NCRS Judging
 

I was told by multiple Corvette owners that if you get your card NCRS judged, you will no longer like your Corvette. No matter how clean or great your car may appear to be, the judges will always find something wrong that will need to be addressed.

One person said that if there was a NCRS judge that stood at the end of the assembly line at the factory, he would still find something wrong with the car that just rolled off.

Your thoughts?

Other than actually restoring the car yourself, having it NCRS judged is an excellent way to learn more about the car and how it compares to the "typical of factory production" judging standard.

Cleanliness isn't a significant factor in NCRS judging, but it IS in NCCC judging - their standard is essentially "the relentless search for dirt". :thumbs:

If this is true, maybe the SWC disease that is running rampant around here for the last couple of months will fade away? Will the market for these cars dry up? The owners that lost fortunes in the SWC investment jump off a cliff?

And then you woke up :D

100% correct:iagree:, the nicer the Corvette the easiest it is to find something wrong

You must hang around some really shallow Corvette owners..

If you want your car to appear as though it just rolled off the assembly line, NCRS is for you. If you couldn't care less, then not so much. There were many things "wrong" with the cars coming out of St Louis. The NCRS accepts this and in fact you can actually lose points during judging if your car is too "perfect". We call that over restored.

It is a great organization to be in if you are so inclined.
tc

I think they are more like inspectors rather than judges, inspectors look for something wrong, judges look at whats right, and what can be improved. Chip

I am already a member. I am just going off of what I'm told by many people.

[QUOTE=JohnZ;1591204794]Other than actually restoring the car yourself, having it NCRS judged is an excellent way to learn more about the car and how it compares to the "typical of factory production" judging standard.

:iagree:I always learn something about my cars every time I have them judged, which I find invaluable. They don't always find everything, but it's always a learning experience. It helps me be a better informed buyer when the time arises.

If you go into judging and expect it to be a confrontational process, you can accomplish that. If you are looking to learn, you can accomplish that. I have also found that owners who don't do their homework or seek to cut corners find it easier afterward to blame the judges rather than admit there were issues with their car. Judging is like every other human endeavor where a score is kept.

After judging, I think you'll still like your Vette, you will just be aware of what isn't "right" with it. Those correctness problems shouldn't be an issue, unless you're in it for financial reasons. Then maybe you won't like what you learned, but that's life....:ack:

Knowing what's wrong doesn't mean you have to correct anything. In fact, you may be more comfortable driving it, knowing that originality-wise, its a POS...:D

NCRS judges are like anybody else. Most of 'em do their best to be nice and to be accurate. A few nit-pick, just to be aholes, but that's rare, in my experience...

:iagree: This is correct for all types of judging NCRS,NCCC,AACA,ISCA,etc

Very well said. If you don't understand the premise and the standard, you're doomed in your expectation. That being said, there are numerous areas where "as delivered" has been driven into the ground and made into a farcial area.

I always find it amusing when these threads pop up from time to time. As has been said, the NCRS is not for everyone. After all, who wants to invest their time, money and effort in a car only to have someone tell you what's wrong with it?

If that's how you choose to view NCRS - or any other - judging.

I prefer to look at it as validation of what's been done to preserve and restore the car. If a judge gives your car 88 out of 100 points, why wouldn't you focus on the 88% positive part instead of the 12% negative? I would be willing to bet that you know your car better than the judges do, and you could point out a few more "wrong" things they missed.

Different Corvette organizations have different standards for judging (The NCRS standards are published and available). Some local shows have no real standards at all. Find your comfort level, and enjoy your car. Some like a huge blower sticking up through the hood, or fuzzy pink upholstery - and that's fine. Some like their cars to be "perfect", beyond even what the factory produced - remember, these were not show cars when they were new. And that's OK, too. I prefer to drive and enjoy my 1962, keeping it in as nice a shape as I can without obsessing about it. It will never be an NCRS Top Flight car while I own it, although with some time and money it could be made into one. I like it the way it is - if my grandson drops his ice cream cone on the seat, so what? They're vinyl, after all. The car takes a lot of trophies locally, and that fulfills any psychological need I might have for that. Someday I will have it NCRS judged, just to see what I could realistically and comfortably make better without ruining the fun I now enjoy with it.

So again, find your comfort level, enjoy your car, and stop worrying about what other people think. Join your local Corvette club, and attend the local shows. get your car out there, and you will find the REAL judges - the only ones who count - like your car just the way it is, and just as much as you do.

What really needs to be done is to experience it for your self. Don't let other members tell you how your going to feel if you get your car judged. Go to a meet and see if you like it or not. If you do enter your car the next chance you get. If you don't like what you see at a meet don't enter your car and don't talk down about the process. It's a great learning experience

Before getting your car judged, you should buy an AIM and the Judging Guide and then download the judging sheets from NCRS. Read them. Read all of them. Carefully. And then judge your car yourself. If you are honest with yourself, the score that you tabulate will be very close to what you will get at a judging meet.

And if you then do decide go to a NCRS judging meet, you will not be surprised or insulted, as you will now be aware of what the judges will be evaluating.

And if you chose to never have the car judged, you will still learn a lot about your car - and the more you know about it, the more you will enjoy having it. :thumbs:

I think I feel just the opposite. I think I disliked the car more while I was preparing for judging. As the restoration was wrapping up, I started "buying points". Sometimes, spending way too much money for the end result. It became stressful and worrisome as the deadline approached. In the end, the judges missed some stuff I knew was wrong and I lost some points on some stuff I thought was right. But, I got my Gold and Top Flight. The actual judging process was enjoyable. Now that the judging is over, I can really enjoy the fruits of my labor. I get to drive my "new" car. I like the car a lot better now. It's no longer a $50,000 paper weight!

The NCRS judging process reminds me of my college days. On my math tests, it was easy to see where I went wrong. On the creative writing papers, it always puzzled me how one could wind up with an 88.

The NCRS is great because you're judged against a standard, not against the car next to it. There's a clear reason why one car grades higher than another, where at other shows the car that belongs to the host club guy mysteriously wins.

Bottom line, if you hate hearing your baby is ugly, probably best not go.

I would be willing to bet the people that told you this bought their cars without knowing the quality of the car and were told by the seller the car was an NCRS Top Flight car. Then they took it to be judged and found out they had bought a daily driver that was far from a TF and they took it out on the judges. Now they hate the car because they paid too much for it.

NCRS judging is just "one more thing you can do with your corvette"

You can use it as a tool to figure out how close your car is to "right off the assembly line" specs. OR, you can use it as a guide to take you car BACK to "right off the assembly line" specs.

People come in to the Big Corvette Tent for all kinds of reasons.... Often, once you are in, your taste change for what you want to do while there. Judging, Cruising, Rest-modding, posing, camaraderie.... All are valid reasons and have many folks that are of like mind.

Some folks go "all in" on their NCRS restoration. No harm, no foul to the rest of us that don't go that way. I have never heard that it is a tool to use to "not like your car". Obviously, it didn't make sense to you when you heard it, as you wouldn't have asked here if it did.