Stu, a friend of mine has a 57 TBird, whose previous owner won the TBird
Grand National Award. This is a national event where only the very best
can even compete. The award is not passed on to the new owner, and my
friend has to start from the ground up.
Now don't get side tracked re large number of cars, different than
Tigers, and their owners, or anything at this point.
I went to help my friend get his car ready for the first part of the
TBird event. He did not know the cars intimately, like most long time
owners, and so he started searching for help in how to get his car ready
for the concourse.
There were three manual available, that in great detail went into what
the original car had, such as what color black was on a certain part.
Remember those Tigers owners who have asked such a question before, and
besides the BON, have no resources other than an owner of an original
car, who may or may not describe the black correctly, i.e. matte, shiny,
gloss, etc.
These manuals were an invaluable guide to my friend in getting his car
ready. We worked on the car, it was not perfect, but he made the first
step in the TBird concourse.
He also went to the next step, and while the car is beautiful, he does
not intend to go to the Grand Nationals, as this car will be a driver.
Why do they have such rigid standards and of what value are they?
At both concourse events, the judging was only on the merits of the car,
and whether it was correct, as outlined in these manuals. The manuals
were there for everyone to read and understand, including the Judges.
There was absolutely no subjective or individual judgment between Judges
or owners, as everyone knew what the rules were.
The Judges and owners had to abide by the rules, and frankly this made
for a much better, and more enjoyable event, as everyone knew there were
a set of rules, and it made it easy to conduct this portion of the
concourse event.
I have also attended concourse events, and some have been very good, and
others have left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Others at these
events have been so disturbed that they made the decision not to attend
the events again, as they felt the Judges were imputing their own
subjective views and taste into the judging. They for all practical
purposes have
decided the club is bad, and run by insiders who are running it for
their own benefit.
This is never good for a club, as this never helps the club to grow or
prosper.
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