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