Judging factory screw ups

[junkyardjeff]

I really dont know how to word this but what is done when judging a car with factory screw ups or substitutions,I have a 55 Ford sunlliner that is supposed to have three colors in the interior but mine has four. My 55 is a very late production with 56 parts that I think the interior supplier had ran out of the one color and substituted a 56 color that was close to get the car out of the factory door,they used the correct color for all the forward facing inserts but substituted the color in question in the inserts on the back of the front backrests and the top of the panels around the top cylinders. To this day I have never seen another 55 convertible with a original interior to look at but all the restored 55s have what is supposed to be the correct colors everywhere in the interior,I want to put it back just like it is but what would a judge do in a situation like this.

[MCHinson]

If you have documentation that it came that way, such as period photos, you should be OK. If you are really interested in competition, to make it easier, you could restore it according to the standard factory literature.

[junkyardjeff]

I belong to the Crown Victoria Association and hope to take it to one of the conventions before I redo the interior and have one of the judges look at it,I am not really into competition but would like someone to see it since its not right and it left the factory that way. Since its a late 55 (august) I found out it has a 56 body shell,there are some minor differences where the stricker plate attaches (recessed deeper ) and a recess in the firewall for the 56 throttle linkage that 55s normally do not have and it has 56 door seals and padded sunvisors. I will take plenty of pics before the interior is redone and I repaint it,I will keep the original material from the seats too since I do upholstery I will do the seats myself instead of buying a kit. From what I have heard down through the years is that most think the cars came from the factory with all the correct parts but this one will prove them wrong as its kind of a abortion due to being a very late year production.,dad said it was only a couple weeks later he picked it up that the 56s came out.

[MCHinson]

Forget anything that I said about judging if you are not planning to be competing in AACA competition. You will have to find a judge in the Crown Victoria Association and ask about their judging system. I have no idea how that group's judging works.

[junkyardjeff]

I just want to know how the AACA would do in a situation like mine,I doubt I would ever have it to where it would be accepted in a AACA show. This car came from the factory wrong not mentioning what I done to it which will get rectified soon but it would make a judge go nuts if they knew anything about a 55 ford,other then the drivetrain this car has not been touched since leaving the Louisville assembly plant other then the rust repair.

[ted sweet]

would an aaca judge notice?

[junkyardjeff]

The more I think about it a AACA judge probaby would not know the difference since it looks correct,I do want a CVA judge to look at it before I redo it. Back then they done what was needed to get it out the door and on this one it shows,I was just curious if the AACA would notice stuff like this if I ever would make it show ready.

[Steve Moskowitz]

Jeff,

As a former new car dealer for 30 years and a former GM service rep I can tell you more stories than you can find imaginable about cars delivered to a dealer that will not match any club's judging criteria! In some cases, there was and is not any documentation available as the car was never meant to be delivered in that particular condition! It was simply an assembly line mistake. In some cases you would need service or engineering bulletins to prove your case. Service Bulletins are not exceptionally rare but the engineering ones are a lot more difficult to find. This is not a new phenomenon but certainly more prevalent than a lot of people would think.

I had Oldsmobiles delivered with Buick and Pontiac equipment! I had one car come in that a fender was the wrong color! Late in the model year you got a slew of engineering changes due to shortages and a lot of that documentation does not exist in normal literature.

You have an interesting "conundrum". Most people would probably admire you for trying to make it authentic but advise you not to deal with the hassles and restore it to what it should have looked like for that model year. Good luck.

[junkyardjeff]

Mine falls into the late year shortages catagory,I do remember when I worked at the chevy dealer a few late 85 S10s came in with stickers on the plastic that covered the seats it had the next year interior.

[Shop Rat]

Bill and I once saw a pick-up truck with Chevy items on the front and GMC items on the back. :eek: So it does happen. We even commented that whoever bought it better get documentation for twenty-five years down the road.

[poci1957]

Bill and I once saw a pick-up truck with Chevy items on the front and GMC items on the back. :eek: So it does happen. We even commented that whoever bought it better get documentation for twenty-five years down the road.

Something like that with trim items would normally be corrected at the dealer before sale. What seemed to have happened to me was one guy was installing parts on one side and the other guy on the other side and they put on mismatched parts. I had the occasional Chevy with GMC badges or trim, once with mismatched door panels. Around 2000 had a Crown Vic with black door handles on one side and chrome on the other, and another with a Crown Vic taillight on one side and a Marquis on the other.

I never had the wrong color fender though.

[Terry Bond]

Jeff, your car would be welcome at any AACA show and I'd love to see it "as is." Thats one reason we have the HPOF class. It would be very interesting to someday assemble a batch of cars like yours and those Steve speaks about. Add in a few with big factory paint runs, etc. and use them as training ground for judging. We've sometimes taken a brand new car from a local dealer and let judges look them over to see what factory fresh looks like. It's amazing.

How about posting some pictures to illustrate your points.

Thanks,

Terry

[rocketraider]

Ordered a 1984 TransAM that came in with the correct vented TransAM fender on the left and a Camaro fender on the right. I wouldn't accept delivery and refused to allow the dealer to change out the fender, reasoning that if they were that sloppy, the car was likely to have more issues.

I was told that car created a lot of stink within GM, but I know it wasn't the only one.

Yup. The factory's idea was get it out the door and sold, with as little warranty work as possible. Not to satisfy some fussbudget's idea of perfection 40+ years down the road.

[junkyardjeff]

I will try to get some pics of my car and get some pics of what it should be like.

Jeff, your car would be welcome at any AACA show and I'd love to see it "as is." Thats one reason we have the HPOF class. It would be very interesting to someday assemble a batch of cars like yours and those Steve speaks about. Add in a few with big factory paint runs, etc. and use them as training ground for judging. We've sometimes taken a brand new car from a local dealer and let judges look them over to see what factory fresh looks like. It's amazing.

How about posting some pictures to illustrate your points.

Thanks,

Terry

[junkyardjeff]

If it came from the Norwood Ohio plant I am not suprised,I head some stories about that plant and one of the stories is the day when some politician who wanted to save the plant came to visit there was not enough people there to run the plant. Times had changed since my 37 Chevy p/u came from that plant and the time it closed.

Ordered a 1984 TransAM that came in with the correct vented TransAM fender on the left and a Camaro fender on the right. I wouldn't accept delivery and refused to allow the dealer to change out the fender, reasoning that if they were that sloppy, the car was likely to have more issues.

I was told that car created a lot of stink within GM, but I know it wasn't the only one.

Yup. The factory's idea was get it out the door and sold, with as little warranty work as possible. Not to satisfy some fussbudget's idea of perfection 40+ years down the road.

[Sweepspear]

I remember back in the 80's seeing a lot of full size GM wagons with miss matched taillights.

Chevy, Buick, Pontiac & Olds. All interchangeable.

[junkyardjeff]

I guess my car is really not a factory screw up but was built with newer year parts,I wonder what the assembly line workers would think now with people nitpicking on all the parts they installed 50 years ago.

[Ron Green]

I guess my car is really not a factory screw up but was built with newer year parts,I wonder what the assembly line workers would think now with people nitpicking on all the parts they installed 50 years ago.

Some manufactures did running changes and installed some new technology from the next years model to the current model towards the end of the years run. Many of these can be documented through factory literature that was released to the dealerships mechanics for future repairs, etc. This literature makes for an interesting read as what was considered innovative then is taken for granted today. Pontiac has their "Craftsman News" which was released monthly and surely other makes had monthly releases showing updates.

Just one example is the T-3 headlights. Widely accepted that they became available in 1956, at least for GM. I have the factory literature showing them as being installed at the very end of the 1955 model year, and with two different types of lamps. The reason this info was sent to the mechanics was that the lamp housing required notching for the T-3 lamps. So what you may believe to be a factory screw up is 100% correct.

[junkyardjeff]

I dont think in my case it was improved technology but they just ran out of parts since it was the end of the lne for the 55s.

[Ovalrace25]

HA! Well lemme tell ya a story……… I have judged at several different shows sanctioned by different well known and respected groups. Many seem to have taken the AACA guidelines and modified them to suit… This is fine, but in many cases, absolute authenticity is not the issue.

This is OK, by me as long as I know what I am supposed to be judging… However, I have been on teams where as we approached a car we were told by our team leader that this car was “well known” to be one of the finest examples, perfect match quality resto job, yadayadayada……… So before we even LOOK CLOSE, we are kind of spoiled to the fact that it may be a bunch of hooey that we were just given..

But the damage was done… And the team judges were tainted… This really does happen… So be careful about what is said and what you accept as truth when judging. Way to many “experts” get in the way of actual originality.

[GrayCav56]

I recall in the late 70's going to a western Pennsylvania Chrysler Plymouth dealer to look at an orange Volare Road Runner. (Hey! It was the 70's!)

Anyway, there was a blue one there as well. I walked around and thought something was amiss so I walked around again.

One side had Road Runner decals...the other had R/T decals for the Dodge Aspen version.

That error made it through the assembly line, through the QC before shipment and even through dealer prep before it was sitting there, in all its bipolar glory, in the dealer showroom.

I bought a Chevy instead.....