The Garden State Region Mustang Club (GSRMC) held its “Mustangs & Merlot” car show at the Brook Hollow Winery in Columbia NJ on Sunday Oct. 15, 2023. The GSRMC President is also a member of the NJ Region of the AACA, and he requested a team of AACA volunteers with some judging experience to judge the Mustangs. Doing it this way would maintain impartiality, as none of the 6 judges were displaying cars. I agreed to be one of the 6, and we were split into 3 teams of 2.

Cars were divided into classes: first, either “stock” or “modified”, then by generation. (The “modified” distinction was made by GSRMC officers, and not the judges. Any cars with 3 or more mods were placed in the modified class.) My co-judge and I judged 5 stock classes: 1964-1966 cars, 1967-1970 cars, Fox-body cars, 1994-2004 cars, and 2015-2023 cars. While that sounds like a large number, there were 6 cars in the ’64-’66 class, only 2 in the ’67-’70 class, only ONE Fox-body car, and only 2 cars in the 1994-2004 class. The big numbers were in the 2015-and-up class which had 11 cars. (Again, these numbers reflect cars in the STOCK class only.) I estimated that there were about 50 cars on the show field.

As a former Mustang owner and GSRMC member, I was genuinely surprised at the very low turnout for all pre-2005 cars. Mike D., GSRMC President whom I’ve known for many years, told me a while back that club membership has taken a decided turn toward late-model vehicles. At least this speaks well of the continued enthusiasm for the Mustang among newer and presumably younger owners.

Cars were judged on workmanship and appearance (condition and cleanliness) only, so none of us were expected to be Mustang experts. Still, especially among the newer cars, judging became very tight when points were being subtracted for demerits as small as dirty floor mats, paint nicks, and less-than-stellar engine compartments. Our task was made easier because we only had to select one winner per class. We were not looking for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place winners.

I took my photos before judging started, knowing that cars would leave as soon as winners were announced. In many cases, as you can see, hoods and trunks were open as required, so I had to accept that in my pictures. After the previous day’s rain, everyone was thrilled that it was dry, but a brisk breeze and a peek-a-boo sun meant jackets stayed on. I greatly enjoyed being immersed ever so briefly among Mustangs again, and I saw one or two that would look really nice in my garage!

 

 

 

 

ALL of the cars were in great shape; judging was challenging and came down to examining the tiniest details.

 

All photographs copyright © 2023 Richard A. Reina. Photos may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.