If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

[David D.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

Boy, I guess I'm glad that I couldn't afford one of these cars new! My old 56 #479 had big paint runs in the door jams from the factory and yes, every old car I've owned leaked like gangbusters. I've never owned a coupe, maybe they don't leak as badly. I didn't mind because I bought it used.

I think it is a little easier to be satisfied with a restoration using NCRS input, however I remember Dale Pearman's frequent question, " Were you there when they built it?". Not many of us were, and most don't remember that well by now if they were there! The really good thing abount NCRS is the knowledgeable goal that it gives us. We may or may not agree with each JG item, but I just really love these old cars and enjoy putting them back together from the boxes of parts that I can afford to buy. Yes, some people get a little to authoritarian, but we can still agree or disagree. Play your own game and enjoy it.

[Alan S.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

When I picked my 71 up at the dealer I didn't think the paint, interior, or chrome plating was as good as what was on the 68 GTO I was trading in. But it was a CORVETTE and I loved it.
When I started the restoration 25 years later my goal was to make it like I wish it had been, and how it would have been, if everyone at the factory and the suppliers had done their very best work on this car. So now it's a little over restored.
But it's a CORVETTE and I love it.
Regards,
Alan

PS: What a great journey it's been!!!!

[Bill M.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

I have the list of 10 defects that my father wrote up when he took his '59 in for its first service. Some never got fixed (1-hood latch, 2-passenger door fit, 3-shifter buzzing, 4-fuel smell on hard right turn), some aged out as the car wore in or wore out (5-oil use (200 miles per quart!), 6-hard shifting, 7-top seam opening up), some were not really a problem (8-no posi (I rebuilt the diff; it is a posi)), some were adjustments (9-FI stalls after warm up, 10-exhaust vibrates against frame).

I'll try to eliminate all remaining defects when I finish the restoration.

[Kenneth T.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

I got my '71 the day before my birthday, my third Corvette but my first new car. That lasted about six months and then it was just my car. The T tops leaked in the rain at highway speed, no surprise there. I disconected the TCS system and went aluminum manifold and Holley carb and a bunch of other nonsense. I was smart enough to keep everything I took off the car and store it away.

I have it back to original now, still a small leak from the top at high speed in the rain The radio is almost useless, the BB, the ground noise...not Bose for sure.

I still drive the heck out of it and would sell my house before I let it go.

Ken

[Dale S.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

My new 67 BB had a return to the dealer( Groesbeck Chevrolet) when it rained( not very often in N.M.) when you held the clutch down it driped water on your sock. The fix was to remove the vent in front of the windshield and spray with undercoat. It worked, It once broke a valve spring on starting in the garage. Other than that it ran flawlessly for 39000 miles when I sold it for $4250.00. Dale

[Michael M.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

When my new 74 arrived at the dealer (Starr Beaton Chevrolet) (Bet you all don`t know where that was) My car a silver coupe and another customers Maroon Coupe arrived neither would run and the dealer had to keep approx. two weeks to get and install new distributers in them. After that the car did great. Well Great until someone decided they wanted more than me one night. It was 16 years before I got another one.

[Stewart A.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

Great stories guys. I bought a turbo Supra brand new and it had a bad click in reverse. It was a loose bolt. There are flaws in all brands. I had a 323 BMW new that was the worst car ever for teething problems everything was wrong with that car, motor was using oil from the first mile, interior fell apart. I had a Lotus espirit, that car I'm sure was built to be left in the garage and just admired for it's looks because it was a sh#t heap sold it after I got sick of looking at it. Electrics, motor, gearbox. Nothing worked on it. My mate bought a Lambourghini Diablo and sold it because it was rubbish everything you touch in it broke and was replaced by Fiat parts ? Oh nearly forgot I owned a WRX STI, Spent 6 months in the shop under repairs. I also had a 911 Porsche 1985 wow that was a car, nothing to fix on that car it all worked like clockwork sold it because some guy told me I looked like a ''****er in it''. All these cars were new straight from the factory. It's not just Chevy Corvettes that are average from the factory. I'd rather fix a 350 than a 3.2 flat 6 out of a Porsche or a V 12 from a E type Jaguar any day of the week. Long live the 350 !!

[D S.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

" If we were to restore our Corvettes.....
.....exactly like they rolled out of the assembly plant and picked up from the dealership would we be happy with them and not change a thing?"

With that question in mind what level of NCRS award would you expect for a Corvette to receive in such an as-built condition? Duntov, Top Flight, Sportsman, Founders, all? Why?

[Terry M.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

First award would be NCRS Bowtie Award.
I would also expect the car to be able to achieve the Duntov/McLellan Award as well. That said might one have to fix something to make it work? Sure!! No harm, no foul.

[Steven B.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

When my '77 rolled off the truck in the Fall of '77 I was there. Before it was off the ramps Bruce, the owner of the dealership, said we need to get it to the body shop. It was there for a week ---paint. I went back the next week to get it, Thursday night. I left the dealership satisfied with the paint about 8:30 and got 5 miles away when a guy came upon me flashinghis lights then came along side. Thinking he was impressed and wanted to see it I rolled my window down. He yelled "You don't have ANY back lights!" I turned around and back to the dealership. Bruce told me to take it in a bay and we had a Coke while a technician found a bad, not burned, fuse. I was on my way home. A couple of months later I noticed a crack on each front fender just above the beltline where the bumper meets. Back at Bruce's he gladly repaired it and told me he had seen a numbe rlike that and he was told by his Chevy rep. that dirty molds, with residue left on them, caused the cracking. I have seen a number of them like that. Summer came and I used the AC, for a couple of months, then the compressor went. ----Oh, I forgot, when it rolled off the truck the the Oil Pressure Gauge Needle was bent about 30 degrees to the right!

Since that time we have owned a number of new cars; 3 Cavaliers, Caprice wagon, Suburban, HHR, Pinto wagon and VW(don't tell anyone) and another one or two all with no problems out of the box. We did get a Dodge Stratus with brake problems that were never resolved. Overall, I have been very fortunate with our cars.

[Jim T.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

My new 1970 would not of received a DUNTOV for sure. Bought it off the showroom floor for a small dealership in Terrel, TX just east of Dallas. Was told to come back the next afternoon to get the car. (wondered later if the delay was for them to know my check was good). Anyway the car was driven out of the dealers garage. When I got in it to leave, the salesman and I were the last to leave the dealership. I looked the car over while he was driving away. First time to sit in my new Corvette and started it up. Checking the guage panel noticed the oil pressure guage was not working. Turned off the engine and checked the oil. It was full of clean oil. No way a brand new Corvette 350/300 would not have any engine oil pressure, right? Drove towards Dallas and in just a few minutes the engine was making noise and shut it off. The person that brought me to the dealership was following me drove to the next exit and called the owner. The dealership owner said to drive the car to the exits service station and have them check the oil. My new Corvette did not make it before the bottom end failed. The failed block may have been sent back to GM, I don't know. I was told it was a blockage in the oiling system. Have always wondered when the oil pressure failed in this car. When cleaning the car later discovered the paint could be better on the panels behind the rear tires and had that repainted under the warranty.
The oil guage still works after 38 years and 160K miles. Knowing what I learned later in life, I would of refused the car, got my money back and bought another one, there were several in August 1970 in the Dallas area.

My 96 LT4 would get a DUNTOV. Bought it new at Kerbeck's new from the showroom floor. I watched it being driven off the showroom floor. Went for a test drive, really liked it. I checked the oil and left that afternoon driving straight through 1,200 miles home. Still had all the plastic protection on everything, even the steering wheel just like it left the factory. Only one problem since new, parking brake pawl broke, warranty replaced it, but I installed it. Only oil/filter and coolant changes by me. Still does not use any oil. It has 40K on it now and I love it.

[Pat M.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

My 96 LT4 would get a DUNTOV.

Ditto. I believe my 96 LT4 would and will sail through to the Hill Award, and possibly the Crossed Flag Award. It has been an unmitigated joy from Day 1.

[Terry M.]

Re: If we were to restore our Corvettes.....

Jim,
I brought my 1970 back to the dealer for an oil pan gasket change after a thousand or so miles -- I figured they couldn't F that up too much. They did that OK, but I had to put the lower spark plug retainers (the ones at the bottom of the V-RFI shield) back on the oil pan bolts myself much later. I wrestled with that cursed Holley myself. But none of that would/did stop it from getting all the awards 30-years later, although the deterioration made it no walk in the park.

Now my 1969 was another story. Took delivery in the rain. Went over a set of RR tracks on the way home and the wiper door closed on the wipers. Since I was closer to the dealer, I went back. It was a Saturday and no mechanic was around. Borrowed a Phillips screwdriver and took off the door and put it in the back of the car. I brought the car back later in the week and they fixed it, I think. No more troubles in the brief time I had it -- six weeks and 3800 miles.

The 2008 has been trouble free, except for some minor computer glitches in the HVAC system. Software I would bet, because a number of us had the same issues in the heat of St. Louis last summer. Could the current build be better than the C3s? I think/hope so, and the PDI by the Museum staff probably helped a lot too.