- Admin
- #1
A Reality Check for Corvettes
By ROB SASS, New York Times
Published: August 19, 2007
AS an archive of Corvette knowledge, Bloomington Gold is the Library of Alexandria. The organization, based in Normal, Ill., not only conducts the big annual Bloomington Gold show but also sets the standards for judging how faithfully the entries match factory specifications.
Taking a historian’s approach to certifying Corvettes’ authenticity, the group has set guidelines with a realistic view of the assembly standards and finish quality at the time the cars were new.
I recently attended an intensive two-day course in Corvette authenticity along with other staff members of Corvette Market magazine. David Burroughs, chief executive of Bloomington Gold and an expert on the so-called midyear Corvettes of 1963-67, presented the course. Mr. Burroughs is passionate about Corvettes, but he is not an apologist for the way the cars were made. Having visited the St. Louis assembly plant in the mid-1960s, he accepts that production standards at the factory were, at best, expedient or casual.
This reality gives rise to considerable frustration for restorers, given that the ranks of Corvette enthusiasts include a disproportionate number of perfectionists. Those who want their ’Vettes finished to Swiss-watch standards must cope with realities like the bizarrely uneven dividing line of flat black paint against body color paint on the underside of a hood. In the case of a midyear Corvette, Mr. Burroughs pointed out that the masking was done by a piece of carpeting held up by an auto worker.
Perfectly straight, evenly spaced hood stripes on a 1967 big block Corvette are certainly the product of a restorer with a lot of time, as opposed to a line worker in a rush with a casually placed template. Likewise, when you see a vintage Corvette without sealant oozing out from the windshield trim or adhesive visible around rubber seals, you are probably looking at a restored car.
Mr. Burroughs began the hands-on portion of the class by directing the group to a lovely Nassau Blue 1965 Corvette convertible. His question seemed simple: original or restored?
Most of the students thought it was an original car, though a minority guessed it was a nicely mellowed older restoration. It turns out we were looking at an unrestored car that had been driven only 14,000 miles.
Several in the group identified the body seams visible on parts of the car. The fiberglass bodies comprised individual pieces bonded together and sanded smooth before painting. In time, the finishes and adhesives shrink a bit and the seams become faintly visible. These are lost in a restoration.
When determining the originality of paint, Mr. Burroughs goes to the door jambs — “an original jamb should talk to you,” he said. That statement was met with raised eyebrows, but he demonstrated by running his hand over the car’s door jambs. The rough finish responded with an audible sound.
Similarly, original exterior paint on a vintage Corvette was far from perfect, with a fair amount of the roughness that collectors call “orange peel.”
Nevertheless, some people want to view their old ’Vettes through rose-colored glasses, restoring them to much-better-than-new standards. That’s their prerogative, Mr. Burroughs said. But Bloomington Gold’s judges are there to keep the historic record straight.
David Burroughs, bottom, inspects an unrestored '65 Sting Ray.
By ROB SASS, New York Times
Published: August 19, 2007
AS an archive of Corvette knowledge, Bloomington Gold is the Library of Alexandria. The organization, based in Normal, Ill., not only conducts the big annual Bloomington Gold show but also sets the standards for judging how faithfully the entries match factory specifications.
Taking a historian’s approach to certifying Corvettes’ authenticity, the group has set guidelines with a realistic view of the assembly standards and finish quality at the time the cars were new.
I recently attended an intensive two-day course in Corvette authenticity along with other staff members of Corvette Market magazine. David Burroughs, chief executive of Bloomington Gold and an expert on the so-called midyear Corvettes of 1963-67, presented the course. Mr. Burroughs is passionate about Corvettes, but he is not an apologist for the way the cars were made. Having visited the St. Louis assembly plant in the mid-1960s, he accepts that production standards at the factory were, at best, expedient or casual.
This reality gives rise to considerable frustration for restorers, given that the ranks of Corvette enthusiasts include a disproportionate number of perfectionists. Those who want their ’Vettes finished to Swiss-watch standards must cope with realities like the bizarrely uneven dividing line of flat black paint against body color paint on the underside of a hood. In the case of a midyear Corvette, Mr. Burroughs pointed out that the masking was done by a piece of carpeting held up by an auto worker.
Perfectly straight, evenly spaced hood stripes on a 1967 big block Corvette are certainly the product of a restorer with a lot of time, as opposed to a line worker in a rush with a casually placed template. Likewise, when you see a vintage Corvette without sealant oozing out from the windshield trim or adhesive visible around rubber seals, you are probably looking at a restored car.
Mr. Burroughs began the hands-on portion of the class by directing the group to a lovely Nassau Blue 1965 Corvette convertible. His question seemed simple: original or restored?
Most of the students thought it was an original car, though a minority guessed it was a nicely mellowed older restoration. It turns out we were looking at an unrestored car that had been driven only 14,000 miles.
Several in the group identified the body seams visible on parts of the car. The fiberglass bodies comprised individual pieces bonded together and sanded smooth before painting. In time, the finishes and adhesives shrink a bit and the seams become faintly visible. These are lost in a restoration.
When determining the originality of paint, Mr. Burroughs goes to the door jambs — “an original jamb should talk to you,” he said. That statement was met with raised eyebrows, but he demonstrated by running his hand over the car’s door jambs. The rough finish responded with an audible sound.
Similarly, original exterior paint on a vintage Corvette was far from perfect, with a fair amount of the roughness that collectors call “orange peel.”
Nevertheless, some people want to view their old ’Vettes through rose-colored glasses, restoring them to much-better-than-new standards. That’s their prerogative, Mr. Burroughs said. But Bloomington Gold’s judges are there to keep the historic record straight.
David Burroughs, bottom, inspects an unrestored '65 Sting Ray.
