[Healeys] Concours Registry and Guidelines (was: Thanks for all the help)

Fri Dec 13 00:14:18 MST 2019

Thanks Randy,
and all others working so hard on the Concours Guidelines.
I really do not just appreciate your work, I love it!!!!!!!!
As it is such a huge help when you are trying to restore an Austin-Healey 
to original specs.
I think it doesn´t matter if you like to drive a "Concours car" or just " 
keep it warm" and use it on special occations. Its the love to the car and 
the marque which is for all kind of Austin-Healey enthusiasts. I personally 
love to work on the car and get the things right and have a car which looks 
and drives like it left the factory.
Here in Europe, especially in Germany, I see most Austin-Healeys modified 
to the taste of their owners. Some look still nice, others I would say, 
Sorry done without any taste.
Meanwhile all talk about Concours and say its bullshit, but most  do not 
even know what Concours means. Even in the Austin-Healey Clubs Concours has 
a very hard stand. Meanwhile not at all supported by the Clubs.

Josef Eckert
Königswinter/Germany

-----Original-Nachricht-----
Betreff: Re: [Healeys] Concours Registry and Guidelines (was: Thanks for 
all the help)
Datum: 2019-12-13T04:00:14+0100
Von: "Randy Hicks via Healeys" <healeys at autox.team.net>
An: "Michael Salter" <michaelsalter at gmail.com>

Thank You Michael, John and others who have chimed in in support of 
“Concours”. I’ve held off responding due to the inappropriateness and 
lunacy of the comment.

Despite what some people many feel, Concours is stronger than ever. This 
year we have sold over 100 set of the Guideline which is more than twice 
any previous year. The 2020 Update will be out in early January 2020 with 
more photos and quite a few addition and correction to pervious editions. 
We research and  produce nearly 700 pages of data and photos supporting our 
passion.

The Concours Committee (contrary to many beliefs) does believes that our 
Concours cars are meant to be driven. We also believe and acknowledge that 
Concours is not for everyone ( this is fine), but that we need to be 
documenting how the Austin-Healey was built originally as a source for 
those that are interested and those just wanting to keep their cars as they 
were produced. We learn more and more each year, and totally believe in 
passing the information along to those interested.

It is hardly “bullshit”. Hundreds of hours of work goes into the 
documentation each year.

Randy

Randy Hicks
Chairman, Austin-Healey Concours Registry Committee

    On Dec 12, 2019, at 7:09 PM, Michael Salter <michaelsalter at gmail.com
    <mailto:michaelsalter at gmail.com> > wrote:

    John, I could not agree with more with everything you have said. 
    Concours may not be for everyone but to characterize it as "bullshit"
    is a profound insult to the dozens of dedicated individuals who believe
    in the accurate preservation of the marque.
    For years I found Kees contributions to this list to be consistently
    simplistic and generic and was very gratified to find that Gmail
    provides an easy way to block his drivel. 

    M

    On Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 11:27 AM John P. New, <jnew at hazelden.ca
    <mailto:jnew at hazelden.ca> > wrote:
      Kees,

      Your statement, "All this concourse stuff is bullshit," really makes
      me angry.

      I have been a member of this list for almost twenty years and I have
      seen you write some really inaccurate things about Healeys but this
      takes the cake. Indeed, even the late Richard Chrysler once told you
      on this list to keep your uninformed opinions on Austin-Healeys to
      yourself.

      The Concours Guidelines (and *please* spell concours properly) is one
      of the few secondary sources of information that can help in the
      preservation and restoration of an Austin-Healey. I would say that in
      many ways it is THE BEST secondary source because it is updated
      annually as new information is gathered. No publication is without
      errors, so even great books by such authors as Clausager or Moment &
      Anderson do contain factual inaccuracies that may mislead a
      restoration. (To be fair to Moment & Anderson, they keep a list of
      errata for their book, available for the asking)

      If you think Concours is about trailer queens and awards, then you
      just have no clue why the organization exists. To quote the very
      first sentence of the Austin-Healey Concours Registry Organization,
      Policies and Inspection Guidelines,

      "The Austin-Healey Concours Registry was created by members from a
      number of Austin-Healey clubs in North America to assist owners in
      restoring their cars to original standards and to encourage the
      restoration and maintenance of original cars."

      This sums up the entire mission of the Registry. Please note that the
      word "bullshit" does not appear there nor anywhere else in the
      publication.

      So, following in the footsteps of Richard Chrysler: Kees, please keep
      your baseless, uninformed opinions on Austin-Healeys to yourself.

      John P. New
      London, Ontario, Canada

      On Thursday, December 12, 2019 2:35:33 AM EST Kees Oudesluijs wrote:
      > That looks very neat and tidy. Time to get it dirty. However fit
      some
      > air filters in a cold box first. Avoid the foam affairs because of
      > severe fire risk. These cars are for driving. All this concourse
      stuff
      > is bullshit. Use them, make them safe to drive in modern traffic
      and
      > enjoy them. We have friends that use their A-H cars as a daily
      driver
      > and rebuild the car every so often if and when extensive repairs
      are
      > needed.
      >
      > To many concourse trailer queens about that may not even be fit for
      driving.
      >
      > Kees Oudesluijs
      >
      >
      >
      > Op 12-12-2019 om 04:05 schreef richard mayor:
      > > The 1960 BT7 that I have been working on is not concours. I can't
      go
      > > into details right now but here's a photo of the engine
      compartment.
      > >
      > > DSCN4470 (1).jpg
      > >
      > 

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