EASTON, MD – After completing the semi-restoration of my 2011 Mustang V6 by early April of 2023, I planned to take my car to its first show later that month. It was an annual event held by a high school at a location in Edgewater, Maryland. This looked promising with 40-plus trophies, and they were using four judges to evaluate the entrants with a points system. Some people fare better with judging by points, but there are no guarantees regardless of what system is used. The show flyer also noted that their rain date was Sunday, April 23. 

As we approached the weekend, though, the threat of thunderstorms on that upcoming Saturday afternoon was more evident. On Friday, I was preparing to deep clean my Mustang when a timely email came saying that the show was moved to their rain date on Sunday, so I held off with the big show clean-up for 24 hours until Saturday. Good call! But what was so cool about this was that April 23 marked just three months since I had bought this Mustang!

The big show clean-up, though, was all for naught. Late Saturday night we had a family medical issue arise that required two hours of phone calls to on-call doctors and a search for an urgent care facility for early Sunday morning. We were bleary-eyed and driving to a doctor's office by 7:30 a.m. I walked past my Mustang that was still rain-soaked as we drove off. Two hours later, including a stop at a pharmacy, we were home with the family situation under better control. Whew!

My next best show opportunity occurred over the first weekend in May. For Sunday, May 7, 2023, I had a choice between a Ford dealer show or a classic car club event. The dealer show had a class covering the 2005 to 2023 Mustangs and was judged by popular vote. This was one class with just three awards for the last 19 years of Mustangs! The classic club event, however, was for all makes, models and years, but it was a judged show using independent judges, and so I chose that one. This was the Chesapeake Classic Car Club's 39th Annual Spring Car Show, held at VFW Post 5118 in Easton, Maryland. I have been a member of the CCCC for many years as they are a well-run club. I was at this event last year and enjoyed it. This location is about 64 miles away, for an hour-and-a-quarter drive to Maryland's Eastern Shore.  

On that Saturday, I completed my big show clean-up - Take Two and prepared my Mustang for the show on Sunday. Finally, after four hours, my car was ready -- but when I rechecked the Sunday forecast, they were calling for rain after 5 p.m. As long as the show was held and the judging was finished by then, however, I did not mind if I drove home in the rain. My '11 is also a daily driver, and it is driven in all types of weather. 

Sunday started as overcast, but the temps climbed slowly into the low '70's by early afternoon, and it was perfect car show weather. Once again, I drove east over our beautiful Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the major connector between the two halves of my state of Maryland, and headed for Easton. The early morning traffic was light and the time passed quickly. Soon I was pulling onto the VFW's lot where I was directed to where two of my sidekicks were parked -- Leo with his '08 Mustang GT convertible and John with his '66 V8 Mustang coupe. I then registered my Mustang and was assigned entry number 54.

I was setting up by 8:45 a.m. when the club announced that the judges were starting. This was handled by members of an independent judging company called Shamrock that I have seen at shows on our Eastern Shore. There were four cars ahead of mine when our judge started, and I scrambled to reclean several areas. My judge spent maybe 5 to 10 minutes with my car, looked at my engine, interior and exterior, and went on to the next one. I casually mentioned that this was my Mustang's first show. We talked for a minute or two about its mileage and how long I had owned it, and that was the extent of his review. These judges seemed to know what to cover in a short timeframe. By 9:40 a.m., judging for the three of us was completed, and we had the next four hours to look at the other cars and trucks and enjoy the weather. 

Not long after this, the club began announcing entry numbers for door prizes. The club president called my number, to which he added, "Car 54, where are you?!" (A reference to an early '60's television comedy.) I picked out several shop towels and walked back to my car. Later during the morning, I looked at the other entries, and I must admit there were a high number of excellent cars and trucks from all eras, so much so that I reported to Leo and John that there were many great-looking entries. I then thought, "We are all going to get creamed today!" I truly doubted that any one of us would win. Part of our concern, too, was that we thought the club was offering 75 to 100 trophies, as they had in the past, although the show flyer did not say that. Later, the president said there were 45 unique replica spark plug trophies available. After that we were told that there were 114 entries. But as my friends said, "Oh, well, it was a nice day for a long ride!"  

Finally, by 2:15 p.m., we were called for trophy time. The winners were a good mix of all years and makes, with newer cars and trucks winning in addition to the older ones from the 1950's and '60's. And then, when the president was about a third of the way through, once again I heard, "And the next winner is, Car 54, where are you?!" for the second time! I could not believe my ears! I accepted the award, and then they called Leo, and we passed one another walking from the trophy table. And about 10 awards later, they called John! What were the realistic chances? My Mustang was barely finished, I was still seeing small areas needing a few more tweaks, and my car had no prior show history. This day could have completely bombed. It would have been unfortunate, but not a surprise. 

The show ended and I headed for home. I did not mind the long ride, or the heavy traffic approaching the Bay Bridge, or any of the backups. On this day everything went right! I stopped to refuel near BWI Airport about 10 miles from home at close to 5 p.m., and almost on cue the sprinkles came. By dinner it was raining, and my full-time daily driver/part-time car show 2011 Mustang V6 was parked in the driveway once again -- and ready for trips to do errands during the next week!

FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY RICK MITCHELL