Newbie AACA Judge questions...

Hello! My name is Mike Klem and although I have been collecting, showing and judging cars for over 15 years, I am a new AACA member and after completing my Apprentice Class with Read Majors in Hershey this week, I am now a new AACA judge. I have a couple questions for the Forum that I am a little confused with...these are personal questions with my own cars...here goes:

1) On a 1960 VW Beetle with Commander brand tires (all 5 match) that are 4 ply polyester cord tubeless wide whitewalls - would these be "correct"? I can prove that the wide whitewalls are correct through my 1960 showroom brochures as well as my VW birth certificate from Germany. My question is, would these tires be "time period" correct for my car in a AACA show?

2) I am confused by which award programs I would show my cars in; My 1960 VW Beetle has 38,000 documented original miles and has the original motor. The only two things that are NOT original on the car is the paint (repainted the original and correct Indigo Blue) as well as the tires (question above). Would I go in the HPOF track or would I go in the Junior track? My interior is all original - carpet, matting, radio, seats, headliner but they are over 50 years old so they do show some discoloring/age. Would the fact the car was repainted knock me out of the HPOF? Or, do I go to Junior and get smoked by the perfect restored cars?

2b) My 1971 VW Bus Campmobile is similar....it has modern tires but I believe I would be okay because it is a 1971. My bus was repainted 12 years ago but again this bus is mostly all original....would the repaint knock me out of HPOF? Some of the posts I have read make me think that both my vehicles would be knocked out of HPOF because of the repaints but if I would go up against restored vehicles in Junior, I will be hammered since they are like new and I am really trying to keep my vehicles as nice as I can but also as original as I can.

I hope these were not dumb questions, I am just trying to learn...

Thank you in advance for your opinions!

Mike Klem

I answered one of my questions....the tires on my 1960 Beetle are period correct. These are the tires for this time period and they are NOT radials.

There are vehicles that are HPOF certified that have been repainted. To get HPOF Original goes a little deeper. You have nothing to lose by attempting HPOF. If worst comes to worst theres always DPC.

In the case of tires, color, options, etc., factory documentation is the key to showing the Team Captain (and the judging team) that what you have is correct. Articles in automobile themed magazines are not accepted because they are not published by the factory.

And documentation is the burden of the owner not the Team Captain or the judging team. Team Captains can accept or reject the personal opinion of the owner at their discretion.