Help me understand ?

[Roy B.]

Because I never could understand using the word "original" column in the JM a restored Corvette can receive 98 or 99 or 99.5 points total on a top flight award .
These Corvettes must have used repro ( tires,battery,weatherstripping.repainted,soft top to name a few) any one item should keep it from making 99.5 points ?? But I read that many do! So using the word original the bar must be lowered ! Or a better word should be= replaced,repro, close or some other word. "condition" I understand looking at a part. Can some one tell me why I'm wrong in bringing this up?

[David N.]

Re: Help me understand ?

Roy, I can't tell you that the question should not be raised. But, your question sounds like a legitimate one to me.
David Nims '69 BB conv. with hard and soft tops. An original sidepipe car.

[Ted S.]

Re: Help me understand ?

Roy, Having just gone through judging at the National and Texas Regional. Here's what I'm seeing. If the repro part is close to the original but not exact then you loose some points but not all points on originality. For example I have a repro 2x4 air cleaner on my '58 and I lost 3-6 points on the air cleaner because the fins/spacing aren't exactly like the original and then lost another point on the element because the mesh is copper colored rather than silver like the original. On the fan shroud, I lost originality points because the manufacturer's keystone was not on the inside. On the battery it was a restoration battery and I lost 7 points. In all cases I received all condition points.

On the seats, dash pad, carpet for example though I didn't loose any points and yet they're repros. Paint seems to be one of the areas they are loosening up on with lacquer verses urethane.

I would guess that if you had alot of repro parts then you would have a hard time hitting in the 99 range.

[James W.]

Re: Help me understand ?

Cars are judged on the basis of their apprearance of originality and condition. If the repro is 100% correct, there would be no points deduction.

That being said, a friend of mine had a '62 that would always Top Flight because he used only original parts, regardless of condition. Always got 100% of originality points and took some dings for condition. There are more originality points than condition points.

I think if a car has the original part instead of a repro it should receive a better score. We're losing our judging base on the older cars a bit at a time. The Survivor cars are especially important to the NCRS so we can see how it was really done "back in the day".

My $0.02