This may seem to have come from out of the blue, but it's something that's
been niggling at me for about 4 years now, so I'm airing it out here :-)
Scott did ask after all (I only baited him a little).
On Fri, 25 Apr 1997, Scott Kohl wrote:
> Michael Burdick wrote:
> >
>
> > class - but that's another story (gripe, actually).
> >
> What do you mean, gripe? What was there to gripe about? If it's too
> painful or something, never mind.
Here's the story: I have a 1970 Spitfire that I did a three year body-off
rebuild. When I finished it in 1992, I took it to the VTR National in
Savannah, GA. The car is mainly stock with 2 exceptions: I put a tubular
header on it, and I swapped the single ZS the car came with for a side
draft weber carb.
The VTR judging rules have a clause stating something to the effect that
only one "major" modification is allowed - with two "major"
modifications, a vehicle is bumped to the modified class. "Major"
included my header and carb. I suggested that the mods were period but
didn't get very far with it - I let it drop and went to the Participant's
Choice show.
Why not go Modified? The criteria are totally different than for the
other concours class. The cars are only judged on fit and finish, and
workmanship. That's fine, but I would have been competing against vintage
racers that are truly works of art, Stags and TR7s that were subjects of
engine transplants and overall "hot rodding" (which is not a slam - I can
appreciate the workmanship that goes into that kind of thing). I didn't
feel like putting my plain-Jane Spit there to be judged on basically the
same criteria that the Participant's Choice show offered. At least in PC,
it would be compared against other Spits.
I guess what really got my goat was this: I was willing to enter the
concours, take my lumps in point deductions for the mods, and be done with
it. The VTR 2-mod policy prohibited that - basically saying my car was
not worth spending the time to judge against other Spitfires.
That's the story,
Mike - Participant's Choice refugee
Omaha, NE
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