Coppa Bella

I am working to get my car ready for next year's nationals. My objective is to get a Coppa Bella Machina and then a Coppa GT. So far I removed the 3M film on the front of my car and am having the rockers repainted as well as the wheels. Here are my questions:

Do I need to remove the amplifier that a previous owner installed on the firewall?

I understand that since a 328 did not come with a radio, any radio will be fine, is that correct?

For the Coppa GT what is involved? What is the judging based upon?

Thanks for the help.

 

You should check the FCA judging guidelines on their website (sorry no link handy).

My 328 won a coppa bella machina at FCA Nationals in 1999, IIRC (before I owned it) and an FCA Best V8 at Concorso Italiano in 2007 (my ownership). The awards are based on originality and preservation. I.e., you can have a few stone chips on the front, but stuff like chromed wheels, painted spoilers, painted grilles, aftermarket wheels, etc. will cause deductions. Cleanliness is obviously important as well, and remember your detail job will be standing next to the best -- so, no ArmorAll greasy look, minimal hairlines in the paint, etc.

In the engine bay (you will be asked to open front and rear), any sort of creative powdercoating (i.e., red valve covers) or non-standard ignition wires would probably lose you a point, or part of a point. Replace any easy stuff that detracts: My coolant expansion tank had bits of rust around the seams, so I had the tank replaced and ordered an OEM label from Ricambi. This is is very visible in a 328 engine bay and it looks fantastic with a perfect gloss finish.

You will be asked to operate all the lights, signals and horn: make sure you have no burnt out bulbs anywhere, including licence plate bulbs and courtesy lights under the door handles.

Make sure you have the full tool kit, jack kit, and also that trouble light in its pouch. You will be asked to show some or all of this.

With regard to the radio: mine still has the original factory blanking plate in place for the radio, but per the rules you are allowed to have a radio, and it does not have to be a 1980s unit. However -- I'm not certain on this, but MikeC on FChat would know -- it may be a deduction if you have installed larger speakers/grilles in the door panels or on the dash. Mike's with the FCA Southeast Region, and they have a good site for info. A visibly mounted power amp on the firewall is something I would remove, but I'll defer to the judging experts on this. I believe FCA rules also allow for those 1980s "pigtail" mobile phone antennas mounted on the car -- but for coppa bella machina, I wouldn't count on it.

There is no penalty for having a fire extinguisher added. You will get a small deduction for a Tubi (I think it's 1 point -- mine scored platinum even with the Tubi.) You can also clean up small stuff, like replacing those chrome cavallino valve stem caps with OEM-looking plastic caps (yes the cheap ones), and locating an OEM licence plate frame (black aluminum - very nondescript).

Good luck. There are a lot of very clean 328s out there -- there were simply no 'bad' or even 'driver-level' 328s in our judging group at Concorso. Some of the things that I think have helped my 328 in concours have been (1) unusual color - black metallic stands out in a sea of red 328s; (2) exceptional interior, due to a restoration in OEM color; (3) black carpets and beige leather is kind of striking; and (4) attention to the original bits to avoid losing points for dumb stuff. Other than that, just detail everything (door jambs, wheel wells, spare tire/wheel/front compartment). They used mirrors to look under the car at FCA Nationals, so pay attention there as well.

The nice thing about FCA platinum is that you're not competing with anyone - it's a judgment of your car on its merits. For coppa bella machina, you have to stand out, and I think anything you can do (like removing a power amp and making sure the carpet on the firewall looks perfect) to impress the judges is worth a try.