Side Vent Grilles

[Troublemaker 71]

I've seen an NCRS certified '70 with the side vent grilles having PAINTED vertical edges and CHROME horizontals...is this the way '71's were done also ? :confused:

[JmpnJckFlsh]

I've seen an NCRS certified '70 with the side vent grilles having PAINTED vertical edges and CHROME horizontals...is this the way '71's were done also ?

No. The side grilles for 71 and 72 are actually slightly different from those in 70. If you look carefully at 71/72 side grilles, the vertical edges have a slight raised step on the vertical edge, where the 70 grille is flat and smooth. This raised vertical edge is NOT PAINTED on 71/72, but a painted vertical edge is correct on 70.

Incidently, I presume by "NCRS certified" you mean the car had been "flight judged", and scored a "Top Flight". NCRS does not "certify" Corvettes; you are thinking of "Bloomington Gold" certification.

When a car receives a NCRS Top Flight, that does not mean that every detail on the car is correct...it only means that enough on the car is correct (92%?) to receive a Top Flight award. In the case of this 70, for example, the vertical edges of the side grilles could be left chrome (incorrect), but that alone would not have kept the car from receiving a Top Flight. The owner would have received a deduct for this error, and it would have gone into the hopper with all the other deducts.

Moral: Just because you see it on a Top Flight car does not mean that it is correct beyond all doubt.


[Modified by Chuck Sangerhausen, 3:08 PM 10/26/2002]

[JohnZ]

Top Flight = 94% or better of 4500 total points, including points for mileage driven to the meet (1% of mileage; 100 miles = 1 percentage point, etc.); except that mileage points can't be applied to making the 97% level required to qualify for a "Duntov" award.