Full concours or people's choice? Options

[914world2014]

Hi everyone!! I am the owner of a 914 LE. There is a big Porsche event approaching. I have been debating on which to enter, the Full concours which includes engine bay, or the people's choice. The car has been restored, but still 40 years old so not perfect. Any advice??

[Tom_T]

Don't be afraid to enter in the Concours as a contestant - versus as a People's Choice, which may be more akin to who likes which display car best, & not carry much weight in the CW world. But also do what YOU want to do!

If your Zone 1 Peoples' Choice is actually judged on Exterior & interior by 2 judges, then is sounds like what our Zone 8 calls the Wash & Shine category, which is for folks DD cars, those with little time to prep or just for fun - but to win it still requires extensive cleaning, prep & detail work on those two areas. It's just 2 vs. 4 or 6 judged areas - so it may just mean working on more areas to enter Full Concours. I'm not sure what yours is like?

I'm a Senior or Master Judge now in Zone 8, but all zones have different rules & standards, & most think ours are toughest.

Case in point, our Full Concours is 6 areas: Exterior, Interior, Storage, Engine + Undercarriage with Engine & without Engine - which means everything underneath also has to be spotless perfect too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

It sounds from folks in your Zone 1 that your Full is like our Street & Unrestored (10 yrs. & older with 75% original at paint & interior) categories - where only the Exterior, Interior, Storage, Engine are judged. It was that way too in Peachtree a few years back when I was visiting Atlanta & helped out at one of their CdEs.

So I'll respond relative to those for your purpose. This link has a bunch of Z8 Concours docs to help you out (& surprisingly to me, even Peachtree had printed some of these for their contestants):

http://zone8.pca.org/events_concours.php

Also go to your own Region's & Zone 1 websites to look for similar rules & guidance docs.

If you can, also try to attend one of their Concours Prep & Concours Judging Schools for members - or a combo one, since it will help you immensely, plus you can meet & ask questions of some of the actual judges - either before or after this CdE, as there will be others too later in the year.

Only for PCA National Concours at Parade is originality judged & you won't need to worry about it now. AFAIK, all of the PCA Zones & their Regions Concours are now only judging on preparation, detailing & maintenance issues (years ago they also did originality). At the Zone level, a Zone Concours or year end cumulative tie-breaker MAY involve which is more original, but I haven't seen nor heard of that in years.

Frankly, it will basically be a cleaning & detailing contest, where the most anal - & luckiest for what doesn't get caught - usually win.

So you're basically cleaning & detailing your a$$ off for 1-2 weeks beforehand (unless you've been working on it already), then have someone else check everything (a judge if you know one), & catch those points which they find, repeat....

Then get on-site as early as possible, cuz you'll be doing most all of that cleaning, detailing & all over again after getting there. The judges will be looking in every conceivable nook & cranny that they can possibly get their fingers into

Take your first CdE competition as a learning experience & use your scoring sheets as "homework" to prep for the next one. Zone 8 gives all contestants in all classes & categories their score sheets at the end of the CdE for that purpose.

AACA & others are completely different CdE rules & procedures, so forget about them at PCA, & visa versa for PCA at the others. Prepare for the rules of the organization at hand.

For anyone considering judging, it's actually kinda fun cuz you get to crawl all over (figuratively) all sorts of cool Porsche cars of all flavors! Although it was only on display, we judges did get to actually see the innards of the 918 Weissach which was at our Jan. 2015 Z8 Concours (I put a post on here somewhere).

BTW SoCal Andy went head to head with Dave/toolguy with their 2 excellent 914-6 restos at that above noted event - Dave an old hand & Andy at his 1st PCA CdE, & both enjoyed themselves, the experience & the camaraderie with other contestants & judges! Both did well & had fun.

Your B'Bee looks nice in the pix above, so you have a great starting point - & if you put in the effort, you just may walk away with some level of award first time out, & can improve &/or rack them up from there.

Another advantage the we CW's have in going thru this prep process, is that we more intimately know our cars & where little repairs & maintenance needs to be done, as compared to folks who just jump in their cars of any type & drive, where it's more of a utilitarian thing than a passion or hobby.

Unfortunately my 914's resto/repair is a long way off from being able to compete anytime soon myself (& they won't let me enter by BMW or Westy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ), so I'll have to wait or else enter our planned Cayenne S purchase whener]ver that happens. So for now, judging keeps me sharp, & so I try to judge at 3-6+ events a year, as my schedule allows.

Good Luck, Work Hard & Hopefully (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)
Tom
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PS - you can still go for a good drive too! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)