$125 registration fee and no dash plaque! Bring your car to my town
the last week of July and for $5.00 dollars you can cruise main
street, get a dash plaque, and see a lot of great old cars. Plus,
I'll buy you lunch. If you come in August you can participate in the
'Woodward Cruise' and will have your choice of 5 different cars shows
to enter all on the same day.
Jeff
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: TUXXII
Author: tiger technologies <tartanad@ix17.ix.netcom.com> at INTERNET
Date: 6/25/97 4:10 PM
OPEN LETTER TO ALL TIGER OWNERS:
While kudos are certainly in order for the hard work put in by STOA, Norm
Miller and CAT in organizing the recent gathering at Eureka, the event fell
far short of not just perfection, but even my modest expectations.
I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out just what I received for
my $125 entry fee. No goodie bag. No dash plaque. No alternate activities
for those of us who didn't have a passion for autocrossing (and there are a
lot of us). Hell, not even meals except for a couple of box lunches and a
buffet dinner on awards night, which was a good feed, especially the berry pie.
There is so much to do up in that neck of the woods: great wooded drives
through ancient forests. A beautiful beach. Fishing trips for salmon and
sole. A restored old town. But all the planned events kept most of us just
yakking in the parking lot much of the time waiting for the "next" thing on
the meager schedule. And spending my time admiring that collection of
historic Tigers was wasted...I (and others) had their fill after the first
viewing. In short the substantial cost and efforts by folks like Steve
Alcala, Dan Walters, Senor Miller and others could have been better spent.
And if some funds could have been saved in paying the tab for shipping the
cars as well as expenses for selected attendees, maybe there would have been
enough cash left over for a measely dash plaque or a $12 meal at the Samoa
Lodge.
But the biggest disappointment (and embarassment) of all was the manner in
which the concours was conducted. Some of us spent a lot of time and a lot
of money in getting our vehicles prepared for this part of the event. It is
very important to have our cars properly displayed and judged by those who
use some set of guidelines. And there were guidelines, set forth by Norm
Miller many months ago. And we went about preparing our cars accordingly.
That of course went out the window when we drove out to the marina only to
be ordered to drive over the grass (dry, dusty and full of goose poop) to
park. Hell, there was more dirt and dust on my car after that short 50 yard
drive than I got during my 750 mile sojourn to Eureka from LA!
And what an insult to be forced to have our cars "judged" (and I use the term
loosely) by others in our class, not abiding by any set of guidelines or
point structure. In the stock class, for example, how a one-off custom built
prototype non-stock Harrington (as beautiful as it was) was classified as
stock--and won is just beyond comprehension. The car is nowhere near correct
and yet it won over real stock Tigers that precisely fit proper judging
criteria. And as for the competency of the judges, wouldn't you think a stock
class owner would know that the rear window of a hardtop is plexi, not glass?
Not at Eureka. And there is even evidence of score total tampering on at
least one judging sheet. And the list goes on. And on. I protest. This was no
concours. It was just a show and shine. I could have
stayed home for one of those, there are at least five in my area every weekend.
One thing Eureka has taught me: TUXXIII will NOT be conducted in such a
manner. While I may have been lax in my local club participation, I will now
get involved to help make Big Bear an event for everyone. There will be lots
of activities for everyone. And all participants will even get a dash
plaque, even if I have to pay for them myself.
A good number of Southern Californians attended TUXXII. Let's see how many
northlanders venture south next summer to enjoy our hospitality and ability
to put on an event with all family members in mind.
As a point of reference, the Southern California Healey Club just had their
gathering at Big Bear this past weekend...45 cars strong. And the tab
including entry fee, meals AND hotel was just a shade over $200. But then
they didn't dust off some race car that never made the grade at LeMans to
eat up funds.
The new friends made at Eureka and old acquaintances reignited and the
obvious hard work of the organizers still made the trip north and back
worthwhile. But a word of advice: next time, give us owners who spend time
on their cars doing things other than preparing for some banzai run through
orange cones some thought, and conduct a true concours event, not some
politically motivated, skewed "car show".
This is just one guy's opinion...made after an exhausting 1,600 mile round
trip to Eureka.
Jeff Cushing
Tiger Technologies
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