Local Z Car Club (and Individual) Weekend Victory!!

[Inzane]

To my surprise I experienced my first real public car show victory on the weekend.



As member and Vice President of the Edmonton Z Car Club (that`s Nissan/Datsun Z`s, not Camaros and such) I entered my car along with 11 other club members in a club booth display in the recent Driven to Perform indoor car show here in Edmonton, AB. Driven to Perform was sponsored by Toyo Tires (hence the title) and was touring around western Canada making stops in Vancouver, Calgary and most recently Edmonton. This is a largely import dominated scene and the crowd was a mix of local car clubs, vendors and commercial displays, as well as individuals.



This was our club`s first venture into a public show like this, and we were doing this mainly to increase our club`s exposure and hopefully expand our membership base. Any thoughts of our individual cars and judging was secondary. We did a history or evolution of the Z as the theme for our display and had representations of almost every model lined up in chronological order, starting with a `69 Roadster, a couple 240Zs, a couple 280ZXs, a couple Z31s, three Z32s (including a RHD Japan import), and a couple 350Zs. The only examples we were missing were a 260Z and a 280Z (hopefully we`ll get them there next year).



Anyway, despite some serious competition from several rival clubs that were returnees to this type of event, our Z Club came away victorious and cleaned up. Our club took the best club award: "Best Team Represent" it was called, which included a huge trophy and a $250 cash price. In addition to that 4 of our 12 cars on display came away with individual wins.



I won the trophy for "Best Nissan Z". (of the 200 cars in the show, the Z field was made up of at least 14 cars, most of which were in our display). The other fellow club member wins were for "Best Nissan Z - Honorable Mention" (went to a 72 240Z), "Best Old School" (went to a 73 240Z) and "Best Old School - Honorable Mention" (went to a 69 Datsun 2000 Roadster).



Pictures of my car:

















Pictures of the Trophies:

I`m third from the left. The center tallest trophy was our club award.





One more with my car and the Best Club and Best Z trophies.





All in all a successful event. Our booth got tonnes of attention and lots of compliments.



Oh yeah, I can`t forget the important stuff (for the Autopians in us). The products I used for the preparation of this show included:



NXT Tech Wash car soap

Pakshak Microfibres and WW drying towels

Spot work only with DACP, FPII and/or IP (didn`t have time to do the entire car unfortunately)

AIO + Souveran (first time using both)

303 on the dash, etc.

Zaino Z-10 Leather in a Bottle on the leather seats and armrest

Zaino Z-18 Perfect Tire Gloss on the tires

AIO + PB`s Wheel Sealant on the wheels

PB`s Trim Restorer on the trim



Jason

[imported_truzoom]

Man you are quick! You just got that car in a few days ago right?



Looks good! Congrats on the win!

[Inzane]

Man you are quick! You just got that car in a few days ago right?

Uh, no... sorry. You must be confusing me with someone else. I`ve owned my Z for over 7 years.

Looks good! Congrats on the win!

Thanks!

[imported_truzoom]

Someone else got an imported 300ZX in a few days ago...I think?

[Inzane]

Someone else got an imported 300ZX in a few days ago...I think?

You must be thinking of member ScubaStevo in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I only know this now because I went searching for a post after you mentioned it. I know nothing other than what I saw in his post and I`ve never met him.



Jason

[sQuashed]

Wow !! What an awesome car !!! :xyxthumbs Now with that picture of you next to the car with the trophies, it looks like the paint is hazed some ???? It could be my monitor though.

[Inzane]

Wow !! What an awesome car !!! :xyxthumbs Now with that picture of you next to the car with the trophies, it looks like the paint is hazed some ???? It could be my monitor though.

Thanks!



The hazy appearance is mostly due to the poor quality of the picture (somewhat washed out, and not in total focus). However you are probably also seeing a noticeable contrast between old paint and *new* paint at that angle, unfortunately more obvious in this picture/lighting than most.



I just did the `99 JDM front end conversion on my car. The front fascia and the center panel between the headlights are newly painted. The hood, fenders (and well... the rest of the car) are old paint. I want to repaint my entire car someday but didn`t have the time or budget to do it this year.



My car managed to win on saturday despite some noticeable flaws such as: stone chips on the hood, fenders and windshield, keyying vandalism on a few panels (buffed out to some degree but still noticeable up close), fading trim in some areas, etc. However the car was judged on several categories: Interior, Exterior, and Engine Bay & Undercarriage. I must`ve had the right combination of elements to overcome my car`s shortcomings and still prevail. But this was also NOT Concours level judging.



My car is nowhere near the level of perfection of someone like Pat300ZX. Maybe someday, and Pat remains a source of inspiration for me for sure.