Laugh or Cry?
Mustang Nationals “Wisker” 2025 Orlando
If you like to show your treasured classic car, you have likely experienced many different forms of judging. At local shows, we have been judged by 2 or 3 judges while waiting in line to enter the show field. This process takes at most two or three minutes. It includes peaking in the interior and under the hood, and a glance at the undercarriage. Seldom will the trunk be opened. This is often called “Drive-thru Judging”. It is more of a beauty contest than an actual evaluation of the condition, authenticity, or other standards set by the show. On the other extreme are the national shows and Concours that commonly take from 30 minutes to an hour or more to Judge your car. In either case, nerves often make the process less than pleasurable. However, at times, judging at the national shows gets so involved that it gets ridiculous. Such was the case at a recent show we attended.
First off, do not let any of this discourage you from showing your car. There are good Judges, there are fair Judges, and there are Judges who will help you improve your car. Some Judges will make you mad and make you want to never show again. Ignore those, and please don’t take any discouraging process too seriously. Try your best and detail your car as well as you can. Don’t get mad, learn, and improve. Like anything else worth doing, it will likely take you more than one attempt to be successful, but you will do better every time.
I have been showing cars since the 70s, at shows from local burger joints to highly respected concourses around the Country. At a recent National Mustang show, my wife and I had an experience that left us without words but left us laughing. It was a two day show with a choice of being Judged on Friday or Saturday. Regardless, the car had to be on display both days. The awards were on Sunday.
Katrina and I had our 2012 Boss 302 Laguna Seca Mustang spotless and wanted to be Judged as soon as possible, so we could kick back and enjoy the second day without worrying about keeping the car clean. We put out the sign that our car was ready to be Judged. We had negative Judging expectations based on comments made by others who had attended National Mustang shows. Within a few hours, our two person male and female team arrived to Judge our pride and joy. After a few words of instruction from the Judges, the process began. They were extremely thorough and took approximately half an hour to go over the car.
When they had tallied their results, they took us around the car and pointed out where we could have done better and where we lost points. Their comments will be very helpful for our next outing. Regardless of my comments here, our Judging team was fair and highly skilled. We respect them and their fairness. We will show a better car next time because of their comments.
However, there were some very detailed and unexpected problems that I had to hold back my laughter/disdain for until the Judges were far out of range. The first thing the female Judge pointed out was a small grey whisker on the carpet on the driver’s side. (see picture) I had cleaned this area twice, and Katrina went behind me and cleaned again. Somehow, a whisker from my beard (or the male Judge’s beard) managed to find its way into our otherwise immaculate interior. There was no deduction for this, but we were told other Judges may not be so lenient! Judges will not open doors, so they asked me to open the doors. It was a hot, sunny Florida day. I had just applied suntan lotion. I did not have a microfiber towel handy, and my hand left a smudge on the door handle…ding, that was a point deduction! Other deductions received were for a little dust around the master cylinder cover and a water spot between the front fender and the inner fender. We also got a warning about a small water spot on the back side of one of the rear wheels!
Katrina and I laughed and said if these are the worst things they can find on the car, we probably will be ok. We mentioned this to a couple of our neighboring show folks, and they decided they better go back over their cars! They chose to be judged on Saturday and spend Friday cleaning a little better!
On Sunday, the show put on a breakfast before the awards. We sat at a table with some folks we had not yet met at the show. At such times, the discussion will usually turn to what year is your car, and how it was Judging. Well, I started to tell the others at the table about our experience with the “whisker fiasco”. The fellow next to me immediately interrupted, saying that the story was all over the show field and likely was not true! I assured him it was true and I had the photo to prove it! The entire table was amazed that such a thing could actually happen.
With great anticipation, we sat through the entire awards ceremony since our Class was nearly the last one. We earned our GOLD Award despite the pesky whisker and hidden water spot! Katrina has suggested that I may need to shave before the next show! I assure you that my beautiful red headed wife has contributed far more long red hairs found on the carpet at past shows without being scorned.
Car show judging can be discouraging at times, but don’t let it keep you from entering your pride and joy! Judging at most shows is more about learning how to make your car better and less about your personal grooming skills! We also met a lot of great Mustang owners and will certainly be attending some more National Shows! Thanks go out to all the Mustang Club of America volunteers who planned and worked so hard to put on such a great show!
