Joined the NW Chapter of the NCRS a few months ago. A good friend with a C2 is a member and I met a few more of the members at the XXX Corvette Show in Issaquah. WA. a couple weeks ago. Great guys and their level of detail is certainly more than a few steps higher than mine, but I thought it would be the perfect way to learn.
Most of them are C1/C2 guys that don't pay much attention to C3's unless they're HP aluminum L88's and L89's, but I also thought it was funny when I heard that many of the C1 guys have the same feeling about the C2 cars.
So yesterday I attended my first chapter meet in Wilsonville, OR. (Portland). We planned to judge a recently restored '54 and an original "55 that had been restored a few years ago but never judged. I truly expected to be asked to stand at least 10 ft. away, keep my hands in my pockets and observe while the rest of the group judged the cars. Not so, I was paired up with an experienced member, handed a clipboard, score sheets and a '53 to '55 Judging Manual. This was going to be interesting !!
Of the judging categories, my partner (female with 100's of judging points) and I were assigned Exterior on both cars. Probably not as technical as some of the mechanical areas and probably a good place for a noob to start.
I had never had much interest in C1 cars and probably never closer than three feet to anything '53 to '55, but there I was all close and personal with these two cars. Very interesting and learned a ton. Many subtle differences between a '54 and '55. The '54 had the triple carb'd Blue Flame six, the '55 had a V-8 with a 4bbl. The '54 was red with a beautiful beige cloth top and the "55 was yellow with a greenish tint and had a green cloth top. That color combination was a first in "55 and I had never seen it before. The owner was a huge Oregon Duck fan so I'm sure that color combination was a huge influence on his buying decision.
It took us about two hours to judge each of the cars and we gave both guys good feedback on taking their cars to the next level at an NCRS Regional event. We had to look pretty hard to find anything wrong with the recently restored '54, but found a few small items. The '55 was an older restoration and we found a few more things that needed attention.
After the exterior judging, I was handed another clip board and asked to help perform the operational checks. I asked to witness the checks on the first car then proceeded with the second. This is where a lot of guys can get it all pretty and shiny, but everything working on a 60 year old plastic car can be a bit challenging. Both cars had some electrical issues that were probably attributed to bad grounds, but a couple of things were certainly attributed to the Corvette gremlins (crap, that worked perfect yesterday !!).
In the end the '54 took a Top Flight award an the '55 took a Second Flight, both in my opinion deservedly so. Now it's back to the workshop and wallet for both guys so they can take the next step to a Regional event. Regionals are a much larger events with judging at the next level of knowledge and experience.
After the awards were presented, discussion turned to our next meeting in late Oct. and the possible judging of a restored '67 and certain guy's '73 Survivor. A few guys have seen my car and "pretty, shiny and trailer queen" are not part of the conversation. My car is a bit crusty, has its fair share of bumps and bruises, but IMHO pretty darn original. Now I'll find out if its as original as I think and if I can turn that and darn near perfect operations into a Third Flight. That's my goal and I'll kiss the ground if I can get it, even at the Chapter level !!
|UPDATED|10/21/2015 11:58:05 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|
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John Sigmund
valkman57@sbcglobal.net
NCRS Member 61302
NW NCRS Chapter Member
Duct tape is the new Black !!
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