So I was on a facebook site for Traditional Radical Customs. Seems the administrator of the group has a quote that a radical custom has to have either a chop, channel or section. Another guy chimed in saying "according to NSRA...". The NSRA was formed in 1970 so does anyone have the show judging criteria or classifications before the NSRA stepped in? My car was judged in 1962 as first in Radical American Sports Car, but it doesn't have any of the 3 "radical" mods......just butt loads of body mods.
Me neither...seems they have a point system. 3 mods, MILD...all the way up to 10 or more mods, FULL custom. But not RADICAL unless it has a chop, channel, section.
The ISCA has a set of rules for judging and putting cars in classes. I don't have their criteria but I was always under the impression that a "conservative custom" has les than 3 body mods. A "mild custom" has a minimum of 3 body mods. A full custom has more than 3 body mods and has things like head and tail light changes (frenched swapped etc) and that a "Radical custom" would have mods such as chopped , channeled or sectioning. Your corvette in my eyes is what I would call a "full custom" . But that is merely my understanding of the Isca rules and may not be correct. I surely would not have any faith in information found anywhere on facebook. In my opinion that is the largest collection of idiots in one place .....
I could be wrong (often), but I seem to remember there once was a points system. 3 for this, 4 for that, 2 for another, etc. Which I thought fostered the "more is better" phase and some god-awful cars.
I agree there are a bunch of idiots out there. Since ISCA was formed in December of 1963. I'm wondering what the criteria was when mine was judged in 1962/early 1963.
That's another good point. I wonder if anyone knows about that point system or was it the simple 3 mods, 4 mods, 5 mods....
The point system was abandoned by ISCA a long time ago, and as far as I know NSRA has never had any classification system. Do you know if the show your car was in was actually an ISCA sanctioned show? many independent shows had their own classifications. Mick
I think different shows probably used their own rules back then and there isn’t really any standard criteria even now. And I still can’t believe that someone would bring up the Nsra because they don’t even have a judged show....
I doubt if was an ISCA sanctioned show since ISCA didn't exist at the time. BUT you might be on to something. Maybe each show had their own set of criteria. Mine was in Car Craft, Jan. 1963 at a show in Miami. There were several other shows in the magazine. I have more research to do.
NSRA has never judged cars. ISCA governs indoor points car shows. You can download their rule book, google them. They explain a number of simple changes can equal one modification point. This is from their rule book, ??? well that didn't work. Can't do a simple copy and paste and I'm too lazy to retype it. Mick is right that an independent promoter could do whatever he deemed appropriate for his show . When ISCA was formed I'm sure that they incorporated and standardized most of the rules and regulations that were in use at the time.
......I'm pretty sure that's right. They have Pro's Picks by the sponsoring entities like PPG , Vintage Air, Fat Man Fabrications, etc. or some of the magazines (those that might remain ) sometimes have an award for their picks, but as far as Mild Custom, Full Custom or Radical Custom, I don't think they ever had that categorized. Sounds like just another slap-nut on Facebook that doesn't have a clue.
The early 60's indoor shows were all over the board, with Taboo having its original show run in the early 60's, I have records kept that it was in a quite a few different classes between 1959-1962. It even changed classes at the same exact show from year to year. Mark, your pretty darn close with the current rules. Though nowadays its Mild, Full and Radical. They are pretty specific on what is considered a mod. The do lump nosing, decking, shaving the handles as 1 mod, not individual mods. Mild is 3-5(?) mods and Full is anything after that with no chop/channel/section. Radical is written odd enough that you could take a bone stock 49 Merc, take 1/2" out of the top, do nothing else and its now a radical custom. 1-3 mods will typically put a car in the "conservative hardtop/convertible" class.
They could just make it simple for Custom classifications. Make it 3 classes; #1 Tastefully Done, #2 Not Bad and #3 Seriously, Why Did you Mess up a Perfectly Nice Car!!
If Les Mullens is still with us,say hi for me, or are you same guy?; Barn Hunter Me with my own car and the Vet"Dominique"were in some of the same indoor car shows in early 60s,small world an fun? I had my own cars in shows {indoor shows} from 60 to 64,.Sometimes my Full Custom "J", an some times my 28 A hot rod,, The shows that Rudy promoted in south Fla. most had a set of rules{That I'm pretty sure Rudy made up and would add too about every 6 months/2 to 4 shows}. The way he did it was to have at lest two CC pick 2 members from each club to be judges{so 4 guys an Rudy was tie braker if needed,an there was a fan best pick also. Some of the others shows by other promoters were not as well done.,I didn't think. One of a big car magazins did put out a show points sheet in mid 60s,but I was not doing it by then an only herd about it.. Do wish I could find a copy that I had of one of Rudy's sheets,but have looked a number of times to no avail.
Wow, thanks for posting that. It looks like the rules are still current. Looks like mine would be in the full custom category as Mark said. Lots of information in that post.
It looks like your awards from the late 50's to early 60's prove that the individual show promoter decided on the categories.
Dana, I've been trying to track down Les Mullens for a while but to no avail...yet. That is freaking awesome that you remember the car from '62-'63. One of the pictures of Dominique was the one at the top of this thread...Car Craft Jan. 1963 and that magazine article about the show does have a picture of that Henry J you show. Do you have that copy of the magazine? How cool is that - it IS a small world.
That can still happen. This is straight from the 2020 ISCA rule book: "In cases where there are single entries in a class, the judge may place them in the next appropriate class."
Thanks . I got 2sec place in that show,big super $ Buick ,well done by a pro shop beat my home done out that show as I remember. But did win first full custom at many others. A lot of car show were done at Dinner Key {Coconut Grove/Miami Florida},some times as many as every 2 months,it was big an had been a Seaplane Hanger for PanAm. Dinner Key was about 3/4 of a mile from the house I grew up in. I did ever car show I could,just near by,and downtown shows were at Bayfront Park Aut. an also Miami Beach Con. had some along with Ft Lauderdale War Memorial. Run up state often too,one show up in Clearwater*{Tamp/St Pet Florida} put on each year by the "Blockbuster CC",was a great show, I did it 2 years. I run up to Savanna Ga one time at War Me. Aut.