Quote: Dave are you worried about the judges seeing this thread now that you let the cat out of the bag regarding the small amount of repro parts on the car??
MIke
To be direct and completely upfront about all of this Mike.....I don't care!!
"Not a Charger" (Mike) mentioned the power steering fluid ordeal. After bringing that incorrect infraction to the attention of the Head Judge, I never received an answer how it would be handled. As far as I know it is still considered an infraction. One good thing is that I did find out my deductions right after the show. At the event we (Dave Stuart, Steve Been and myself) had a conversation with Keith as to what the biggest deduction was for the car. He said it was "the incorrect color of the power steering fluid and we got dinged 1.5 points." Dan (another judge) asked about the clear overlay on the original VIN and I told him how I decided to recover it due to it looking a bit tattered and yellow. We did not conceal anything! Had we been asked about ANY of the reproduction pieces, we would have been totally upfront regarding their status. One thing is for sure....if these door handles and plastic strap show up on the Judging sheets when I receive them, it will only prove that the car was still being judged, almost five weeks AFTER the show was over.
I called Keith on Tuesday August 17TH to find the total deductions that were given to the car. He thought I was fishing for answers but I was actually getting a verbal commitment before disclosing the findings about the power steering fluid. At that point, I had researched the power steering fluid and KNEW that they had made a mistake. I wanted to know specifically what they found so there wasn't a "new" or "swapped" deduction to take the place of the power steering debacle that was soon to be disclosed. During our conversation I was told we missed 1.5 points for Power Steering Fluid, a half point deduction for the VIN clear overlay and a deduction for the wrong date sequence of the tires. He said there might have been a few other "fraction of a point" deductions but he didn't have the judging sheets with him at that time. I was also told that the Valiant scored the "best" between the Cuda and the Challenger regarding the originality and condition of the NOS tires. I checked my scoring sheet for the Challenger and it said that there was a "minute deduction because of age" for that particular tire set. If we did better with the Valiant then our "deduction" for the tires should less than a "minute" infraction. I would certainly hope that the judging of the Valiant was completed on August 14TH and a "shell game" does not ensue due to all of these following controversies!
