Survivor vs Fully Restored?

[Chuck A.]

Which one would you prefer... a mid-year survivor in excellent condition with every stick of documentation imaginable, or a full body-off example with same docs. I know this comes down to personal preference, but I'd love to hear different points of view on this subject.

Thanks for your opinions,
Chuck A

[Russ S.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

As long as the survivor is in excellent condition I would prefer the survivor. They are few and far in between. Any one can have a restored car, but only a few are fortunate enough to have an excellent condition survivor. They are only original once.

[Tom H.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

I'd have to take the original.

[Brian M.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

I'll take the survivor.

[John F.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

I have an original 62 & a non-original 62. There is just something about an original car. Hard to describe. As mentioned above, anyone can have a restored car, but they are only original once!

John F

[Dick W.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

No brainer, the original car as long as it is presentable. Some of the "suvivor" type cars are original, but totally crapped out and would not be a good reference to see how they were built originally

[John M.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

Agree with Dick. I've seen a lot of "survivors" that just barely survived and should be restored. There's a fine to fat line between the two.

[Paul H.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

I prefer "nice" survivors over restored cars. Unfortunately, some "survivor" cars have turned the corner into "in need of restoration."

[Roy S.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?









But you know what the cream of the crop is A Bowtie that also received the Duntov then you have a 80-85 percent vehicle that is in good enough condition to receive the highest award offered on the flight field add paperwork and it gets no better than that.

[Terry M.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

Roy,

How many Bowtie/Duntov Corvettes are there?
Terry

[Roy S.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

Terry,

Unfortunately I do not know, the new system is not as user friendly and sortable as the old system was, now it requires a request for a report to be built and they have a back log of that type stuff. Before the switch over, there were 16 my guess would be there are now 20.

Of course all Crossed Flags recipients, in the 1984 and newer category fall into this class as the McLellan or Hill is a prerequisite for consideration of that award. There were 16 prior to the switch over and my guess would be there are now 28

[Terry M.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

Terry,

Unfortunately I do not know, the new system is not as user friendly and sortable as the old system was, now it requires a request for a report to be built and they have a back log of that type stuff. Before the switch over, there were 16 my guess would be there are now 20.

Of course all Crossed Flags recipients, in the 1984 and newer category fall into this class as the McLellan or Hill is a prerequisite for consideration of that award. There were 16 prior to the switch over and my guess would be there are now 28

Thank you a SWAG is good enough for me. I deliberately avoided asking about the Crossed Flags group since my question was self-serving -- as you no doubt noticed.

[Ridge K.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

With 15,600 members in this club, we clearly will have many on both sides of interest in this matter. For me personally, I love seeing both the "survivor" ...and the correctly restored car.

I see room for both in the hobby, with huge advantages to both types of cars. Virtually no one could argue successfully that original "survivor" type vintage corvettes hold the keys to the knowledge of what is assembly-line correct on these cars. We blessed to have members who were former St.Louis assembly line workers and managers, but clearly it would be impossible for anyone to remember every single detail from say, the mid 1960s. And, photographic evidence of the assembly of these cars is limited. Sadly the General didn't seem to make those detailed videos knowing that someday these club members would be debating which bolt head marking went on which side of the car. (they could probably be making a lot of money for copies of those videos today). In short, the original cars are invaluable to the excellent volunteer judges we are all blessed to have. Rolling encyclopedias. And as is evidenced in the judging awards, both can be recognized.

For me the answer is easy. In 2012 I will enjoy my 37th year of Corvette ownership (only six years in this club however). I've driven every single one of the cars, and will continue to do so until the day I must give up the driver's license.
I cannot afford a collection of multiple vintage Corvettes. If one is blessed with that luxury, it make this decision much easier. One can acquire and treasure that survivor, and yet enjoy the other "driver" on the way to work. Driving that "driver" shares the classic beauty of these cars with thousands of others who only catch a glimpse of them on the roadway eveyr now and then.

Anyone who argues that 100% original "survivor" C! or C2 Corvettes can be driven further than on and off the trailer, most likely has never done such.
My own barn-find, 98% original, no-hit '67 couldn't have been driven 10 feet the day I pulled her out of that barn. From calipers, to master cylinder, to tires, belts, hoses, seals, to you name it, she couldn't have pulled herself and then .....stopped again for me.

I wanted to put her back ont he road again, so I turned to the NCRS for help.

While on the NCRS homepage, I read this mission statement:
National Corvette Restorers Society Mission

"Formed in 1974, the National Corvette Restorers Society is a non-profit hobby group of 15,800+ families dedicated to the restoration, preservation, history and enjoyment of Corvettes made from the model years 1953 through 1996." 1

Just my take. Nothing more, nothing less..

[Jack H.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

I chose to purchase an unrestored, never been hit, original back in 1991 and still have it, but it has always and still does cause mixed feeling about driving it. Parts are parts and they wear out. I have chosen to drive the car because I love it, plain and simple, but I have had to replace some of the original parts simply because they wore out. Even though I have the original master cylinder, it has been rebuilt and to me, that's not original. It's correct in all aspects (except internal) but not original.
Never had the car judged and probably never will, just me. But I will keep driving it and replacing/repairing as necessary because it is just so much fun to drive, and continue to worry about some idiot running into me.
Guess my car would fall somewhere between survivor and restored.

[Jack C.]

Re: Survivor vs Fully Restored?

SURVIVOR, and Top Flight.