Plymouth troubleshooting contest

bluefury · Mar 20, 2011

Does anyone remember the Plymouth troubleshooting contest's held in the 60's and 70's...?

Aspiring high school students were selected to compete against time to locate and correct several problems on identically rigged cars.
Sponsered by Plymouth who would supply new cars for the event.

It started as local, then regional and ended up on a national level with a champion team of young mechanics who would win all kinds of cool things and a scholarship to Motech.

The cars each were rigged for a about a dozen simple malfunctions under the hood which would be diagnoised and corrected by the student. Shortest time wins. Some things were simple, (tape around the battery post and the cable reconnected), and others required more complex diagnosis.

I'm not sure when the program was ended...

Heres a couple of shots of one of the trophys awarded.... you 62 guy's will enjoy this...

sicksatellite · Mar 20, 2011

cool trophies. Napa still has something like this....the NAPA Rally 5000. A bunch of teams from around the country having to fix rigged cars on a set course. My friends Beau and Dan were the "Pacific Rims" team last year.
Check it out
www.rallyenapa5000.ca

1962savoy · Mar 21, 2011

OHHHH???? I like that trophy... Wanna sell it??

SandDiesel · Mar 21, 2011

You know, in an age where shop classes are being cut from budgets or just aren't as cool to push as a four year college these trophies are great memories, even though before my time. Cars are so computer driven now a lot of high school shop classes can't afford to keep up. The high school auto shop car wars that ran on tv for a bit was good nationwide recognition though.

383man · Mar 21, 2011

I still have my trophy around. I was in it in 1974 for the state of Md. Came in third place in State and we were the first to get our car started. Ron

YY1 · Mar 21, 2011

I won third place in our region in 1985/86.

We worked on K cars (oh, boy)!

I'm currently trying to find the patches they gave out for the different categories, so I can put them on my shop shirt. I still have the plaque somewhere, too.

That guy on the second trophy is "Tech". He was the narator on the factory service films.

bluefury · Mar 21, 2011

That guy on the second trophy is "Tech". He was the narator on the factory service films.

Your right about that.... He also appeared in most of the service reference manuals.
I think these trophys were awarded to dealership mechanics...(technicians to you younger folks), on a local or regional level as acheivement awards.

69hemibeep · Mar 21, 2011

I was part of the winning team for the state of Wyo in 72

Darter6 · Mar 21, 2011

Pa. for me Still have the trophy on the shelf, 1975

HT413 · Sep 10, 2016

SkillsUSA is has a ton of competitions for high school kids these days. Everything from diesel mechanics to decorative welding to robotics and culinary arts. Trophies aren't as cool, but the winners go to national events and win real tools / equipment for their trade.

http://www.skillsusa.org

bee71 · Sep 10, 2016

I remember just drooling when they would come to our HS and seeing a line of Road Runners parked there.

ckessel · Sep 10, 2016

I did it in 1976. Placed 7th in so cal, still have my trophy.

Rick Carson · Sep 10, 2016

All I won in high school was a pancake eating contest,22 8" pancakes in 10 minutes! and i wonder why I'm diabetic know! lol

mentor70 · Sep 10, 2016

i was involved in it in 1988 as a senior in HS, so it made it to the late 80s anyway. did OK...lol been a pro for almost 30 yrs now...lol...oooh boy...

HEMI-ITIS · Sep 10, 2016

My Partner Steve Bruno & I made it to the regionals and his mom got sick and we had to drop ouy.I still have the Craftsman toolbox with tools from 1974.

YY1 · Sep 12, 2016

Here's my '86 trophy.

Couldn't resist the '68 trophy (year I was born) I saw on ebay. Guess I stole it at $30, as the next one up went for over $100.

I guess I'm glad there's no K car on the "86 one.

furyus63 · Sep 12, 2016

Here's mine from '66.

JamesL · Jul 19, 2018

bluefury said:
Does anyone remember the Plymouth troubleshooting contest's held in the 60's and 70's...?

Aspiring high school students were selected to compete against time to locate and correct several problems on identically rigged cars.
Sponsered by Plymouth who would supply new cars for the event.

It started as local, then regional and ended up on a national level with a champion team of young mechanics who would win all kinds of cool things and a scholarship to Motech.

The cars each were rigged for a about a dozen simple malfunctions under the hood which would be diagnoised and corrected by the student. Shortest time wins. Some things were simple, (tape around the battery post and the cable reconnected), and others required more complex diagnosis.

I'm not sure when the program was ended...

Heres a couple of shots of one of the trophys awarded.... you 62 guy's will enjoy this...

View attachment 33046 View attachment 33047 View attachment 33048

A classmate of mine and I represented the "Bossier Parish Skills Center" and won 1st Place State of Louisiana in 1978, in Lafayette, LA. We went on to represent the State of Louisiana, at the National Finals, in Kansas City, MO, and won 6th Place.
It's sad, that in today's schools, sports and their support programs get all the attention when budgets are made. Alternative subjects, (band/arts, Tech School courses (Automotive, small engines, welding, etc) are either underfunded or not even available.
Not everyone is cut out for college, and after graduation, life has a way of getting getting between you and alternative paths for further education.
Congrats to those of us who were blessed with the opportunity to participate in such an awesome program.
Blessings to All

HT413 · Jul 20, 2018

I’m teaching at a local votech and we have a contest called “SkillsUSA”. It’s a national organization that allows votech kids to compete nationally in their trades... everything from auto lbody to structural welding and everything in between.

All is not lost!

—————- Edit:

Is there an echo in here? Just look up above and I said the same thing 2 years ago. Doh!

Dodge 50 pu · Aug 29, 2018

bluefury said:
Does anyone remember the Plymouth troubleshooting contest's held in the 60's and 70's...?

Aspiring high school students were selected to compete against time to locate and correct several problems on identically rigged cars.
Sponsered by Plymouth who would supply new cars for the event.

It started as local, then regional and ended up on a national level with a champion team of young mechanics who would win all kinds of cool things and a scholarship to Motech.

The cars each were rigged for a about a dozen simple malfunctions under the hood which would be diagnoised and corrected by the student. Shortest time wins. Some things were simple, (tape around the battery post and the cable reconnected), and others required more complex diagnosis.

I'm not sure when the program was ended...

Heres a couple of shots of one of the trophys awarded.... you 62 guy's will enjoy this...

View attachment 33046 View attachment 33047 View attachment 33048

Yes, I remember them, I should have gone to Las Vegas troubleshooting contest (I think the year was 1967) but OUR tech school instructor an old Mopar man had been a Mopar tech for years before teaching. Decided to take the two older guys (over 21) so he could feel free to party hardy in Vegas. He was a Tool ! I remember my buddy and me troubleshooting a new Mopar loaner from a local dealership. It had been set up to not run and we were timed to she how fast we could get it running there were 10 to 20 glitches we found to get in running sweet. Well the fella's judging it told us it we had not found all the glitches. Well we couldn't find anything else wrong. So I revved the Sh t out as it was idling great. Well nothing showed. I looked at the judges with a are you sure we missed something look. They said yes. So I just held the throttle open on the carb and let her scream. After about 30 seconds I saw the Instructor and the other end of the shop jumping up and down & turning a bit red trying to get our attention to Stop. Turns out the judges had placed clear tape around a terminal to eliminate a electrical path, but had not been very careful in doing so, as the terminal still allowed current to flow.

Plymouth troubleshooting contest

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Semi Pro Bowler

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

STREETER on LI

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

New Member

Semi Pro Bowler

New Member

Similar threads