So, I get it.  Absolutely superb quality versus nice quality.

If I take something to get professionally done, be it chrome, paint, upholstery, whatever, shouldn't it always come back Trailer Queen Quality?  If I choose to use or abuse it, it would then become Driver Quality as the chips, nicks, and tears developed.

Or is Trailer Queen Quality something beyond the quality you would expect from a car off the showroom floor?  Something OVER-restored if you will?  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy looking at Trailer Queens as well as Beauty Queens, but in judging where originality is coveted, shouldn't points be knocked off for over-restoration? i.e. Chrome or paint that shines too deeply, a quality one could have never expected when buying the car new?

Opinions?

Jim

I should add: My two cars are in Thank God They Are Running Today condition.

 "Trailer Queen" quality can be confused with "Restored" in a lot of cases. "Restored" means it should be exactly as it was when it left the factory...flaws and all. "Trailer Queen", while normally really sweet cars, are in most cases "over-restored", and in Judging circles should receive deductions for flawless paint, chrome, upholstery, etc.
Trailer Queens are just that...cars that only get driven on-off the trailer....sometimes pushed, because they may not even run. I never drive the '74, but it is far from a  trailer queen. If it goes anywhere, I'm drivin it.

"Show Quality" is a totally different plateau where everything is absolutely perfect. Paint is flawless, deep, and shiny. Engines you can eat off of. Chrome that is better than the mirrors in your home. All the bolt markings match...silly crap like that makes a show quality car.

"Show Quality" chrome is smooth, where the factory normally uses a "flash" chrome process that leave the surfaces a little orange peely. 
Show Quality paint is gunna cost far more than driver paint, obviously. More prep labor, better quality paints....and painters. Macco gives you driver quality paint jobs.
Restored paint is an art....it has to look like factory applied paint....flaws and all, including runs, splotches, and spots that have no paint coverage at all.

While trailer queens may have their place, my attitude is I want my car as good as I can reasonably get it and not be afraid to drive it.  The fun of owning the car is driving it...not looking at it sitting in the garage.

I am definitely a driver quality gal.  While I will be the first to drool & yearn over a flawless paint job with a mirror finish, I am also the kind of person that would get over dramatic if I put a stone chip in it, after spending all that money.....so I probably would not drive it & after all.........isn't that the point?  Mike Yager said it when we went there a couple of years ago - these cars were meant to be driven.

 Barb..ya don't need a beefier engine if you can hold the one ya got to 45mph.....it would be the same as having a super nice, show quality car, and not drivin it....... a waste....