1,6 HF
30th July 2008, 09:19 PM
There were three Fulvias in the European Post War Sports Car class at the 2008 LA Concours the first weekend of June: Adan Figueroa's Coupe 1.2, my Coupe 1.6 HF, and Kent Wakeford's Sport 1600. As Kent is a judge for the event (in another class), he entered his car for display only. It’s a serious regional concours—strict points judging--and our three Fulvias aren’t really concours cars. Adan's is the cleanest inside and out, but the engine isn't detailed, and my HF does about 4000 miles a year, so it's always a challenge to keep it in 'show condition'. But Kent said ‘why not?’, so we figured why not show the Lancia flag? I thought at the least I could use my judging sheets as a future improvements checklist. To anyone who asked before the event, I said that if only 4 cars showed up in the class, I’d still only have a 20% chance of a 3rd place.
Aside from 4 cars for display only (including Kent's Fulvia Sport), there were 6 cars in our class, including a couple of very serious, fully restored cars: a Pegaso Z-102 (stunning restoration), and a beautiful Maserati Mistral Spider. Added to those were a boattail Alfa 1750 Spider, an embarrassing Alfa Duetto (it was claimed to be original, presumably including all the dents), Adan’s 1.2, and my HF. The Pegaso took 1st, the Mistral took 2nd, and the Alfa boattail took 3rd, which was a bit surprising, as the tail sat too high, and the wheels were from a later model. But no matter; nice day on a golf course, beautiful cars. And more Lancias than Alfas, for a refreshing change.
It always takes a while for the winners to be posted on the official web site. About three weeks after the event, I decided to browse and see. Six pages in, I come the European Postwar Sports Cars. No Pegaso—the Mistral is in 1st place. All very weird until I suddenly recall that the Pegaso was there last year. I checked the 2007 winners, and sure enough the Pegaso had won the class the year before. There’s not a serious concours on the planet that allows last year’s winners to be eligible for judging the following year—something that everybody who knows anything about concours knows. Including the owner of the Pegaso. He figured it was up to the organizers to catch him, and he must have figured he was OK when his entry was accepted with the ‘judging’ box checked. Obviously, after the fact someone figured it all out and DQ’d him. In the meantime, he’d deprived the Mistral owner of the honor of driving across the presentation stage as the class winner.
But the reason for the long-winded story is that it turns out my HF had originally been classified 4th. So my 3rd Place trophy arrived today. It's not nearly as impressive as DJ's 'bowling trophy' for Lucia. And it’s not a ‘20% scenario’ I could have imagined, but I’ll take it. Besides, I never did manage to get a copy of those judging sheets...
The images are in an album under '2008 events' (thanks, DJ).
Aside from 4 cars for display only (including Kent's Fulvia Sport), there were 6 cars in our class, including a couple of very serious, fully restored cars: a Pegaso Z-102 (stunning restoration), and a beautiful Maserati Mistral Spider. Added to those were a boattail Alfa 1750 Spider, an embarrassing Alfa Duetto (it was claimed to be original, presumably including all the dents), Adan’s 1.2, and my HF. The Pegaso took 1st, the Mistral took 2nd, and the Alfa boattail took 3rd, which was a bit surprising, as the tail sat too high, and the wheels were from a later model. But no matter; nice day on a golf course, beautiful cars. And more Lancias than Alfas, for a refreshing change.
It always takes a while for the winners to be posted on the official web site. About three weeks after the event, I decided to browse and see. Six pages in, I come the European Postwar Sports Cars. No Pegaso—the Mistral is in 1st place. All very weird until I suddenly recall that the Pegaso was there last year. I checked the 2007 winners, and sure enough the Pegaso had won the class the year before. There’s not a serious concours on the planet that allows last year’s winners to be eligible for judging the following year—something that everybody who knows anything about concours knows. Including the owner of the Pegaso. He figured it was up to the organizers to catch him, and he must have figured he was OK when his entry was accepted with the ‘judging’ box checked. Obviously, after the fact someone figured it all out and DQ’d him. In the meantime, he’d deprived the Mistral owner of the honor of driving across the presentation stage as the class winner.
But the reason for the long-winded story is that it turns out my HF had originally been classified 4th. So my 3rd Place trophy arrived today. It's not nearly as impressive as DJ's 'bowling trophy' for Lucia. And it’s not a ‘20% scenario’ I could have imagined, but I’ll take it. Besides, I never did manage to get a copy of those judging sheets...
The images are in an album under '2008 events' (thanks, DJ).