What makes a car a junior, senior, or senior preservation? I want to be sure I am parked with the other 61-64 cars, I don't care what my car is or is not, I just want to be lined up with the others. I assume all cars are Junior till they win something? Filling out my entry form and not sure what to check, I got BOC with this car in 2021. I assume class 8b Junior?

 

If you never won best of class, you are a junior, if you won best of class you go into senior, if you have won that class then you move up to senior preservation.

 

Does a JR and a SR park in the same place?

 

No. When a car moves to senior classes it's scoring against a higher level of car. May not even be the same type of car.

Senior cars are separated from juniors so judges won't have to search all over a showfield to find them, and to avoid a car that has already won junior best of class getting mixed in with cars that are trying to win it.

You need to register in 8bS.

 

Eric,
Junior classes are where vehicles enter unless the car has advanced at a prior Nationals. A Senior car has either been awarded a Best of Class (Junior)
with more that 975 points or scored higher that 990 points. A Senior Preservation car has won a Best of Class in the Senior division.

Your car was awarded a Best of Class in 8b at the 2021 Nationals. As your score was over the 975 point minimum you are now in
the Senior Class - 8bS. The Junior, Senior and Senior Preservation cars in any given class will all be parked together.

Looking forward to seeing you at Dayton!
Brian McArthur
OCA Chief Judge

 

Thanks for clarification Brian. I was under impression they were still separated on the showfield.

 

Great info guys.
I appreciate as well.

 

Not sure I completely follow. Just to clarify, As an 8bs I would still be lined up with the cars in 8b? There are going to be several Jetfire cars show up this year and I only want to park with them. Even if that means leaving my car home and taking my wife's instead. There are for sure 5 Jetfire going to be there with a possibility of 5 more.

 

Brian, is that a change from prior years? When I judged Senior Preservation at Gettysburg in 2018, the SP cars were all parked together in one group and not with their original classes.

 

The seniors are parked right next to the juniors by class.

 

Eric,
As chief judge, one of my duties is to supply the show field numbers to the parking staff. When I lay out a class it's usually by year
and model, Junior, followed by Senior and then Senior Preservation. If we are getting that many Jetfires, I'll group them all together, as it
will make for a better display. The same team judges both Junior and Senior cars so it is not a problem.

In answer to Joe's question: I made the change to group all levels in a class together in 2021. Since Senior Preservation classes are judged by
different teams, they have to do a bit more walking around to cover the various assigned classes but it makes for a nicer looking show field.

Brian
OCA Chief Judge
Chiefjudge@oldsmobileclub.org

 

Last year in Murfreesboro, all the race cars, for example, (class 19) were together. The individual scoring sheets showed the judges which sub-class they were in.

 

Great! Thanks.

 

Thanks for the clarification, Brian. I'll just note that in 2018, the Senior Preservation class was huge. It took nearly the whole day to judge them when they were all parked together.

 

Brian,
I applaud that decision to have all of them grouped together! It does make for a better display and Sr. Preservation cars could be used as reference for the Jr and Sr cars. When I first went to OCA Nationals over 20 years ago, I could not figure out why all the stock 79 Hurst/Olds, etc, were not together.

When I had my 69 442 convertible at Gettysburg, I was Show Only (non-judged) and was also parked with the rest of the class. Even though mine was just a driver, it was nice to have mine with the rest of the same cars and owners and learned a lot from them . I assume that is still the case, but hopefully Brian can confirm if anybody is contemplating that as an option. However, the newer Drivers Class is a separate class and they are grouped all together.

Consider bringing out your Oldsmobile to an OCA Nationals, no matter what year, model or condition, they are many options to show or have it judged!

 

Be careful what you wish for. At Gettysburg in 2018 there were about half a dozen Sr. Preservation cars with O.A.I. hoods, and no two has the stripes painted the same. With all of them parked next to each other, this was painfully obvious.

 

You should've seen the 72 H/Os together last year at H/OCA nationals. Big variety on things that supposedly were the same. No judging at that meet.

 

Joe, I guess I was assuming Sr. Preservation cars are the best and most accurate examples, but that may not be the case with restored cars. I have judged in the 80's Cutlass class and the majority of those were still well maintained originals, so they were probably a better reference.

 

Yeah, don't confuse Senior Preservation with "preserved (unrestored) originals". While some of them may be low mileage originals, the "preservation" part of the class refers to preserving them in the condition they were in when they were awarded Best In Class. Most have been fully restored.