GG Columbus

[CHILI442]

Deleted

[Matt@BOS]

JEEZ, are we talking Ridler or SMOTY! I did not go, however I have seen the DSE car for one at their shop, very nice, gaps fine and best of all, this car gets driven hard! I always thought that the SMOTY was about driving the car, I don't believe that the car needs to be perfect, just my .02 cents.

I'm not sure I completely agree with you. Some of these cars are half a million dollar cars, and in my opinion should be perfect. Besides, how many of these cars get beaten on once the owner takes possession of them, let alone driven very much. I wouldn't care if the gaps on Bad Penny or Jackass were a little off, but SMOTY cars are in a different league, the show car league. I'm thrilled a DSE built car made it into the top five. I never really thought a form-follows-function car like that would be considered. Now I can't critique the gaps of all the cars, because I wasn't there, but if the fit was a little off on Mike Manning's Camaro it wouldn't bother me as much as the others because sheetmetal tends to settle and move a little when you really drive cars during the first several thousand miles.

Matt

[tazzz25906112]

just got back from GG. i was extreamly disappointed in all of the SMOY cars. i did not see one that had nice fender or door gaps. they put all that work and money into one and they can't get that right? the DSE/Manning car and the other gray '69 camaro were the worst two.

I don't know about the gaps as I didn't look at the DSE car that closely when at Gingerman,,,, but I'll tell you he is number one in my mind because he took that car out on the track and beat the hell out of it...

While in Delmar this past Spring I saw a beautiful car go around the course to qualify as a needed part of the competition.... The car was indeed very beautiful, however, I really wanted to toss my lunch when I saw him go out for a Sunday stroll around the track..... It made a mockery of the saying "they don't just get pushed in and out of a trailer" because I really think I could have dam near pushed the car faster than he drove it around the course....

A "ton of credit" has to go out to all the guys that build such beautiful machines/ works of art,,,,, it's just a shame the term rolling art is taken so lightly by some of them IMO....

[Matt@BOS]

Albert, you missed out on Costa Mesa where the same car only made one pass instead of three, but still managed to win the award the owner was after because no one else cared about competing against him. I wish Goodguys had an award based on speed first, looks second.

Matt

[tazzz25906112]

Wow that really is a shame....

[psy4s]

OMG!

DOOR GAPS! DOOR GAPS! You can walk up to a car that someone has spent hours and hours, with untold amounts of money and say,
"Look at the door gaps!"
I'm spending so much on my car in Time and money, and am so proud of what it is becoming that is you can’t see past a small flaw to see the total work that has gone into the car? Shame on you!!!
Do you have any idea how proud I am of my car? It is Primer still, not even paint yet, and I would not even want you to look at it. I made some subtle changes to things that I thought made the design better, and I can hear you right now, He changed the cut out for the heater box!!!! Why'd he do that, I'd never do that!"
Guess what, His car was there. He had the guts to put it up for you to look at because it is His car, His pride and joy.
Shame on you.
I used to do exactly what you are doing. I went to the historic car show in Greenwood a month ago and there was a guy that had a 67 327 auto Camaro that he had stuck a 68 console in, Drilled his flat hood to install SS Louvers, and drilled his fenders way back and way to high to install SS emblems. Instantly my mind went to "What was he thinking?" But you should have seen that old guy getting into "HIS" 1967 Camaro to drive it home. He loved that car, and yes it was not Correct, It was not Perfect, but it was his 1967 Camaro. Shame on anyone who tries to make him feel bad about that car! He put it right up there with all those other historic cars, and We may never know the story behind his odd Mods, but he was happy, and he is the only one that has to drive it. Trust me, He was so proud when he slid behind the wheel.
I always say I am never done with my car, and I wont be. I am still going to drive my car and show it off before it is perfect. Go ahead, Tell me about Door Gaps. Then jump in your Honda and go home.

[BADVELLE]

By the way, who won this year?

[CamaroAJ]

forget it.

[MuscleRodz]

By the way, who won this year?

SCAR, the orange camaro

[BA.]

psy4s - I think you might have jumped the shark man. CamaroAJ isn't trying to bash the owners, or the cars. It's already granted the cars are awesome - but to try to draw a parallel situation,....if someone spends $300,000 or $400,000 building a house, they don't want to find a drafty window or leaky plumbing either.

There were too many people around the cars for me to see the gaps in question but hell even young Jared from Troy Trepanier's shop showed us how to get good gaps with Lou Santiago on Musclecars TV show.

[BA.]

..on a lighter note, I could NOT take my eyes off of the Ring Brothers car and also that orange SCAR Camaro.

The Ring brothers car just had cool details for days,....and the massively orange paint on Scar just glowed and looked FANFREAKINTASTIC with the black rims with orange pinstripe on them. I didn't want to look away.

[BADVELLE]

After going back and reading some of the post, I have to say that I have changed my perspective. I do have to agree if I paid a crazy dollar figure to have a car done, it should be done right, this means with consistent gaps. At any rate, what happened with the 50's Vette that was posted as a video prior to the show? I guess it did not make the top contenders for the award?

[MuscleRodz]

After going back and reading some of the post, I have to say that I have changed my perspective. I do have to agree if I paid a crazy dollar figure to have a car done, it should be done right, this means with consistent gaps. At any rate, what happened with the 50's Vette that was posted as a video prior to the show? I guess it did not make the top contenders for the award?

It was here, and did not make the top 5 although it should have beat the mustang out.

[CamaroAJ]

After going back and reading some of the post, I have to say that I have changed my perspective. I do have to agree if I paid a crazy dollar figure to have a car done, it should be done right, this means with consistent gaps. At any rate, what happened with the 50's Vette that was posted as a video prior to the show? I guess it did not make the top contenders for the award?

this was my whole point. i'm sorry everyone one took it wrong and didn't notice them when they looked at the cars. there was alot of other parts of the cars to pull you away from that.

i was dead set on looking at all of the gaps so i could inturn get mine up to par. seeing what i saw i left me wondering why i should even care anymore since apperently no one cares.

[CamaroAJ]

It was here, and did not make the top 5 although it should have beat the mustang out.

they should have, they did alot of work to get that hood perfect. i will agree with one of the others though, the dark colors might have hurt it. i walked by it once before i realized what car it was.

[Bigblue73]

Thanks for the pictures! Are there any available that show the engines, interiors, rear shots of the cars.

[wmhjr]

this was my whole point. i'm sorry everyone one took it wrong and didn't notice them when they looked at the cars. there was alot of other parts of the cars to pull you away from that.

i was dead set on looking at all of the gaps so i could inturn get mine up to par. seeing what i saw i left me wondering why i should even care anymore since apperently no one cares.

I was there from Thursday through Sunday and was around them all quite a bit. I also talked to some of the guys and shops that are behind some of these cars. Some of them DID thrash their cars in preparation for the autox. Maybe you have a different experience, but I've found that actually driving them WILL often alter the gaps - especially on old iron. Mine started with (and still has relatively) good consistent gaps all the way around. However, I underestimated the effect of just installing the convertible top. Now, granted - I'm running a vert and didn't put a chassis under it, but the frame is reinforced. The gaps slightly change in my vert just by putting the top up and latching it. I was seriously impressed with the quality and effort of all the SMOY finalists. I thought the most "attainable" was the orange Mustang. Frankly, without any driving competition, this years selection was somewhat meaningless to me. I also truly appreciate the quality and effort of Scar (the winner) but don't get the point. Honestly, it's a cool idea, but the car implemented all the things I DON'T like about the 2010 Camaro. I still have to ask "why"?

[wmhjr]

Thanks for the pictures! Are there any available that show the engines, interiors, rear shots of the cars.

This one wasn't a SMOY candidate, but the engineering was way cool. Check out the brake system on the rear wheel - everything fabbed in house...

[wmhjr]

BTW, on another note...... A couple GG Columbus items.....

I was fortunate enough to be the guest of optima/FM3 at GoodGuys this past weekend. Jimi and Mike were great hosts and it sure made the weekend go even easier - ESPECIALLY considering the crappy bad weather on Wednesday. It was a "no drama" experience and we got the benefit of being in an area where there was a ton of traffic - plus being out of the horrible weather on Friday. The rain got real heavy and so did the wind. Then on Saturday and Sunday we moved things around a little, but still had a place to get some shade from time to time. All that plus being able to store some detailing and misc items inside the trailer, so the logistics were really easy. Took all of about 14 minutes on Thursday when we got there and then about 15 minutes on Sunday to pull out.

If any of you ever have the opportunity to work with these guys, take advantage of it. Here are a couple pics of the setup - it's a class operation.

Friday just before the rain....


Saturday it was way nicer...



BTW, nice meeting some of you that stopped over while I happened to be in the area. Had a great time, and we joined one other member here for dinner.

Also, it was interesting that not even the people in registration at the event were aware that only SMOY contentants could participate in the AutoX. I put my 2 cents in about this as well.

[CamaroAJ]

I was there from Thursday through Sunday and was around them all quite a bit. I also talked to some of the guys and shops that are behind some of these cars. Some of them DID thrash their cars in preparation for the autox. Maybe you have a different experience, but I've found that actually driving them WILL often alter the gaps - especially on old iron. Mine started with (and still has relatively) good consistent gaps all the way around. However, I underestimated the effect of just installing the convertible top. Now, granted - I'm running a vert and didn't put a chassis under it, but the frame is reinforced. The gaps slightly change in my vert just by putting the top up and latching it. I was seriously impressed with the quality and effort of all the SMOY finalists. I thought the most "attainable" was the orange Mustang. Frankly, without any driving competition, this years selection was somewhat meaningless to me. I also truly appreciate the quality and effort of Scar (the winner) but don't get the point. Honestly, it's a cool idea, but the car implemented all the things I DON'T like about the 2010 Camaro. I still have to ask "why"?

maybe they started out with nice body lines then. i will keep an eye on that becoming an issue on my car and maybe readjust them after a few thousand miles. thanks for pointing that out for me.