Gtdhw wrote:A 100% Scout built car is just as sad as a 100% Dad built car
+1
When I've been in charge or organizing the design judges, I've made a point of telling them to ignore whether they think the kid built it or whether the parent built it. First, the point of the derby is for kids and adults to build the car together, not for the kid to build the car alone. Second, they're likely wrong about the "parent built" cars.
Years ago, we had a family that entered cars that were gorgeous works of art. And a few people talked. It turned out that the dad was a woodworker, and his kids knew their way around a workshop (with appropriate supervision, of course). And the dad's car the following year was a thing of true beauty.
Another father-son team built beautiful matching cars that were very detailed. And a few people talked. It turned out that the kid had done most of the hands-on work on BOTH cars (with appropriate supervision, of course). I had an interesting conversation with the son about the shortcuts they had taken on the dad's car. At the time, we didn't have design awards for adults, so his dad's car wasn't competing for a design award, and they took shortcuts to make it easier. But he went all-out on his own car.