VTCI 50th ANNIVERSARY CONVENTION INFORMATION

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Thunderbird Midwest Regional Convention Announcment

June 7 - 10, 2018

Your Very First VTCI Convention?

Too often we tend to forget that a new club member may have never attended a VTCI convention, regional or an inter-national. We forget what us older members went through our first time many years ago. So I thought I would make an attempt to clarify what you need to do, approximately when you should do it, and most importantly what steps are re-quired to complete it. Possibly you may still be bewildered and have many questions which we can answer for you.

1) We’ll assume you have decided to attend a convention…..the very first step is to make your hotel reservations. The conventions usually follow the same pattern….arrive on Thursday, a tour is usually offered for Friday, Saturday is car judging operations starting at 9 AM followed by the awards ceremony and banquet that evening. Sunday is generally when most people will make the drive home.

2) Based on the convention write-ups and the convention registration form, decide a) what class you’ll enter your car, b) what events you’ve decided to sign-up for and c) indicate how many will be attending the banquet and whether or not you wish to purchase any merchandise listed on the registration form. Once you have totaled up the final cost, mail it in as shown at the bottom of the form. You’ll get a confirmation letter that your registration is complete.

Now you have the 2 major steps completed. Simple, right? If you are a member of a local Thunderbird Club, there’ll be members who have attended these events before that can answer some of your questions. Or you can contact some members from the hosting club….like whoever writes the Scoop articles or the registration people listed at the bottom of the form.

Below is a breakdown of the car classes you can select from for the registration form.

DISPLAY DIVISION:

For all Thunderbird owners who prefer not to have their cars judged. Cars in this division may be in the process of being restored or the restoration may have been completed. Awards are given based on voting by VTCI members who are participants at the conven-tion. First, second, and third place awards are given for cars displayed, based on ballot results.

DRIVER DIVISION:

Driver division is for those who drive their cars routinely and don’t want to detail the entire car for entry in competition at a conven-tion. Only operations, interior and exterior are judged.

TOURING DIVISION:

For those who drive their cars regularly, and wish to participate in a more thorough judging procedure than the driver division. Spe-cific improvements for the purpose of improving safety, drivability, comfort and performance are authorized without penalty. The main requirement is that the car should not be modified in such a manner that it cannot be returned to its original configuration with only minor effort. Major changes to the power train such as installing a non-original engine or removing doors handles, for example, are not allowed without modification point loss.

PRIMARY DIVISION:

Primary division is for 1955-1979 Thunderbirds that will be subjected to the most critical and detailed concours judging to determine how closely they match the configuration, quality and cleanliness of a car rolling off the assembly line, as described in the appropriate original factory specifications published by VTCI.

SENIOR DIVISION:

Senior division Thunderbirds are those that have previously received a first place award at a VTCI International Convention. They are judged the same as cars in primary division.

At each convention, the Thunderbirds in the senior division and the primary division earning the highest number of points of those trailered to the convention will receive a Best of Show (Trailered) award and the Thunderbird in these two divisions receiving the highest number of points among those cars driven to the convention will receive a Best of Show (Driven) award.

MODIFIED DIVISION:

Modified division is for Thunderbirds that are significantly modified as to engine, drivetrain, body, interior, etc. No modification point deductions are taken.

LATE MODEL DIVISION:

Late model division is for 1980-1997 Thunderbirds. Since VTCI has not issued official factory specifications for these years, judging is based primarily on condition and cleanliness. 

Thunderbird Midwest Regional Convention Announcment