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How will the recent "Dealer Special" cars be judged in 10-25 years?


hursst

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In the last 15 years or so, there have been many, many "dealer special" type cars that have been created and sold directly from dealerships. Such examples include the 2000-2002 Tom Henry Racing SS Camaros, the SS Camaros made through GMMG, the Berger Camaros, plus cars like the Mr. Norm's GSS Challengers, or the hundreds of Mustang special editions that weren't built directly through Ford. If you go to any Jeep dealership, there are tons of Wranglers with full off-road accessory kits offered directly through aftermarket companies or even MOPAR, but these are not factory options or even factory accessories, but maybe "dealership or dealership contracted" conversions.

In not too many years, some of these cars will show up on AACA show fields. Would the AACA consider these cars stock, as long as they were delivered from the dealership in this guise, and with documentation literature? What about cars like the recent Shelby GT, which could have been bought new as a Mustang GT, then shipped years later to Shelby for a Shelby GT conversion? What will be considered "stock" in the future?

I think this will be a new problem coming up in a few years, as these cars are kind of stock and kind of not stock at the same time.

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We've already judged some of those cars thanks to the high performance classes.

The best piece of advice is to bring your documentation.

There are enough things about these cars that are not factory stock to keep them from receiving a first, without the factory documents (a letter, window sticker, etc.) that this car was approved to be "modified" in that manner.

We judged a Baldwin-Motion Chevy at Charlotte a couple of years ago. The team was filled with experienced judges. At first look, the chassis and engine judges came back with enough deductions to rule out even a second. Fortunately, the team captain took these questions to the owner, who had sufficient documentation.

Cannot speak for all these factory approved dealer specials, but I can tell you that much of the documentation for some of the dealer special Camaros is already lost.

You raise a good question about "aftermarket" items that may be sold by dealers. I would think that without proof of factory approval (an option that was available for that model year, for example) it would be a deduction. But again, we're facing those issues now. There are more first generation Camaros with rally wheels on the road today than the number of rally wheels that came from the factory... But they were an option on all Camaros and documentation can be provided.

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I'm speaking specifically about cars from around 1998 and newer, where the lineage is not as clear. For example, how would a 2015 Jeep Wrangler with an AEV package be judged in 2040, when it's a "classic?" Here's the webpage that shows an example of these types of Jeeps: http://www.lindsaychryslerdodgejeepram.com/certified-aev-dealer.htm You can buy these vehciles new, right off the showroom floor, from an official Jeep dealer, yet they are shipped from Jeep to Montana to get some of these conversions. Would these vehicles still be legal if you had an AEV brouchure showing the options purchased, plus copies of the dealer invoices? What if you went back to the dealership 2 months later and had a conversion done? Would that still count? you can do this with many, many new vehicles nowadays.

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A lot can change in 25 years. In 1990, we were concerned that our shows would become nothing but 1965 Mustangs that had just crossed the 25 year mark. Our judging system has evolved very well since it was put in place in the early 1950's and I expect that it will continue to evolve in the next 25 years to address this question. Based on todays standards, the link you provided shows that AEV is an authorized conversion to that dealer. What you need to show is that AEV is an authorized conversion of Chrysler Corporation. That is the documentaion judges would be looking for if that Jeep was on the show field in 2015. Without that documentation, expect deductions for each AEV modification.

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That's a good answer. Not sure if AEV is authorized by Chrysler...or Mr. Norm's current cars/trucks, or current "Nickey" Camaros, etc.

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