|
I am familiar with and like the "Day Two" judging concept
and support the idea.
Of several clubs I belong to, I believe by far the most
successful at being inclusive of all interests from strictly stock to radically
modified is the Studebaker Driver's Club with classes for all and membership
numbers and publication quality that supports this. Now to me a great deal
of their success is going to prove out long term because they have scores of
younger people interested in their cars as customs and drag race cars and even
the Mexican Road Race revival. Quite honestly, I think any collector car
organization that doesn't do this or something related is going to be in
imminent future trouble as those of us who knew the cars of fifty years ago as
new on the showroom floor become unable to participate in events
and maintain the cars.
On the other side of maintaining a balance is the hobby
over time has proven that absolute authenticity always maintains high
value. Any modification from factory stock is unquestionably a subjective
decision and many cars have been discarded because of poor decisions. Thus
a club like the 300 International, which is fortunate to have documentation of
factory originality also serves a tremendous purpose.
Personally I walk both sides of this balance. I've
authored restoration handbooks for all '32-38 Terraplanes, the '57 DeSoto
Adventurer, and the 300C. The books are about factory authenticity.
Their intent is as a starting point for a decision as to what to do as an
owner. Show points judging restoration should be the default position of
the owner to maintain intrinsic value. But some of the most revered
collector cars are those that the factory modified into concepts, race cars and
limited production options. And owners modified even
300 Letter Cars both at the dealership and soon afterwards.
Personalization to our individual taste and desire is difficult to
challenge - after all it is our money. The rub on changes comes about
when particularly rare and historical vehicles are altered. The 300 Int'l
would argue that every letter car is rare and historical compared to
any '55-61 Chevrolet and they would be absolutely
right.
Wayne
*************************************************************
To unsubscribe or set your subscription options,
please go to
http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=l-forwardlook&A=1
| 
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network