All too true......
I recall going to the "Carnival of Cars" show at the old Packard Proving Grounds in Utica, MI, with a friend in CSX 3352 a few years back. They had the "drive through" style judging inspection. When we got out, and my friend opened the hood so they could inspect the engine, I overheard one clueless judge comment to another - "...now, why on EARTH would someone stuff a big V8 into an MG like that?"
It worked to my advantage another year, however, when my Pantera won its class there, beating out the one-off Pantera 7X prototype (which was in very nice shape, with extremely low miles on it). I'm pretty sure they did not recognize it was an original factory prototype styling car, and just dismissed it as another customized DeTomaso.
Jeff