Some Assembly Required – #1?

I was very pleased to have my 1963 Jaguar E-Type finish #1 at the Carolina Jaguar Club Concours at Little Switzerland. But not so fast. This Concours, like all that I entered my car into, was Sanctioned by the Jaguar Club of North America (JCNA). JCNA Concours are conducted in accordance with the Official JCNA Concours d’Elegance Rule Book and Judges Instruction Manual, which includes Ground Rules and Standards for the Concours Chair. This 200 page document is chock full of Rules (what else?) that must be followed. One interesting aspect of the Rules is that the scores announced at the awards banquet are just provisional i.e. not official. They only become official after the scoresheets are forwarded to the national chief judge, where they are reviewed by him and his committee. If one were to visit JCNA.com and look under Events/Concours/Review Results, you can see the results for all the Concours that have occurred to date. As of writing this, about 25% of the results are still Provisional. Fortunately, since I last checked, the results for our CJC Concours have changed status from Provisional to Official. And my car is still #1! Whew! As an aside, results from some concours have been affected in the past in various ways. Fortunately, it is the exception, not the norm. But until results are classified as Official, you never know.

Next, on the same webpage, you can look at Regional Standings. I frankly was not sure what Regional Standings/Awards are based on. Quoting the aforementioned Rule book “Regional Awards are presented in each of the six JCNA Regions. These annual awards are determined by averaging the Entrant’s two (2) highest scores achieved at JCNA sanctioned concours within the Entrant’s home region during the Concours year. Scores achieved at the JCNA International Jaguar Festival qualify for inclusion in the two (2) score average.” OK, that’s interesting. My car was not listed. Probably because I have only attended one concours from my home region (Southeast). Finally, on the same webpage, North American Standings are starting to be tabulated. What are they based on, you might ask? According to the Rule book “North American Awards- At the conclusion of each JCNA Concours year, JCNA presents the North American Concours d’Elegance Awards three deep, in each of the Champion, Special, and Driven Division Classes, to members of JCNA affiliates or JCNA Members-at-Large. These annual awards are determined by averaging the Entry’s three (3) highest scores during the Concours year.” Since I have shown my car in 4 sanctioned Concours this year, it does show up. And I’m #1! Hold your congratulations. There is no #2. Or #3. Although my average score is healthy at 99.85, I suspect there be some stiff competition before the year ends. On the same webpage, there is a list of all Concours. I see that no less than 11 Concours are yet to occur this year. So get back with me in January and we’ll see how it turned out.

Fortunately, as many of you have probably figured out, I personally enjoy the restoration process more than I enjoy trailering my car around to be judged. What will my next restoration project be? Well, unfortunately for this column, it is looking like it will be my Porsche 928. That effort may still be fodder for some how-to articles. A lot of the skill sets required to restore a car are not specific to any particular car brand. Also, by the time you read this, I will be in the middle of an extended trip to the UK. Our cars, castles, and gardens tour. Not necessarily in that order! I am going to be hitting some interesting sites in the UK Jaguar world. Stay tuned.