Mods to Win Car Shows?

[Sndsgood]

sorry for the double post but i wanted to seperate this responce from the one above about why do you want to win at a show.

okay. this is what i feel makes a good winning show car. this is coming from someone whos main hobby is competing, putting on and judging car shows for the last several years.

1. CLEAN. i dont care how much money you have dumped into your car if you dont bother to clean your car your not getting points. out of a 100 point score sheet in general cleanliness will usually gain you 20-40% of your points. this is probably thee most important step you can take for winning a car show. i always look at it from the spectators view. would i want to pay an entrance fee to come in and look at dirty cars. and when i say clean i mean all over. wheels for example. everyone cleans the front of the rim off. as a judge i usually dont even bother with the front of the rim. i look past the spokes and make sure they cleaned the backside of the rim. and the brake calipers and the suspention. clean it all. from top to bottom.

2. open your car up. so many people don't bother opening up there cars. even if you engine is dirty getting 1 point for it is better then the 0 you will get for having it closed up.

3. proper build. its great that you went out and spent all this money on high dollar parts but if they are not installed properly your going to get docked point for them. make sure anything you do is done cleanly. properly. if a piece has 3 bolt holes you should have 3 bolts on it if you want to go after the points make sure all three bolts are lined up the same. more is not nessicarily better. ive picked cars with fewer modifications over heavily modified cars allot of times because the one with allot of mods were put on half assed.

4. distribute your modifications. allot of times i'll see a car that just has an amazing exterior. can have crowds around it all day but when you judge it you notice the interior is bone stock, the engine is bone stock, etc. etc. you want a well rounded car with a bit done to the whole package.

5.details. this is another big one. as i mentioned above with the 3 bolts holes.make sure all of them lined up. wiring is a big one instead of just running thru the engine bay. wrap them in flame retardent loom with heat shrinked ends so they look clean and neat. take care of the small things. make sure wires that arn't out for display are hidden. judges have seen all the big major mods to cars. its those that take care of the details that really catch our intrest. some cars you look at and go okay its just another so and so. but then when i look at it i start seeing all the little things that were done that make it stand out.
not just things like sticking a platic challenger badge on your dash either, im talking well thought out changes that take it from ordinary to over the top.


6. theme now when i say this im not nessicarily saying you need to pick the tasmanian devil theme and have little devils all over the place. but what im saying is look at how your building your car. make sure it all works together, if your car is blue with racing stripes its not going to look right if the interior you have red pinstripping and the engine bay has flames all over it and the trunk is stock. if you have carbon fiber parts try to be consistant thruout. if you have billet knobs in the interior look at billet covers in the engine bay. carry your theme thruout the car so it looks like it was built with a theme in mind. not like you just found a bunch of parts and slapped them on.

7. be respectful wether its to the judges or to fellow competitors. when being judged introduce yourself to the judge. shake there hand. then step away from the car and let the judges do there job. you dont have to point out your rims. we can see them. we dont want to know that some other guy in your class doesnt have as cool a car as yours. we dont care that you won best in class at a diffrent show. just let us judge the car. if we as a question come over, answer it and then let us get back to work. its not easy judging a couple hundred or a couple thousand cars in a day or weekend and spending an hour talking to you in the hot sun is just going to delay us. most judges are doing this on there own time for little to no pay so don't be an ass if you dont happen to win. there was several shows where i felt i had a better car and several times where ive seen judges showing favoritism. this is where you just step back, and enjoy the show and not worry about wether you won or not.



another issue

bad judging. most show guys have been thru it and know about it. ive been at a small show at a major retailer the sales staff was running the show and it was a write in type vote. as in the most votes win. we watched as employees went in and pulle out other employees and talked them into voting for there buddies car. the best way to deal with it is to just enjoy the show and the next year spend your money at a more fair and honest show. there are tons of shows out there and allot of them go to supporting good causes so choose to spend your money at the good shows and just don't bother with badly run shows.


hope some of this helps get you guys out in the judging lanes and having fun. and although i agree winning isn't everything it sure can be fun. esp if you have friends with the same cars that you can get friendly competitions going to see who wins. its all in good fun.

[DrinkCoke]

Now that's some fantastic information right there. As for bad judging, I have witnessed some of that. For instance, a car club will enter the show and have all their buddy's vote for one car then at the next car show they show up and all vote on another buddy's car. It's a joke. When I see this, I just enjoy the show and forget about the judging.

[GregTheUPSMAN]

"and talked them into voting for their buddies car."

Where have I experienced that before? Seems that the "buddy system" has a pattern to it.

This may not win many awards, but it certainly draws the attention.

How about a Blue Collar Blower?

[DrinkCoke]

OMG I must have one of those "blowers" in B5! Haha. That would get a judge's attention.

[Sndsgood]

thats one of the reasons im not a fan of particapant voting. it usually boils down to which car club has the most members. not to mention that if you do judge the right way you spend your afternoon judging cars instead of just enjoying yourself.

[doctroprint]

">




Must get rid of the over sized hospital bed pan...

[snowcat256]

Never enter a car show thinking you going to get a trophy..You me leave very disappointed. Just go to the show , Meet and greet as many people as possible and make friends.

Car shows are for car guys and gals that like the hobby and the other car people they meet.

I had a 72 'Cuda all original, had it for 12 years, I took 2nd place among 18+ cars, Next week went to a different car show, I got NOTHING out of 7 cars. That show was rigged and I never went back.

NEVER NEVER go to a car show thinking your going to get a trophy. !!!

[Sndsgood]

i dont think anyone here is saying to go and expect to win.

[Garfield411]

I have had my FF Challenger R/T since December. Had it in three shows and enjoyed all of them. In all three shows I had the only FF Challenger. My last show the past weekend I got 98 out of a hundred points. 2 points were taken off because of "soot inside my exhaust Tips". I recieved a Spnsors's award, the judges like the car and the color. I don't enter shows expecting an award but if I get one it adds to the fun. When I had my '78 Vette I entered it in 11 shows, won 11 awards had a great time at all 11 shows. Is there bias, favoritism, and bad judging yes there is and when I saw it I just never entered that particular show again.

A clean car is important, clean engine bay, and clean interrior and trunk. If you have the cars documentation (window sticker, build sheet,bill of sale, etc) display it with the car. Dash plaques from past shows and picture of the car in a frame as a display are nice too. I see more and more of this, but a plastic or die cast model of YOUR car also adds to the car. I watched as two judges looked at the plastic model more than the actual car and asked the owner how did he match the paint. That particular car won a top three award.

[WyGoSlw]

Just got done with my head covers last week, what do you guys think? Not looking to win awards but I thought it looked cool. I'll be working on the fuse box cover next..