Packard Forum Index » General

Since I've had my Packards I have had them in several local shows and parades. I have also driven them to various events at churches and senior centers. It's the shows that award trophies and awards (usually pay for entry), that I've experienced regret for participating.

At these shows, my cars are viewed by many who admire their specialties and beauty, but are ignored when the awards are given out. I don't know why and it makes me feel bad. My cars are usually the only Packards at these shows and, in my opinion, are the best cars there. I guess that's my problem, since it's my opinion.

Anyone else have these feelings?

bhappy,
Sorry that has been your experience but it does not surprise me at all. Although my experience is not exactly the same as yours I have been looked upon as a red-headed step child on a few occassions when I pulled up to local week-end "grip and grins" at shopping centers etc. Although I am not into "showing" my experience with a lot of the Chevy, Ford, MOPAR crowd at these week-end functions is just being ignored. I had a post on this about a year ago so I won't rehash. My philosophy is that everytime I drive the car I'm "showing" and my best results and compliments are the honest thumbs up while driving and the families that want their kids to take a look when I'm parked at Rite-Aid! Don't let it take away your joy!

Owning a Packard to get trophies (or any old car) is a set up for disappointment. As rblum has stated, it's a Chebby-Ford-Mopar world out there, and the independents usually don't get much love unless there is a big block Chebby and all the other "#1 rod treatment" accouterments with $15K worth of paint and body work.
You have to bhappy with your inner knowledge of what a finely built car you own, and the satisfaction that many of the cars that do take home a $6 bowling trophy are buckets of bolts for the masses.

When you take your prize to a show the type of show determines the reaction of people. My experience is that some shows draw people that like original , hotrods, race cars ,super cars, then different brand preference. When Randy my brother and myself arrive at a event as a group we tend to draw a following.
If getting a award or cheap trophy is your desire take the money you spent on car and buy a cabinet and then buy trophies. The best reward comes from people who have a nice car tell you you did a nice job or have a nice car. As I was told a long time ago recognition by your peers is better than from strangers as many of the judges are not real judges but do the judging with bias toward rhere brand preferences . If you are happy with your car thats the best prize there is as only you know the work money and disappointment invested.

I think with any Orphan brand that hasn't been produced in over 50 years, which most of the folks under 50 that attend car shows have probably never seen, you are acting as the ambassador for the brand. Most people vote on cars that they relate to, always wanted when they were younger, or had one in when they were younger.

Frankly, in a general "strip mall" type cruise night/car show, then crowd is going to like Big-3 cars, from the 60s and up. With the exception of sports cars, street-rods, Tri-5 Chevies and super-finned out cars.

Packard are typically more appreciated in the Concours, and Orphan car shows.

For many years before I got my Packard, I had a "Fast and Furious" style Honda that I took to the Import Car shows. It was just a mild custom Civic Sedan, which was also my daily driver for 300,000 miles and got looked over at most of the shows for the flasher cars, but it was a great car that gots lots of great compliments, and I enjoyed talking to people about it, and seeing the other cars. It was never about taking home a tacky trophy that would just collect dust somewhere.

This was taken at a local Cruise Night a few years ago, and it drew a crowd once people started to arrive. Not often you see a car in bare metal driving around with a fully sorted engine bay and an engine that no one under 50 had ever seen before.

Attach file:

---

  (127.77 KB)

MrPushbutton,

Could not have stated it any better! acolds, I concur!!

I also agree with the sentiment and would add that in many shows there is also a slant toward what the judges and crowd know and are comfortable with. The multi make shows are, IMO, difficult to compete in for the orphan cars unless there are many classes and many prizes. If the show only has a certain number of prizes or classes, crowd pleasers are king and orphans usually get left out.

For many years there was a fairly large concours held locally that attracted cars from a respectable distance. Early on just about every make had a class because there were plenty of cars. Judges were car enthusiasts from various clubs when possible, and if more were needed, volunteers from the organization sponsoring the show were called upon. While every effort was made to pick and assign judges with a knowledge of the cars they would be examining, in many cases this was not possible just because of talent available. I know because I was a judge on a few occasions with cars I knew next to nothing about.

We were given a sheet with the things to examine and a guideline for deductions. Each car was supposed to be judged against itself. That was nice in theory but if you didn't know the car, ultimately it was not "is it correct" but was down to what you felt for the car. Am ashamed to say it but on those cars I knew nothing about, it came down to a matter of how it looked or was presented compared to the one next to it. I suspect that might be the situation at your show.

Our local show ultimately went away. It basically became the Tri-Five Chevy, Mustang, Corvette and Tbird show. Anything else became an Other and the others eventually stopped coming. Even the public got tired of looking at row after row of the same model Chevys and Fords so they stopped coming too.

Personally, I like the method where participants vote for their favorite vehicle in each class. This is how the Salado meet works and has proven to be successful. We have two awards for each class to recognize the Packards getting the most votes. Sometimes there is only one award in a class, and not all classes are represented every year. We also give awards for people's choice for pre- and post-war Packards; an award for the Packard driven the longest distance to the meet; and a "Hard Luck" award for the unfortunate participant who experienced trouble with their Packard on the way to or at the meet. Many meet participants approach their voting with the question of which Packard would I like to drive home? Of course, all the participants are Packard owners and there is some "judging" about correctness and features. Still, the voting method works well and eliminates arguments about points deductions and subjective judgments from judges. COME ON DOWN TO SALADO WE DON'T JUDGE.

(o{}o)

My local car club's large annual show (450-500 cars if good weather) takes what I think is a rather unique approach to selecting cars for awards. First, there are up to 3 awards given for each decade of cars exhibited so every era is represented in the awards ceremony. Secondly, awards are not necessarily based on condition, authenticity, rarity (although those can be factors) but rather based on cars that represent something unique to the judges, it could be styling, originality, overall condition, or anyone of a number of other factors that attract the judges interest and make the vehicle unique enough in some way to be honored. Members of the hosting club are not eligible for awards. And winners cannot repeat for 3 years. It's proven to be a very successful formula.