What to Look For at a Car Show
Terry WrightDescription
For as long as there have been cars, there have been gatherings of car enthusiasts who appreciate those cars. As history has it, the first large car show was held in 1901, but car events and gatherings likely even predate that. Today local cruise nights and weekend car shows can draw hundreds of great-looking classic cars.
But in seemingly endless rows of bright paint and shiny chrome, there are always a few that stand out above all others. However, which car stands out the most is clearly up to the viewer. On many occasions while attending car shows, I have heard people claim different cars at a show to be the best one there. But is there a key to picking out the best rides at an event? Perhaps, or maybe it all depends on your personal perspective.
Whether your favorites are a particular year, make, or model of car, or if it has some other meaning to you like your first car, your favorite color, the cool car in high school—the list can be endless. But perhaps that is the allure of the car show: there is something for everyone.
Mark Simpson joined up with Terry Wright at a local cruise night and took the opportunity to find out exactly what a professional paint and body guy looks for when he attends a car show. Wright explains that he first looks for straight bodies and excellent panel fit. As he states, you know the owner has invested time and money in the ride if the car is arrow straight. He enjoys looking down the entire body side and examining the straightness by studying the reflections. If the body is straight, almost always the paint is going to be there as well. Take the time to study the cars at your next car show as you are bound to discover some real gems.
Terry, when I go to a car show, I like to find those owners who've spent some blood, sweat, and tears in building their cars a number of years to get it where it is today. Being a paint and body guy, what do you look for when you're looking at cars here? Well, I tell you what, let's go find some cars and I'll show you. Awesome. So, Mark, here's a good example of what I would look for is I look for straightness in a body first and I'll just look down it and see how straight it is. If it's straight, someone puts some time into it. So, I mean, I love paint, but I look for a straight body and then I look at the rest and I go, Ooh, someone spent some time. So I'll actually, as I'm walking by I'll just look down 'em from an angle. And I'm looking at the reflection of anything that's around it. How crisp and clear it is. You wanna so make sure color the reflections kind of fall along the same line and that there's nothing on- Yeah. A little waviness or jaggedness, but I mean you'll catch one and you go, Ooh I have to look a little closer at that one. And that's what does it for me. And I'll get in it. And if the body's straight, the paint's gonna be there. I almost guarantee you, shiny, flashy, blingy paint is not gonna cover up poor body work. Okay. So when we're looking at it, I mean, we're looking at the reflection of how straight it is and it draws you in. And this really is a pretty nice example of what we're kind of looking for. That body is just straight and the paint is really flat So beautiful. If there was anything underneath that paint that wasn't real good, it's gonna show, isn't it? And this example, black, you can't hide black. So black cars, straight black cars, there was some work done to it. I'm not saying that because my fiber's black. I just like black and we're not gonna look close at that car. There are- That's beautiful. There's no substitute for clean straight black body. I think it's like the epitome of what most guys are after. So you just know if someone's taking the time and the effort to put into a build like this. If it's just nice and crispy. I think that's good advice. So the next time you go to a car show, it's a good idea, if you really wanna look at the quality of the build, sight down the body, check it for straightness, look at the gaps. And it's a sure indication of the craftsmanship of a great build and check it out. There's some great rides out there.
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