2017 Bell & Covill Concours d'Elegance

[The Pits 4,411]

Yes, wasn't sure what the judging criteria were this year, it does shift from year to year and from judge to judge. A healthy debate is all sign of a good Concours! 

[Bibs 11,663]

Originality is key in a concours d'elegance, followed by presentation and then usage/restored/background has some influence. The Lotus Festival competition is judged on condition & presentation on the day and I believe both you and Fabian have taken home awards from that event.

[LotusLeftLotusRight 1,405]

It's a tricky balance. A "concours d'élegance" winner can be "better than new", possibly with non-original interior, paintwork and OTT chrome-plating. There's a certain amount of personal preference when judging on that basis. A more exact science would probably be known as a "concours d'état", where judges know exactly how the car came out of the factory and can mark accordingly. Anything extra or non-original is marked down.

In a former life, I had an old car which was as close as you could get to original ex-works standard (even the tyres). However it came second in a concours to a restored car with shiny new aftermarket accessories, incorrectly painted engine and even the wrong shade of bodywork paint. The winner was a lovely car and had clearly had plenty of time and money spent on restoring it, but it certainly wasn't the very best example for originality.

[The Pits 4,411]

I had assumed that showing up with Pirellis with stick-on Goodyear logos was going to be marked down at a Concours event which is why I put the NCTs back on. It certainly looks better and more correct with them on and is the finishing touch visually. As has been mentioned already not all judges would see it like that and it becomes an area for debate. As are so many aspects of originality. The wheels on my car are a case in point. They are original Compomotives as originally fitted to many dry sump Turbos. They have been fitted using factory correct suspension links and rubber bushes. The only way a judge would know that it left the factory on BBS wheels is because I have made the information widely available. I would be the first to say that a wet sump car shouldn't be on Compomotives but also believe I have made my car a more complete example of a dry sump Turbo. The wheels complete the 'Essex Spec' which was also the original specification for the Turbo as we all know. I think actually my car is a better reference for a dry sump Turbo than it was before. Regardless of what any judge thinks, it completes the car for me so I won't be going back to BBS just to improve my chances at a Concours.

I do understand the value of awarding cars that accurately represent the factory output at the time they were built. We need to maintain these yardstick cars as the waters do get muddied over the years with details added from Bond films and the like so it's good that the two main ones for Lotus cars use different critieria. That way it covers a wider variety of excellent cars.

[esprit22 86]

On 5/11/2017 at 08:21, Paul Coleman said:

Surely the whole point of a concours is that the car is being judged against how it left the factory. Whilst I'm sure Fabian's car is flawless (I've never seen it) it's far from how it left the factory. If the judging rules were how close it is to the car in the film then Jon's wouldn't have stood a chance.

In the world of e-types the judges would even be looking at the hose clamps to make sure they're 50 years old!

This is true Paul, some would say that shiny braided fuel lines are not standard and therefore would be frowned upon..non standard!

[Mark030358 616]

Hmmm, concours, interesting subject. Here's my take on it.

I have restored 3 Loti in my time, a '69 S2 Europa, a '72 Twin Cam Europa, a '69 Elan S4, all to exacting standards, the S2 however was highly modified. However, I am also fortunate to be the second owner of a '73 DHC Elan Sprint, which I bought from the original owner some 24 years ago, see a couple of pictures in my previous post in this thread. When I bought the car it had been stood for almost 12 years and needed a commissionin and a clean up under the bonnet. I didn't touch the interior or any of the trim, glass, dash etc as it was all 100% original. I didn't paint the car either. I would say the car is very good example, but would I replace the worn carpets, the dash that has some cracks in the veneer, switches that are turning milky? NO, not a chance. Why? because this is what the car is, a fine example of Chapmans best. That is not to say I haven't done things to improve "inherent" faults. Yes, I use braided stainless fuel hoses, because rubber ones split, I've replaced the doughnuts for CV's because the rubber on the doughnuts you get now is sub standard, a larger radiator to improve the always marginal cooling. So who would want to risk an engine bay fire, a drive shat coming through the floor? a warped cylinder head when stuck in traffic, not me for sure. I have seen all of the previous, if fact if you go to "Lotus Elan.net" a guy has recently had his pride and joy burn out due to an engine bay fuel leak. But I digress. To me a concours car is what it is, a trailer queen, a car that that is EXACTLY as it came from the factory. I say trailer queen as you cannot realistically do 6000 miles a year and keep a car perfect, not today, not with Asda car parks, not on our roads and not with jealous "[email protected]" who who key it in the blink of an eye.

So, in fairness, competitions like this should be judged on the miles a car travels in a year; say 0 to 500, 500 to 1000, 1000 to 3000 and so on, then everyone gets a chance to win something with their pride and joy.

A concours car is like a painting, its there to be looked at, admired, polished, preserved and maybe driven occasionaly 

Some of my before and after shots attcahed .....

cheers

Mark

 

[Paul Coleman 545]

1 hour ago, Mark030358 said:

I say trailer queen as you cannot realistically do 6000 miles a year and keep a car perfect, not today, not with Asda car parks, not on our roads and not with jealous "[email protected]" who who key it in the blink of an eye.

So, in fairness, competitions like this should be judged on the miles a car travels in a year; say 0 to 500, 500 to 1000, 1000 to 3000 and so on, then everyone gets a chance to win something with their pride and joy.

A concours car is like a painting, its there to be looked at, admired, polished, preserved and maybe driven occasionaly 

That's pretty much why I take it out of the garage and drive in a big circle before putting it away again!

Nice job on your restoration by the way.

 

[Mark030358 616]

Correction to my previous post, owned the Sprint for around 14 years not 24. Don't know how to edit old posts.. ?

[ChrisJ 1,505]

5 hours ago, Mark030358 said:

So, in fairness, competitions like this should be judged on the miles a car travels in a year; say 0 to 500, 500 to 1000, 1000 to 3000 and so on, then everyone gets a chance to win something with their pride and joy

I certainly think usage should be taken into account when being judged - my Excel won the concours not because it is perfect, it is a long way from that, but because I've driven 15k in the last two years and use it 2 or three times a week(*). Oh and I washed it as well - even thought it did try to eat me  @huggy617 @Dan E 

 

 

(*) I did use it every day for a couple of months when I bought it, but then when I jumped into my "modern" Peugeot it didn't want to go, so decided that modern cars are no better than older cars when it comes to being left to stand around, and I now try to share out the usage of my daily cars.

[Escape 847]

If there's a category for >10k miles/year next time, I'll make an effort and join.

As it was, I enjoyed looking at those beautiful cars, lots of respect for their owners for keeping them in such good shape! My trusty steed was kept a fair distance away, though I would have loved doing the parade lap!