Hey Mitch: your post:
"I would get tossed out of and probably laughed at in fine point but feel I can win a senior in aaca." is a common comment, and, I for one, feel badly that it is reaccuring comment. I have been restoring Model A cars and components for about 12-13 years, and admittedly, my personal efforts have been directed towards the fine poing area, but it was just my preference at the time. My wife and I will now be entering her pickup that we built in the touring class judging.
My point here is just to offer my experiences here. I have never in those 13 years heard a judge laugh at any entry and no car would be turned away if it passes the 14 point primary judging. If I recall correctly the same preliminary 14 point judging is the same for both the touring class and fine point.
There seems to be a point where folks seem to think that they need to choose a 'side' in the touring class versus the fine point class. Rather than picking a side, we should be JOINTLY choosing a direction, and that is the restoration and maintenance of the Model A's. Because of my restoration work, the bulk of my customers are driver car owners, and each of them has been a dedicated restorer and I have learned an enormous amount from them.
Some of the more interesting cars that I have seen in fine point were some original cars that were exciting to look at in their condition. I would also like to see some of the very nicely restored cars from the drivers class enter fine point judging arena, as some of them are really nice looking cars. It would just seem appropriate to somehow have an easy transition from one class to another and maybe even in both directions. It also seems to be a shame that so much knowledge is avoided by a minimal fear of the unknown.
Some of you have heard me state this before, but the most fun is in the travel, not the destination. When I was in Winston Cup Stock Car racing, if you were able to get a car number assigned to you, you were one of only 99 people in the world that could enter a car in a race. If you did a good enough job to be able to qualify for the race, you were one of only 43 guys in the world that were able to accomplish that feat on that particular day, but when the flagged dropped you had no idea if you were going to blow your motor, crash the car, win or take a friend to the hospital, but: YOU WERE THERE! ON THAT DAY, YOU DID IT! The comraderie among entrants and the knowing look in each others eyes can never be taken away.
That's how I feel about taking a car to judging, either in the touring class or in fine point. You should be proud that you were capable on that day, in that place, of presenting a car, and that makes you one of only 15-20 f/p or 40-50 t/c people in the world that made that accomplishment. When the judging doors close, that is like the waving of the green flag. Don't spend as much time worrying so much about how you finish, just sit back and enjoy the fact that you are one of the few folks in the entire world that had the courage to start and the dedication to finish the 'journey'.
Just driving is fun too!
(Still waitin' for my G-FORCE racin' shoes to arrive!) Bill W.
