Fine point judging...a simple question

[rackops]

When this thread started, I didn't own a Model A...I was actually in the Middle East on deployment. I had owned a couple in the past, and when I retired in 2021, I bought my first of the two Model As I have now.

One of the things that happened after I bought my "retirement" Model A was buying a copy of the Judging Standards (JS). And whoa...to have a book that had 99% of the "right" answers about what should and shouldn't be on the cars was amazing (my previous Model As looked good, but were not "correct"). I'm guessing that spending a career in the military and also writing reference books myself tended to lend my interest in having a "standard" to apply to my hobby.

I enjoyed digging into the JS and volunteered to be an apprentice judge at last year's MARC National Meet in Ohio. That was a great time and I got to meet some great people AND get to get "up close and personal" with some extraordinary cars. That was really neat. (Sadly, I had work this year and couldn't make it to Asheville.)

Fast forward to now. I bought a second Model A (that's how it happens) and prefer driving that one (1931 Victoria) over my early 1928 Australian Phaeton (Tourer, for my friends down under). My Phaeton, however, has a wonderful history (I have been able to talk to two previous owners) and I rarely drive it with the Victoria being much more conducive to driving in most any weather...very unlike the Phaeton!

The Phaeton was last restored in 1983, so she's going on 41 years in her current state. When she was restored in South Africa, the restorer didn't follow the JS, so with the age of the restoration and needing to be corrected a bit, I have decided to restore her.

Initially, my thought was to restore her to "close to fine point" but after I started getting prices on work that needs to be done ($2300 for re-nickeling the radiator shell alone!) I came to the conclusion that if I'm going to commit the finances to properly restore the car, I might as well restore her with the goal of getting her to fine point status.

Much like Gary said previously...I have a hard time knowing what's correct and then putting in all the work and money to not make the car perfect. It's a labor of love, and definitely not a good investment...but then again, very few meaningful things in life are good investments when looked at from a purely financial point of view.

[alexiskai]

Originally Posted by rackops

Initially, my thought was to restore her to "close to fine point" but after I started getting prices on work that needs to be done ($2300 for re-nickeling the radiator shell alone!) I came to the conclusion that if I'm going to commit the finances to properly restore the car, I might as well restore her with the goal of getting her to fine point status.

Dan Fitts over in Richfield told me he’s planning to build a mini nickeling operation in the next few years specifically for Model A stuff, so check back on that later, maybe you’ll have more options.

[rackops]

Originally Posted by alexiskai

Dan Fitts over in Richfield told me he’s planning to build a mini nickeling operation in the next few years specifically for Model A stuff, so check back on that later, maybe you’ll have more options.

Good to know!