1968 Autorama bound...

Yes Renee'
You need to have it judged, I am sure you will come home with some hardware. Marty

Good job there Marty. What I wanted to say was "Don't just take my word for it, ask Marty!!"

I agree, needs to be judged. I think you will be blown away by how it is received - even at a show like that. Smaller shows, in my opinion, some folks don't know what to make of it. You get to a judged show that has good judges, then it seems to seal the deal.

Thanks Renee for the kind remarks about the "Pearl". We took the weekend off this past weekend and did nothing with the car. Hope to get my electrical checks done soon, carb tune done, and alignment done so we can get it on the road. Zoom - Zoom.

Paul

PFSlim said:

Good job there Marty. What I wanted to say was "Don't just take my word for it, ask Marty!!"

I agree, needs to be judged. I think you will be blown away by how it is received - even at a show like that. Smaller shows, in my opinion, some folks don't know what to make of it. You get to a judged show that has good judges, then it seems to seal the deal.

Thanks Renee for the kind remarks about the "Pearl". We took the weekend off this past weekend and did nothing with the car. Hope to get my electrical checks done soon, carb tune done, and alignment done so we can get it on the road. Zoom - Zoom.

Paul

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...Well, I must confess that it was largely my opinion (to Renee) not to be judged. Certainly not because of concern over the car's quality or Renee's dedicated preparation - Rather that I remain "blah" on the whole "trophy" thing & am not the best influence... Time now for Renee to listen to more knowledgeable and supportive people! I hate to think I discouraged her from getting a much-deserved award in any way! ;-(

Midnight Special said:

...Well, I must confess that it was largely my opinion (to Renee) not to be judged. Certainly not because of concern over the car's quality or Renee's dedicated preparation - Rather that I remain "blah" on the whole "trophy" thing & am not the best influence... Time now for Renee to listen to more knowledgeable and supportive people! I hate to think I discouraged her from getting a much-deserved award in any way! ;-(

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There will be many more shows.

Judged shows are not for everyone. The reason I like MCA national shows there are some of the best cars and most expieranced judges in the country. (If the judging is poor the award really does not mean anything.) It is fun to see where your car stands in that group. MCA shows you can ask for your judge sheets and see what improvements you may want to make. We do some shows just for the fun of the event or festival. I have never been a trophy chaser but I really do enjoy the awards that some clubs come up with. When I look at them it is easy to remember that event. Here are some of my favorites. Marty

...Those are very nice Marty!!

Midnight Special said:

...Well, I must confess that it was largely my opinion (to Renee) not to be judged. Certainly not because of concern over the car's quality or Renee's dedicated preparation - Rather that I remain "blah" on the whole "trophy" thing & am not the best influence... Time now for Renee to listen to more knowledgeable and supportive people! I hate to think I discouraged her from getting a much-deserved award in any way! ;-(

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Tim, it was a decision we made together to only put the car on display ;-} I was a bit too nervous about having it judged anyway since it was my first "big" show. :scared:

I don't really care about the trophies either, but someday I would like to see how she stacks up against the other nice cars at a show like that. I personally like the smaller shows better where you can talk to a lot more people and they can get a closer look.

Ruppstang said:

MCA shows you can ask for your judge sheets and see what improvements you may want to make. Marty

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Marty, I noticed that people had these sheets along with their trophies. That is one main reason that I will probably have it judged next year. Just to get that judge sheet to see what imrovements/changes they would recommend. Not that I'd want to change the car in any way since Paul did such a beautiful job on it, I am just curious.

Wow wow and wow!! Awesome job Renee and thanks for taking those pictures. Its nice to see the CS amoung other well loved cars. That slammed black Mustang is sweet in my opinion. Then again I like Overhaulin custom looks.

I think in hindsight, we would love for your car to go up for a trophy (for all of us who are running daily drivers). I totally agree that this time should have been for display only though!

I think it has been proved in the past that we need to temper you into your sweet ride Renee. Im sure Tim would have had his hands full you tipping over during trophy judging. TTTTTiiiiiiiimmmbbbbeeeerrrr!!!! :grin:

Looking forward to your next judging show!! Enjoy the experience!!

I hear what everyone is saying about shows and in my opinion, Marty is correct. We did shows for really three reasons. First (and most important), Zach would finds shows that he wanted to go to and pass them along to me. It was a way for him and I to spend the day together talking to folks about our car. If we won a trophy, I would almost always send Zach up to fetch it up!! The smile on a 12-15 year old face picking up the trophy was priceless and worth the price of admission.

Second, I (like Marty) really found a taste for the cool trophies. I have one just like Mary does (the steel pony from Liberty, MO Mustang show) and a few others that I am very proud of.

Third, it gave a chance to tell our story of our car. It was amazing to me how many people told us we screwed up a good Mustang by adding the 'extra' stuff to the car. So many folks who felt like they were Mustang experts saying how Ford never built a "California Special". Lastly, to have people who can really appreciate the work and talent going into restoring a car that was so far gone and appreciating the fact that we did the work, was a blast.

Judging sheets are a great idea. World of Wheels does the judging sheets and I always took the time/effort to find my judge and ask what I could do to improve the car. In most shows, these are not available and in most shows, judges are just looking for a good piece - not MCA (because they just don't know what MCA requirments are).

Everyone is different (in my opinion) about the taste for car shows. There are two different extremes sometimes. Folks who want even drive the car because it is all about the show/trophies that they can collect and the folks who only drive the car and dont care anything about sitting for a few hours at some show someplace. We lived in the middle with the GT/CS - keeping it clean - almost always close to show ready - but having a blast driving it anywhere we wanted to go. And...if the show we went to had a cool trophy and folks appreciated the car....Zach had no problem collecting it!!!

Paul

HappyHour said:

I totally agree that this time should have been for display only though!

I think it has been proved in the past that we need to temper you into your sweet ride Renee. Im sure Tim would have had his hands full you tipping over during trophy judging. TTTTTiiiiiiiimmmbbbbeeeerrrr!!!! :grin:

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You know Robert, you're probably right!! :undecided But I'm sure this time Tim would have gotten pictures to post out here! "Oh God! Renee' fainted again!!!"

It was so much fun having the car in this show!! Thank you Paul for doing such a wonderful job of restoring it!! I love telling people the story!! I will continue to put the car in the local shows here, and if an award comes my way, GREAT! But, I still think that the best part of the shows for me it talking to people about the car and how much I love it!!

Paul, I think you hit the nail on the head for me when you talked about the smile on the kids faces as to why I like to take the car to the ball games and practices more than I like taking it to shows.

I enjoy the kids reaction to the car at the games more than I do anyone elses reaction or scrutiny, probably because they are still untarnished in the GM vs Ford vs Dodge and they just like it cuz it's cool looking and they don't know anything about it nor do they question all the little things they just admire it and say the simple things like "Cool Car".

That's exactly why I bought, I was just a kid and I thought it was a cool car, had no idea what a GT/CS was it just looked cool and I wanted it. I would venture to bet that those who have researched the world of GT/CS's and went to the depths to find the perfect CS have a whole different outlook as to what it means to them. I think Tim and I are a lot alike in how we discovered our CS's and what they mean to us.

Very interesting topic.

PonyGal said:

It was so much fun having the car in this show!! Thank you Paul for doing such a wonderful job of restoring it!! I love telling people the story!! I will continue to put the car in the local shows here, and if an award comes my way, GREAT! But, I still think that the best part of the shows for me it talking to people about the car and how much I love it!!

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...Ditto that and everything Paul said! In this Special family we have the luxury of input & encouragement to cover the full spectrum in a magnificent medium. Experience shared is knowledge supreme!!

I agree Cory. Like I said, the look on my son's face - the 10 year old kid who spent a lot of hours putting a spit shine on chrome parts and standing on a chair so he could see into a blast cabinet - for him to walk away with a trophy in his hands and saying to himself - "my dad and I did this"!! For me, that was way cool.

On the down side of it, I did have a guy tell me one time that I wasted my time and money restoring that car. Since I did not put it back to 100% orginal, he thought it was a waste of time and money. Those people are out there at shows. It caught me off guard until I remembered all the posts from this site saying "It is your car". Then, I moved on.

A LOT more people enjoy the car - enjoy the work - enjoy the look of a cool Mustang. And....you have to realize that at one show - it will win "Best of Show" and take home the big trophy - then a week later - it wont make "Top 25". I never cared and just enjoyed the hours spent with my son and others at the show.

I agree Cory - great thread!!!

Paul

hookedtrout said:

Paul, I think you hit the nail on the head for me when you talked about the smile on the kids faces as to why I like to take the car to the ball games and practices more than I like taking it to shows.

I enjoy the kids reaction to the car at the games more than I do anyone elses reaction or scrutiny, probably because they are still untarnished in the GM vs Ford vs Dodge and they just like it cuz it's cool looking and they don't know anything about it nor do they question all the little things they just admire it and say the simple things like "Cool Car".

That's exactly why I bought, I was just a kid and I thought it was a cool car, had no idea what a GT/CS was it just looked cool and I wanted it. I would venture to bet that those who have researched the world of GT/CS's and went to the depths to find the perfect CS have a whole different outlook as to what it means to them. I think Tim and I are a lot alike in how we discovered our CS's and what they mean to us.

Very interesting topic.

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...Very well said Cory!

While on the way home from AutoRama, TJ asked me what my favorite car of the whole show was.... (I really thought hard to be as objective as possible)... I said Renee's for a lot of good reasons. It's quality, rarity, history and factory uniqueness vs "rodded" by an individual... This was also very apparent with everyone who stopped by to chat with Renee and get a close look at the car. 'Made me very proud for her and to be an owner (although I didn't let on to anyone that I was).

Midnight Special said:

...Very well said Cory!

While on the way home from AutoRama, TJ asked me what my favorite car of the whole show was.... (I really thought hard to be as objective as possible)... I said Renee's for a lot of good reasons. It's quality, rarity, history and factory uniqueness vs "rodded" by an individual... This was also very apparent with everyone who stopped by to chat with Renee and get a close look at the car. 'Made me very proud for her and to be an owner (although I didn't let on to anyone that I was).

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Thank you for the comments Tim! There were quite a few nice 'normal' cars there, but I too liked my GT/CS best. And so did a lot of others from all the comments that I received in the short time I was actually standing near my car!! One comment that really stood out for me was from a guy who came up to the car on Sunday visably excited and said, "Oh my God! It's a California Special!! That was my dream car in high school, and I have never had the opportunity to actually own one. I haven't even seen one in a long time, and now I really want one again. Want to sell it??" He couldn't stop looking at it and I swear he was drooling!! The reason it stood out was because that is exactly how I felt when I first saw one of Tim's Specials! It was my dream car in high school too, and now my dream has come true. I told him that if he really wanted one, they're out there. Mentioned this website and all the wonderful, helpful people, and told him that life is too short not to go for what it is that you feel will enhance your life!

Although I did mention to a couple of people that Tim had a few Specials too, Tim was so good to let this show be all about my 'baby'. Thank you Tim! You're a great friend!!

Renee,

Myself and a couple of friends went to the Sacramento Autorama, and I was absolutely blown away that your car was there. I told my buds that I knew you and the car, and they were saying "yeah, right"... After showing them a couple of pics of your car at the BBQ (minus the bacon flambe' smoke), they were suitably impressed, but I didn't see you at the show. I was hoping to stop by and say Hi.

So many cars, so little time. I loved the '48 (year?) Chris Craft boat that was in the building too. Pure CLASS that one...!!

Robert

Robert,

Sorry I missed you. What day were you there? Tim, his son T.J and I spent the whole day walking around looking at all the cars on Saturday, and I was there later in the afternoon on Sunday. Stayed until it was time to wrap things up and bring her home.

Glad you got a chance to see the car. I was very proud to have it on display! Oh, and thanks for not showing pics of the Bacon Flambe'. It's a secret family recipe!!! :grin: