I just attended my first Car Show with Judging, I was wondering what do the judges look for, any tricks to make your stang Shine and what to display with your car that gets you better points. I am going to my second show on Labor day so any tips would be helpfull, Thanks

 

Unless your at a big show like the All ford meet, you dont need to do that awful much besides having your car lookin top notch. Door jams/trunk area, fenderwells, engine bay and interior all need to be spotless. Wheels cleaned up good, even on the inner part of the rim too, and a nice glossy tire shine (Meguiars Hot shine). Next make sure the outside is waxed up real good with a nice deep shine to it..a mirror look always gets alot of attention. As for interior...it's not neccesary to have it all bling bling with armorall, just cleaned up really good with no dust, and have all the window's spotless. Another thing is make sure your tags are clean of any bugs also! One more thing is your brake calipers...if they are painted or what not...clean them free of brake dust...that will get noticed. Pretty much the cleaner the better. Judges at local shows mainly are looking for unique stuff, like clean cars and free of any flaws. Also if you still have your window sticker off the lot...post that up in the window also. Otherwise dont worry about making a big display....you'de be wasting time

When you get into your big time car shows like HIN/NOPI/FFW/All Ford meets, and Mustang weeks....thats when your gonna have the hardcore judges looking. If your car is pretty much factory....no bodykit or aftermarket rims or anything like that you would be considered in the "Street Mild" class, in this class the judges look for a clean car with minor bolt-ons...just make sure it's spotless!
Now if you've gone all out and have a lip kit or bodykit and done alot of custom work then your in the "Wild" class, in this class is when they will get picky. They will look at how well the kit is fitted to the car, if it's a custom paint job, they will look at it close and see if there are any major flaws. If you have upgraded brakes, they will look at them and how clean they are.

The last catigory is the "Elite" class...this is your all out show cars.....trailer queens. Pretty much you will have spend over $20k in the car and will have a big display set up like the one i posted a picture of below. And i dont think many of us mustang guys are willing to turn our fun car into a straight show car trailer queen so i wouldnt worry too much about going this far. The car in the picture is my good friends '01 Cougar, Everything on the car is sponsored. The car now is worth $109K and is not driven at all except in and out of the trailer.

 

$109K on a cougar? Thats just crazy.

 

Thats what the car was apraised at last year! it looks a little different now than in the pic....Custom 1 off widebody (8" wider all the way around) 20" sponsored HRE's(5" lip on the rear) All interior peices are made of 100% carbon fiber, not overlay. The entire engine is polished/steel braided lines and one of 3 cougars in the WORLD turbo(600+hp). Baer custom big brake setup made specifially for that car. There's been alot of time and work put into the car, but sponsor's and FOX marketing has helped out alot. Also it's RIGHT hand drive (European)...we did that custom work in his garage. It's expensive to go all out with a show car unless you got the right hookup's with inside people, but then you lose your car for about 4-5months during all the work and after it's a trailer queen...so it's not all worth it.

 

I noticed that you are from Northern Virginia, Are you going to the Labor Day Car Show-Clifton Virginia

Monday, September 4th - A Labor Day Car Show presented by Custom Cruisers of Northern Virginia and Clifton Lions Club. Proceeds to go to the Garbarino/Armel trust funds. These are the two Fairfax County Officers gunned down in may by the 18year old mental patient.

 

I doubt it, i'll be busy helping my friend work on his drag civic, were trying to break 800hp w/out it spinning on the dyno like it did when it was at 780. Are you from NOVA?

 

Yea, I currently Live in Haymarket, Va thats west of Manassas and south of leesburg. I am moving to Raleigh, Nc. Right now I am commuting back and fourth, I am trying to sell my house in this flat housing market.

So if anyone is intrested in a 4 bedroom 3 1/2 baths with 2 jacuzzi tubs, multimedia room all new kitchen and baths with ceramic tile and hardwood floors. 3200 sqft 2-car garage and 20x40 in-ground swimming pool, on 1 acre over looking the bullrun mountain. $659,000.00
Close to 66, rt 50 and Nissan Pavillion.

(edit)
Any Pics on the Sick Civic ??? Must See

 

Good luck with the sale up that way. Negative on the pics of the civic. He has video's of it on his computer at home, but we kinda keep on the lowside with pictures and video's. When we have it at the shop tuning....it's usually just him and I and like 2 others, we dont let anyone know when were tuning it and usually it's a late night thing. I can tell you theres about $8k in the engine itself, then about $7k in the turbo set-up (T-70), Bogart rims w/ a 26x10 slick lol. It went 10.4@102 back pedaling on the old wore out slicks and the headgasket popped.

 

If you are talking about an MCA-judged show, all I can tell you is clean everything. We put my wife's 96 Cobra in an MCA National event. The difference between her second place finish and the first place car was dirt on her hood latch and a dead bee that fell between her battery and headlight on the way to the show.

 

What is the best way to clean the engine bay? Armor all? Would canned air be helpfull? tricks and tips

 

The best way my buddy has found with his show cars...Gunk engine cleaner/bright. make sure you spray the car 1st with water, then spray the engine bright all over the engine and let it soak a few min. Then hose it off and you will notice a huge difference. If it's doesnt have enough shine still....mist some Meguiar's insane tire shine! Just done mist it on your air filter!!! We did this process last friday on my engine...i hadnt cleaned my engine bay in about 3 months and it was nasty with dust and stuff. The results after were great!

Downfall to Armorall...it turns brown after it gets wet.

 

Really, I did not know that about Armorall, I did notice the the vapors will cloud the windshield, so I try to limit it's use on my dash.

I was worried about spraying water on the engine, but I will give it a try.

Here is my engine compartment now, any thoughts ?

 

Your engine bay is pretty clean as it is. As far as spraying your engine bay with water....people will tell you not to, but if your using a garden hose (low pressure) it will be fine. No need to cover anything besides your air filter. Now if you went to a car wash or used a pressure washer...then your gonna have problems. I've used high pressure on work trucks and they always have problems after with coils and stuff, use the garden hose.....no problems.

As far as shine goes....use the Meguiar's NXT insane shine in a spay bottle. Thus you can mist it over everything and it will continue to shine for weeks! You can just hose it off or wipe it down with a rag and it will still be bling bling without having to add more like armorall.

One more thing, with your air filter make sure it's always clean at a car show! Judges will notice a dirty air filter like the cone one you have, and make sure all the connecting clamps are facing the same direction in uniform. Also the Yellow zip ties...were those factory or did you add them? I'de change them all to black....yellow is too out of place and doesnt flow.

 

I put the ties on, there was black tape holding the harneses on before, but over time the tape was unraveling, so I used ties.. Ok I will change them to black or use tape again ?? Hey, btw thanks for the tips and help, I appreciate it, really

 

No problem, i'm always willing to help others who have the will to keep their stang clean and show worthy. I'de go with black zip ties, a little more cleaner.

 

Thanks for your help,
I did not place but we had fun...

There were 3 GT500's there, That Grabbe Orange is growing on me, I think my next car will be the GT500 in Grabber Orange..... over all it was a nice day

 

It really depend son the show and how they are organized. Obviously, you need to do the extra stuff. The over-all condition of the car really matters a lot. I like to see the inside of the wheel wells clean....lot of people blow that off.

I think that the older a car is, and the more stock it is, and the cleaner it is will always have more value and thus more draw and score more points. I never rank late-model, stock cars high. There is no story to be told. Anyone can go to a bank, get a loan, and buy a new car. Don't get me wrong, I like new cars, just don't need to see what I can see on a showroom sitting at a show. The person is saying "hey, look what I bought". Rather then, "hey, look what I restored".

Ever walk up to someone at a show and they have a real story to be told? You know the guy that owned the '67 Stang when it was new but sold it when he got married. Then, bought it back 20 years later as a pile of crap. Has all the rusted pictures and now the car is as good as new because he spent 18 months working on it? Those stories can help win a show too.

Of course, often times, new stuff does not compete with the new stuff, but I think you know what I mean.

 

Well True, But a custom new model car says, "Hey, Look what I built" It can take more time, effort and money to build a custom new model car that it takes to restore one. I am in the proccess of restoring a 1971 Mach 1 and I have little time to work on it since I am building a custom 05 mustang.

And a Daily driver is more difficult to keep nice than a Trailer / Garage queen.

There is a guy I met at a cars show in Fayetteville, NC last month that trailered his 2003 Cobra and drove it backwards to park it at the shows. the car has less than 800 miles on it. He wins every event he goes to in the late model class.

I think thats nuts, If I had a car like that I would drive it, whats the point..

Anyway, this seems to be a long standing debate in the Car Clubs and Car Show crowd, me personaly, I love cars and if you create a nice one, show it off.

 

Well True, But a custom new model car says, "Hey, Look what I built" It can take more time, effort and money to build a custom new model car that it takes to restore one. I am in the proccess of restoring a 1971 Mach 1 and I have little time to work on it since I am building a custom 05 mustang.

And a Daily driver is more difficult to keep nice than a Trailer / Garage queen.

There is a guy I met at a cars show in Fayetteville, NC last month that trailered his 2003 Cobra and drove it backwards to park it at the shows. the car has less than 800 miles on it. He wins every event he goes to in the late model class.

I think thats nuts, If I had a car like that I would drive it, whats the point..

Anyway, this seems to be a long standing debate in the Car Clubs and Car Show crowd, me personaly, I love cars and if you create a nice one, show it off.

 

I've seen at alot of big time car shows...the trailer queens dont always win anything. The juges see a car with not even 1k miles on it and look the otherway towards the ones that are DD and cleaned up and maintained well. I do alot of the NOPI car shows along the east coast and you rarely see a trailer queen win. Theres a local guy who's the GM of the ford dealership, he baught a gt500 for shows and stuff...doesnt get driven. He moves it around on the lil car roller skate jacks, then pushes it into a enclosed trailer. WTF is the point of even owning one then??