January Concours Corner January 2014

Off and Running

Happy New Years all! We hope you all had a great start to your New Year, are staying warm and keeping true to your resolutions. Of course you could also be like us and out on the slopes braving the cold. One of our resolutions we are keeping was to get in as much skiing as possible. This is one of the activities we look forward to in the winter when the automotive season has little to offer. With the coming of the New Year comes a major change in the leadership of the Concours program as the dynamic duo of Craig Ploetner and Hank Menkes depart after three years of jointly running the program during which we have witnessed unprecedented growth in participation of our workshops and concours events. Under their leadership the NNJR Concours program has truly become one of the most dynamic and respected in PCA. The proof of that shows at every regional, zone and national event as NNJR members consistently place in the top of their class wherever they show. Thanks guys for a great job! We hope both of you will remain active in the coming years.

So now who are these two guys taking over the program. We are Murray Kane and Jeff McFadyen. Now you might ask, “what makes these two upstart Concours Chairs think they can fill Hank and Craig’s shoes”. A tall order at best. “Well Jeff has been a regular on the Concour Scene for over 10 years and is a National, Zone 1, and Regional class winner. Jeff also has a Best In Show on the Zone level to his credit as well as a group win on the national level. He will celebrate 45 years as a PCA member next month. While not having been a Q’Tip guy as long as Jeff, Murray has 9 years of experience. Wins include 5 Zone 1 and many Regional class trophies. He is also a Best in Show winner on the Zone level. We would like to think this gives us the background and experience to bring you a great 2014 concours season. Our goal is to continue in the footstep of our predecessors with high quality workshops as well as concours events to please everyone no matter what your interest or degree of participation is. We will also be working with the New Member and Social chairs to bring you some new and exciting events. To that end we will be looking for more of you to become active judges. With the growth of the program has come a shortage of judges needed to complete judging in a timely manner without over burdening the current cadre. We will be reaching out to many of you shortly. We hope you will support us in our effort to build a judging team sufficient to handle the turnouts we have had in recent years. We will be holding a judge’s seminar in March at the “Gathering of the Faithful” to help those new to judging as well as refresher for the experienced judges. Those that commit will be receiving a beautiful ID Signs designed NNJR Judges polo shirt. If you would like to become a judge please contact us at concours@nnjr-pca.com.

We are very excited about the upcoming season. Many of the concours and workshops we have had in the past are on the schedule as well as some new and exciting events and locations. We will start the New Year with our always popular “Dent Man Workshop” on February 22 at Flemington Porsche as they have again agreed to host us and the dent man, Bill Rochford. Bill will be offering his services at a discounted rate on this day. Those of you who have attended past work shops already have seen the miracles he works on making dents and dings disappear. If you plan on bringing a vehicle for him to work on it is important you notify us in advance at concours@nnjr-pca.com. Flemington Porsche will have food and drink for us so come hungry. The next event on the calendar as was previously mentioned will be the “Gathering of the Faithful to be held at High Marques Motor Cars in Morristown, N.J.on March 23. This will be an opportunity to socialize with your fellow club members as well as attend the judge’s seminar that will be held the second part of the gathering. Whether you plan to judge or not this seminar is a great opportunity to get a better understanding of what the judges will be looking at and how the point system works. If you plan on showing in the future you will find the knowledge you gain a great aid in properly preparing your Porsche for concour events. If the judges seminar is not your thing, not to worry as it will be held in a separate room from the GOTF. Again come hungry as breakfast will be served by our host John Vogt, proprietor of High Marques.

We wrapped up the 2013 NNJR Concours season in November at ID Signs with Jose DeLaCruz, wife Patty and son Max hosting us at their excellent facility in S. Hackensack. As in the past the food the DeLaCruz’s served was fit for a king. Their hospitality knows no bounds. Craig and Hank arranged for NNJR leather care expert Jerry Manna to hold a presentation on the care, preservation and repair of leather interiors. Jerry is one of the areas premier experts in this area as we can attest having used his experience and knowledge on many of our own vehicles. Jerry not only covered the aforementioned subjects but did real-time demonstrations using his tried and true time tested techniques. Hank and Craig also had a treat for us as they raffled off a huge variety of goodies including leather care products. They had so many items almost everyone went home with a prize. John Jennings was the grand prize winner receiving a Color Plus Leather Care Kit. This is a very popular event as is evident by the huge turnout. We are sure everyone went home smarter in the ways of leather care as well as well fed. We must also note several members brought their children and Max made sure they had a good time entertaining them with games and music.

A few items on the upcoming season. We will continue to work on making the concours program family friendly. Children are welcome at all our events and we will be planning with this in mind. We are considering adding a race car class to bring out the DE people that don’t have a second Porsche to concours. Please let us know if you like this idea. As always your thoughts and comments on the program are welcome and encouraged. Please never hesitate to contact us. We are happy to hear from you. Also if you have questions on the care, preparation and preservation of your Porsche or any other vehicle you own send us a line at concours@nnjr-pca.com and we will do our best to help. If we don’t have the answer we will direct your to the appropriate source.. Lastly send us your thoughts on what you would like us to cover in our monthly column as well as our workshops.

HOPE TO SEE YOU ON THE FIELD IN 2014!!

Jeff McFadyen
Murray Kane