From: ddoyle9570@aol.com
Date: Tue Jun 04 2002 - 05:46:38 PDT
Gee, what a time for my computer to die, I missed the initial excitement!
Having read the various comments....I have a couple of opinions (well, those that know me KNOW I have a lot of opinions!)....
First, I feel like the judges intended no harm to Neil's (or any other) vehicle.
Second, a lot of this problem has been brought on ourselves as deuce owners (and I bet if you showed a frame up restored GPW in 1951 you woulda had the same problem)....I will explain:
Even though this design dates to 1949, it is still being used by our forces today....so automatically the mind of the viewer assumes there can be nothing particularly rare or valuable about these vehicles.
The typical deuce owner goes to DRMO, GL, Memphis Equipment, Joe Young, etc., drops his cash and has completed his restoration at that time. He then drives his vehicle whereever it goes, whatever the weather.....again in the mind of the viewer, how rare can this be?
Related to this....Neil, does anyone near you have a restored Jeep? How did they get it to Churchville? My bet is if it is more than 20 miles from home the Jeep was trailered...you drove your truck, again adding to the "its just another M-series deuce" perception. When we start seeing the great proponderances of deuces hauled in enclosed trailers to events, pushed into place on astro turf, with mirrors shoved underneath, then they will start to be respected like some of their smaller breathern.
If you poll 500 MVPA (or any other MV club) members, I would bet a far greater percentage of them could tell you about what colors of paint were used during WWII than could tell you about CARC, and most of what you would be told about CARC would be wrong.
The WWII Jeep has been documented to death, any number of sources can tell you what brand tire would go on an MB built in Febuary, 1944......what brand tire came on a Studebaker built M35 in January 1952? How can these vehicles be judged equally when there is such a disparity in factual information on the front end?
I saw a beautiful deuce at Ft. Lee, with a soft top on it that wasn't even a deuce soft top. Was this spotted by the judges (in this case, probably, because Jeff Symanski was judging), but it wouldn't have been at most shows.
MVPA is attempting to address this type of thing by soliciting authors of judging guides....so it appears hope is on the way, eventually (a monumental task....MB/GPWs were built for what, 5 years, the G-742 for almost 40? The judging guide should basically be an encyclopedia...of course if I get my book out by then!!!!!).
Judging, in my opinion, should be considered help....pointing out areas of the vehicle restoration where improvement is needed...not a blasting of current efforts, likewise, Neil's remarks out to be looked at the same way, not a flaming of the guys at Churchville, but pointing out areas of improvement.
My final thought on all this.....the vast majority of MV Factory Restorations are WRONG. They are not true factory restorations...if they were, the tool sets would be crated, no bumper markings, not even BIIL stuff visible, much less fording kits, MG's. Also, the quality of the finish is TOO GOOD. These vehicles have become a testament to the individual restorers body and paint work (and pocketbook). I can show you a factory photo of at least a dozen deuces undergoing final check out, and there are men standing on fenders of more than half of them, with no protective covers in sight anywhere. In the same photo, you can see different shades of paint clearly visible on different parts of the trucks (the cargo beds were built and painted by an outside contractor, and shipped in, as were the steel wheels, etc...all in slightly different shades). If you were to take via time machine one of these trucks to a show, you would likely not place.
My .02,
David Doyle
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Fri Aug 16 2002 - 11:22:37 PDT