Couple years back in our small town (5000 in the entire county) an RV resort park held it's biannual car show. They hired a new manager maybe a month prior to the 2nd show and no one told him to plan for the event. No signage or advertising, the day of the event the owner called up the new mngr and asked who the band or DJ was gonna be. Oops! Now I had already marked it in my calendar and was there early when the gate opened. I was the only one there, besides the owners Camaro which had a For Sale sign on it. I won by default. Got a tee shirt and a check for $80.
I know there's very little chance my 73 more-door Newport has of winning anything against a sea of musclecars, restored classics or exotic cars, I'm there to see the other cars and bump heads with like minded people. I can't afford a real musclecar so I took a cast off vehicle no one else wanted (quite literally, it was abandoned at a repair shop and destined for the crusher when I said "Wait, this has potential.") & made it my own.
It turns heads & gets double takes all the time. There's just enough custom touches to set it apart from the pack (2 tone paint, custom LED lighting, wire mesh grill, Magnum 500 rims, side pipes) and with the loopy cam, headers & glass packs, it sounds like a dedicated Road Runner or Charger. No hood scoop or fin out back, other than adding blackout paint below the belt line, the body is unmolested. I did add a subtle chin spoiler below the bumper (to help shovel air into the radiator) but it's barely noticeable. Kids in my neighborhood dig it and swear it's gotta be the fastest car in town. Seeing a hot rodded C-body is super rare so it gets a lot of attention, admiration and respect.
Just last week I was downtown picking up my check from the boss's HQ when a lady from the insurance agency next door (who also happens to be the treasurer for the city council, small town) came out, complimented my car and hands me a flier, asking me if I'd be interested in driving it in the Pioneer Days parade in a few weeks and entering the car show afterwards. She heard it coming before she saw it and when I pulled into the parking slot right in front of her door she had to come see. "I love your car! Please enter it in the car show!" People smile and give me thumbs up almost every time I take it out. And this is a conservative, red state, country town, where nearly half of my neighbors are retired.
Yeah, I won a small plastic trophy, 1st place, best of show. I was the only one there.