New AACA Classes / Grandfathering

[Belvedere]

I understand the need for AACA to add new judging classes, and redefine existing ones, and applaud the effort. The addition of High Performance classes a few years back and further defining eligible vehicles was definitely a plus. My issue here is those vehicles whose awards won in earlier appropriate classes are "grandfathered", but not reassigned to the new appropriate judging class when shown today. (Hypothetical Example: 1966 Hemi car awarded Preservation in 27-G, not reassigned to the appropriate class 36). The same can be said for the Sport Ute class and Prototype class.

This is confusing to AACA members, and non-members, alike. Why wouldn't a car owner want his car to be placed in the most correct on today's showfield? Is there a process for his car to be reassigned?

Also related to AACA Classes, I feel a separate Camaro (incl. Firebird) class is long overdue. Camaros are currently popular, and unfortunately, many owners are going the non-stock route. I feel a new class would encourage more of this model to be authentically restored.

[Steve Moskowitz]

They are put in their correct class when we KNOW about them. If a car won in in 27G years ago, without a lot of effort we may not know which engine it really has. However, if that same car were to be shown this year we would try to put it in the right class. With some classes it is easy for us to automatically move people when a new class starts, but not all. Class 36 is a real problem as some owners in the past have left off engine information or we did not even request it.

[ex98thdrill]

To back up Steve's message, you would not BELIEVE the headaches that the registration chairman has to face for a national meet.

As a former meet chairman, I can honestly attest that I spent many hours on the phone trying to get these issues resolved, as well as my registration chair, and the Vice President of Class Judging (Herb Oakes).

Understand that when it pertains to a meet, a Registration Chairman can only class the car based on the information that the owner has given to them. At our meet in Canandaigua, I had one of my own members try to register his vehicle in HPOF. The problem was that it was a restored car that had already won a Senior Award!!:eek::eek:

Most of us on the forum have shown cars so it's routine, but to the first timers, it's still confusing. After our meet, I asked AACA national to develop a training program available so that when a region is getting ready to host a national meet, they can train their own members how to properly register their cars.

From personal experience, I can attest that most of these problems start when the car is going for a First Junior. Usually once a car is shown after its' initial outing, things usually level out, but from the operations and management aspect of a meet, it can be a nightmare. If you ever host a national meet you'll find that there are a lot of members who have been in AACA forever who have never shown their cars, but will bring their cars out if the meet is close to home.

One of the most common mistakes that you could see someone register a red '72 Chevy 2-door (just an example folks). When the registration chair gets only a registration form for a red '72 Chevrolet and leaves the rest of it blank understand the following dillema:

- A red '72 Chevy Impala would go into the class for cars covering the category.

- A red '72 Chevy Chevelle SS 454 would go into the class for high performance vehicles.

- A red '72 Chevy Impala Fire Chief's car would fall under the professional vehicle class.

- A red '72 Chevy Corvette would fall under the Corvette Class.

- A red '72 Chevy fire truck would go into class #23.

- A red '72 Chevy pickup would go into class #22.

- A red '72 Chevy Blazer would fall under the Sport Utility Class.

To the credit of Herb Oakes, the Meet Chairman and the Chairman of Registration, these folks do the best to correct mistakes before they occur, but I can't stress enough, thet can only work based on information that the vehicle owner provides.

Although you have a very valid point, based on personal experience, when you get hundreds of cars, vehicles slip through the cracks and mistakes are made. Guys like Herb do their best to catch as many as they can.

[msmazcol]

Hey Pat, love the professional vehicle class! Seems they fixed a problem we have discussed before.

Amen.

[Belvedere]

I, as I'm sure everyone does, appreciate the hard work that goes into producing a National Meet. I understand the dilema of the first time guy who has no idea what AACA class his or her vehicle belongs in and the Registrar assuming the vehicle's placement. Corrections can hopefully be made the day of the Meet.

My initial query concerned the "Grandfathered" vehicle and whether there is a process for the owner to have his or her vehicle properly re-classed. The process does exist. Now it is up to the owner! Let's get the word out.

[ex98thdrill]

I, as I'm sure everyone does, appreciate the hard work that goes into producing a National Meet. I understand the dilema of the first time guy who has no idea what AACA class his or her vehicle belongs in and the Registrar assuming the vehicle's placement. Corrections can hopefully be made the day of the Meet.

My initial query concerned the "Grandfathered" vehicle and whether there is a process for the owner to have his or her vehicle properly re-classed. The process does exist. Now it is up to the owner! Let's get the word out.

You're right, but to make corrections on the day of the meet is a major pain in the butt. Plus you hope that you have enough windshield cards left over so you can make the corrections. Understand that the windshield cards come in from national, and then they have to be printed. If the host region is operating in the red, it creates a hardship on the host region if they have to make a lot of changes because it is the host region that has to foot the bill for a car owner's mistake.

As for getting vehicles re-classed, Herb Oakes has done a good job with it, but understand that it isn't an easy task. Herb is as honest and fair as you're going to get (he's up for re-election) but with a size of some of these meets, it can get very overwhelming.

As for the car owners, you are correct. Of course if the training materials can be made avaiable to the regions to show people how to register, it makes things much easier.

Earlier this spring, things got so hectic to the point where I was having people come to my house (and/or call me on the phone) to get these people properly registered, and either take the cash or have the vehicle owner mail me a check. I can't gaurantee that every host region would do that, but that's some of the things I did to help reduce the problems.

My cell phone bill normally runs about $20 a month, but the last month before our meet, my cell phone bill topped $140. I would average between 5-10 phone calls a day, 20+ e-mails, and at times I'd be on one phone and have my other phone ringing about the same thing from another person.

I'm not criticizing your ideas, but if you ever chaired a national meet you'd be in for the education of your life. This isn't a complaint, but chairing a national meet is a great learning experience, and I learned a lot more about AACA and what the National Directors, Steve Moskowitz and the ladies in the office really do.

As long as you can understand the magnitude of classing cars, and realize "that Rome wasn't built in a day" you can realize that it takes time to implement the concept (it's a good concept).