Its time to do a little work on my 72. I've had the car for about three years now, I got it from my dad who had it for three or four years before that so its been around here for a little while. Since I got it I haven't done a ton of things to it. I replaced all four calipers, did some drilled and slotted rotors, added a "Jake C5 Decal" and the Vector wheels. I kept planning on doing some mods, side pipes, torque thrust wheels, pop up lemans style gas cap, baldwin motion stripe, and a few other mods. But then I just never really got around to it.

Well last fall I got curious about what it would take to put the car back original. I knew it wasn't far off, when my dad first got it it actually had the original paint on it but it wasn't good so he had it painted(really wish he would have left it, it could have been showed as a survivor for sure). I was pleasantly surprised to find most everything I checked was right, intake and exhaust manifolds, alternator, pretty much everything. I already knew it was the original motor. So anyway not to bable on long story short I've decided to put the car back as close as possible to everything being NCRS correct. I mean I'm not going to completely tear the car apart, or for that matter probably ever have it judged, but I want it to at least look very correct.

The biggest thing I'm missing is the ignition shielding, I'm gonna freshen up some of the paint and things under the hood. I don't think the car has been waxed or anything since it was painted. I need to polish out all the chrome and just some good housekeeping items. Paint or replace the emblems, first one thing and another. Oh and yes, I'm putting the ralleys back on it!!

Here are a few pictures.












I'm a little torn on the door panels. It needs a set, but they are original and good other than the bad spots you see.



These books will be my guide!


Lots of pics to come!

 

That is a good looking car. I agree that the rally wheels need to go back on it.

Judging by the pics, it doesnt look like you got a long way to go for "correctness", as long as you dont get involved in re-conditioning every little piece on the car...

 

Nice car. Will not take a lot to get it to 3rd flight NCRS.

I would suggest the BEST thing you could do IS pay the 75 bucks and take it to a local NCRS event to get a baseline reading on the car. This way, you will have had six or more judges who know that car go over it and point out things that are correct...and not so correct ( not typical ). You can then take that paperwork and methodically restore the car.

I went through this process and now have a second flight 72.

 

Thanks! Yeah I'm not worried about every small little detail, but I want the major stuff to be correct and all the small stuff I can easily fix.

Thanks! Yeah that might be the best plan, fix what I know needs fixed, and then have it judged just for the heck of it and see where I'm at. Then fix some more.

 

EXACTLY. Many non-NCRS Corvette owners misunderstand the purpose of NCRS. It's not an elite bunch of snobs picking apart your pride & joy.. it's really a bunch of guys like you and me who know alot about operations, mechanical, exterior, interior, chassis of Corvettes. When you put these guys into a room and ask them to tell you about your car, its unbelievable the amount of knowledge they have and things they can tell you. Once I figured out that they were really educating, not judging, it became a fun process. Overall, the "goal".. for owners who decide to go forward, is to get the car to "as delivered" condition. That's all. Sure there are offshoots .. survivors and all that... but for the most part, NCRS judging is the best deal around .. where else can you get 6 corvette experts to give you a crash course on your car in one day for 75 bucks? And that's over a 6 hour day. It's a ridiculously great bargain -- for those who can understand that the comments are subjective -- NOT PERSONAL. I've seen guys take the judging personal..

You can't. It's about condition. It's tough to hear your baby has the wrong muffler or repro chrome trim ring.. but it's better to know the absolute truth rather than be uniformed in and/or in denial.

Whether or not you correct the "not typical" items is up to you.

If you do, you can be recognized for your achievement with a FLIGHT AWARD. Top, Second, Third. Each of these is a true personal achievement (unless you buy the car in that condition). My advice is get it judged first.

 

You can restore your original emblems without having to repalce them. Hobby paints and a steady hand do the trick. All of the ignition shielding is available reproduction.

In addition to the NCRS manuals, you're going to want the assembly instruction manual (AIM).

Good luck.

 

Nice car

 

Hi C4,
It looks like you have a pretty nice car to work on.
Bringing a car back to being closer to what it was when it left St.Louis can be an interesting and rewarding job!
If I may I'll make a suggestion about your ignition shielding... If you're not planning to 'restore' EVERYTHING in the engine compartment you might want to search for and buy some used but good condition ignition shielding which will blend in with the rest of the compartment and not look like an obviously replaced part.
Maybe?
Good Luck!
Regards,
Alan

 

Looks great