Hello all. Some random thoughts on the judging process. This past weekend I had the opportunity to judge at the Michigan Chapter meet. This was the first time I have judged and I thoroughly enjoyed it, learned a lot form the very knowledgeable person with whom I was partnered, and would certainly do it next time. There are some things about the judging process that bother me and I want to share them with you all and see if others feel the same way I do. Let me say first that I in no way want to demean the process and I am not finding fault with it, I only want to express some thoughts. First, I have been thinking about this for some time and it really hit home during the judging. That is that a base, unoptioned car has an unfair advantage over a highly optioned car. I saw this up close as we judged an very base '68 big block. As we got to the sections on power brakes, power steering, etc. we just gave full credit to those items automatically since they were not there. When we did the next car that had these items we judged them taking the appropriate deductions when necessary. Since all cars start off with the same number of points, the highly optioned car has more opportunity to lose points and end up with a lower score. My answer to this is to start off all cars with a base number and add points for options like these (not options that simply change an existing feature like an optional engine, or transmission). Then you can make deductions when necessary and the end result is still a percentage of the total but the optioned car starts off with a higher total.
On one of the '68's we judged there was an item that I know was wrong on this car and right on a '69 next to it which was next to be judged and because the judging manual had it wrong , we had to deduct from the '69 and give credeit to the '68. The item was the small hose and clamps that attach the fuel filter to the return line. The manual says that this hose is fastened by 2 tower clamps on both cars and I know that they are fastened with band clamps. The AIM clearly shows and calls out for '69 the part numbers for band clamps, every resource book including M.F. Dobbins, Bizzoko, and my own experience with my '69 which I purchase at when it was a year old, indicate that I am correct. When I questioned the team leader about this I was told that if the judging manual indicates that tower clamps were used than that is what you go by. Neither my partner or the team leader had direct experience with this so they did the best they could and relied on the book. I accepted this because I know that we were all doing our best and were honestly trying to do the best for the owner and, again, I am only sharing some thoughts and no indictment is meant.
The last item was the subjectivity of condition and originality points when the originality is based not a date code or part number but on the level of restoration. I heard the term "overrestored" used many times, on the other side, the term "aged" or "deteriorated" used. Many times I wanted to say "How do you know where overrestored begins and originality ends?" It's really up to the judge isn't it.
I know that this is a long post but I really would like to know how anyone out there sees these issues. I want to restate that all of the people I worked with, the other judges, the team leader, the judging chairman, all were great and I know there is only so much knowledge that can be expected and as long as if an owner has an issue with a deduction he/she is listened to and a just decision made that is about all you can do. Thanks for listening.
Jeff
On one of the '68's we judged there was an item that I know was wrong on this car and right on a '69 next to it which was next to be judged and because the judging manual had it wrong , we had to deduct from the '69 and give credeit to the '68. The item was the small hose and clamps that attach the fuel filter to the return line. The manual says that this hose is fastened by 2 tower clamps on both cars and I know that they are fastened with band clamps. The AIM clearly shows and calls out for '69 the part numbers for band clamps, every resource book including M.F. Dobbins, Bizzoko, and my own experience with my '69 which I purchase at when it was a year old, indicate that I am correct. When I questioned the team leader about this I was told that if the judging manual indicates that tower clamps were used than that is what you go by. Neither my partner or the team leader had direct experience with this so they did the best they could and relied on the book. I accepted this because I know that we were all doing our best and were honestly trying to do the best for the owner and, again, I am only sharing some thoughts and no indictment is meant.
The last item was the subjectivity of condition and originality points when the originality is based not a date code or part number but on the level of restoration. I heard the term "overrestored" used many times, on the other side, the term "aged" or "deteriorated" used. Many times I wanted to say "How do you know where overrestored begins and originality ends?" It's really up to the judge isn't it.
I know that this is a long post but I really would like to know how anyone out there sees these issues. I want to restate that all of the people I worked with, the other judges, the team leader, the judging chairman, all were great and I know there is only so much knowledge that can be expected and as long as if an owner has an issue with a deduction he/she is listened to and a just decision made that is about all you can do. Thanks for listening.
Jeff
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