I recommend someone contact the GAMVPA and see what classes they use and maybe a criteria sheet for each class..(Grade sheet?).
Wonder if Clinto would be willing to tackle that mission?
BTW WGT...I've seen some of your posts and you folks do EXCELLENT work!!
Typically "world class" judging only happens at National Meets.
I have a lot of experience with this in the Mopar hobby.
One, there aren't that many vehicles in the entire Country. Two, there aren't that many people who are knowledgeable enough about the vehicles to judge that kind of level.
Most local car clubs, be it the local Mopar club or the Ga MVPA use a very simple judging sheet. You have stock and modified and then you have various categories like paint/body, interior, undercarriage, etc. Each of the categories are scored 1-10 in terms of condition. In my opinion, this is BS judging and you might as well discard it as all it really turns into is a popularity contest. This 1-10 system is crap becuase it doesn't allow for correctness-only condition. So is a perfect repro master cylinder a 10 even if it is visually incorrect? If not, what is it? What is a dirty but correct and date coded master cylinder? Etc.
There used to be a decent sized Mopar event in Ga (it has deteriorated due to mismanagement) and several of us offered to develop a more exacting judging system. The idea was to try and attract some of the world class cars from the region. Most people that build a world class car don't take it to the local cruise night or car show. They leave it at home. We hoped by offering a real class for these cars and their owners that we could attract their participation.
The show owners didn't want to bother (even though it wouldn't have cost them anything). So they have stuck with their crap system and as a result, they've attracted a lot of crap cars.
Another thing is that most people wouldn't know a world class restoration if it crashed into them. These are the highest caliber restorations, built to the most exacting standards. When I repainted my Hemi Road Runner for instance, I had the paint shop put the factory runs in the paint back on the firewall and trunklid. Before I stripped the car, I took detailed pictures of all these flaws and had the paint shop replacate them. You wouldn't believe how many people made snarky comments at car shows about this, becuase they had NO clue whatsoever that it was intentional. Remember,
restore means to take back to original condition, not better than new condition. World class means doing all the stuff that is really difficult like date coded mufflers, correct tire valve stems, etc. I have a friend who paid $500 a piece for NOS date coded Hemi motor mounts. Sure, you can buy repros for $100 a pair but they are obviously repro (no part #, no vendor code, no date code, no pentastar). And he is building an OE certification car, so he has to have the right stuff. Most people have no idea about the minutiae of details like this.
I don't know enough about military stuff to even begin to set up a judging standard or system for this stuff, but even if I did, there would probably be next to no demand for it here in Ga. I suspect in this hobby, that kind of judging only occurs at the National Meet. In the Mopar hobby, it only occurs at Mopar Nationals and Chrysler @ Carlisle.
World class restorations are breathtaking to behold. It's like taking a step back in time. I would love to see an M35 built to exacting perfection, just the way it rolled off the assy. line.
So start playing fair, WGT!
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