--- MARK J HASH <[email protected]> wrote: (snip) The biggest embarrassment I felt was the day I attended a MoPar Show n Shine event, where I was shut out (which I have no problem with if the winning cars are nice cars BTW), but the car judged "Best of Show" was a '57 Belvedere which until a year before had been a very nice "survivor" but had since been turned into a chopped, channelled beast with Frenched door handles and a blower that extended literally 3 feet out of the louvered hood. It impressed the show goers and won the six foot high trophy, while my '57 Fury, which the weekend before had earned 98 out of 100 points at the Forest Grove Concours, and took me 8 years to rebuild, lost in the Fifties class to a '52 Cranbrook sedan with no upholstery. So, now that I finally understand that restored cars are basically ignored by most shows and their attendees, I mostly just drive Mr. Finzzz for myself and a few non-charging local shows, and the occasional visitor who know the significance of Exner's designs. Mark mjh '57 Fury in OR I can definitely relate to that, Mark! I occasionally attend some of the local shows around the area here and it never fails to amaze me how some of the vehicles which win trophies are not much better than some of the rusting hulks I've seen in the average salvage yard. And these are not all necessarily "professionally judged" shows either. And then there are the shows which are obviously biased for (or against) certain makes and models. For example, just a couple weeks ago out of 24 possible awards, 22 were won by Chevvies, 1 Ford and 1 Buick. There were nearly 200 entrants and a fair representation of Mopars including both my 300G and the 64 Fury. Before that, my 300G which is a strong #2 restored Mopar where its uniqueness alone garners more attention than most of the other "routine" entrants combined, was beaten by a Cadillac which had holes in the upholstery, ragged paint where in one place it was cracked and the bondo was showing through, and rusted chrome all over. When I contested the judges decision, I was told the Caddy was "more original" than mine. Say whaaaa????? Then there was the "passionate pink" '59 Savoy that was chopped, decked and stripped of anything that identified it as a Plymouth, which won "best Mopar". I won't even talk about that atrocity. I'm beginning to get like a lot of you fellas in saying to hell with the car shows and just go to the cruise spots and meet with the same kind of people as I am.....those who are just glad to get out and drive one of these beauties once in a while and for a fleeting moment in time and relive a vibrant piece of automotive history when these finned Mopars were indeed, the kings of the highway. I appreciate all of those who took the time to share with me their feelings on this matter of overpriced car shows. Happy Moparin' and I hope to meet some of you people one of these days. You all seem like a great bunch of people. Maybe sometime WE can decide to get together some time in someones park and have our OWN Forward Look car show. If anyone in the Midwest comes up with some sort of a plan, you can definitely count me in. Karl _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
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