RAMBLINGS OF ENZO THE CAT

We Want You!

By Hulon McGraw
Vice President -Class Judging

I have received several requests from interested parties about how to become an AACA Judge. You can’t imagine how pleased I am to know of your interest. You may be thinking that you have to have special talents or a complete knowledge of every vehicle ever manufactured. Not so. If you do have these talents we most definitely want you in our judging program.

So, how do you become an AACA Judge? It’s very simple, when attending a National Meet pick up the tri-fold brochure for the event at registration. Look at the schedule normally located on the back for the daily schedule of events. Judging Schools’ are held at every National Meet, generally on Friday at 2:00 PM. If the location is not made available on the brochure, then ask someone at registration where the Judging School will be held. Make your plans to attend the Judging School. When arriving at judging school, be sure to pick up your free copy of the Judges Manual which will include a judging school participation card and a quiz. Fill out the judging school participation card and turn it in at the conclusion of judging school. During Judging School, you will be asked if this is your first time attending a Judges School. You will be given instructions on how and when to sign up for the Apprentice Program. Register for the Apprentice Program and you will be asked to attend Judges Breakfast on Saturday morning. A fee of $5.00 to cover your breakfast will be collected at this time. Breakfast is generally at 8:00 AM on Saturday morning. Make sure you know the location, show up there, and check in with the ladies at the table before entering the room for breakfast. The Apprentice Team will have their own table assigned for them to assemble at for breakfast. The Chairman of Judges Training will meet you there for breakfast and give you instructions as to time and place to meet for the Apprentice Program. Follow his/her instructions and you will be trained on how to view a vehicle and determine what point deduction is warranted in specific cases. Realize this all happens at one meet. You receive a judging credit for attending the Judges School on Friday and another credit for attending an Apprentice Program, for a total of two (2) judging credits.

You are now enrolled on the active judges roster and will begin receiving the Judges Newsletter. Your newsletter will include a registration form for upcoming National Meets. Complete the registration form/forms for the meets you plan to attend and would like to judge. The form gives you an opportunity to request up to four (4) classes that you prefer to judge. Always choose the classes you have the most experience and knowledge of. Follow the instructions at the bottom of the form for mailing and don’t forget to include the $5.00 check for Judge’s Breakfast. Drop in the mail and you will be registered to judge at that National meet. In the event that you have circumstance arise that prevent you from attending that meet, you must contact the Chief Judge for the event as soon as possible and let him/her know you cannot attend. In the event you fail to do so, one judging credit will be deducted from your total credits for failure to notify the Chief Judge.

Judging schools are where you gain knowledge and receive the training to help you become an experienced judge. You will receive one judging credit and judging chip for each National meet you serve as a field judge, judge’s administration or Team Captain. Judges are encouraged to attend as many judging schools as possible but receive only one judging credit and judging chip per year for attending a judging school.

Continuing Judges Education (CJE) classes are offered at each meet with the exception of the Annual Grand National meet. CJE’S are very informative and cover a wide range of specific topics relative to judging. Judges are encouraged to attend as many CJE’S as possible but receive only one judging credit and CJE chip per year for attending a CJE. The one exception is when a judge reaches an award level (i.e. 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 etc.) judging credits, they are required to take a “mandatory” CJE. Having already taken a “voluntary” CJE or plan to take the “voluntary” CJE in the same year as a “mandatory” CJE, you will receive two judging credits and two CJE chips in that year only. At the specific award levels (i.e. 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 etc), judges are awarded a cloisonné lapel pin. Judges attending every meet during the year will receive a plaque having each meets dash plaque mounted on it.

Becoming an AACA judge is very rewarding, interesting and another way to enjoy the antique car hobby. Now is the time get involved don’t put it off any longer. You’ll be glad you did !

The Princess Brings Home Her First Junior

By Brenda Shore Kaiser
Vice President - Data Management

Princess is a 1963 Chevrolet Nova SS Convertible. She came to live with us in the fall of 2006, and although she was already a winner, she needed some tender loving care to get her back up to ‘show’ quality. Dave and I have always loved sports cars with a specific affection for Corvettes, so with our natural orientation towards Chevrolets when we found out that the SS was for sale, we decided that she had to be ours. Of course, like many purchases ,there were a few logistics that had to be worked out before she could make it to Houston.

First, the car was in New Jersey. Second, the car needed to be trailered. We had never trailered a car and didn’t even own a trailer. So we bought the car and a trailer. Next, we ask for assistance from my family to get the car to us. It sounds funny now, but at the time it was a logistical nightmare. The car was in New Jersey, the trailer was ordered and delivered to Pennsylvania, and the truck needed to pull the trailer was in Texas. And so the voyage began. My parents drove to Texas, left us their car and drove our truck back to Pennsylvania. They picked up the trailer and had all of the required pieces added, (i.e. electric brake kit, sway bars). They then picked up the car and delivered it to us right before Christmas. So the car that we had bought sight unseen was finally home.

Dave and I knew that we were going to show this car and that we had two options. Because Princess had already won many AACA awards, we could either continue to show her with her current awards or start all over again. We took off the awards (which was easier said than done) and decided to go for a first junior. The decision to go to Canyon was easy. What better place to show and win then in your home state?

We cleaned, scrubbed, and waxed until everything was perfect. Every part of the engine, interior, exterior and chassis was checked, and where needed, parts were replaced and/or fixed. We wanted to make sure that the car not only looked good but that it ran like it did when it was delivered to some lucky person 34 years ago. All of our available time was spent in the garage. We even put up a lift so that we could work on the car from all angles. And then it was time to go to Canyon.

The road to Canyon is long. As everyone knows, you can drive all day and never leave Texas. It was a good trip, however, and we made it to the hotel late Thursday evening without any problems. I would like to say that the rest of the trip was just as uneventful, but unfortunately, that was not the case. It rained on Friday; seven inches in three hours. It was more rain that they had seen in 35 years. The roads were gone and the water was rising quickly. Unfortunately, our trailer was in a low spot so of course it had to be moved. Hooking up a trailer is enough fun and a test for any good marriage but to do it in the pouring rain standing in a foot of water is even more fun. We did it though, and the trailer and the car were safe and dry; we can’t say the same for ourselves however.

Saturday morning started out with a light rain, but by the time the Judge’s Breakfast was finished, the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out. It was a beautiful day and our Princess was ready to be shown. The location was perfect, the weather was perfect and our car was perfect. Since Dave and I are both judges, we had to leave the car and hope that everything would turn out OK. Our saga, however, didn’t end at that point. We had one more obstacle to overcome. Yes, we both were nervous and we did things that we had never done before. When we were released from the show field, we put everything in the trunk and were ready to leave. Unfortunately, everything included the keys; the keys to the car, the trailer and the truck.

With the assistance of some fantastic people, our back seat was removed, the liner was pulled back, and we crawled into the truck and retrieved our keys. Our car was stripped and put back together in under 10 minutes and all by a couple of our National Directors. None of us could believe how fast it was done!

We did win our first Junior that evening at the banquet. All of the hard work and all of the trials and tribulations were worth it. We are very proud of our car and even more proud of what we went through to show her. We celebrated with friends and had the champagne that Dave brought all the way from France. The trip home was calm and the Princess now rest quietly in our garage, waiting for the next opportunity to come out and shine. Yes, she is going to compete for her first Senior next year; the location is still not determined.

By the way, our Princess got her name because she came to us as a ‘trailer queen’ but due to her size and beauty we just call her our Princess. She is very happy with our 1972 Corvette, Mille (Mille Miglia Red) and our 1949 Kaiser, Crystal (Crystal Green).

This story would not be complete without a special thank you to Joe (National Director) and Fran Vicini who sold us and trusted us to take care of their car,; my parents John and Fran Shore who brought us the car from New Jersey; our friends Don and Micky Bohne and Robby Markman who believed in us and helped us whenever needed; Randy Rutherford (National Director), Hulon McCraw (National Director) and Chuck Crane who helped us get the keys out of the trunk; and Joanna Cooper (National Director) who gave us our award with a huge smile and a lot of love. Thank you.

The NAAP is Now a Year Old

By Earl D Beauchamp, Jr.
Vice President - Publications

The NAAP works from an evaluation sheet in a manner something similar to the way we judge our cars. There is a standard of items to appear in a newsletter established, and your editor merely has to work to incorporate as many of those items as possible, to achieve what is being looked for as the information most likely to educate, inform and entertain the members of the club.

Okay then, so how did it work? Oh yes, there will be growing pains and things that will be learned and changed about the NAAP over the coming years, but in a few words we think the NAAP accomplished its aims in many ways. For you editor’s out there in AACA-land, I thought you might be interested to know some of the things we found out as result of the installation of the NAAP program.

In 2006 there were only 12 editors nationwide who were chosen as Master Editors. Most of them were longtime Editors and repeaters in that award some number of times. Using the NAAP evaluation sheet in 2007, the number of Master Editors moved up from 12 to 18, many of whom had never achieved that award in the past.

Additionally, the largest number of Awards typically achieved, in the past were the third category award; that of Merit. However in 2007, many of those editors were found to achieve the award of Distinction, the number two award. In fact, there were more awards of Distinction achieved than awards of Merit. The Award of Excellence is the top award, short of the Master Editor Award.

Many very small Regions and Chapters found that they could include items that achieved a level where valuable and interesting information was included, although sometimes just in smaller doses than found in larger newsletters of larger clubs. That seemed to be where we were trying to go.

In the past, members of the Publication Committee just read over the newsletters received and evaluated them based on the individual tastes of each evaluator with no truly defined direction. That has now changed.

That is good for all of the editors, because they now not only know what they need to try and include or not include, but they also know that with dedication they can achieve the same level of providing excellence of content as those who have greater journalism capabilities, or more financial backing. After all, not every Region or Chapter may be lucky have greater journalism capabilities, or more financial backing. Not every Region or Chapter may be lucky enough to find a retired newspaper writer or college professor you know.

The NAAP puts great emphasis on getting content of hobby and club information to the members, as well as items of reading of interest that will hold their attention. There are only a few extra areas that contain reward for how well that is done and if items of hobby and club importance and items that instill member camaraderie are omitted, it doesn’t matter how well the rest is done.

As we in the Publications Committee try to show our appreciation to the work the Region and Chapter editors do, it’s up to each of you Region and Chapter members to also reward your own editor with your comments of appreciation for their efforts to them.

Just For The Editors

By Bruce E Wheeler
Editor, Rummage Box