Greetings, Does anyone know if the judges at high end car shows like Pebble Beach ect...remove panels, parts and other items on the car during the show when they are judging cars? I watched a TV show on Corvettes that aired the Speed Channel a while back and the show judges were actually removing parts to check out the originality of the cars! This is the first time that I have ever seen this type of thing and I was amazed. Also I'm just curious is this judging "technique" of removing parts is a common practice at Ferrari & other European car shows (shows held on the continent) as well or something that just the Corvette or the American muscle car show judges do? Thanks in advance,
you will never see a concours judge remove parts or even operate anything on a Ferrari if the concours is run under IAC/PFA rules (adopted by the FCA). A judge will ask the owner to operate everything, open doors, open trunk, etc. A judge will sit on the seat to inspect the interior, but with feet on the ground and not in the car.
Whay are they judging? If a car is original? Sometimes very hard to do with all those overrestored cars around in the US. I've seen several original unrestored cars before their "restoration". The result after the restoration (rebuilt would be a better word making those cars just recreations) has nothing to do with how these cars left the factory. Too perfect, too clean etc. A real shame and just stupid. It's like repainting a Picasso and claiming it's "original" and the real thing.
Thanks guys for the replies/info. I believe these judges were judging the originality of the car (in this case a Corvette) and it had something to do with being rated Bloomington(sp?) gold, silver, platinum ect...ranking of the originality of the car. I like your example of the Picasso painting.
I have judged for several years at Radnor and other car shows and the judges do not touch the cars. We do how ever ask the owners if they are there to open the hood or pop the trunk. Most of the time we judge on the feel of the cars and thier niche in history. Recently judges are looking more favorably on unrestored cars like Ferrari 052M. I and my co judge Harland Hadley got into some hot water a couple of years ago at Radnor in presenting an orignal unrestored Ford GT40 the best race car award at Radnor over a newly restored Ford GT 40. Got to go with the soul factor. I think the days of the nit picking type judging are over. Corvette and Jaguar shows are still into this style of judging which takes all day. The job is hard enough and I like what we call the new french method of judging.
