How to make my vette a show car?

[Bender]

Well I was just in car show and it was alot of fun, alot of people liked my car and I just wanted to know what I could do for it to have a chance to win Top 25. I already have alot of chrome parts on my engine, but soon everything will be chrome. I am replacing the carpet and dashboard and repainting everything from silver to black. I am also repainting the car Charcoal gray, like whats on there already. But I dont think that is enough, out of all the corvettes there none of them won and there was 2 alot nicer then mine. The 82 was in alot better condtion but the engine was ugly. So what do the judges judge? I am going to a Dodge carshow where there will be a Best Corvette award.

 

[bowmanm]

Clean clean clean! Keep it all original and then clean clean again!!!!!

 

[Bender]

Nothing is original in the car. Soon all of the interior is going to be replaced. Infact every part in the car besides the body will be new.

 

[Stallion]

You gotta catch the attention of passer-bys. Do a nice paint job (maybe some graphics?) and put on some chromed out wheels!! And make sure it's all clean-cut and proper looking, but you can tell that it has ass to it.

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

I am going to a Dodge carshow where there will be a Best Corvette award.

Best Corvette in a Dodge car show? You guys down south sure do things different

Are you sure you want to get into the show car circuit? Do you really want to spend 10-15K $$$$ just to win the occasional $20 trophy? I know a guy on the gulf coast that just threw a dozen show and shine trophies in the trash because he was tired of dusting them. You could have had them for free.

 

[Stallion]

Truth is, Mikey is right. You are going to have to put so much more into her. It will become even more of a money pit (is that possible!! :eek). And then you'll be afraid to drive her because, God forbid, something might happen to her.

But!! A lot of guys really go for that kinda ride. It's up to you.

 

[Glensgages]

I am going to a Dodge carshow where there will be a Best Corvette award.

Forget it; the Dodge-guys will pick a C6, thinking it's a Viper...

 

[Bender]

What more could I do besides Chrome everything out? By the way any one know what type of Chrome paint I can use to chrome the hinges on the hood?

 

[Imachad]

What more could I do besides Chrome everything out? By the way any one know what type of Chrome pain I can use to chrome the hinges on the hood?

I'm not sure about paint but i know for a few hundred bucks you can pick up some chrome hinges.

 

[Bender]

Why when I can paint them for less?

 

[Imachad]

Because everyone would know you painted them. And if i was going for a show car i would put as much chrome on as i could afford. Painted chrome looks cheap.

 

[Bender]

Chrome diped? It looks the same to me.

 

[Imachad]

I guess its a subjective topic. But i say go for what you think looks best and fits the budget. Good luck with your show car! I look forward to seeing your results.

 

[Bender]

Thanks. What do you think looks better Vinyl paint or dye? I did paint on one part in my car and it looked great for about a month but then it chiped for some reason. Also does any one know where to get a book on interior work? specificaly for corvette 81 I really enjoy working on interior and would like to learn everything I can. Also I cant find any places in town that have interior stuff to do a proper job. I used Goof Off to strip the old paint off and I want more proffesinal supplies and I dont want to pay 20 bucks a can off teh interweb.

 

[Imachad]

I would go for paint over the dye. Mid America sells paint prep for painting vinal and other interior surfaces. I'm sure autozone or something similar would sell the same product. It helps clean all residues off of the material. This might be why your paint chipped. I repainted a portion of my driver side door panal and it turned out nicley.

 

[Bender]

I did use Vinyl prep to clean it but I need stronger paint striper with out hurting the vinyl. Autozone has crap, Pepboys has the most but still cant find a stiper. Also any Ideas on how to remove some old glue from the body, right below the letters? I have 3m Silcon removed, but Im afaird it will hurt the paint.

 

[Imachad]

I'm not quite sure Bender. This is something I havent had to tackle myself. Hopfully someone will jump in and help you out on this glue removal. I can understand your hesitance on not wanting to damage the paint.

 

[GS Diva]

Bender,

My husband and I show both of our Corvettes all over New England, but we only enter them into judged Corvettes-only show & shine type of shows. That makes a huge difference. By entering into all-car shows or displays, you're going against many different types of cars rather than against cars that are in your Corvette's era. Forget the participant choice type of shows, too...they're really not much more than popularity contests!

Our cars are judged on how clean and in what condition they are...usually using a 150-200 point basis. When I say clean, I mean immaculate!! That's why we call them show & shine shows around here. We are not judged upon how much chrome the car has, although there are classes that are for the chromed-out Corvettes, usually called "Custom" or "Personalized".

If you like the participant choice kind of show, then plan on having either a lot of friends there or have some very unique thing about your Corvette. If you enter all-car shows, you'll have to have the car immaculate and also unique or it will get lost among all the other cars!

Good luck...let us know how you make out!!

Elaine

 

[Bender]

By the way what really ****ed me off at the show is a RX-8, was in the show and it was a Street Rod show and the RX-8 won over the Ferrari WTF?

 

[Stallion]

By the way what really ****ed me off at the show is a RX-8, was in the show and it was a Street Rod show and the RX-8 won over the Ferrari WTF?

I don't think I would go to that show again.