derBayerische July/August 2023 - 7

3 9 T H A N N U A L D E U T S C H E M A R Q U E C O N C O U R S
car as well? " And on and on. These
events bring out the keepers-of-theflame
for a given model, who see
themselves as tuners, preservationists,
and/or future designers.
This year there were multiple
cars in each class, so the judges had
their work cut out for them, viewing
each vehicle on the field to determine
the winners. The class winners
had prepped their cars deeply,
earning the points necessary to win
that trophy or ribbons that were well
deserved.
Getting a car ready for the
Concours starts many months and
hours before the call of " Rags
Down! " on Sunday morning. For
example, Jared Reed drove his Dakar
Yellow (267) 1995 M3 down from
Pennsylvania early to make sure he
did not hit rain, have enough time to
enjoy Washington, D.C. as a tourist
with his family, and be able to redetail
the car to remove the bug
splats that seem to know how to die
gloriously on the surface of a clean
car. Jared has made the trip down to
this event multiple times in both dry
weather and rain, and even made it
through the 270/495 fender bender
avenues without a dent. Congrats,
■ The show field.
as many a commuter has not
succeeded at this.
Lined up among all the cars
were a few examples of the changing
landscape in transportation. Way
back in the early 2000's, BMW introduced
a performance 4X4 called a
" Sport Activity Vehicle " . Mark Elie
brought out one from his safe, dry,
covered garage space: an X5 4.6is in
Estoril Blue Metallic. This showed
people a model that gets hardly
noticed at Cars & Coffee events,
despite being a SUV on steroids that
handles like it has tennis shoes on.
There were multiple examples of
M3s to coo over and even Z8s to view
and dream of. Doug Dolan brought
out his excellent example. Looking at
all the features and uniqueness of Z8
cars makes them appear to be timeless,
as the styling is clean and anything
with a top-down lights up
everyone with a heartbeat.
Ryan Groll brought out his
recently restored 1987 325iS, and
spent the day answering lots of
questions on his project. See the
March-April 2023 issue of dB here.
So, what does it take to enter?
The desire to present your car at
its best.
Exterior: Wash, clay bar, buff and
wax. Remove all dirt, dust and
stains around the trim, seams, and
rubber moldings. Treat all the rubber
bits and buff off excess. Clean
and reclean the windows. Remove
wheels and clean, buff and wax.
Touch up any nicks and scrapes.
Clean the wheel wells while the tires
are off.
Interior: Vacuuming, vacuuming,
and more vacuuming. Clean and
treat dash and all vinyl, rubber and
leather surfaces everywhere. Get
out your Q-tip tools and clean the
vents, ashtrays, cubbies, etc.
Re-clean the glass. Clean and treat
the door panels. Brush up the carpet
and vacuum some more. Clean
the seat tracks, and all the door sills.
DON'T FORGET TO CLEAN THE
GLOVE BOX!
Engine: Wash, wash and rewash.
Dry and remove all the plastic parts,
wash them in a sink, dry and treat.
Let them sit up for 24 hrs, wipe off
excess with a microfiber towel and
reinstall while not getting any
fingerprints on them. Clean every
corner and under every part. Polish
all the aluminum parts. Replace all
the drive belts and tensioners and
clean underneath.
Trunk: Vacuuming, vacuuming,
and more vacuuming (see the
reoccurring effort here?), remove the
spare tire, tool kit, jack, etc and
clean the items and their storage
locations, then reinstall.
With time/energy left, detail all the
painted areas with quick shine/
speed shine to remove any missed
dirt. Touch up all the rubber strips
with protectorate and let sit
overnight. Clean the pedals!
When you arrive, wipe down
the entire car, wheels, interior and
those pedals you touched all the
way to the show field.
Now at the shout of " Rags
Down " enjoy your efforts, answer
the questions from the adoring
crowds, and don't forget to bring a
chair as you will need to rest!
Oh, you can bring refreshments for
the judges in hopes that a quick
cheap bribe might help get those
" extra " points.
July I August
7
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derBayerische July/August 2023

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