1966 Judging Question

[john binz]

I am considering purchasing a 1966 convertible 327/350. I have paid an ncrs judge to review the car which in 2003 received a 94% score at a regional meet in Arizona. The report came back stating the rear end was stamped: cr 2 26 64 which is a 1964. Both front park lamp panels have been replaced with 1963 or 1964 components. When I asked how could this car judge he stated the judges don't look under the car and the park lamps were ok! Help, this doesn't sound right. Would this car judge this high with these errors? Any advise, comments? I'm new to classic corvettes and just don't want to be mislead.
Thanks in advance for any help.

[Jim T.]

Re: 1966 Judging Question

If what you mentioned are the only changes on this 1966, its really insignificant, but if it bothers you keep looking for that perfect car. The 66 will be bought by someone. You can get a lot of enjoyment out of driving the 66 while you locate a rear end stamped for a 66.

[Rob A.]

Re: 1966 Judging Question

You would be surprised at how many incorrect, seemingly major components can be installed, yet the car still be judged as "Top Flight". As an exanple, a friend of mine received a top flight award on his '66 300HP roadster. The engine was an "HH" coded engine, with california emissions. It had the wrong exhaust manifolds, carb, none of the A.I.R. components and an undated alternator. The car was correct in so many other areas that in the end, the points added up to a top flight award.

[Robert C.]

Re: 1966 Judging Question

John, You really haven't looked at many cars , have you? There are multitudes of changes through the years for most 30 year old cars. The midyear lights are mostly all the same. The rear end code for a 64 rear end! The guy probably wanted a different gear ratio. That's what you should be looking at. Not the date.That is IF you're going to drive it. There are many undercar components that we can't see with the car on the ground so we don't judge. The car was only 1/2 point from a top flight a couple of years ago. That's great! If you fix a few items you should be there. If it isn't $60K go for it..........

[Jack H.]

Getting familiar with the system helps....

To better understand, consider there are 4500 total points allocated during Corvette judging at NCRS. It's not a zero-sum game as partial credit is allowed based on how a given part present on the car compares to a known factory original counterpart along five dimensions: Finish, Date, Installation, Configuration & Completeness.

Now, consider for a 1966 car, the rear differential is placed on a single scoring line with the yokes. That means the yokes and the differential share the available judging points allocated to that line item.

Next, the line item is assigned 5 points for originality and 5 points for condition. Altogether, that's 10 points out of 4500 possible, or 0.2%.... You start to see that this aspect of the car simply isn't 'vital' to the final scoring outcome of the car....

Suppose you allocate two of the five originality points to the yokes and three to the differential. Then, figure the differential is fully correct EXCEPT that it's dated wrong for that particular car since it came from a '64 donor vehicle. You'd wind up with a violation of the DATE dimension of originality on the differential with the other four dimensions being OK.

So, the deduction would be something like 1/5 x 3 = 0.6 judging points. And, this equates to an insignificant scoring loss [rounded up because we can't deduct fractional judging points, you have a 1/4500 = 0.02% loss]. But, there are MANY line items to judge eventually the point loss DOES add up. ESPECIALLY, if the loss is in a 'sacred' area (engine block, exterior paint, Etc.) where judging point allocation is greater.

Bottom line, when you work with the system you begin to understand it and realize that maybe you'd change this/that, but it IS essentially a fair standard. Back to the differential:

Eventhough it wasn't correct to this car, it WAS a real McCoy Corvette part, actually made by GM/Chevy. So, it does qualify for partial credit. Tradeoff decisions like these (replace an 'offending' part or go with what you've got and suffer the point deduction) are commonplace to restoration economics. In the end, rounding up the myraid of small individual, unique pieces, to get a given restoration up near 100% is what breaks the wallet during restoration!