Before you get too excited, this is not a steamy exposé of what you might fantasize of what takes place behind the pavilion at Schooley’s Mountain Park after a competitive concours event. Remember, this is a family magazine. On the contrary, this article is meant to help those new to the activity who are interested in entering their Porsches in PCA concours events. So read on and benefit from these insider’s tips.
As a new year unfolds, we look forward to another great NNJR Concours season. But first, it is necessary to look back and thank some of our late 2011 season workshop hosts and congratulate our 2011 NNJR Concours season champions.
NNJR Concours had the privilege of hosting two late season workshops at both Flemington Porsche and ID Signs. The Flemington event featured Bill Rochford the “Dent Man”. Our very own Fred Simonson was the architect of the workshop. Fred previously used Bill on several of his cars over the years and raved about his talent. With Fred’s help we were able to have Bill help out several of our NNJR members. Bill spent a couple of hours working his magic on fellow Porsche owners’ dings and dents. He did some outstanding work at very reasonable prices. John Nelson, the sales manager at Flemington Porsche, provided a fantastic bagel breakfast for all workshop participants. John’s state of the art Porsche facility was a great backdrop for such a well attended event. Thanks again John for you hospitality.
Oktoberfest is not only celebrated in the homeland of Porsche, but also here in New Jersey at the Deutscher Club in Clark, NJ. This year NNJR was again invited to participate in their final biergarten fest of the season on September 30. The Deutscher Club, in conjunction with NNJR, sponsored a lively dinner, complete with German food, plenty of beer, and a traditional oompah band, in combination with a people’s choice concours event.
After what seemed like a summer of continuous rain, we finally lucked out and had great weather for our Oktoberfest celebration – at least before 9:00pm after which, you guessed it, it started to drizzle. This in no way, however, hampered the enjoyment of the NNJR members who turned out for this fete. Once again we had an outstanding turnout of spectacular Porsches that our members put on display for all of the Deutscher Club attendees to view and enjoy.
Jeff McFadyen took first place in the people’s choice concours with his outstanding 1957 356 outlaw. Murray and Akemi Kane took second place with their always immaculate 1994 911 coupe, and Anthony Cristello took third place with his beautiful metallic blue 1989 911 turbo.
August was a very busy month for our NNJR concours enthusiasts with the national Porsche Parade in Savannah, Georgia, the New Hope Automobile Show and Concours in Pennsylvania, and the annual NNJR Picnic Concours. And, as we had hoped, our NNJR concours crew did our club proud by bringing home the bling!
During the first week of August, an adventurous crew of dedicated concours competitors headed south to Savannah with their meticulously prepped Porsches to take their chances in what is unquestionably the most challenging Concours d’Elegance competition in all of Porschedom, the national PCA Parade Concours.
Every car buying decisions will require an accurate assessment of paintwork quality to determine a vehicle’s value. A paint thickness meter is a great way to verify paint quality and originality.
Paint thickness meters are hand-held, non-destructive coating thickness gages that are ideal for use by any used car buyer. They enable a quick assessment of the quality of the paint finish and to verify that the condition of a vehicle matches its reported history. It will also determine if the vehicle has been in an accident or experienced other types of paint damage.
Historically, buyers and inspectors relied only on visual inspections such as checking body panel alignment and looking for gaps that might indicate bodywork or panel replacement. They looked for signs of repainting such as paint overspray on seals and body openings as well as differences in paint color and finish throughout the vehicle.
Subtle changes in color, texture or gloss often go undetected unless the buyer invests significant time to view the vehicle at different angles and under different lighting conditions. Visual inspection techniques are particularly limiting in dimly lit areas, in bad weather (rain, sleet or snow), or on dirty vehicles.
In recent years, buyers have begun to rely increasingly upon electronic paint thickness meters to accurately assess paintwork quality. Unlike visual inspections, these instruments provide reliable and quantifiable measurement results.
