New member with original 66 dilemma

[Andre R.]

Hello everyone. I am a new member. My name is Andre and i joined at the NCRS booth @ Barrett-Jackson in Palm Beach. Happy to be on board! The last Corvette i've owned was a 69 coupe i sold about 15 years ago.
A few months back i purchased a one owner all original 66 coupe. 70k miles, mostly original paint, and all of the original docs. The car is in perfect driving condition so i plan on enjoying it as is but do have plans for a restoration in the future.
My dilemma is related to the original owners purchase of the car. He bought the car in November of 66 as a leftover. He did not want Leather seats, so the dealer swapped them out for 67 vinyl. Should i keep the car as purchased new or change it to as it left the factory.
Thanks,
Andre

[Rich G.]

Re: New member with original 66 dilemma

To me, this is one of those "tip of the iceberg" questions. The real issue is what do YOU want to do with the car. If you are like me and want to enjoy driving a nice old corvette that has some history, then leave it alone. If you want to get high marks when it is judged then you will have to change the seats (and probably a thousand other things, depending on the current state of the car and/or judges education).

I have the utmost respect for those who persue perfection on the judging field. It is a lot of work. I'm sure most who do it find that a rewarding part of the hobby. If you are one of those, you'll probably want to get a set of seats that match the trim tag. After a few years of involvement in the hobby, I find my enjoyment comes from driving cars that look nice and run well. I get no thrill from the judging meets. Too much pressure. This is supposed to be fun.

Rich #38594

[Joel F.]

Re: New member with original 66 dilemma

Andre,

What do you prefer? Most people would probably prefer the leather seats, but if for some reason you like vinyl better then by all means, keep them and enjoy the car as is. If you do decide to participate in the judging process, understand that the judging standard is to judge the cars as they left the factory, so in this case you could expect to have points taken for the '67 vinyl seats.

Sounds like a nice car. Congrats and welcome!

Joel

[Tom H.]

Re: New member with original 66 dilemma

I would make the car as it left the factory, but would document the period modification with photos. Always neat to have a story.

........................... I always say, a Corvette is just a Corvette without a story !!

[Andre R.]

Re: New member with original 66 dilemma

I actually prefer vinyl but my first order of preference is verifiable authenticity. If the dealer (Berger Chevrolet - Detroit, MI) had listed the change on the bill of sale, which I have, I would keep the 67 seats, but he did not. With the 67 seats I foresee myself endlessly retelling my story to all the "nice car, but whats up with the seats" questions. As we all know, stories without proof ad no value, at least when corvettes are involved

[Jack H.]

Re: New member with original 66 dilemma

As others have mentioned, the answer is one of personal taste + objective. NCRS won't TELL you what to do with your car as it's your personal asset.

But, if you have the car judged, our rules kick in and scoring points are lost. The judging standard is for cars to appear as they were originally built by Chevrolet and delivered to the first owner, including then current dealer prep, absent any owner/dealer inspired additions/deletions.

So, change in the seats from '66 leather to '67 vinyl will result in scoring deduction(s) because there's a visible difference in configuration as well as fabric. But, you're not alone in being on the horns of a dilema. A singer in my high school rock band bought a brand new 327/350 coupe in 1966 and had the dealer install side exhaust....

If it was her restoring her own car, she'd think damn the judging points, I want the car restored the way I originally bought it! But, another person owning the car would be, like you, scratching their heads and thinking strongly of making the car 'correct' during the restoration process.

[Patrick H.]

Re: New member with original 66 dilemma

(Berger Chevrolet - Detroit, MI)

Berger Chevrolet has always been, and continues to be, in Grand Rapids, Michigan - 2 hours away from Detroit.

Patrick

[Jim K.]

Re: New member with original 66 dilemma

Welcome to one of the greatest collections of Corvette minds, and good luck with the "new" car.
Jim

[Andre R.]

Re: New member with original 66 dilemma

oops, assumed Ionia was a Detriot suburb. I see now it looks to be about midway between Grand rapids and Lansing. Thanks for the info Patrick.
Andre

[Mike M.]

Re: New member with original 66 dilemma

Well I'm the purist guy.
If the ECL says leather I would return the seats to their original production/factory status.
Further, with your description of the originality, I would suggest having the car judged at a regional, hopefully, for a Bow-Tie checkoff.
HaND

[Joe R.]

Re: New member with original 66 dilemma

Hi Andre:

The deduction for having vinyl instead of leather is about 8 points out of 4500 total, so don't worry about it too much in terms of judging. My car was built with vinyl and a previous owner changed it to leather. I love the leather and I'm not going to change it back.

[Mike E.]

Re: New member with original 66 dilemma

Joe--
I don't think the deduction is as simple as vinyl vs. leather--this is also a 66 with 67 seat covers--that would be a greater deduct.

[Joe R.]

Re: New member with original 66 dilemma

Hi Mike:

You are absolutely correct. I missed the fact that these are 67 seats in a 66 car, so the deduction would be slightly larger. I'm not an expert on the differences between 66 and 67 seats, but if everything is the same except the seat covering, I think the deduction would be in the range of 10 to 12 points.

The judging sheet assigns 24 originality points to "seats, backs, and trim." The judges have to allocate the 24 points among these three aspects, based on their relative proportion of the overall line item. I think most judges would allocate at least 8 points to the backs and trim, leaving a maximum of 16 points for the "seats" item. Then, maybe they would take 75% of the originality points for the vinyl and the incorrect upholstery design. That would result in an originality deduction of 12 points.

Based on my understanding of the judging rules, it would be hard to justify a deduction of more than 12 originality points based on the above reasoning. On the other hand, if the backs and trim were also different for 1967, the deduction could be larger.

To put this in perspective, though, the deduction would have to be significantly lower then the deduction for, say, having Camaro seats installed. That would likely be a full deduct of 24 originality points and a consequential mandadtory full deduct of the 16 condition points.