Good morning Reid. I won the Palmetto award.
I'm not sure what that is, but it sounds very good - congratulations!
Here is what I see on this issue and would appreciate your thoughts. 1. The "accessory" portion of the Guidelines do not mention the floor mats (I have the AMCO mats in question).
The Guidelines could not possibly list all period-correct accessories. I'm not the best source for the current thinking of the concours regime, er, committee. In my experience, I would have considered the AMCO floor mats as acceptable accessories, and I don't know of any judges who would not, but perhaps the thinking on this has shifted.
2. As you say, they are "aftermarket" accessories and although "original", since they are aftermarket, they would not be Concour correct. Am I wrong with this thinking? The head judge of the 3 judge panel that judged my car this past weekend pointed out a car next to me, without the rubber matts...the drivers side had the "Austin Healey" imprint on the base where our heals would rest while driving.
The floor piece on the driver's side should indeed have the small rubber heel mat attached to the carpet, and yes, it has "Austin Healey" on it, but that in no way changes the fact that AMCO floor mats are period-correct aftermarket accessories. That said, you're talking about a generic concours and not one conducted by the Austin-Healey Concours Registry. In a generic concours such as Hilton Head you're going to get judges with widely varying levels of knowledge of the marque, and it's very unlikely any of them will come anywhere close to the knowledge of the judges approved by the Registry. When judges like that opine, they are telling you more about what's "correct" by them on that day in their event, than what is strictly original.
As a further follow up from your previous advice and "warning" to me (about a month ago), the Concours d'elegance judging was not a true Concours judging. The car that got "Best in Class" was a bj7, with chrome wheels, polished carbs, chrome rocker head (and many more Concours incorrect items...as I saw, about 12 additional infractions). Yes, that car, with all its bling, was very pretty. Sure, my car would improve with "beauty" if the wheels were chrome, along with the rocker head, etc....but I am a purist, attempting to abide by the Guidelines, which compels me to stick with battle grey painted wheels.
No surprise that the bling-laden BJ7 got Best in Class. Most concours events are beauty contests - after all, concours d'elegance means beauty contest - and bling will get you a lot of cred. The inspections conducted by the Austin-Healey Concours Registry could more accurately be labeled Concours d'Originality - they're all about originality and condition. In those inspections, over-restoration will often result in deductions, while in generic concours the engine dress-up stuff such as polished dash pots will get you approval.
My advice remains the same: Enjoy the generic concours events, but don't take them too seriously. They are a different type of event with a different purpose from the Registry inspections and their Gold, Silver, and Bronze ratings.
Hey there Guest!
Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
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Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
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