It's been a while since I've attended an OCA meet. I got the registration form for Springfield today. I see they're still doing the same old BS about having spirit items in the trunk, along with 3 pieces of factory literature. I know of no other car club that does that nonsense. None of that carme in the trunk of the car from the factory. The registration form says the car must have those items. It used to be you got docked points for not having them. What is the policy now?

 

Welcome to the Outsiders Club.

 

Spirit items don't do much for me either but I guess for some they do.

 

Here is how the literature and spirit items work at an OCA Nationals:
The items do not need to be in the trunk, just visible to the judges. I place mine in the passenger floor area. Literature covers anything factory or dealer created. All cars would have come with an owners manual, warranty card etc. Brochures, service manuals, and fabric/color books are other examples. Street/Stock, Modified, and Race Car classes do not have this requirement, nor does the Driver class.

Spirit item promote OCA, the chapters OR Oldsmobile in general. In your registration packet you'll receive a dash plaque and an event magazine, that's 2 items. Bring a copy of JWO and you're covered.
Other examples include OCA window decals, any chapter items, an award, shirts, jackets, hats, etc. It also includes anything that says Oldsmobile on it. A hat with a rocket logo works, a 442 logo on a t-shirt or a towel with an Olds script are other examples. I remind judges at the Friday morning meeting to look around, perhaps the owner may even be wearing something.

Brian McArthur
OCA Chief Judge

 

Thanks! Does an original window sticker count?

 

Wow, seriously? This is your big complaint? Here's a thought: don't have your car judged and go to Nationals for the friends you meet there and the shared automotive experience.

 

Yeah, having a bad morning. That's what I intend to to. Sorry for the rant.

 

Jon,

Yes, an original window sticker does count as factory literature.

Brian

 

The only REQUIRED item should be a fire extinguisher. Beyond that, bonus points for your "spirit".
My fast friends think I'm an idiot for having Oldsmobile power. The OCA thinks I'm an idiot for not restoring the car to factory. I guess I'm just an idiot. Ignorance truly is bliss!

 

I'd remove the spirit items and OCA swag requirement entirely if it were up to me. I get that the OCA requirement likely generates a tiny amount of revenue through OCA merch, but it encourages owners to put "trinkets" around a show car which often looks silly.

 

I was looking for a thumbs up for your post, however I tend to agree with your last sentence lol.

 

I agree with both. Silly requirement.

 

x 10 for me. Absolute nonsense and a good part of the reason I don't put cars in shows. I'm with Joe -- go to the show for the experience, not to acquire more trinkets.

 

Wow. You must have a really really really good life if this all you have left to complain about. But I couldn't agree more. The OCA lost me when the started requiring that my car's tires have air in them. The nerve!

 

We Olds guys are the only ones that truly understand us. Been into the muscle scene since 1980. Decades of hearing how Olds engines are boat anchors. Listening to the "Nice car but you need to throw a chevy engine in there" nonsense for 40 years.

I'd rather have a Cutlass over a Chevelle any day of the week. And our engines are great as well. Putting a Chevy engine into a natural born Olds engines place. Because its thought to be superior, is nails on the chalkboard for me.

Regarding shows, never my thing even when my rides were nice. Don't care for someone to pass judgment on my car. I'm into it, that's what matters to me. Even in my beater, I don't like to line up at lights to talk. Positive or negative. I own it because I love it. Not for attention.

But yes cool to be around other respectful Olds guys.

 

Reminds me of the Movie Office Space…

 

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

I've been trying for years to understand the spirit item deduction. At one time they were bonus points, not deductions. The deductions came about after I left the OCA Board in 2001 and I can't find ANYONE who knows when, why or how the spirit item deduction penalty came to be.

If they do know, they aren't saying.

Granted, I had a fractious relationship with the then-head judge and his National Judging Committee. One, because they were pretty much invisible- even the OCA officers didn't know who was on it, and 2) far as I was concerned they didn't pull their weight when it came to actually handling judging-related things. There was no good reason a National Meet host chapter should have had to recruit judges for their meet and make sure all the cars got judged. The NJC should have handled all that. But that's how it was in the 90s or at least until that head judge got himself elected OCA president. Having been heavily involved in the 1995 and 1996 National Meets, I can vouch that's how judging worked at that time.

Brian, do you know when the spirit items deduction was implemented and why?

 

I'm leaving the OCA after 41 years over a trivial BS reason but it's my reason. I contacted the long term member person about my 40 year pin twice last year. The first contact there was zero response, the second time I was told it would go out in the August mailing. Almost a year later still no pin, so when they sent me my renewal notice thru the OCA website I sent them a message that I was thinking about not renewing because of the pin situation. A week goes by and no response from them. I then send an email to the President explaining my thoughts and he did respond saying he was sorry and would contact the person responsible and have it sent. A week later still nothing. I know it's not a big deal about a pin but I am a principled kinda guy. If they will treat a 41 year member who has been to over 25 OCA Nationals, supported the OCA in many ways & had cars that won Best of Class and Senior Preservation like this,well.............. I wouldn't take anything for the good times and the friends made in my 41 years but if they don't give a rats *** neither do I.

 

I totally understand. To get respect, you gotta be able to give respect. And they gave you none. I don't blame you one bit. Used to belong many moons ago, but since decided it just wasn't for me. Scheduling for meets didn't line up many times, but that wasn't the only thing. I think it's been 13 or so years since I went to the last one. Not hatin', just don't put a priority on it. OCA had a bad stretch there that just didn't make me want to be a part of it.

 

Listening to the "Nice car but you need to throw a chevy engine in there" nonsense for 40 years.

Same here, except now it’s LS engines.

I have heard that crap almost as long as I have been driving, and seen countless brand “X” swaps for just as long. I shouldn’t have to see or read about it here, or any other dedicated Oldsmobile event.

 

I like the H/OCA's style, no judging, no awards. We just party.

 

Spring must be around the corner..

 

It is....in fact. Spraying pre-emergent(s).

 

You should get major bonus points if you have them...seems back a$$wards.

 

In a zero-sum game, giving points to somebody else is the same as subtracting them from you; there's still a difference. A good example of this is hiring based on demographics.

 

What Brian said. it doesn't take that much to meet these requirements. Personally I've seen some really cool stuff because of this rule, learned a lot about supporting literature, it even caused me to buy some things for my car that before I had no idea were available until I saw stuff in someone elses car showed at the Nationals
Fred

 

It was a tongue-in-cheek response. It wasn't meant to be a comparative analysis. From my own perspective none-the-less, I feel the same regarding spirit items - they're BS.

 

Sounds like fun. I have a Hurst shifter. Does that count?

 

Join the club and you can show up in a 2023 Dodge Charger if you want, you just have to park next to the show field, not in it. That's what I did this past summer as I did not want to drive to Gettysburg in mine, and I needed to get audio equipment repaired, so I hauled it, too.

We had one guy buy a vendor spot and put a non H/O there. That was valid.

Show field is limited to the 10 years of H/O. The '70 proposal car was gratefully accepted this year as well.

 

It's a damn shame. What a stupid as* rule. Who made that rule?? How freaking LAME is that? Let someone be proud of their car? Nope you don't have the required blah blah. We need you to buy our shirts etc. That is soo lame. Glad that I am not part of it. The **** side of old cars sucks.
Fools acting like they know when they were never one part of street racing etc. Oh but wait... That number six spark plug isn't factory... Kiss my 🫢

Some of us actually grew up on the streets in an Oldsmobile. We waxed you. Give no respect to the strength of an Oldsmobile?? You lose.

Owning a high horsepower car that does nothing but sit in a garage?? So LAME. Why?

 

Different strokes for different folks. Some people like 1:1 display models. Others like to drive the wheels off them.

If you don't care for the club's rules, don't join/participate. Or form your own club. It's not mandatory to be a part of the OCA. At least they're upfront about the show display rules instead of surprising you after you get there. There's a LOT of good, knowledgeable people that belong as members. And a likely many good, knowledgeable people that don't. There are some members that have never, ever attended an OCA meet. It really only matters what you want out of being in a club experience. It's not everyone's cup of tea. But again, I'm not hatin'. They can do whatever they like. And so can I. IMO, It was more fun to be part of the old OPC while that lasted.

Now, the only club I belong to is the H/OCA. They focus on participation without judging. Nobody goes home crying and bitching if they don't win a trophy. You want to vie for a trophy? Join the OCA or some other club with judging. We drove the truck up to Pennsylvania for a meet once (I believe it was 2001?), because neither H/O was ready to make a trip. It wasn't just about the cars. The experience, fun, and "brother/sisterhood," if you will, was worth the adventure like it always was. Plus, the real bonus of not bringing an H/O- while others were waxing and cleaning their H/Os, we were kicking back with a beer and watching them.

 

I usually only "enter" my car in the show for good parking. I'm gone before the trophies get handed out. 🥸

 

I am a firm believer in having "Functional" Spirit Items when I go to the Nats: Oldsmobile Beer Koozie, Oldsmobile deck of cards, and of course the most important one, the red & white "Courtesy of Your Oldsmobile Dealer" Coleman water thermos. That last one comes to each meet packed with ice water for the show. I think that if this stuff has to be at the shows, it might as well double as something you can use.

 

Note what Brian said "Street/Stock, Modified, and Race Car classes do not have this requirement, nor does the Driver class." I think a lot of people need to understand there are these NON-STOCK Classes and you should be registering your Oldses as such i fit makes sense. They put their car in stock classes and then wonder why they get so many deductions. Read the OCA judging rules, they have a lot of flexibility for all Oldes. Yeah even a lowrider or donk car or daily driver could participate at a Nationals.

Fred

 

This.

I had my '69 in a stock class last year. Some of the deductions made sense and were expected. Some weren't. With that being said though-regardless of deductions it was a serious dose of humble pie when rolling in to finish getting the car set up on judging day and realizing I was far out classed..haha.

But, not only do I have a trophy to display that validated the focus I kept to make sure it stayed as close to factory as possible, I have a sheet showing what areas needed improvement if I wanted to continue the quest back to factory.

 

They should just present participant trophies to everyone so nobody gets hurt feelings.

 

Mostly. Do all that stuff on the list and unless the same people judge the car, you'll get a new and different list next time.

I have learned that the majority of the time, YOU know your car far better than the judges do. This is not to take anything away from the judges by no means. There's some sharp and eagle-eyed folks that can swarm on a car, pick it apart in minutes and have a reasonable consensus of what's correct and what's not-so-correct. The judges confer with each other if there's a conflict in the judging, and most of the time they come up with a good decision. This doesn't mean it's the end all be all. As we have seen simply concerning positive battery cable routing on a 69 H/O, that BOTH routings could be considered correct as we've got reasonable reasons to believe that. What the original intentions for that cable routing were, who knows? But there's going to be judges that believe it should be one way and not the other. So you have to arm yourself with information that can reasonably prove your position should you feel the need to "fight for points" as it were. I'm not that **** about it so to me, it's like, whatever.

Judges do not know everything about your car. And it can get confusing if say, mid-year they decided to change up something on the cars. Judges may or may not be aware. But what I've also seen is that a lot of times, it's cleanliness issues knocking off points. If I fixed up my 85 442 the exact way I got it from the factory and entered it into the stock class, I'd probably get deductions for missing and mal-adjusted stuff. There's no way to "prove" my car didn't come with a nut on the cruise bracket to the T-stat housing stud, or that the orange carb return spring was missing. Or that I didn't receive the black, rubberized washer for under the chrome air cleaner lid's wing nut. And recently I found the lower bolt and spacer missing for the PS bracket to the block. Appears it's never been there but I can't prove it just didn't fall out somewhere. Oh, and I'm missing the M8 nut for the back of the through-bolt adjuster on the alternator. Didn't know it was supposed to be there until looking at a parts book for it. Lessee, and the transmission bullet retainer and bolt for the speedo gear- missing from the factory. The hood adjuster bold locks weren't set on the front of the hood and didn't realize that until the adjusters vibrated down and the corners of the hood went flopping around. QC took the day off when my car was built, it seems.

 

^^^^^^^^ all reinforces the title of the thread.
The judging should be a standard and non biased if you're going to go that far with it.

 

I find the OCA judges are overly courteous. I will say however, that more and more with these car shows, I'm finding 2 things:

1. The best part is being with the people and getting to see folks you haven't seen in a while, kicking back and telling stories.
2. Driving these cars and driving back (if you are not trailering).

In short, I am past the trophy stage in my life. If I get an award, fine, but if I don't, whatever. Now, NONE of my cars are Best of Class and I aim to keep 'em that way. I drive each and every one of them, that's fine for me.