Judging at Churchville--Response to Amrhein

From: Janet A. Mele (jamele@erols.com)
Date: Sat Jun 01 2002 - 17:47:51 PDT


>From George Mele, Crownsville, MD MVPA 10010

Would like to respond to Mr Amrheins 31 May complaints about judging at the
Churchville/Aberdeen show. Bill Wilson and I are guilty of being the judges
mentioned in this email. We took a severe trashing in this posting that
comes almost a month after the event. The judging booth was less than 50
feet from Mr Amrheins display and we were there for several hours after the
judging, as was Phil Ulzheimer who was in charge of judging .There was ample
opportunity to air his complaints then instead of throwing it on the
internet.

A good deal of what Mr Amrhein says is true. I did rest a vinyl clipboard
folder --with no protruding rivets on his bumper to score his vehicle. Would
have moved it in a New York microsecond if he complained. Bill Wilson did
"lay hands " on his vehicle during his inspection--as is his normal judging
procedure based on eight years of judging experience. For information, Bill
Wilson has over 47 years experience in vehicle body repair and restoration
and is considered a master craftsman. His restored armored vehicles have
earned three national level best-in-class awards at MVPA Nationals. We both
spent two full days at the Ft. Lee MVPA National Convention watching the
best of
the MVPA judges dealing with restored class vehicles and have tried our best
to adhere to the national standard. A lot of touching goes on in
judging--checking paint, welds, alignment,secure attachment, etc
and I don't believe Bill took this to any extreme. He is invariably very
fussy about NOT leaving any finger prints on a judged vehicle. He habitually
wipes his hand before touching paint and uses the heel and back of the hand
to determine the presence of careless welds, painted over rust, bad repairs
and bondo filler. On a restored vehicle points are lost for poor restoration
craftsmanship but not for a condition that might be an original
manufacturing defect or shortcut. Bill was guilty of touching his vehicle
again when he got down on the damp ground and dragged his 67-year old body
under the truck to check for leaking seals and hydraulics and to check the
condition of the drivetrain. I'm sure he put a big handprint on the bottom
of the running board while trying to exit.

I, too, had a restored class vehicle on display for three days and can tell
you that it was "touched" and climbed upon by many people. I used almost a
full bottle of Windex to clean it up after greasy hands touched the paint.
An event such as Churchville is an informal event where we show our vehicles
to the public and try to give them an education and feel for the hobby.
Touching is a normal part of this sort of show.

Now let me answer Amrhein's question about who won in the Post war 2 1/2 ton
categories. Randy Emr won best restored with his 67 Kaiser M35. Second
place went to Tom Bauer for a 69 Ford M656. Motor Pool first class went to
Lamar Rowland for his 83 AM General and second to Rick sacks for a 70
Kaiser. Emr's vehicle also won best in show based on the votes of all of
the judges and judging officials. This was a magnificent truck in all
respects and set a very high standard for others to reach.

One final thought---At last year's MVPA convention there was a real problem
in finding qualified people willing to be judges--more than a few stated
they didnt want to put up with the flack any longer. Wonder why!!!!!



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