Which one holds more weight in the Corvette world? Which awards have you tried out for, and what were your experiences?

 

Bloomington, but NCRS Top Flight Award is nothing to sneeze at either.

Me? I'm going for teh NCRS Award, Not Correctly ReStored

 

N C RS is the preferred award around here...

 

This is my personal bias: I have been involved a bit in NCRS judging and appreciate what goes in to a top flight award. I have never been to Bloomington but I am really turned off by the $$$$ it costs just to enter your car for Bloomington judging. So I personally give the nod to NCRS. However..... I know that many (if not most) of the best NCRS judges also judge at Bloomington, so I know they respect both.

 

I can't disagree with anything that's been said and I would add a few additional considerations. Bloomington is a once a year event...comparative to a national event. If an owner is not satisifed with the outcome, a year goes by before they can have the car looked at again.

In contrast, NCRS has numerous chapter, regional and national events all over the country in which an owner can bring their car have it looked at and in the Top Flight program, correct those details that are out of sync with the technical reference & judging standard.

Bloomington Gold is a for-profit organization owned and directed by a few indiviuals. In contrast, NCRS is a 501 C3 non-profit organization and is a member managed organization.

NCRS established the Corvette body of knowledge through its technical reference series by model year. No other organization rivals NCRS in this respect...NONE! It continues to research, write, publish and add to this base of knowledge.

Having said all that...both organizations maintain high standards to which a Corvette must achieve to get awarded its highest owners...each organization accomplishes this in a different way.

As an owner, I believe you'll learn more about originality and restoration by putting your Corvette through the NCRS Top Flight program. So if your personal goal is to increase the Corvette knowledge of your Corvette and its model year...the NCRS program is more likely to deliver. In contrast, if it's a badge of recognition you seek for your Corvette, either organization can deliver and probably Bloomington Gold is a more efficient delivery system to accomplish that particular goal.

Hope this helps!

 

That pretty much hits the nail on the head

 

I've had four cars judged @ Bloomington & those same four at NCRS events. One thing I will say for a fact is with Bloomington THREE or FOUR judges give your car a 36 minute "lookover". With NCRS, there are 10 judges(two for each category-chassis, engine, interior, exterior & operations)that can spend UP TO an hour just on the area they judging as to compared to Bloomington judging.