Judged classes - been there, done that, can't be bothered any more with spending weeks cleaning the car & obsessing over it. I did enjoy judging too, it's exacting work though & not at all easy.
I won quite a few trophies with a previous Mustang, appreciated of course. But my favourite by far was a very unexpected win of 'Peoples' Choice' in a large mixed group of Show'n'Shine classic cars at a major NZ annual show. Totally unscientific such a class may be but actually the most appreciated & a hard one to get.
I have had similar experiences, I have 3 trophies for my Mustang and 2 were very unexpected.
1st trophy 2013 I won I had put no effort into presenting or cleaning the car as I was still working on it at 1am in the morning just trying to get it running to as to take it to the show, I did not even bother entering it for judging as in my opinion it was not presentable and filthy but the wife entered it and I won Top 5.
2nd trophy 2015 I won I had put a fair amount of effort in and then drove it 150 klms to the show through numerous showers and once we arrived at the show it was a beautiful day so I chamoised the outside of the car but did not get carried away and clean the underside, engine bay or wheel housings when I saw the number of cars and the quality of them all (Still thought I was in with a chance) but I managed to get top 15
3rd trophy 2015 I put a lot of effort in but when I arrived at the show there was over 900 Cars and a lot of extremely good quality cars and thought I had buckleys of being in with a chance but I brought home Best Modified 1966 to 1970
There are 2 other shows that I had entered into and put the hard yards in and in my opinion should have won trophies at but came home with nothing 1 in my opinion was a trophy for mates show and another I might have been racing the car at the time of judging otherwise my car had it all over the car that had taken the trophy.
I never built my car as a trophy hunter and I think that shows with me driving it as often as I do (2 to 3 times a week generally), distances I drive (3000 klms over 4 days), where I have driven it (dirt roads) and towing a caravan as well as racing it but I must admit once I won the first trophy I wanted to win more.
I still do show it but I don't put that much effort in just a general clean but most of the time my car is clean anyway as I do love it and don't like it with dirty wheel houses, engine bay or anywhere that is easily seen etc. yet the underside only gets touched if I am going to show it.