I think the whole problem lies in the fact that after the Valiant scored the highest ever score in the history of OE judging, that the following year, rules seemed to be bent or changed. Repro pieces were supposedly given full credit and weighed the same as an original piece. The way I understood it ( and I have never had a car judged out there ) was that you had two conditions you were being judged on..... originality and appearance / condition. It used to be if you had a repro piece on your car, you got 0 points for originality and if the part was super nice you got the max points, say 10. The last couple of years, it seemed to be that if you had a repro piece, you got full points for it and it was mainly judged on condition vs. originality of the part. If that was the case, you might as well just get repro bias ply tires since they will be new and a heck of a lot cheaper than finding NOS ones and have less chance of them cracking from dry rot! Same goes for other parts.
Another good example of the inconsistencies in judging is the debacle of the color of the power steering fluid. That was a huge thing a few years ago but did anyone get deducted points for it this year or last year for having different fluid than what was proved to be right with the Valiant? (Chrysler's own words, black and white if I remember right)
So, yes, you are right that they all scored the coveted OE Gold standard award, however, because the judging format was changed along the way. Kinda like two people going to a show. One person drives their car there and takes extreme measures to prevent chips, wear, etc while the other person shrink wraps their car inside a state of the art enclosed trailer so as not to even get any dust on the car till it is time for judging. One person will obviously have an easier time achieving the goal than the other even though, they most likely would end up with the same award.
