There is nothing wrong with the original posters question and observations. It does truly amaze me some of the flaws you see in "show cars". Nothing wrong to notice them, thats paying attention to details. Sure all cars have flaws but if you are COMPETING in the show arena the obvious ones should be addressed! The rest of us just drive our cars.
I can pick apart any car if i look at it long enough.... Look at the old stuff sometimes, winfield, barris, ect sight down them, most of their cars will make you seasick, but who cares really a car should be judged on style and overall apperence not who did the best bodywork
I know no car is perfect.but if you are building a show car, is there any real reason to have runs in the paint? yikes!! i've seen plenty of guys do paint work at home,and with time and patience they have created beautiful paint jobs. if they can do that at home, why would a pro leave runs in the paint?
There are so many ways to look at it,from a bodymans/shop owners point of view you will get differant peaple,the typical rich street rodder that never turned a wrench in his life,has no idea how much time and work it takes,he always wants a 10,000.00 paint job for 2500.00 budget and wants it for the following week?,,,then you get a true hot rodder thats done it,is to old or dont have time for it,does not mind paying for what he wants,and has no problem letting you take your time and do it right,using high quality fillers,epoxy primers,sealers, and most important good quality base coat/clear coat,i just bought a gallon of pearl orange for a 40 stude dodge daytona truck it cost me $450.00 !!,you can buy a gallon of cheap clear for 65.00 or less or spend 200.00 + theres reasons why there is a differance in price,paint is not cheap,,i am lucky i have a media blasting booth with my resto shop,99% of the time with a complete redo i bring it down to bare steel,then i know exactly whats under the paint,i been burned in the past for problems that came up under my work,,
I agree with what's been said by a number of members from both sides of the fence, so here's my $.02... The couple of things that really set a car apart from others in my opinion are the overall stance, and the attention to details. That being said, the attention to details is where very well built show cars with big $$ in them SHOULD excell. I've seen really bad *** drivers that have very good quality work done to them, with very well thought out details that show great. Perfect? No, but really nice cars and acceptable as show winners/stoppers because of the balance they have. If you are lacking in originality or detail work, everything else better be perfect because there's no creativity and you need to be able to appreciate something about the car, ie, perfect paint, door gaps, etc. I have to say, I went to SEMA for the first time this last year, and I was very disapointed by many of the show cars there. Many of them were lacking attention to detail, poorly thought out, unfinished and worst of all, had problems that were masked rather than corrected. I realize there's no such thing as perfection, and it's highly subjective anyway, but there's no reason for big glaring issues on high end, big $$$ cars.
Wasn't it someone on here commented quite a while back about John D's 64 Olds custom that had bubbles forming all around the rear window molding???? And not that long after it had been sprayed..
Exactly, there is a difference between a big dollar points show and a mom and pop cruise in where its a brawl between the NSRA geezers and ratrod kids for a dash plaque. Now I rarely like anything at a big show as far as style goes but if you know enough about actual craftsmanship to tell good work from bad there is still a level to aspire to or at least appreciate. You don't have to like a car to tell what is well done on it or not but some background doing that work sure helps. On that note to the where is yours comments, most guys who have the talent to build that show stopper often either never get to their own car while building for others or are simply burned out on it. Its the dentist with bad teeth, the plumber with leaky pipes,the carpenter with the half fallen down shack and the body man with the rusted out POS car concept. When this is more than a part time hobby it is often you who is the only person without a car or at least a nice one.
I wonder if a few flaws on show cars are because of making the deadline for the show kept them from being finished? Doesn't explain 'experienced' cars of course, but a debut always means a last minute rush, and some just don't get finished all the way, and sometimes that unfinished spot is where you can see it.
I did the detroit autorama in '08, there wasnt a car including ALL of the ridler contenders that didnt have atleast one flaw in it, i know i looked, No car is perfect even $1 million plus cars.
Perfect is fleeting. Perfect is, well, perfect. It can be done. It has been done. Done to the point where only the finisher knows the minor flaw and it drives him crazy. I think much of it has to do with how you look at the car before paint. What makes that "magic" feel to the finish. I know it and have done it a few times. The customer that knows it is rare as is the finisher. You almost need to paint the car twice to get it. Don't start bashing, what I mean here is that it goes in to the booth more than just once to get it there. Foose has done it, so has Troy, so has Hutton. I think it's funny when some say there's no such thing as perfect and they can find a flaw in anything. Yeah, right.
There's a difference between a car that happens to be in a show, and a compe***ion show car... I think it's pretty clear that most of the cars posted were built for show compe***ion and therefor all flaws are open to ridicule... Don't jump in the ring if you think it's "unfair" to get gored by the bull...
I agree that the small flaws in a driven car or at a cruise in or local show are no big deal, cars built to be driven. but if you have spent all this money on a show car thats probably lived it's life on a trailer, shouldn't obvious flaws be corrected? i can't afford expensive paint, just basic single stage,but my car is a driver, even though it is i've spent an unreal amount of time doing metal work and trying to get the body as perfect as possible. If I can do that on my own time, why can't someone who is a "pro" fix obvious flaws? If i paid a lot of money for a paint job, then saw runs and overspray, or poor taping because the trim wasn't removed, I would be raising hell.anytime i make anything for anyone,i always try to make it as perfect as possible, it's my reputation.
Who ****ing cares! If you go to shows to pick cars apart you must not really be a car guy. Because i give credit were credit is due even if it not my sytle of car. I surly dont go to pick it apart thats what the judges do. I am there to look at some kool cars. Lets all gather round and pick your car apart next time your out thereat a Dairy Queen. All it takes is time and money to get something perfect.And some people dont have both or either or even a car to work on and i bet they wouldnt turn it down because of a little checking or over spray. Lighten up Franciss. Next dilema. Maybe gum on some tires! Oh no god forbid! HaHa!
if you were perfect or could give perfection..you would be God..and therefore not human..and not on The HAMB..
I actually happened to be killing time at the grocery store lookin through that issue of Lowrider. ANYWAY, I check out the big dollar cars pretty close as well just to see how "good" the work is. So far I can honestly say I have not noticed any of the expensive cars showing signs of bad body work. It's all pretty impressive. Small local shows, I really don't look that close. I'm just happy to be at another hot rod show. Most of the cars at the local shows look like my car and well, there's plenty of work left to be done.
I find that the people who talk the most **** about a car usually dont have one on the road.i didnt read all the post,may have been said already but i felt i had to put it out there
if a car is too perfect it looks phony to me detroit iron from the fifties was never picture perfect most waved at u,i dont even look at the high dollar show cars never did there like that blonde down the street,u know that real good looking one thats a phony,likes to lick other girls legs
All Cars are or will be a work in Progress sooner or later. If a guy is showing his car at a show he is done and ready for show or criticism. If I show my car and someone makes a comment, I thank them for pointing it out and tell them thats how I can Id it if it ever gets stolen! and thank-them.. I rather have a bondo repair wavy and all than no car at all. I would hope if I was buying I would find something wrong on there car or competing with them..
Sorry,I'm new to this site,and it's probably the wrong place to bash cars,the majority of rods aren't perfect(by a long shot). If you or anyone else can build a perfect car,free of flaws,you will be rolling in money,and sponsers,and fame beyond beilef,maybe even your own show on discovery. If he likes it,(and I know for a fact it gets driven,and cruised)who cares,it's for him to enjoy.
It varies from car to car, some cars are for compe***ion only (trailer queens) and in my book they SHOULD be damn near perfection because they were built to win. Daily drives in a show with paint chips here and there should be recognized not scrutinized. Honestly, I would give much more credit to the guys who always drive their cars with a few little nicks on them because they are keeping them to par and giving alot of attention to them not letting them fester in a garage all year long.
So I made it about half way through this thread when I realized something. I have heard this very same argument on the minitrucker sites that I go to. For people that complain about minitruckers and the like, yall sure are a lot like them.
Three of us spent an hour goofing around looking for flaws anywhere on a Chip Foose Mopar at the 2008 Sema show and gave up without finding anything anywhere including underneath it. The workmanship was off the charts
Years ago, after I was first married, my wife and I would go to car shows and she would comment on what beautiful cars some of them were. I would look at the same car and think about how bad some of the bodywork was; so I taught her how to spot the bad bodywork and be able to critique some of the flaws on the cars. This was fine for a while and as she got better at seeing flaws, there weren't many nice cars in the show. It actually became embarr***ing with her pointing out bad body work and flaws. Now I just look at cars and if they are perfect, they were probably built by a professional or someone else that spent way to much time on it; if they aren't perfect I'll try to enjoy them like the owner. If she points out any flaws I'll down play them and tell her that it still looks nice and the owner is probably very proud of it.
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