My Buick judging days were spent in the engine compartment. There were five judges per car. One for the engine, one for the underside, one for the interior, one for the exterior. Then the team captain. I was team captain one year, but that wasn't fun. You had to deal with the owner. I liked engine compartment judging. I could take 50 points out of most engine compartments, minimum.
The two big points in judging Buicks with nailhead engines was engine color and the fuel pump. 90% of them were found to be incorrect. Apple green was the color for Buick nailheads before 1966. In that year, the 425 engines were the same red as the later 430 and 455's were. The 1963 Riviera engines were silver. I judged the big Buicks, the B & C bodies, so we won't include Riviera in this discussion. There is not correct Buick engine paint available in a spray bomb off the shelf at a parts store. Detroit Diesel paint is almost right, but it is too yellow. Paint from a parts store out of a Dupli-Color spray bomb is too blue. Incorrect engine paint was a mandatory deduction. Like the car didn't have an engine at all. 50 points off the top, with a mandatory deduction, took the car out of award contention. I was supposed to stop with no further judging if I found incorrect engine paint. If I continued, any points deductions would further erode the standing of the car. Many owners would want me to continue so they would know what else needed improvement.
The fuel pumps on nailhead engines were bolted together on all years. In 1959 when electric wipers were introduced on Buicks, they still used this antique fuel pump. They were problematic. Leaking and vapor lock were issues. A crimped-body pump was provided for replacement in the field when these issues became chronic. Remember, Buick couldn't give away their cars from 1958 and 1959, so further erosion of Buick's reputation was taken seriously. The BCA wanted mandatory deductions given for crimped-body fuel pumps. An owner came up with factory documentation that the crimped-body pumps were used in service, so we all breathed a sigh of relief and tossed the old bolted body pumps.
The original oil filters for Buick nailheads haven't been available for almost 50 years. Wix filters have a white body. If a car had a white filter on it, I wouldn't look too hard for the AC part. If it was a Fram or STP or some aftermarket filter that was obviously not right, they took the gig in a couple of points. Not having Gates belts and hoses were worth another 10 points off. Using a fan clutch eliminator was a mandatory deduction, like they had no engine at all. Having spark plug wires that were not "Packard" and correctly date coded brought deductions from one point to 10 points. Using the wrong brake booster was a mandatory deduction, no brake system at all. Same with not having the vacuum storage tank connected. If someone had used disc brakes on an old Buick that was supposed to have drums, mandatory deduction, 50 points.
Our old Buick got its Gold award at 398 out of 400 points and it's Senior award at 396 points, plus it's previous Gold award. I got gigged two points with discolored engine paint. Where the exhaust manifold meets the heads and at the top of the manifolds themselves, there was some heat discoloration, still is. That is unavoidable when you drive a car to a show. That is the warmest part of the exhaust. I was the hard-nosed engine judge, so my car got extra scrutiny, which is fair, I reckon. The hardest part to document on the Buick was the floor shift console. That was never a factory option on an Electra. A mandatory 50-point deduction. An old dog-eared advertisement from a local Buick dealership, showing the 1963 Buick show cars, showed a convertible and two-door hardtop Electra in front, plainly showing bucket seats and floor shift console. It showed Rivieras, Wildcats, and Electras, two door hardtops, convertibles and four door hardtops in Electra and Wildcat with bucket seats and console. The Riviera was new for 1963 and Wildcat was its own series, instead of being a trim option on Invicta. Electra got its own body design for 1963, rather than being a up-trimmed LeSabre. Buick dressed up Electra models with buckets and console and showed then with the other two series. The white 2-door is in west Phoenix and the silver 4-door hardtop is in Michigan. I have no idea what happened to the rest of them.
