Shop Rat

Will this be your first AACA National Meet?

For all of us but especially those that are fans of the '66 GTOs. :cool: Pluggers Comic Strip, May 02, 2013 on GoComics.com

Saw this on a black VW "Beetle". EWW ABUG

Matt, thank you for finding that. You are the best "searcher".

Bill is gathering all the chrome from our 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon Sprint convertible to take to a chrome in Elizabethton, Tenn. We spoke to all of the folks that do chrome that were inside the track at the Charlotte Auto Fair and the lady in that booth was the one that caught things about the chrome valve covers (yes those are stock) that would make them difficult to get them right, there is damaged that had been repaired before they were re-chromed by a previous owner and one is slightly warped. She suggested that we bring those and a painted pair that Bill has and let them look at both sets to see which ones would be the best to work on. None of the other chromers noticed what she did. It will be a bit more expensive to have her shop work on them but she sure seems to know her business. She said she could re-chrome the ones we took but she didn't feel we would be happy with how they fit. The others just gave us a price that was lower and didn't say a word about the damage or warping.

Ted, by the time I posted that about radials being on cars that didn't come with them I had forgotten that he was talking about a 1971 Ford because I hit the button to look at the newest posts so it skipped over that one. I looked at the car in his AVATAR photo and thought that was the car he was talking about. There have been several discussions on here about putting radial tires on those earlier vehicles and it has been explained why it is not a good idea. MCHinson (Matt) can probably find those threads quickly.

But keep in mind, vehicles that didn't come with radials as an option aren't built to have them. There have been several discussions on these forums of the hazards of putting radial tires on non-radial wheels. And putting radial wheels/rims and radial tires on vehicles that weren't built to have them.

I have one additional photo but I need to downsize it so that I can post it here. WAY too big to post here. The photo was shot at the same time as the black and white one but was shot from the rear of the car.

djr71, well, here you go. The first photo is from "back in the day". The last one, the color close-up, is a more recent photo than the others. The driver was Bill Mullins. As far as I know Bill Mullins is still alive. Our friend has been to Bill's house and shop and Bill is very excited to have the car restored.

And if the owner of the race car is still alive they can a great help with old photos and articles about the car's racing career. We have a friend that is restoring a very famous dragster named "The Tank". It won the Gator Nationals in I believe it was 1977. When he found the car it was only the frame with a tarp thrown over it in a guy's back yard. Our friend tracked down who the car had belonged to and the former owner is helping him to restore the car. He has a very thick binder of information and has received tentative approval from the AACA to certify the car for shows when he is done with the restoration.

The message is clear, all judges need to read the new Judges Guidelines each year. ALL of the book. There are changes in the book. And they no longer put the ** to indicate "major changes". And if a judge has questions about what is in the book, contact the VP of Class Judging Hulon McCraw and ask for his guidance.

P.S. Not one of the four members on my team knew about the part of the rule that specific brand does not matter. I campaigned for three years to have that rule added because it had been a rule since May 25, 1995 but had been overlooked when the guidelines were re-written. And one of the members here declared that until the rule was in the book he was going to continue to deduct for the lack of T-3 headlights in vehicles that came from the factory with them. The AACA does not judge like that. We are all to judge the same way by the same rules. It has now been in the book for five years. We do not deduct for the lack of specific brand headlights (T-3, FoMoCo, etc) even if they are what came on the vehicle from the factory. It doesn't matter what rules like the Chevy or Ford clubs use. AACA judging only deducts for headlights that are not period/era correct, non-matching period correct or if they are Halogens in a vehicle that they were not standard or an option for the year, make and model.

I heard back from Hulon late last night. Here is what he sent. ***** "Even though period correct if the headlight is non-matching then it’s wrong, as wrong as if it were Halogen. When the component is non-authentic (wrong) it receives a maximum deduction. As you heard me mention in the Team Captains CJE we do not reward for having the wrong component even though it is functional and it allowed the vehicle to come on the show field.<o:p></o>***** Here is the updated rule as of 2013. ***** " <o:p></o> “Headlights should be of the period and matching. Non-matching, but period correct headlights will receive the maximum point deduction (3 points) per<o:p></o> non-matching headlight. One correct headlight (and others that match) will not receive the maximum deduction for non-matching headlights. The other headlights<o:p></o> that do not match will receive the maximum deduction. Specific brand (i.e. Guide T-3, Westinghouse, GE, etc.) is unimportant.”<o:p></o> <o:p> </o> <o:p>So, if a four headlight vehicle, such as a 1958 Chevy has four different (but period correct) headlights (1 Westinghouse, 1 GE, 1 Sylvania and 1 Guide) one of the headlights (doesn't matter which one) will be considered "correct". Therefore the other three will receive a 3 point deduction each for a total of 9 points deducted. On a vehicle where any period correct headlights match exactly will be considered matching. All others will receive the maximum deduction of 3 points per headlight. "Specific brand (i.e. Guide T-3, Westinghouse, GE, etc.) is unimportant.”</o

I just sent an e-mail to the V.P. of Class Judging Hulon McCraw to have him clarify this rule change. When I hear back from him I will share what he tells me.

I agree, people need to be careful about sharing information. One of the best ways is to get the information from the person seeking to find someone. If you know the person they are looking for, contact them and tell them who is looking for them and give them the information as to then contact that person. Just because someone says they are an old car hobby friend doesn't mean that they really are. We all have to be very careful these days about sharing information about others without their permission.

The exception to the 11 a.m. start time is Hershey. There judging starts at 10 a.m. And leaving a note with contact information for the Team Captain if the owner/owners can't be there or choose not to be there is all that is required. If someone doesn't want to leave that information out in the open, put the note on the front floor board of the vehicle and we will find it. Write Attn: Team Captain on the back side and put the information side down.

Thank you Bob, that is exactly what I am trying to do, be helpful. If people don't want to stay with their vehicles that is okay. But please leave a note as to how to get in touch if needed. I needed to find the owner and did my level best to avoid his/her car being disqualified and I couldn't keep that from happening. Maybe they only wanted a good parking space. If that is the case they should have put it on the field as a "Do Not Judge" entry. It would have saved my team and I a lot of time in the sun point judging their car for no reason. We put forth the correct effort and they didn't.

The wording implies that period correct headlights that do not match will be deducted for as follows: 1, and any that do match it, will be considered correct. They will not receive a deduction unless they are in less than perfect condition. All non-matching headlights will now receive the full three point deduction. I have the 2012 book and the 2013 book and it certainly look like the deduction has changed considerably. It sounds like someone in authority needs to clear this up.

If you are asking if possibly the owner next to the car had taken the extinguisher and used it for his car as in borrowing it and didn't put it back? I suppose that is always possible, but I would have no way of knowing that. We looked all around the car and in the car and none of us found the extinguisher if there was one. I went out early and checked and all the cars that were there that showed up (we had two no shows - one in each class), with the exception of the one car, had their extinguishers out to be seen and they were all fully charged. The owner of the car without an extinguisher had opened the hood and the trunk, set their two chairs out and that large black nylon bag and left. They didn't even take the paperwork out of the envelope which was laying on the dashboard. Since the guy that was sitting closest to the car had not seen him, and he was close enough to have seen if the person was there and he said he never saw the owner. If you are asking if it would have been okay for the owner near the car to have moved his own extinguisher over to help the guy out, we are not permitted to allow that. It is a hard and fast rule for safety reason to protect the vehicles. Anyone that has been around a vehicle fire, and I have been with a friend's "new to them" antique car knows that the extinguisher can mean the difference in saving the vehicle or watching it be ruined. The friend had just gotten the car and brought it to our Region's local show. He forgot to put an extinguisher in the car. It caught fire when it belched back gas through the air filter and that caught fire. The guy, an elderly gentleman, jumped out and raised the hood and was trying to beat the fire out with his jacket. Luckily we were still there with our motorhome and it had two fire extinguishers in it and one was used to put out the fire. The man was able to drive the car home. Lesson learned. It isn't just some silly rule enacted by the National to be dodged around. Once when I was a Deputy Chief (that position was eliminated a number of years ago) at the Hershey Meet I waited by a man's three cars while his friend went into the flea market to buy two working fire extinguishers. The man showing the cars only had one extinguisher. He had even called the National to ask about the rule since it was his first National Meet. And he thought they said "an extinguisher" so he brought one. His cars were stunning and I didn't want for him to be disqualified. He was with the cars and we could do something about the situation. He was very grateful for my efforts to help him out. I was happy to help him. (My feet didn't like me much though after standing that long on them. )

We did have one car in the first class we judged, we judged two as the classes were both small, that was owned by a fellow judge. He left a very nice printed out from a computer note telling us that he was judging and giving us permission to do whatever we needed to do to judge his car. And at the bottom was his name and cellphone number. Now that is how it should be done. Had he been the one that did not have a fire extinguisher displayed as is required I could have simply called him to verify if he had one with him and where to find it.

If for any reason you, or someone you designate, can't remain with your vehicle PLEASE leave a note as to how to reach you or where you can be found if you don't have a cellphone. Tell the person sitting with their vehicle next to yours. Please don't just leave. I just had a class at the Charlotte Meet where the owner/owners left the car and didn't leave a fire extinguisher out anywhere, trust me we looked. I was not going to open the black bag that was between the two folding "Soccer Mom" chairs to see if it was in there, that is private property. We point judged the car anyway just incase the owner showed up before we left the show field. They never came back, the person sitting with the next car over had not seen them at all. The owners had left before they got there. Not having a fire extinguisher is an automatic disqualification. My team and I gave them every chance and had no choice but to disqualify the car at Administration when I turned in the paperwork. And the rule is you must have a fire extinguisher with each vehicle you bring to an AACA Meet. Not one for all the vehicles you bring, you are not allowed to move one from vehicle to vehicle. And you can't borrow one from your neighbor's vehicle that has just been judged or will be judged after your vehicle is judged.

Oh, and it was mentioned to me that the reason there aren't any asterisks to draw our attention to new/changed items, or the printed list we would get in the judging school, is that they want for all judges to read the whole book cover to cover before they judge. I don't have a quarrel with that. But it would still be nice to have a list of what did change so that we can make sure we are up on the changes if for some reason we are short on time and can't read the whole book cover to cover. The comment made to be by the person that told me that was, "You know that isn't going to happen." So even they don't believe that will work. Just sayin'.

Bill, Rodger Woodrum, Earl Butler and I went to the judging school at the Charlotte Meet. No mention was made about changes in the guidelines other than the book being rearranged and items added to the index/table of contents. As a matter of fact it was commented on to that effect, "no changes except for rearranging the index/table of contents". Imagine my surprise to read that the deduction for a period correct, but non-matching headlight has jumped from 1 point to all 3 points being deducted. It has been a 1 point deduction since I started judging in 1990. The mandatory 10 point deduction for Halogen headlights has been removed as I had campaigned to have done. And they did what I feel is fair, they reduced the points per headlight from five to three per headlight. Now the deduction for a non-authentic Halogen where they weren't available for the year, make and model is three points per headlight times how many there are. Then at the judges breakfast the last CJE mentioned was for....."Changes to the 2013 Judging Guidelines". Really???? :confused: I had to take the Team Captain CJE to keep up my certification, but you can bet I will take the one for changes at the next meet we go to.

The thing that many antique vehicle owners aren't aware of is that not only have many/most of them shown at all kinds of shows with all types of judging....but many judges have also. And have judged/do judge for other clubs. And some find it difficult to switch gears to the AACA method of judging. Many Marque clubs are VERY strict when it comes to how they judge at their shows. Concours shows have the hoods and trunks and sometimes the convertible tops down when they judge. That is where a good Team Captain/Certified Team Captain keeps an eye out for judges that forget which meet they are judging at.

Seldenguy, with pretty much everyone having smart phones with video capability you KNOW someone would be taping that.