Muckenthaler Concours d'Elegance

[rtaylor]

I entered my car in the Muckenthaler this past Sunday in the pre 1975 Japanese class and took home best in class. I uploaded some pictures of my car in the gallery. But to be honest, there were only two Z's entered, both 1971 yellow cars. There was a third Z there, an immaculate Black Pearl that should have taken the award, but he was a tko due to production year. Also shown was another immaculate 260z from the Group Z Club entered in the unrestored class that took second in that category. He even had the Datsun Gas Can from 1973 on display. There were some beautiful cars, for us car lovers to drool over, I can't load the pictures here for some reason, but will post them to my gallery.

Well, it looks like some were uploaded, but I don't know how to upload them so the pictures are imaged without having to open a pdf, sorry guys.

DeTomaso.pdf

DeT-engine.pdf

dino.pdf

Dino-rear.pdf

Lambo.pdf

[e_racer1999]

congrats!!

looks like there where some nice a$$ cars there... must've been a blast

[motorman7]

Jay and I went to the 2011 Muckenthaler show and were both entered in the 1978 and earlier Japanese sportscar division. The good new is that Jay and I got first and second place respectively. The bad news is that we were the only Japanese sports cars there. No Honda's, no Mazda's, no Toyota's. No other Datsun's. Oh well, nice to bring the Z's out for a little exposure. Actually, they were soaked by the rain for the first hour and then we got some beautiful sunshine. I forgot to take pics of the Z's - you've seen them enough times as it is. But I did take pics of some of the cool cars there. Here they are.

Rich

[motorman7]

Part 2 of pics

[SteveJ]

Jay and I went to the 2011 Muckenthaler show and were both entered in the 1978 and earlier Japanese sportscar division. The good new is that Jay and I got first and second place respectively. The bad news is that we were the only Japanese sports cars there. No Honda's, no Mazda's, no Toyota's. No other Datsun's. Oh well, nice to bring the Z's out for a little exposure. Actually, they were soaked by the rain for the first hour and then we got some beautiful sunshine. I forgot to take pics of the Z's - you've seen them enough times as it is. But I did take pics of some of the cool cars there. Here they are.

Rich

Don't complain. That's the only way my 73 ever got a trophy. It was awarded 3rd place out of 4 S30s, and that was because the 4th car was a rust bucket. That one received the "Diamond in the Rough" award.

[rtaylor]

Congrats Rich. And Jay. I woke up saw the rain and deceided not to go. Looks like I missed out on a great show.

[esprist]

It was good and back as Rich mentioned. space for "Japanes Classic pre-78" was down the hill where it impossible to even drive down and park(I am not kidding) see the picture here. So we asked them to let us park near by eveyone else!!!!!! They kept saying "NO" "YOU MUST PARK HERE!" but later they realized there were many no shows due to rain in the morning. So they let us park in better place.

And I felt like Rich and I were very minority there just like how I felt when I first came from Japan to Iowa for college eduation over 20 years ago.

And there should be Unrestored original and restored original catelgoly so that both of us got first place! The judges were not really tune to Japanese Classic Cars though...

Edited May 16, 2011 by esprist

[esprist]

OK here is the pictures of our cars at the show! Orange and white car stood out pretty well after car-wash-like rain.

Edited May 16, 2011 by esprist

[motorman7]

Thanks for posting the pics of our cars Jay. They do look good, although I still think mine is better

I now am beginning to think we may have this Concours and Japanese car acceptance backwards, and I wonder if we are just not taking advantage of the opportunity here. The reality of the Muckenthaler Concours show is that their committee representative came looking for US at the MSA show, not us asking to be noticed by them. I also see that the Huntington Beach Concours and Palos Verdes Concours both have categories this year for our early Japanese sports cars. Maybe we are just not taking advantage of the opportunity to be noticed. Yes, we may not get the recognition of most of the Concours vehicles, but then again, most of our cars are not in the $100K or more range. In spite of our being put off to the side a bit, both Jay and I still had a good number of people interested in our cars and lot of good conversations. So maybe the opportunity is there to be had and we are letting it slip by. I know in the SoCal area there are good number of excellent Z's. I for one hope that we will continue to promote our cars and support events that will provide us the recognition and visibility. Just my two cents.

Peace Out