than what you experienced, instead of the traditional top points getter & rejudge any ties (although having a separate People's Choice is fine to have as a separate.

However, even the judging tends to be a bit slanted in Zone 8, since a certain 912 with a 20 year old paint job with peeling around the engine lid keeps winning in Full Concours - even when against better maintained & prepared P-cars - two of which are exceptional full resto 914-6s on here! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

The guy with the 912 uses it as a DD & does do an outstanding job of prepping it, but the points should reflect overall condition & prep at the Zone/Region level. The head judges seem to frown on gigging too many points for an "expensive" paint fix, but then IMHO the point count should reflect the owner's choice not to do so - instead of a small deduction.

BTW - I agree with you on the 356 Normal vs. GC powered 914-2.0 - now way the 65 HP 356 will out run an 85 HP 914, even if the latter is a slight bit heavier! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Cheers! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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