>
> Some of the concours
> types were pretty unhappy about just driving the three blocks from the motel
> to the field!
And I can understand why. I have a friend who had an E-type that he just
kept making nicer and nicer. It started out as a fairly rough driver, so
he put the mechanicals in order, then got body work done and had a really
nice paint job put on the car. It was a shame that the car had a tatty
interior with the exterior looking so good, so he put a new interior in the
car (a very common practice with E-types). And with everything else looking
so good, of course he had to rechrome everything and start painting things
in the engine compartment. Before he knew it the car was very nearly
concourse, and he decided that it might be fun to enter it in a concourse
competition. In order to do this you have to polish the carburettor covers
to a mirror finish, have newly porcelainized exhaust manifolds (once they
get really hot, the porcelain flakes off) and get off every molecule of
grease and dirt inside, ouside, underneath and in the engine compartment
of the car. This is aside from having every nut and bolt the right color,
and having correct tires, etc. So he put in all this work, entered the car,
and scored 98.xxx points. Then the depressing part began. Every time he
drove the car (remember, he bought the car as a driver) it took him half a
day to bring the car back to concourse condition. And just from sitting,
things like the carb. covers would start corroding, oil would leak, etc., so
even just sitting the car deteriorated rapidly. He's basically sorry that
he ever started on the whole concourse thing, but now that he's done it to
the car, he cannot afford to drive it -- the car is probably worth $30,000
more as a 98.9 point show winner than it is as a very nice driver. His
plight certainly gave me more of an appreciation of what it takes to have
a competitive concourse car. Its kind of like building a race car --
building a car that's 80% as fast as the fastest car buildable is easy,
its the next 19% that's hard, and the next .9% is really hard, and that
last .1% is almost impossible. Very competitive concourse cars are at the
very limit of what's possible -- alright, its not the limits of braking and
cornering, its the limits of cleanliness and paint finish, but its at the
limits nevertheless. Achieving these limits are very difficult, and
seemingly small things (driving 3 blocks) can really wreak havoc.
Having said all this, I also think concourse to this level is sort of silly.
But, I'm glad people do it, because it gives me an opportunity to see what
the car should really look like, and to compare things to my cars.
Joe
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