Show car finish

[irvsmith]

This might be one of those questions which has no single answer but is there a general rule/guidelines as to what is a show car finish? When I started this hobby I had assumed it was basically no swirls or scratches - flawless in other words.

Now that I have been watching many videos (the wonderful full car detail videos from Mike Phillips) I see that one would not go after deep scratches, little paint on very old cars, or some other blemishes. Mike Phillips still refers to those cars as having a show car finish.

Of course it might be truly up to the judge of each show.

So to those who have entered car shows - what is the general criteria?

On vintage cars I would think it reduce the value with a full repaint - and is sort of cheating in my book.

[North26]

The real answer is you really can't get a show car out of a daily driver, well not in the true sense.

What the are probably referring to is the mirror finish, with no swirls, scratches, etc..

But a true show car has many additional,layers of clear coat added and then removed. So they will add 8 costs and remove 4.

[irvsmith]

Got it thanks!

[Ccrew]

car has many additional,layers of clear coat added and then removed. So they will add 8 costs and remove 4.

Not really. The show car could be a 40 year old survivor car with original paint.