A couple weeks ago a friend asked me to enter my modded vette
in a local show. I don't care to much for shows I sometimes go
to look but I don't show -Way to boring for me.
Anyway I set up and watched folks walk by. Most were clue less
as to what they were looking at. A few asked a intelligent question.
And 1 in 10 could tell I had a supercharger ( hood open event ).
The great crowd were going to vote for best in show. One guy
said they all look good "I am going to vote by color".

Now I walked around and I found 3 vettes that the owners had put
alot of sweat and work into.I appreciated the hard effort and I voted
for them. At the end of the show the judges announced the winners.
Every winner had a bone stock vette. A new C-6, a C-5 that the
owner just bought and a total stock C-3 that needed work. ????

Are these shows all like this?? Bone stock new vettes with a new
smear of polish.A winner.I have thought about other shows that I have seen and I remember seeing brand new vettes being entered and
wondered the point. Now I know. They will probably get a trophy.

It goes to show you that I am a virgin when it comes to Corvette
Shows. Have other Forum members experinced this? I would think
effort would have a play in a show rather than buying and entering
a new vette. What do you think.?

 

I had the same thing happen to me years ago with my modded Camaro.

It had (I still have the car) the full SLP Ultra-Z kit on a 1994 Camaro Convertible. It's minty clean, like showroom new. It has the SS wheels, custom hood, spoiler, full exhaust, functional ramair, aftermarket leather seats.... the works.

I received nothing.

THe winner? A bone stock brand new (at the time) 1996 Impala SS that still had the plastic on the seats. The owner did nothing to it other than buy it and drive it to the show.

 

It just goes to show the worth of show Trophys.. with one and 69 cents , you can get a cup of Coffee at McDonnalds.

 

Some how I actually got a trophy this year with my average C5, its not stock but its not your typical show car either.

 

I gave up on shows after the one and only one I entered the first year of ownership...totally political BS....spend your time driving it.

 

The first show I went to 80% of the winners were coincidentally all members of the club that put the show on. Go figure.

 

The exact thing happened to me in 2003. All of the nice modified, and restored classic Corvettes, and who wins? The president of the local 'Vette club's brand new AE coupe. It was gorgeous, and the first Anniversary red one I'd seen, but really, a showroom new car? Anyway, to add to the irony, about a year ago my best friend finally woke up, and started looking for a C5, and he wanted a AE coupe. Yes, he was at that car show with me, showing his beautiful resto-mod 69 Camaro RS. He looked on the internet for about 4 months, and what do you know, but this exact same car we saw in '03, in another town, was for sale. He made the deal, and is loving the car like most of us do.

 

I've entered some because of the "charity" the money was going towards, enjoyed the cars that were there, wondered how "certain" cars won, and others didn't, but that's about it. Right now, it's too damn hot sitting out in a parking lot for 6-7 hours. Now I'll go, enjoy looking/talking, and that's it.

 

I really can't hack judged car shows. I dislike the competition, the classes and the stupidity of the whole process. I'll take a cruize night any day or night, open to all years,
makes and models. If you like stock or modded cars, there's something for everyone.

As far as new cars, unless they're a new muscle car or exotic, leave them home. A lot of the time, it does not take much to impress the public...there's a 2 year old Saturn Sky that shows up with a Star-Wars painted hood liner, you should see the crowds it draws.

Jerry

 

I used to Show imports car for a while where they are more about over modded cars and such. That was a chance from the Classic Mustang Club of America stuff my dad did for a while. While we both own our own C5's now we both have them has drivers with a shine and really yawn about cars shows. Our Club does the smart thing on their hosted show. The club has it own internal vote on their cars, but the main awards go to the non-members who are showing. In the end it is still a political game.

 

Me, being a former Mustang guy....I have had the exact same experience at car shows....NEW Stock Mustangs that are obviously perfect because they are new, winning the car show!! WTF?!?!?!?!?

 

Sometimes they simply had some chrome parts stuck on them....still won!!

 

Yep, that's about the way they go.

 

I have owned around 25 vettes over the last 50 years and it doesn't surprise me that bone stock cars tend to win as most Corvette buyers I know also look for vettes that have not been modded.

 

Its usually the cheesy cars with way over the top interior mods, flashing lights, flags hanging off everywhere, Chrome this and that..... They win the shows. Its not my style for sure, but others seem to like it I guess. Guys like that are not really into the "performance" aspect of the car I think. I always ask them what they did under the hood, and 99% of the time they only have appearance mods added.

Us guys that have most of our mods under the skin (heads/cam/LongTubes/Exhaust/SC's/Turbo's/Coil Overs/Big brakes, etc... ) do not win because the judges do not know enough to notice that.

I do not care though. I just like to go to see some of my friends there to chat, meet new folks, and see some cars that people really put time and effort into that enjoy the hobby. If you can make your way thru the cheesy cars, there are nice cars there too that some folks really put some thought/work into.

The few trophies I have won in the last 6 years go to my wife's charity events she puts on for kids.

The worst situation I have seen is a x-football player showing up in his new ZR1. He got pissed because my friends highly modded 04 Z06 beat him. My freinds 04 Z06 was converted to a convertable by himself in the Vette barn. Its a flawless piece of work. It also has heads/cam/long tubes, exhaust, full interior mods, etc... The x-football player even thought it was a C6, and did not know it was a C5. If you read the below post you will see how quickly he gets blasted for being a dumb azz.

Read below (Post #38 is where it really starts to look bad for the OP...)
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-car-show.html

Just my opinion
Toque

 

Yea pretty much buy a new car, detail it, take it to a show, and boom instant trophy. I prefer cruise-ins myself

 

,,Me too!!!

 

There are only 2 and i mean only 2 reasons to enter your car in any car show:1: to hang out and meet some really cool people
2:so that you can park closer
If you enter for any other reason you can be disappointed or dismayed by the judging. I entered my car twice this year just for the parking thing and was announced some sort of winner at both. Funny thing I was socializing with some new acquaintances and the host came all the way down to my car and asked me if I was paying attention or just going to BS all day.I never set my expectations very high so when I am called it really is a surprise.I did not win best paint after spending over 10k to repaint so back to the shop it went and soda blasted down to the smc and start over. I am detailing it this week and hope our Thurs, night cruisin doesn't get rained on. 3 months of long days and nights massaging this thing only to drive it on the road.
Have fun and just enjoy the hobby.

 

I've been at shows now going on my third year. I will admit I have been to several shows that one of two things happened. Either a large club comes in and it pretty much fills up the show and most if not all from that group gets the awards. My only thought about they need them more than a single entry not affiliated with a club. The other, is the show that is advertised as a car show, but in fact it should have told it was pretty much and antique car show. Since the most current model that took an award was a 1970 model. Not one vette in the show from 1971 to present took anything home. For that reason those are no longer on my list to do in the future. On the other hand, I have ventured past the local mom and pop shows. I have attended what I think are legitimate shows and cannot complain on the outcome. I will be in Pensacola in September. I know going in there will be some high dollar custom jobs there. If I bring something home great. If not I will not be disappointed. The main focus for me is to meet as many forum members or car buffs, such as myself, so I can and talk cars for a day and support the charity the show is supporting. Just my 2 cents.

 

Well to be honest if I was voting in a show I would vote for the car that I thinnk looks the best. I don't care if you have $100k in mods if I don't think they look good and is something I would drive then I would not vote for it. Not knowing your car, maybe you just have mods that some people don't like as much as you do. I know I have a lot of little mods that some people would love and others would hate or think is tacky.