Concours -- common interior judging items

["Grimsrud, Knut S" <knut.s.grimsrud@xxxx>]

I had the pleasure of judging interiors at the Millenium Concours in St.
Louis and thought that for the benefit of those preparing their cars for
competition at the upcoming event hosted by Ken Koncelick, I would share
some of the most common point deductions I assessed the last time around.

The considerations I included in the judging included fit, finish,
preparation, and condition. The following comments reference the
corresponding item on the judging sheet.

1 - The door panels were generally in good condition although in a several
cars there was poor panel fit between the upper door panel and the arm rest.
Another problem area with the upper door panel is near the very top where it
comes up against the window glass. In this area, the panel sometimes leaves
a large gap visible from the outside.

2 - The door sill plates carried deductions for about half of the cars.
There were two most common issues: 1) Many cars had a wear mark on the door
sill plate about 2/3 of the way forward on the outer corner edge. I'm not
sure what this wear mark cames from but it was in the same place on all the
cars that had it. I suppose it could be possible that this mark comes from
the pull strap getting slammed in the door frequently or some similar event.
2) Many of the cars had door sill plates that were not cleaned properly and
were left with dirt and cleaning fluid residue. I checked the innermost
grove of the door sill plates by running my little finger down it and about
half the cars had dirst suspended in cleaning fluid gunk in this groove.

3 - I had very few if any deductions for the rear side panels.

4 - The headliners were generally in good shape, but a surprising number of
cars had headliner fabric with the grain running the wrong way.

5 - The sun visors were generally in very good shape and I had few
deductions for the visors themselves. However, the label that is supposed to
be affixed to the driver's visor was in poor shape (or missing) on about
half the cars. This label seems a bit troubleseome since it probably does
not adhere well to the fabric backing of the visor. Many of the labels were
wavy and irregular or had their corners bent up.

6 - Although the pull-straps were in good shape, the plastic bezels in the
door armrest sufferred from some common problems. On about half of the cars
I judged, the plastic bezel around the door release latch was popped up at
the front edge and riding over the top of the rear portion of the plastic
bezel around the air vent.

7 - I don't think I had any deductions for the rear-view mirror

8 - The seats were generally in good condition, although many showed wear
appropriate for the mileage. Only fractional points were deducted for mild
wear on the driver's seats, however, I did make a point to deduct according
to the wear to differentiate those with pristine seats.

9 - The rear cargo net carried deductions for about a quarter of the
vehicles due to the net being fastened in a way that distorted the regular
diamond shaped pattern it produces. The rear cargo net should produce an
undistorted and regular appearance without sagging.

10 - The console was generally not a problem area.

11 - The radio generally was not a problem area

12 - The dash and binnacle were generally good

13 - The A-pillar trim carried deduction on a small number of cars due
either to issues with good fit where it meets the dash or other minor
cosmetic blemishes (like excess windshield glue visible on A-pillar trim).

14 - There were no real surprises with the carpets. However, the carpet on
the rear parcel shelf had poor fit on every car judged (in fact, I don't
think I have ever seen a rear parcel shelf carped pad that actually seemed
to fit). Since all the cars had the exact same deduction for this poor fit
of the rear parcel shelf carpet, this did not result in any differentiation
between cars.

15 - The instrument cluster carried few surprises although a car or two had
170MPH speedos which carried full deduction.

16 - Pedals were generally good

17 - Steering wheels were generally good, although a couple cars exhibited
unusually large gaps between the center steering wheel pad and the rest of
the steering wheel.

18 - Interior lighting was generally not a problem area

19 - Seat belts were surprisingly a major source of deductions. The
deductions came from multiple different sources. A couple seat belts showed
minor fraying or other visible nicks/damage to their edges. Several cars
surprisingly had the seatbelt twisted up in the retraction mechanism causing
it to exhibit an awkward twist and not laying properly. Also, the seatbelt
label was missing on a couple cars and on others was wadded up in a way that
required it to be unforled to be inspected.

20 - The battery compartment on several cars did not appear to have received
attention and in some cases lacked detailing and proper cleaning. In a
couple cases the incorrect battery brand was used and in several cases the
battery hold-down strap was incorrectly tied.

21 - The relay compartment had few surprises, although many cars got
deductions for non-original equipment in the relay compartment

22 - I was surprised by the number of cars that I had to give deductions to
for having incorrect aftermarket floormats. In the area of dealer options,
it appears they can only count against you since they are not required and
if they are supplied but are incorrect or in poor shape they carry
deductions.

I hope this gives everyone that is preparing their car for the upcoming
concours competition some ideas for areas of the interior to focus on. Feel
free to drop me a line if you have questions or clarifications.

Good luck to the upcoming competitors!

Knut