Well then, and y'all know I'm no pro. But given a choice I'd do 'driver' show cars. They can be trailer queens, but drivers. The ones that do nothing BUT show are a PITA.
The one thing I was good at for many many years was Tow Trucks. I started my business in Jan 85 and had a show in Orlando that April. I only operated rollbacks and all my trucks were work trucks, but when I showed up people would gripe and complain that "this a working truck class and that truck doesn't work, it just hauls show cars". FWIW I hauled anything and everything the first 5 years, then moved to hi-line cars (with some insurance companies as clients like SF, Prog, & NW).
The up-side to "showing" trucks was it was easier to charge what we were worth. It also lead to a ton of "World of Wheels" work when it was a big deal coming to town. Mostly hauling, but some were detail jobs too (for those guys that really just parked their stuff and pulled them out a couple of times a year covered in dust).
Typically I'd do 2 shows a year with my personal truck. (And detail 2 of mine and 1 or 2 for friends most times) The Orlando show was a TON of fun and a great tax write off whilst getting to go see Mickey Mouse for a 5 day weekend.
First time down I took 1st place in my division. Never worse than 2nd no matter what I showed up in. In 90 I had a black cab painted with 3 shades of metallic blue stripes and a red neon tube (highlighted with mica) that weaved all through them front to back. All the stripes were hand striped on the edges and then shot 4 coats of clear over it all.
That puppy won my class AND Best of Show! Beating out a $350,000 Peterbuilt 50Ton Rotator. We were pretty happy puppies that night, drinks were on us all night long!Im the MAN
After that I'd have other companies coming to me wanting 'tips' on what the judges were looking for. Answer: Clean EVERYTHING! :dblthumb2:
We would take a truck off the road a week or more before the show and start polishing. Tons of stainless and aluminum on those suckers. Sometimes we'd take the toolboxes off, and even the external fuel tanks on the bigger trucks and get the metal buffing wheels to them. Pull the wheels of, driveshaft out, front bumpers, tool boxes, and paint everything underneath! If it was a truck with a one piece tilt front end it'd get pulled off too. Never won any money, just the same ol' cheap trophies.
Ran the competition when the GA, AL, TN show would rotate to Atl every 3rd year as well. Lot's of politics in who thinks they should win vs who my judges would pick. Heck, one show I had 2 of 3 judges do a 'no show' and had to call in a favor from a concours judge to come judge work trucks then me and my wife also had to do a judging sheet. One dude in a 60 TON HD truck brought a factory new truck down and entered it as a "working truck" causing everybody to raise total (you know what). Told my judges to put a 'concours' point system on him and then we'll see how well he does.
I remember we counted off 3 points because there was 2-halves of a bug in the radiatior, 1.5 points per bug half.
Even with that, he still got 3rd.
So the strangest thing(s) for me would be big honkin' heavy duty wreckers. The 'normal' stuff was 19' rollbacks all the freaking time for 18 long years. Then when we moved here in 2004 I just threw all those old trophies in the trash. Not in the business anymore, didn't need them, and certainly don't want an office full of them here. :nomore:
