"bowtie"

[corky]

In past messeges, comments about a car being classified as "bowtie" was mentioned. Can someone tell me what this is. From what I gathered it ment a caar that was not restored and was in original condition. What seperates a bowtie and a driver? Alot of the parts on cars from the factory are unpainted and rust(surface rust) immediatly when new. To be in original condition these parts would have to be rusty in appereance, i.e. the differential and alot of the bracketry in the engine compartment. What are the requirements for the bowtie class? Thanks, Corky

[Dick W.]

Re: "bowtie"

For information, look on pg. 19 of the NCRS CORVETTE JUDGING REFERENCE MANUAL. Basically it is a car that is considered historically and educationally significant in one or more of the following areas; exterior, interior, mechanical or chassis. The intent is "as assembled" in St Louis, with normal dealer prep.

[Jack H.]

Re: "bowtie"

Dick gives you the official reference and it's worth reading. But, maybe a few more words are in order.

Restoration classes of Corvette Factory Concourse competition are well known. At NCRS it's called Flight Judging. At NCCB (Bloomington) it's called Certification. In these areas we take Corvettes and try and put them into a condition that RESEMBLES factory original delivery. I cap'd the key word because many confuse the terms 'numbers matching', 'original' 'factory original' and 'all numbers matching'.

Some think a car that merits recognition in a restored concourse circuit IS (or should be) a factory original Corvette. This is not true. It is a car that has been put back together to resemble to the naked eye a factory original.

Both NCRS and NCCB recognize the need to preserve real McCoy factory original Corvettes so there will be historic examples of automotive history. NCRS calls this un-restored concourse category BowTie and NCCB calls theirs Suvivor.

Here, all that really matters is originality. Condition plays almost no part in the car's evaluation. If natural parts are badly rusted, so be it. At NCRS, if 75% of the original paint is THERE (look around chips, spider webbing, Etc.), it's good enough.

Inspection follows the same general rules for restored cars. At NCRS, we have published rules in the form of Judging Guides and Judging Ref Manual. When un-restored cars are evaluated, the same set of eval credentials are used but the inspection process is MUCH more detailed.

Only the very senior judges participate. Cars are raised on lifts for a full underbody/drivetrain inspection. Naked eye appearance is embellished with tools (calipers, magnifying glass, Etc.). There is more vehicle dissembly (look at brake pads, Etc.).

So, often, folks with super un-restored candidate cars leap in an start the restoration process only to find they've taken an irreversible step to destroy a perfectly good un-restored Corvette. And, you WILL see a considerable difference in appearance (paint, body lines, Etc.) between cars entered in restored vs. unrestored concourse categories.