Zcon 2012

[motorman7]

I would write a letter to the ZCCA Chief Judge and bitch. Can you actually see the weld from the top of the car?

OK, sent a letter our to the ZCCA director, Chris Karl. Will see how it goes. This is what I sent.

It was great to meet you at ZCON 2012. It was my first ZCON and I really enjoyed the experience. As I live out here on the west coast, I am looking forward to ZCON 2014.

Below in italics is the write-up on the ZCON 2012 judging that I posted to the classiczcars.com site. I think it is a very fair assessment, and as I noted, overall the judging was done very well. However, a number of members prompted me to bring the ‘welded oil pan’ deduction to your attention.

My car is a low serial number 240Z, HLS30-02614. The stock oil pan for the early 240’s had a weld and metal insert to prevent cracking due to vibration (so I am told). For my car, this is the original factory oil pan that came with the car and it is completely stock. If it did NOT have a weld, points should have been deducted. However, I was deducted points for having the correct stock original oil pan. Just wanted to pass that on. As I was nowhere close to 270 points this really is not a big issue, but I did want to let you know.

I did have one other issue with the event that was stated on the website:

* However, the ZCCA recognizes that bringing a Gold level car to the convention should have some

benefits. For 2012, the convention committee has agreed to honor these vehicles with a display area, a

special award and a "Best Survivor" category on the People's Choice voting ballot.

The reality here is that a gold medallion car is not going to be a ‘Best Survivor’. A ‘Best Survivor’ vehicle typically infers that less than 10% of the car has been improved or received replacement parts. This includes exterior condition, paint, interior and engine; the entire vehicle. I would venture to say that 95%, if not all of the gold medallion winners exceed the 10% improvement criteria. It would make more sense to judge the entire field of cars and judge based on least amount of restoration that a vehicle has seen and it’s condition. In this way, you would find more Z’s that have been minimally restored. ‘Gold Medallion’ and ‘Best Survivor’ are pretty much mutually exclusive terms.

Anyway, just wanted to pass this on. Thanks again for all your work with the ZCCA.

[Zulaytr]

The ZCCA declared the "Best Survivor" award to recognize and have previously awarded Gold Medallion Z's attend the convention. For a previous awarded car to attend, in most cases, it is an expensive trip since they have nothing to gain. They probably "mis" named the award. It was not intended to imply the car was a survivor or unrestored car again somebody came up with an award without really applying total logic to it.

Since 1995, the first ZCCA Convention, only 12 truly stock Z's have been awarded the Gold Medallion and out of that 12 only 5 have been from the 240Z model. In 2002 they created the Gold Cup Award for the Modified cars. So the message here is that to attain a Gold Medailion is very difficult and it is not given and treated lightly. Are the judges experts? Unfortunately not but they do try their best. The key problem is there is not documentation regarding ongoing production changes, dates, etc when they occurred or production modifications, like a weld, that can be reviewed by the judging team prior to an event. A few years ago several people attempted to start that docuementation process but it is a major undertaking. If anyone has ever been involved with NCRS judging for a Corvette all of that documentation is readily available to both the owners and the judging team. The key to a Gold Medallion, as I am sure Dan (the 2012 Gold Medallion winner) will attest is the car has to 100% correct and every spec of dirt, grease etc must be delt with. They do pick fly sh-- out of pepper when being judged.

[motorman7]

Honestly, I really must commend the ZCCA for upholding a very high standard. This is very key to our ‘hobby’/addiction and in line with what you would find at any Concours event. I truly have no complaints about the dirt mark down or any other items that were flagged during my cars inspection (other than the oil pan). They were all correct and the experience was highly educational for me, well worth the entry fee. If I had to do it again, I would. And, the judges are to be commended for their attention to details. This is very important to the collector. They found items that I had never seen before, even though I have had the car in my possession for almost 4 years now. I will use this info to correct some of the items, while others will remain as they are indefinitely. Again, it was truly a very nice event. Thanks again for the input.

Best regards,

Rich

[TomoHawk]

I usually recommend you get some Z friends or experienced car-show goers, or a Z club, and give everyone paper & pencil to write own things you should look into (relative to your model, class or goal, NOT their idea of a "show car") and you later go through the sheets to see if you did miss something that should be looked into. Things like "needs a bigger stereo or video screens" would not be appropriate for a stock class 240Z, but might be for a super-modified 350Z, but all those eyes going over the car should probably catch at least several things you didn't, even if you should throw those ideas off the final list.

I suppose you could use a judge's critique from a local, "A.M.M.Y." judged car show, but I really wonder if those kinds of judges know what's what on your specific car/model, unless all they are about is cleanliness.