Can’t say we have had a bad encounter at a show, heck once we were even invited onto an episode of My Classic Car. Life is too short to get upset about irritating people.

Way back when I had my '79 'Lil Red Express, I used to get people asking me why I would ever do that to a truck. It was 100% stock. Some people are just morons, so it is what it is.

For many years I've enjoyed having a 1968 Fury VIP Fender tag on my legit 1969 GTX.

Nobody can ever seem to decode that fender tag for some reason!
I guess you better call Galen or David to figure it out

Sometimes I'll cover the VIN, sometimes I won't, depends how I feel.

Not much of anything has ever been original on the car since I've owned it, but I did at least paint it the original color this time.

I really regret not saving the fender tags of cars I parted out, junked, or took parts from over the years, because I'd have them on rotation
in the car. In particular the '73 New Yorker that donated the first engine I had in the car was pretty loaded, and had two fender tags...
I would install both of them and let the idiots struggle with it.

Those things are not the gospel that people make them out to be on an A plant code car /usually showed next to nothing.

For my next fender tag, I really want to have a custom one made that reads the same as Samuel L. Jackson's wallet.

When I had my 68 Charger R/T (440 car) that I put a hemi into I had a BLANK fender tag I stumbled across at the local P+Pull back in the 90's. I was even so bad that I would generally occlude the VIN tag with show entry form or one of those dastardly flyers, LOL. Myself, I've never been one to get hung up on numbers, hoses, paint markings etc. Having worked on the line back in the early 70's NOTHING was specified and most of the workers were high on something. Put it together with the supplied parts, put the jack instructions somewhere on the trunk lid bottom side, paint marks? somewhere on the R valve cover, rear end or ????? I have always been concerned more with reliability and being done well. Dcuda's69 seems to fit the bill nicely

I don't let it bother me.......just saying, at an all Mopar show guys want to tell you what's wrong with your car.....at an all makes/models show guys just want to talk about cars....big difference. Helps me decide which shows I will attend.

People are people. Everyone is going to be different and have their own opinions on things. I just ignore any ridiculous claims or advice. If it is useful and constructive then I file it under maybe.

I saw that episode. Too cool!

Back in the 90's when I had my '66 Barracuda with a 340 swapped into it, I had put an LD340 intake on it. The stock throttle spring bracket wouldn't work, so I took a piece of flat stock, bent it into an L shape, drilled a couple of holes in it and spray painted it flat black. It was a super quick solution. Anyway, I was at a Slant 6 show and they allow V8s there, so I was showing off my car. Some guy comes up and points to the newly made L bracket and says "That's not stock." I said "I know. I made it. This car is so far from stock it doesn't matter." Later, my friend tells me, "You basically told that guy to f--- off without actually saying it."

'Expert' expressed as a mathematical formula;

X = (the unknown quantity) + SPURT (a drip under pressure)

A friend of mine has a ‘70 Superbee that he restored years ago. It was upgraded to a 440 six pack setup but retained the 383 badging…he would open the hood and every expert would walk by and have their $0.02 to say about it. It also has red accents on the grill which a lot of people have told him isn’t factory correct. It’s been that way since he bought it in the 80s…maybe someone added it? He’s pretty sure that’s the way it came originally, either way he likes it and kept it the way it was.

The person who approached your car (o/p) sounds like a real dik. Probably just jealous, otherwise as you wrote, just comment "nice car" or something and keep going. It was your dad's car! That should've shut him up immediately but some people have to try and degrade others to feel better about themselves.

My response to a numbers guy in that situation. "it won't matter much on Monday, because the crusher doesn't care"

I found that it is best to sit a little away from my car at shows

So I can see them looking but can’t hear the comments

Yup... that's what I have experienced over the decades. I took my Duster to an all Mopar show
once, and a few guys (who were obviously in some sort of "club") bashed my car. I overheard a few comments from them..
such as: "That car isn't correct at all, and: " probably can't get out of it's own way"
I ended up with a 2nd place trophy, in A body Modified, at the end of the show !
Point is, don't ever give the naysayers a second of your time.
Also I love the idea of the custom fender tag: "My Bad Mutha F**ka...

As I've gotten older and less patient, instead of pacifying people like that, I just go right straight to MYOFB!!!

Life is too short to worry about what the experts at car shows say. It rolls off my back like water on a duck. Of course I was the guy who judged cars at Mopar shows for 30 years, try telling an owner that something is wrong, 90% of the time they really don't know, the other 10% just want the car to be better so they thank me and usually I see the car again the next year with what I had told them done! I like Tom's thinking, just sit back and listen then take another sip off that cocktail and snicker...

I get lots of them when I bring the convertible Charger to shows! I have heard it all,everything from I can't believe you sawed the roof off a Charger, to my uncle bought one just like that brand new! I tell them I cut the roof off because I was sick and tired of the factory sunroof leaking on my head! Lol

Mine is not matching numbers anything. I built my way. I did win cruiser of the night last week with it so the general public must have liked it since it is done by their votes.

I had a guy arguing with me mine was not a factory hemi car.

He was adamant Hemi wasn't avail in a Satellite. I pointed out the sales code on the data tag and the Vin,,,,,I got tired of him and returned to my chair and he finally walked away

I've had a similar incident happen from a younger (23-29 yrs. old white male "car" guy) happen back in the mid 1980s at the NHRA Winternationals one year. I had my original 1963 Plymouth Belvedere 2 door sedan 415 HP car that I was running in NHRA stock A/SA class and was in the rear of the staging lanes with the hood open when he walked up and look at it and made a comment that it was too bad that it wasn't an "original M.W. car"
I bought that car from the 2nd owner in 1973 who had bought it off of a used car lot in L.A. CA in 1965 and drove it until he blew the motor up, spun a rod bearing and had the motor rebuilt by Reath Automotive in 1966, he ended up joining the Army before the motor was done and he got orders to Veit Nam and had them hold the motor until he got back when he got out of the army in 1969.
Long story short he lost the kickdown rod for the 727 and burnt the tranny up in less than 300 miles driving it to college and around town before moving to the high desert after marrying his wife, her father owned a well drilling company and he went to work for his father in law so he could buy the company out later in life.
Bottom line that kid had never owned one of those cars let alone worked at a dealership when they came out and base his opinion on seeing some of those cars that the headlight, engine wiring harness placed on the upper passenger side inner wheel well instead of having it held on the inner lower side of that panel with factory wire holders like mine had, he had seen the later cars after Mopar had some of the early cars have problems with exhaust heat melt some of those harnesses
Did I say we had an "educational moment" together over that
He did thank me for helping him learn more about those limited production cars like mine
I forgot to mention I'm a drag racer, not a show car guy
The only thing I want to show other car guys is my taillights