Jason on CLC Judging - My First Judging Experience

[Jason Edge]

Taken from the August 2013 Newsletter. For those that have not judged at a CLC Grand National it was a great experience. Here was my write-up:

 

My First Judging Experience
Since I did not bring my 1964 Coupe DeVille to the Grand National, I had requested to judge Primary Class 20 (1963 & 1964) at the Grand National.  I took advantage of the fact we arrived early (July 27) and had a couple of days to prepare for my first judging assignment.  Early in the week I went through the judging manual twice and took the included test.  While I am definitely not an expert at this point, I feel I have a good basic understanding of both how to judge, and the principals behind it.

 I will also add that as someone coming from a programming/IT background, I found the judging formulation very logical, very methodical, and very fair.   The basic principal that you are judging a particular car against a 100 point factory new car, and not the car next to it, makes it very fair and takes away the subjectivity one might have say in comparing a restored Eldorado vs a 4 door sedan.  Every car judged starts out with a perfect score and you simply deduct in each category as compared to factory new excellent condition.

If you have never judged, the majority of the judging covers operational items (horn works, lights work, power windows work, top works, power seats work, instruments work, radio works, engine cranks and idles well, etc.) and condition of specific areas of the car.  I believe anyone that knows basic car functions can judge.   I was on a 4 man team that covered Class 20 (1963-1964) and Class 21 (1965-1966).  For the few Authenticity Categories (there are only 4 of 40: #19, #20, #39, #40 on the form) we turned to the most knowledgeable person. For 63's and 64's that was me.  When we moved to 65's and 66's I looked toward our team captain who was more familiar with these model years to confirm questionable authenticity items.  Unless you have a team without anyone with any prior knowledge of the particular class, the collective knowledge of the team and the methodical nature of the judging procedure will give everyone a fair assessment. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire judging experience and have a better appreciation for the judges and the CLC judging process.  It was also great to have chapter member Lucas Feininger on our judging team.  I would encourage anyone interested in judging to read and understand the judging manual and process, and volunteer at the next Grand National.   Finally, if you are considering entering your car in a Grand National for judging, there is no better way to understand how and why your car will receive deductions than to participate in judging yourself!