Features

America’s Next Top Model?

With all due respect to the fashion models who strut their stuff each week on reality television, we’ve seen some pretty stylish models ourselves lately. Nearly 200 kids took part in the first-ever Hagerty Plus Model Building Contest, which is now nearing the online voting stage of competition.

Car clubs across the country hosted the contest at a local level—finding kids to participate—and Hagerty provided the model kits. The winning models from each club will be displayed online at www.hagerty.com, with the five finalists decided by popular vote. Voting begins May 31.

The winning builders and a legal guardian will be awarded a trip to Monterey, Calif., in August for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where final judging will take place. In addition, their sponsoring clubs will each receive $500.

The Model Building Contest was designed as a way for car clubs to give young people a thrilling, hands-on introduction to the collector car hobby, and it seems to have accomplished that objective.

Ron Glowen, activities coordinator for the Greater Omaha (Neb.) Chapter of the WPC Club, said the contest was fun for not only the kids who took part, but for the adult club members who offered their expertise.

"Most of our kids found it a little more challenging than they first anticipated," Ron said. "For most, this was the first time they had ever attempted to build a model. For many of their adult counterparts, it had been a long time since they worked on one."

Ron said the contest not only piqued the kids’ interest in collector cars, but it also gave each of them a sense of accomplishment.

"You could see that they were so proud… and rightly so," he said.

Ron said that one story, in particular, exemplifies how the contest grew into more than a just simple exercise in model building. Greater Omaha club member Matt Honz owns a 1956 Chevrolet that he put on the back burner when he and his wife started a family. But after Matt’s son Christopher participated in the model building contest, that Chevy suddenly became a topic of conversation.

According to Ron, "One night while Matt and Christopher were working on Christopher’s model, Christopher started to ask questions about the ’56. And then he asked when they were going to start to work on it. I think this was the first time Christopher showed any interest in the car. Matt was beaming when he told me the story. I told Matt that this was exactly what Hagerty had in mind with the model contest, to get the kids interested.

"The Hagerty Plus Model Building Contest was a great experience. I’m looking forward to next year."

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