Typical Fish

...just an honest question from a somewhat newbie...


What is the point of concourse?

cmoss

It is the only way to figure out who is the most **** retentive individual. I mean why else would anyone completly strip a car and rebuild it to specs far ahead of those used when said car was first built? <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

Seriously, I just like to look at all the fine autos. I really like those old cars that have not been restored, and have just somehow survived.
Chris

ked

There is a long & storied history for automobile "Concours d'Elegance" over the last century. It began as a European event, sort of a fashion show for auto stylists.

That has morphed into a hobby / competiton / niche industry to achieve some kind of perfection in the presentation &/or preservation of old, historic, special or otherwise unique cars. Or whatever the group feels like celebrating.

I guess the point of it all is like any human endeavor; pleasure, money, power - the usual stuff.

scupper

I ran across similar individuals in sailing, particularly those owning wooden boats. These folks spend an enormous amount of time sand and varnishing the teak trim, or entire wooden boat - and less time on the water actually sailing. Without a doubt, their boats are absolutely gorgeous, but I'd rather be out on the water sailing than at the dock sanding and varnishing. It takes all kinds.

os993

I recall an article a few years back in Excellence about a Concours winning Boxster. What a chore! This chap only drove his car in special clothes, as to not scuff up the seats (no jeans allowed, stuff like that) and he wore cotton gloves so as not to get any sweat on the car. His wife had to abide by the same rules. Naturally, he spent all his waking time under the car with a q-tip cleaning all nooks and crannies. About driving - well, he had pre-selected routes that minimized road grime...

To each their own...

Todd

Could say it's because Porsche cars are "ART on Wheels"....But it probably has more to do with a reason to get away from the significant other or kids and spends days on end in the garage

Drew_K

I'd rather drive my car than worry about preserving it, BUT I do appreciate that there are people who maintain pristine examples of cars for future generations. I've been to a few PCA concourses, and I think it's fun just to see the nice cars.

Jay H

Guys:

Here's how it starts...

You try your hand at a show and shine type event. Clean up the car as best you can, pay your $10 donation to your local PCA chapter that's sponsoring the event and just enter the thing for fun. Who cares right? "This is really pretty stupid, I should be out driving and not waiting for some dumb judge to look over my car, but there's free beer and food, so what the heck" you say to yourself.

You win.

Hmmm... That was kinda fun. Stupid, but fun.

Then you try again next year. The car gets a bit more clean. You win again. "O.k., I'm definitely entering the next show" you think to yourself. More cleaning, more money on better products. You place again and get another trophy. Enter the next show, you place again, win another trophy, etc, etc.

Pretty soon your up until 3 am the night before shows cleaning even more stuff to try to beat that guy with the insanely stock 9XX that never gets driven that kicked your *** in your class 6 months ago.

Pretty soon the car is so damn clean, that you're afraid to drive it anywhere for fear of messing up the 80+ hours you have spent prepping the car.

It's a competition just like anything else. Lots of the pro concours guys have cars strictly for competition and drive other cars for the fun of driving.

The best (most fun) classes are the ones that points are NOT deducted for driving and high miles. A pristine 5 year old car with 10,000 miles can be beaten by a 20 yr old car with 115,000 miles.

I've been a concours judge a few times (very amature competitions) and it's pretty fun. On the other hand, the pro catagories have turned into competitions for only the very wealthy. A very nice car is bought, it's shipped to specialty companies that prepare concours cars, they owner pays the $30,000 fee, the company strips the car and completely redoes the vehicle to better than factory, shrink wraps the car, puts it on a trailer, sends it to the competition that the owner wants to compete in, unloads it, strips off the shrink wrap, the owner climbs in, drives the 1.2 miles to the judging area and wins.

It's also tough as a judge (in these amature competitions) to really be fair to the guy who brings his brand new twin turbo with 348 miles on it to the concours and competes in the same class as the guy with the '92 928 with 60k miles who spend about 3 solid weeks cleaning it and won't ever get close to the new turbo...

To each his own...

Jay
90 964

nate

Just like any other event it is about the love of the car. For some people that love is expressed at 100+ mph driving, for others it's spend on 100+ hours cleaning.

Jim Michaels

Lot's of truth in the above postings; and enjoyable thread.

The only way for the **** compulsive types to find where the last vestiges of dirt are hiding is to enter concours. Judges will find dirt in places that the owner didn't even know existed, even write down on the score card where the dirt was.

gerry100

Too me, a concours is like a Zoo or nature preserve for cars. A place where you can observe the creature in perfect condition in an ideal environment.

Knowing that there are people who are preserving a model of my car for historical purposes makes it easy for me to drive mine in the "wild". I know I'm not taking the species to extinction.

Mike Scott

A slightly different perspective - I concours my car regularly. Mainly at my local PCA region events, but this year I took the plunge and entered the PCA Zone concours and guess what? I took second in my class! What a suprise and great feeling that was!

I also enter every autocross event in my region. I'm not that fast, but I'm improving. I have a blast driving the car at its limits (well, maybe MY limits) and seeing my times improve.

Like autocross, I see concours as another way of getting enjoyment from the car. Its also a way to keep it in great condition and maximize its value. It definitely adds to the pride and satisfaction of ownership. The fact that I win once in a while is just icing on the cake!