The "Near Perfect" Story

It was an ordinary day. We were headed to the Eden Resort right off Rt. 272. Today is the final LCCC Show of the season. Beautiful sunny day should bring out a large showing. Cars from our club, The Lancaster County Corvette Club, and from other local clubs will be judged for prizes and trophies. Trophies will be given for several categories and money will be awarded for Best Paint, Best Interior, Best Engine and Best Undercarriage. My son Tad and I have spent quite a few hours getting Big Red ready for the event. We took the seats out so we could vacuum and clean under them, cleaned the leather with ArmorAll leather polish, cleaned and polished the wheels and put ArmorAll on the tires to make them look new and finished by using Meguiar's polish on the red paint and then Meguair's Show Car Glaze to get a high shine. The car looks great! My car is considered a C-4 car which includes cars made from 1983-1996. It is based on the body style. Everyone pays their entrance fee and finds a spot in the parking lot. At 1:00 PM the judging begins. Cars are rated on 60% cleanliness and 40% condition. The judges will check the glass, wheel wells, exhaust tips, interior and exterior. Everyone must remove and seat covers and floor mats. Any speck of dust or streaks will deduct points from you total. There are move cars in my category then in any other category. I have entered many car shows and have never placed higher than 3rd place. I often thought that if I ever won 1st place, I'd stop competing, since it takes hours of preparation for competition. Two judges are now looking at my car. They are not allowed to touch the car or lean against it. They can ask me to open the door so they can examine the inside, but may not do it themselves. I have decided to enter the class that does not show the engine. I don't need to spend another 8-10 hours working on the engine!! They're now looking at the wheels and tires. After discussing matters between them, they ask me to sign my judging sheet. I don't know what they have given me for a score at this point. After all judging is complete, everyone gathers for the results. It is about 4:00 PM and everyone will be leaving after the results are announced. They reach the C-4 category and start with the 3rd place winner. There are 12 entries in this category. Not me. Next is the 2nd place winner. Again, not me! OK, either I won or I didn't even place. I can't believe they found that much wrong. The car was immaculate! And the first place winner is........with a score of 97.5 out of 100, LDub. NEAR PERFECT!!! I hustled up to the platform for the presentation. Applause! I shared it with my son for helping with the cleanup. And......I never entered another competition again!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - trophy on right is for the 1st place win while the larger one on left is one of many that I got from other competition. I discarded most, but kept the big one.