2011 ZCON Images Savannah, GA
 

After 4 Hour Drive
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The Westin Resort Hosted the Event/ across the river from downtown Savannah. Picture from the free ferry.
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There was a cruise to Old Fort Jackson
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After a quick history lesson they fired Canons for us!
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A few select cars were chosen for a photo shoot that never took place. It got cancelled!
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Staging for the show the day before!!
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The true ZCCA crowd right here!!
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This stock looking NISMO came in first over my car in Street Modified
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This is what made the car street modified along with Stillen Intakes.
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The owner of the winning NISMO happens to be the announcer, a judge, and a ZCCA executive.


Here is the slide that was missing a picture of my car next to my name during the winner announcements. He did state that he put all the slides together. Also notice the third place car is Z1408's car from this forum and they put the wrong name next to it!
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Another shot of the second place 370Z
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A lot of my pics were crap so I don't have pics of some of the guys on this forum that were there. The remaining images of select vehicles are hosted on Image Shack. Follow the link below.

ZCON 2011 Misc Images


Thanks for viewing! :tiphat:

nice pictures. i love your headlights. i needa black mine out soon :tup: and wow how do you drive around that low?

I have to say lol at a stock looking nismo winning.

I drive it every day! 33k on the odometer. :tup:

That is why I hate entering car shows, just chalk it up as lesson learned.....add more stickers on your Z, that way you will come in 1st place:ugh2:

yeah baby!
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everytime I see pics of your car it makes me want the shine auto kit... haha


I need to stop looking at it !

Kevin,
Thank you for finally exposing the JOKE called ZCON. Everytime I think about it I get annoyed. I have to call "Gordon Richards" to see how he likes my car and third place. When I went up to the stage I was told that someone crossed out my name and wrote Gordon Richards on my entrance sheet. It's sitting in my trunk with NO pen marks or cross outs of any kind.

Me and Dai should plan a Z car show for next year :tup:. I'm sure we can do a much better job than the guys at ZCON did. At least we know the judging would not be rigged.

Anyway, your car is still BAD ***. We should really head up to ZdayZ in May. I'm going to reserve those days next week.

See you at Z1 on Saturday.

BTW, I'm feeling a certain way about you not having any pics of my car on here....:shakes head:

James, tell me about it. I had one pic of your car and Al's car. I had another of C. Karl's car next to Al's car and they are just blurs. I must have deleted 8 pics. I was unable to tell the story as originally planned.

Sent from my EVO4g via Tapatalk App

What? A Nismo won at Zcon? :stirthepot:
Seriously, nice pics of your Z and Zcarman. Thx for sharing.

I have a Nismo and still think you should have won...
Give Nismos a bad name (and haters more ammo). :tup:

Here are some of my pics

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6028/...091f28b0_z.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6011/...46fa5d18_z.jpg

ZCON 2011 - a set on Flickr

!!NICE PICS!! Someone who did it properly!

Nice pictures.

HA! My truck made it in some pics...finally it gets some love!

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OMFG what a douche! I hope you emailed him a link to this post! :icon14:

yeah thats a shame, your car is alot nicer than that guys stock nismo..... what a jerk.

The Nismo is a 10K body kit. So I do see how this happen. :icon17: :stirthepot:

HA!
I even have a VIDEO of your truck leaving the convention center. Actually I have HD video of all vehicles leaving. Maybe I need to stitch them together...

Sweet! Thanks for sharing. Wish we could have gone? Haven't had a chance to talk to my friends that went yet. Your car is sick. Love the wheels/fitment/stance. Were there any modded roadsters there?

Hi Kevin...


I'm truly sorry I goofed your slide up...it was in no way intentional. Likely, it's the result of a 7am start to help the local team get all the cars in, judged, etc. and ended up with 45 minutes to put a PowerPoint together from 400 images of cars without names associated to them. BTW...my wife's car image didn't make it either as there wasn't a photo of her car in the photos I received from the photographer. That's the fun of the host club choosing to have both car show and banquet in the same day...it's very tight to be ready for the banquet presentation.


BTW, I did not judge your car nor any 370z for that matter as I had a 370z at the show. Another team did and a computer tallies the winners...I am handed them to cobble a presentation together and try and sift through photos to match them up. I have a room full of trophies from my '91's car show days...I could care less about winning another.


As for "stock-looking" versus yours...you're right in that yours is much more modified. Unfortunately, that means very little in a points-judging car show unless modifications are executed perfectly. There are three classes for modified in the ZCCA Judging Manual...Street, Nissan, and Ultra. All are explained here: http://www.zcca.org/downloads/ZCCA_JudgingManual_2009.pdf. Copies were available at the show and on the convention website prior to the event...sounds like you may not have read these(?). No matter what "number" of mods a car has, it's the fit, finish and quality that is judged. I've seen cars at this type of concourse-style judging with 100k+ dumped into them to lose to a lightly modded car because the car was dirty. I'm not saying that's where you lost points, but judged-competition is not a popularity-style judging (i.e. like People's Choice awards).

I'm not sure I like the personal photo animation...you should have nabbed my pic at the pool (much better material to work from!). :)

I'm happy to discuss and make amends however I can!!

Feel free to call me on my mobile or PM me here on the forum.

Thanks,

Chris
440-343-1664

I doubt that anything on your car could have been executed better than anything on Kevin's car. There is no flaw with the fit and finish on his.

By your judging standards a stock car off the showroom would almost always win due to the fit and finish being completely OEM.

Kinda ridiculous.

^ I agree.

The only flaw seems to be the show itself. Reguardless how the judging is done I'd pick Kevin's Z if it was painted pink after it drove threw a mud hole over a basically stock Nis-no-mod.

yeah especially considering they really jerked Kevin around from last years Zcon too.

Heck the Prez shouldnt even be entered in the car show man. that in itself is just stupid. And he may not have judged but wanna bet how many of the judges were ol buddy's n pal's.

If you work at the lottery office you can't play either. But the OP is basically saying any stock Z that was clean would of took it. OK! Stock Rocks.

I understand being upset about losing. I get the point about a car with more work put into it "deserving" more respect. However, with new cars...the more modifications you make, the harder it is to not accumulate nicks, scratches, etc. I lived this years ago with my '91 TT when it competed nationally.


BTW, all entrants choose during registration the class they want their car in...perhaps Kevin should have entered his Z into one for more highly modified cars? "Nissan-Modified" or "Ultra-Modified" are for more heavily modified cars just for this reason (to allow heavier-modified cars to run against other heavily-modified cars)...thus my point about getting familiar with the judging rules. This is the 24th year for this convention running...I volunteered back in '08 to keep them going, last thing I care about is another trophy.



It's disappointing how not a single positive comment has come up about the event in this thread...and how few people on this thread actually were in attendance to have first-hand experience of it.


When was the last time anyone got to meet Bob Sharp (or for that matter - how many 370z guys know who he is to start?)? We organized Nissan corporate to help sponsor our banquet dinners...also arranged Nissan "Employee A Program" discounting on ANY NISSAN for attendees... The Coastal Z Club planned this for the past year - track event, autocross, drive to the Fort, and also secured one heck of a nice resort (the Westin Savannah - normally $300/night...for a whopping $129-$139/night).

While I realize I errored here (and admitted it now a couple times), I'd appreciate it if my integrity wasn't attacked - especially publicly. I don't make a dime to help organize these events and they're a heck of a lot of work. Anyone in a Z club can run for a position...any takers? We can always use the help...Phoenix next year and two others after already on the horizon.

Im not upset about losing. :)

but your right. Its not fair to attack you.

But you have to consider the way the show was handled with Kevin last year. And then this year coincidentally things go awry as well. Ive read your rule book. He still shouldnt have lost.

Its nothing about deserving more respect. Dont think were dummies here. Ive seen way to many modified cars done horribly. Kevins is absolutely the opposite of that.

And one reason that good comments may not have been stated yet is that the primary reason for the event is the car show, and the vehicles here. If something goes wrong with that, it doesn't matter really how nice the hotel was, as there are nice hotels everywhere. There are other threads also regarding some of the events at zcon and I have also talked about some things in person with other people and admitted they looked really nice.

And honestly. now im eating a klondike bar so... ima go enjoy it.

Unfortunately, the car show presentation let Kevin down and I'd like to make amends.

In any case...no Klondike bar here, but I just flew home from a work trip and am hitting the sack.

It's a conflict of interest for anyone in charge of the event to be in the car show. Most of us 370Z guys are not familiar with the ZCON crowd. Regardless of what you say, everyone knows that you won 1st place because you're the president of ZCGA.

They had a picture of my car in 3rd with someone else's name. When I tried to correct it with the help of Dustin from Z1 I was informed to wait until he was done wth everyone else. i waited 20 minutes to speak to your guy to be received with attitude. The customer service and execution of ZCON was sub-par.

Anyone with integrity would have said "you know what? there is no way to justify a stock nismo with a shift knob beating a car like Kevin's. He's car was as clean as the nismo and modded very tastefully.

Also, there were many guys with 370Z at ZCON. After the car show, I have a better understanding of why they did not participate in your events. ZCON continues to ostracize the 370Z community. That's why there's no positive comment about your event. If you look at the comment for ZdayZ and ZNationals you will see something completely. Perhaps ZCON can take some notes.

After waiting a year to receive a trophy from you guys, I expected this year to be different. One thing I know for sure is that, it is the last time I will enter my car in anything ZCON related.

That show is not a welcoming event for the entire Z community.

My points are conflict of interest, Understanding why there would be a class named "Modified", and continuing errors with a show that cost me just short of $300 before resort stay fees. (And I opted out of a few events)

To me this is for serious folks who "Modify" their cars. My car was also by no means dirty. When the judge was giving me tips on cleaning out the window seal he had to find the dirt to make his point. It took a second to find it.

This should not be an attack on Chris Karl, but it seems like we keep ending up here! I decided to give ZCON another chance because overall I enjoyed last years events. This year was no where as good but I still enjoyed the people and cars!! My main reason for participating though is to show.

FYI: I've removed his picture and didn't really want to post it anyway.

I could be completely wrong with my position and I'm just upset that I refinished my wheels, replaced to rear Pzero Nero tires, bought the KW V3 coilovers, the Tanabe Chassis brace, bought an extra set of headlights and paid to have them modified (plus shipping costs), had my paint resprayed at the base of each fender, had clear bra re-applied on lower areas of the body kit, had the roof done in black, bought that dumb tow hook,bought a new exhaust, bought new front sway bar links, bought the carbon fiber hamburger emblems, installed everything by myself, and paid to re-register my car all in a three week period prior to the show. It's done and that's that.

There was no dirt on Kevin's car. Any real judge would have looked at that car and given it 1st place. Even before I entered the show I told Kevin he had 1st place in the bag. The nismo was stock. It should not have been in the Street Modified category.

Most of the people there liked Kevin's car so much that they voted him for people's choice, even though he did not sign up for that show.

I agree with you Kevin, what's done is done. However, I think ZCON has lost the 370Z crowd. We were not welcomed at that show.

I hear ya, Kevin... In winter of '01 I prepped my '91 for San Antonio...full body tear-down and paint with new urethane body kit elements...($7000 all-in)...base coat, pearl coat, metallic 2nd pearl and 3 layers of clear coat...then $2200 in wheels with Pirello P-Zero rubber...new KYB/Eibachs, Stillen Sways, Kenwood KVT DVD/TV system...on-board integrated PC with keyboard mounted in glove-box, track-pad mouse integrated into center console where ashtray was...80 hours of engine-bay detailing...new tail lights, new exhaust, new Katzkin leather upholstery to the tune of $900... After all this drove to San Antonio, TX and lost out on 1st place by one point to a local Z owner that had (kid-you-not) eight people detailing his car prior to judging and likely only drove 2-4 hours to get there...versus my 22 hours. After getting judging sheets, I had lost two points on rock-chips I picked up on the drive down.

Next round (for NH convention in '03), I did what I hated (and I mean hated) to do...I ended up trailering the car. Before leaving, though, I had the chips fixed, spent two full weeks of time detailing and prepping the car. I also had several Z club friends "judge" my car to ascertain any flaws that I could address (and did so best I could)...low and behold, it helped...my score improved and ended up winning the Gold Cup. BTW - cars need to be 10 years old to be eligible for the Gold awards.

As to conflict of interest, there's always an angle for folks to complain about conflicts...even though they aren't justified. Let's say I keep my cars out of the show...but the winner's in my local Z club...conflict? How about if I'm friends personally with any of the winners...conflict? How about if one of the other ZCCA committee cars happens to place...conflict? This conspiracy B.S. is just that...B.S. There isn't any "let's give the trophy to this guy because he's a buddy" crap going on. I ran the '08 convention and was VP during the event for the ZCCA. My '94 convertible took 3rd in class (with three cars in the category)... In '10 I again chaired a convention...my Nismo was there, along with the same '94 and my GC '91. The '91 *could* have won a Gold Cup "Choice" award...it didn't (I barely had time to spray-wash the car, let alone detail it). The '94 came in 2nd (improvements from '08...better detailing, wheels, interior work, undercarriage cleaning, etc...). My '09 Nismo didn't take a first-place.

The theory that I or anyone on the judging team is conspiring to pick winners isn't supported.

There are three classes of "Modified" to help folks rank themselves against cars with similiar levels of modification. Street-Modified (<15-mods)...to Ultra-Modified (25+ mods). My Nismo (though stock looking) has the following "mods"...clear bra, oil cooler, intake, nismo shifter, braided brake lines, Sony DVD/Bluetooth Head-Unit, aftermarket oil cap, Nismo shift knob, short-shifter kit, Nismo tire valve caps, license plate cover, stainless engine bolts... Although not highly visible or obvious...each of these counts as a "modification" per the rules and pushes the car out of Stock class. Within "Stock" class, you're permitted up to 3 mods to stay in the class...even though you're still docked the up to 3 mods allowed. This whole thread is leading me to believe that your Z would have been better suited for either Nissan or Ultra modified class. I'd be happy to help you determine proper class for your Z...it's a simple question of counting visible modifications. This is the same approach of judging that many concourse shows follow...the ZCCA rules actually morphed out of other long-standing concourse judging criteria (think of any big concourse event...i.e. Pebble Beach, Huntington Beach, Amelia or the more local Glenmoor Gathering).

Agree on the cost...a six-day event like the convention can be pricey in of itself...my hotel bill was over $1,000 for the week and my registration fees were around $550 (wife, kids and I in attendance and registered). That doesn't include travel to/from the event or all the food/beer/etc. I paid these costs out of my own pocket like other attendees.

So that's the secret?

brb, ordering aftermarket oil cap so i can win car shows

Yeah Kev you shooda won boss.....maybe you can take some pics of my car at Z Nationals in September bro;) Your Z is S!K

Sorry, those "mods" do not beat out the OP's car. They just don't but I base that on the pictures here on the forum only.

I guess we just have different interpretations on the word "Modified". To me all that you listed as mods I would have not listed on my mod sheet. I actually have all of that installed also but don't list them.
Bottom line you absolutely have to admit that the whole thing seemed funny. My wife, friends, alot of ZCON folks all came up to me and made a comment.

I'm not a trouble maker and do not think my car is the best thing out there. But if you add each thing up it makes you wonder. That's the point of my thread and that is all. I didn't even get that upset at the Banquet. This is not to bash or tell folks to not attend ZCON. You have politition style which is fine. But how can you not look at the step by step with the events and not see why it would raise questions???

Waterfest is the biggest VW/Audi car show in North America. Two days and over 21,000 spectators. Huge in comparison. I judged for 4 years straight and it was hard long days of work due to the car count! I focused on MK3 chassis since I had that vehicle at the time and new it so well. I refused to show my car those years because I felt that it wasn't apropriate. I also dealt with mods and cleaniness and presentaion seperately.
So my point was that it didn't feel like our cars had that style of judging when talking to the judges face to face.

Note to all! This thread is just my experience and I do not encourage folks to not attend ZCON based on my experience! There are some great people there and great Z stories.

Also: anybody who have pics please post since I am so bad at taking photos during these events. :tup:

thats the point man. Ive seen cars that are just modified, done horribly, done well etc. And then theres Kevin car. Everything blends well and works together and somehow, the guys magic with the fact that he keeps it clean. I mean clean clean cleannnnn.

There are no flaws in the fitment, style, etc on his car.

The Only One
 

This was the only 370 (Kevin's) that really caught my eye at the show. Nice clean job but I would have painted the strut tower brace gold to match wheels. I never even noticed the 1st place winner in the crowd. I feel Chris Karl could have exhibited his car but should not have entered judged competition due to his position w/ ZCCA as well as role in the ZCON meet. Just not a good idea all round. Let him lay everything out on track already since best time is not a popularity contest.
My 1st Z show & I thoroughly enjoyed it. Many of the 1st gens were amazing!

that photo (if you took it) is awesome. You should send that to kevin if you have the high res i'm sure he'd love it.

Yes, I took it. A little Photoshop editing. Fine machine he has created w/ serious low-key tasteful yet striking touches that stood out. I may not be a ZCCA seasoned judge but I know what my gut tells me after all is considered. Kevin won this.