06 National meet...help.

I am planning on taking my 65 GS to the Rochester meet, I have never been to a National meet and I would like to have it judged. Can you give me insight into what class I need to register in, what I have to do to the car, do I need to be by the car when judging, and what day the judging is....etc. I want to take in the banquet as well, I assume they hand out the trophies there?

I have been to the website and seen the registration form. The car is a restored 65 Skylark Gran Sport. Thanks for your help.

John

Wisconsin

John, according to the judging manual, the class for your car would be "P". 65 to 87 GS. If I am wrong, someone please correct me. You have to be with your car when it is judged. Judges will not touch your car. They will ask you to open doors, hoods, trunk etc. The car will also have to go through a prequalification prior to judging to make sure everything works and you have a working fire extinguisher. The judging is done on Saturday with the awards handed out Saturday evening during the banquet.

You might want to check the BCA Judging Manual that is now, I believe, on this forum. Also the precheck is the safety items Lights, etc, but check out the total list.

John

My car was judged for the first time in Batavia, so I will try to recall my experience for you. I don't recall a requirement that you must be with your car when judged, but I made it a point to be there for mine. I also signed up for judging and encourage you to do it. I learned a great deal and they give you a card to put on your dash to be called from your judge duty when they get to your car. In the class I was assigned there were cars with no owner present and that wasn't an issue.

It's true we don't touch a car and ask the owner to open doors etc. The trunk is included so we need to get all the travel stuff out of it. The standard is how a car looked as it came off the assembly line. Also the judges are told repeatedly to "Don't Kill the Car". You start with 400 points and points are subtracted for things the judges see that aren't correct. There are 3 main things: authenticity, workmanship and condition - points can be deducted for any of these. The detailed judging form is in the back of hte judges manual and it shows how the 400 points are allocated. Usually there are 4 judges on a team - Chassis, Engine, Interior and Exterior, plus team leader. Three are some manatory deductions also for Non-Authentic parts, ie color or engine. The judges are to inform the owner if present when a mandatory is needed. Also the judges don't take off for some things like a little (very little) rust on exhaust - because Buicks are made to be driven. I drove 3400 miles round trip to Batavia in a 35 year old car and loved every minute of it.

You can send an envelope to BCA and get a copy of your judge sheet after the show. It is a cool thing to have.

My intent was to get the checklist of what my car needed and then go to work for the 06 show. I was astonished to get 389 out of 400 and a Gold Award. Everything the judges noted was correct. And they were very kind to me - there are a lot more things I want to get better before 06.

If you would like to talk about any of this send me a phone number off line. My email is GS70Stage1@yahoo.com.

You are going to have a ball at the National and in the judging process and will get double the pleasure being a judge yourself.

My intent