Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback

famous bob said
having been a judge at a recent car show, I still don`t get into the buy a new car and enter it in a show. what the hell does that prove? you got money ? never got so sick at looking at corvettes and mustangs in my life. the muscle cars and hotrods are where it`s at for me.:protest:
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There are a lot of guys that feel the same way. It gets confusing when you add in those states that issue antique plates for cars that are 25 years old or more. - That means that a 1990 can already be considered an antique today in some places. I think that many shows added the newer classes to increase participation.

Around here it's getting really hard for a daily driver that is owner built to win. More and more people are spending mega-bucks to have their older cars restored by professional shops. Some of those owners have never turned a wrench on them. In those cases it's still a matter of who's got the biggest pocket book. It's not that cars that are built by their owners aren't capable of winning or that someone is guaranteed to win if they spend a fortune at a restoration shop. But the guys that try to stretch every penny they've got are less likely to have flawless results. It's become the nature of the beast.

If you try to set up competitive shows for the vehicles that are owner built, - where do you draw the line. Almost everyone farms out some of the work. - Not everyone has their own machine shop for engine work. Very few people do their own upholstery.

A handful of my friends own cars that they've never worked on themselves but they take them to car shows and win consistently. A few of my friends take newer cars to the shows that they've added extra chrome to and they win too.

It can get to be discouraging when guys like me consider the hundreds (if not thousands) of hours we've spent on our own cars - only to be denied the trophies that those that haven't built their cars are winning.

I struggled with what color to paint my Barracuda. On the one hand, I really like the color I chose. It fit the theme of being subtle with a hint of wild. But I think I'd be more successful at car shows if I'd have opted to choose a high impact color. The bottom line is that I built the car I wanted. No one is obligated to agree with my choices. If winning at most of the local shows was my main concern I'd have built a Chevy instead.

The folks I enjoy chatting with the most at those shows are the guys that have all the horror stories they've accumulated building their own cars. They might not be the prettiest but the stories associated with them are priceless.