Great pictures, George, and way to represent! Whoever bested you must have had a VERY nice car. Would love to attend one of these someday.

 

Thx, Jarrod.

All the cars were nice. PCA Preservation Group is a fickle thing, no points and completely subjective (the other groups have points). You can't even protest because it's a subjective judging process (Parade Competition Rules para G-9.4.).

I've only been in 2 PCA Parade Concours, but I've learned from both. I spent more time chatting with the lead judge (who was lead on both occasions) and got more feedback this time around. Here's my take on it:

There are basically 2 parts to Preservation judging: originality and condition. Cleanliness is important, but much less so, although it could be lumped in there with condition. All original is the goal and all replacement parts must be Porsche or OEM. Regardless, they should appear to the judges as original replacement parts. If certain parts are NLA, they should know that and if they don't, it should be explained if they ask. Or you could risk pointing it out.

Condition is much more subjective. For example, a corroded original hose clamp is original, but its condition is lacking. So what do you do, replace it? I have them re-plated, which could, to some judges, be considered a restoration measure. To me, it's a preservation measure and an attempt to keep the car as original as possible while maintaining condition. If you wait too long, the clamp will, notionally, continue to corrode and rust beyond repair... then again, now the finish is no longer original.

Not applicable to my car, but another consideration is mileage. Reasonable use is a significant consideration of this group. PCA used to have a separate class in this group for super low mile cars. They have discontinued that and now it's a line item on the scoring sheet and it does make a difference. We had a pristine, but low mile car in our class which suffered due to the low miles (there were 9 cars in our class at French Lick, which consisted of 924/44/68/28). This car would have likely done better in the Preparation Group, although those cars get the "white glove and Q-tip treatment."

I could go on, but I hope this paints the basic picture. Which is more important, condition or originality, is up to each judge. They do confer and haggle when determining results, but the decision is unanimous when they make it. This group of judges spent a lot of time conferring, referencing the rules and even came back for a re-look, so I'm confident they gave due diligence and I appreciate that.

So, what happened last week? It was a very close call. As mentioned above, the judges came back for a second round (looking for tie-breakers). Ultimately, I've concluded that it was the non-original stuff on my car that made the difference between 1st and 2nd: my aftermarket luggage cover, window tint and the incorrect silver color on my re-coated intake and cam covers - those are the big ones. Based on what I (a non-judge and owner of one of the cars in question) saw, originality appeared to have won out this time. That's just my opinion and I hesitated to offer it here, but I think it's relevant to the story... and it's my thread. All the cars were very nice, but the judges have to draw the line somewhere and I respect that.

At least there were enough cars in the class for them to give out several trophies; I got nothing for 2nd place at the Savannah Parade in 2011 with only 3 in a 928 only class.

What's the solution? The luggage cover is easy. The tint can be removed, but I'm wary of the rear defroster. The intake... it ain't coming off again unless required for mechanical reasons. Bad on me for not getting the color exactly right.

So, I have a decision to make. If these things will keep me from 1st place every time, then I'm done. It takes too much time to prep (and $$ replacing non-original stuff) and I'm not in this not to win on occasion. On the other hand, it all depends on the competition. Sometimes it's tough, other times not so much, so it's a crapshoot and you really don't know which cars will be in your class until you see them.

Regardless, after a thorough post trip washing, one of the more satisfying things I did was get the RMB back on, the D90s off (I decided to go for the Cup Is this time for a while) and take a post wash spin to hear that much-less-muffled V8 rumble again. To hell with originality... at least for a while.

It was a fun event, I learned a lot, and it was an honor to represent the 928 community along with Greg's '78 in the 60 4 60 display. Kudos to all the Shark owners in attendance for showing up in style!

 

Great pics George. Congratulations.

 

George thanks for the great pictures and the post analysis evaluation.
Well written and concise.

 

Thanks for the very informative writeup, George. Seems the importance of picking the right class to compete in cannot be overstated. That, and the knowledge that even tasteful and/or functional mods will be detrimental to one's efforts. To be competitive, I'd have to go back and return to Porsche/OEM stock a bunch of things I've done over the years, such as: CSF radiator, Greg Brown oil cooler hoses, GTS windshield seals, GTS shift ****, Bilstein shocks, cross drilled rotors, reinstall air pump, reinstall factory cat-back, reinstall the rear wiper system, put the D90s back on, etc. All of this work to take it back to bone stock is part of the reason my car won't be at the Carmel Concours on the Avenue (the primary reason being an unavoidable work conflict). Maybe I should just buy a Willhoit GTS and leave it alone - hmmm.

 

Thanks, guys.

Agreed, Jarrod... a very important choice.

I think that competing in the Preparation Group (Full class at least - see below) would be a heck of a lot more work since they poke and prod looking for dirt and (I would think) expect more perfection, although you can leave your non-original mods. The specification is that the car is "similar to original". They don't check COAs or any other documentation either. In Preservation, the judges don't touch the car, they only look.

On the other hand, there are 3 classes within the Prep group, Full (everything), Touring (all minus the chassis) and Street (exterior and interior only), so you can pick your level of pain. And, I think all the trophies are otherwise the same, so no one will know the difference when checking out your trophy shelf

 

George,

Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to post these incredible images.
I can't imagine how much fun it must have been.
It really made my day to spend a few minutes and enjoy your pictures.
Again, thanks a million

Dan

 

George - thanks for sharing and congrats on the well deserved accolade.
In preparation for Carmel we have taken into consideration very carefully all your information both here and what you kindly sent me directly.
I will try and present the SE at Carmel as closely as possible to how she came from the factory.
Andy Kay is prepping the car for me and has it featured on FB.
As my SE is a driver I added tinting to maintain the original interior - I hope they do not dock too many points for that.
Well done my friend.
Roger

 

Thank you George for the very informative write up. I enjoy getting that "in the know" back story. As I mentioned previously, you still earned a podium finish in the class! Well done!

 

Wow George! Great pics and information. I appreciate the detailed information and personal assessment of the judging categories and process.

Dan

 

Thanks for sharing!

It takes some special dedication to drive to these events from Alaska every year.