In A Class of Their Own

Recently I attended a car show that I thought had a strange group of judging classes. The first class was for all cars from 1900 to 1954. Covering so many years and types of cars in the same class seemed like the perfect way to cut down the number of entries, which is not a good thing. We all know that postwar cars are popular today, but shouldn't we do something to encourage prewar car owners to come to the show? The promoters of the show had so many classes for more modern cars and modified cars, that they created one class that no cars at the show fit into. I couldn't help thinking that the three trophies that were not given out could have went to three prewar car owners. The show also had a class for four-door cars to encourage sedan owners to come. That was nice, but what about two-door sedans and station wagons? There was a class for featured cars (which were 1957 models) and the judging sheet indicated it was for "1957 Chevys." However, a featured '57 Buick was registered in that class. On the other hand, a featured '57 Olds wasn't. That seemed a little confusing to me. There was a class for Corvettes and all sports cars. Everytime I have gone to the show, the Corvettes take all three trophies. I have noticed that fewer and fewer other types of sports cars show up each year. Overall, I liked the show and enjoyed seeing all the cars that came. I think the organizers work hard and want to do a good event. I just felt that they could have made it an even better show by putting some more thought into their class structure. In a broader sense, I think this is true of a lot of shows. Car events planning should always include a follow-up meeting where good things are expanded upon and bad things are thrown out.

What do you think about today's old car hobby? Click"comments" below, or contact me by mail, phone or email. John Gunnell, Automotive Books Dept., Krause Publications, 700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990. 715-445-2214 x248 or John.Gunnell@FWPubs.com.

(Thanks for listening.)