Here's a good story that involves a friend of mine. Our Mason Dixon Chapter decided to have a small judging meet, with senior judges "training" some of the less experienced members of our chapter. We wanted 3 cars...a solid axle...a midyear....and a shark. We "twisted" the arm of one of our members who has a 65 roadster, blue/white leather. The car had never been judged before. He had a pretty "low" opinion of his car.....I thought it was pretty nice. He expected NO award.....NO FLIGHT at all.
Long story short....He received a Second Flight Award and was absolutely ecstatic about it. In addition, he got a "laundry list" of little things to fix.
The moral of the story? I think this is a smart thing to do. Wish more owners would do it. Chuck
Mine is going to Waco this week. I want to see where it stands, or sits. I know I'll take a big hit for the paint, but clear coat was a personal decision there. Judging can be stressful, but sometimes fun too.
and now the fun begging just Little work
[ he tell the wife ] then well might
as well go to performance variation what ite heck why not a duntov
its a great sickness please pass the Prozac
Chuck I also am a NCRS member and never realley wanted to have my car judged because the majority of the critics I have met (Who I thought were Judges or Members) ended up being just BLOW HARDS. I had the pleasure of meeting an active NCRS member who is very knowledgable of midyears and he is highley recomending I have the car judged.He gave me a laundry list of things to correct on my car witch I had planned on doing this winter.
(with the exception of putting in the correct vynel seat cover instead of the leather ones I have. )And also putting the correct TI sytem back in instead of the msd system I have.
Depending on how winter projects go I may be having my car judged next year. He did explain that the information you walk away with is incredable.If this is the type of fellow who is judging I would have NO fear of having the car judged.
He is new to the internet and I showed him this site I hope he is lurking here and will introduce himself on this post if he registered
I've heard "anecdotal" stories for years about NCRS "judges" bashing peoples cars at cruise-in's etc. I've NEVER encountered this personally, NOR have I ever known anyone that this has happened to personally. It's always "some guy...a friend of my neighbor....etc."
I've been a NCRS member for over 20 years, and am a Master Level judge in that organization. NCRS is and always has been up front in their purpose....to judge cars as they were assembled from the factory...no better, no worse. It always amazes me that some people continually bash NCRS. I think it's because they don't understand their purpose. It's clearly stated. Their manuals are available to everybody, and their judging standards and point value assignments are openly declared. You can buy the book and judge your own car. There are no secrets.
I think it's a smart move to have your car judged, IF that's your "thing". It's cheap...you get a bunch of knowledgeable people looking at your car, and you get a list of areas that need improvement. Chuck
I’ve got a “happy” NCRS story I'll share. I joined at the national level several years ago, mostly for the publications, and to learn a little more about my ’62. I also definitely admire correctly restored cars, although my own car was hotrodded a long time ago and is really not a viable FCR candidate.
I’d never gotten involved with a local chapter until recently, however. As an American expat living in the UK, I’d been having withdrawal symptoms from Corvettes (and from American culture in general). When I came across a Driveline ad, then, for a UK chapter meet not too far from London, I decided to head to head on down and make a weekend out of it.
Chuck Berge, an NCRS team leader, who had flown in from Washington, gave a judging seminar on Friday night. There were five cars to be judged, all mid years, but a couple of C1s showed up the next morning for fun, as did some nice representatives of other generations.
I was thrown right in (paired with a more experienced guy), helping judge interiors. I imagine at larger events things go faster, as we took pretty much all day with two cars. The first was a nice, early SWC with a base engine and PG. The second was a pre-restoration, fresh-from-the-barn ’64 convertible, which the owner was having judged so he would have some baseline data to start with.
As I’d arrived the previous evening after the cars were staged, I still didn’t have it straight which car belonged to whom. “Whose car is this?” I asked my partner as we began on the ‘64. “Tom’s”, he replied. Hmmm…“Tom” is Tom Falconer--no pressure here! Geez, I thought, this guy has written a bunch of Corvette books; he’s probably already forgotten more than I’m going to know about this. Tom, of course, turned out to be a great guy, as did everyone there. As an additional treat, Tom had brought along his XP987-GT prototype car, which he put on display.
Trevor Rogers, who is the president of the UK chapter, organized an outstanding weekend overall, and deserves a lot of credit. For anyone who’s never been to or participated in a Flight event, I certainly recommend it, whether it’s as an observer, judge, participant, guest, or whatever.
I hear lots of the "anecdotal" horror stories too, and it's been my experience from showing different cars at local shows (not NCRS Judged Meets, which are not "shows") that most of the unsolicited commentary about "that's not right", etc. comes from know-it-all spectators trying to impress their buddies or girl friends, not NCRS members. I'm an NCRS judge also, and I've built countless race cars, street rods, Cobras, etc. over the last 40 years; I wander through the local shows and look at all the cars, and when I see something that shows good workmanship and engineering, regardless of what kind of car it is, I always take the time to congratulate the owner who has put his heart and his wallet into his car and takes pride in showing it. I have NEVER volunteered any observations about "NCRS correctness" for anyone's Corvette unless I've been asked specifically by the owner to do so. There are a whole lot more folks out there who are proud of their modified cars or drivers than there are folks who aspire to NCRS Flight Awards, and that's fine with me - I like them all, especially if they're nicely done, and I say so when I see a nice one :cheers:
I recently was a judge at a recent chapter meet for the first and really enjoyed it. It really opened my eyes for what I need to do on mine. I was partnered with a very knowledgable judge and it was very enjoyable. You will always find a couple stiffs that know way to much or think they do but as long as you walk past them you will enjoy the judging and the knowledge. I wanted to have mine judged but it will late a while longer. Mine wont get any flights and there were simply to many to do this time but I cant wait until I have it done sometime.
Chuck,
I just got back from my first flight judging at the Texas regionals last night, and I had a ball!!! After a real bad start where I took 50 points at operations check, I did manage to Top Flight. I belive that I probably missed the 97% mark to move onto Duntov by about 4 points but will go to another regional to get there! I had a great learning experience, and even managed to teach a couple of the judges a few things myself. Next time with 0 deduct at operations I expect to bust the 99% mark! Every judge was great, and were willing to teach me as long as I was willing to learn!
The highligh of the judging was the chassis section, as I only took 6 points on the entire chassis from one of the most knowledgable judges out there, and most of those were points were on items that I made a decision not to make correct like non blacked-out exhaust! I can't tell you how good it felt to finally see some results from 3 years of restoration.
The true reward was not the Top Flight, although that is why we come, but to have master level judges come to you and thank you for the privlige of judging such a wel detailed car. It just made my day!
:seeya
Congratulations, John - your car must be outstanding - got pics? Sounds like the only thing between you and a Duntov is the P.V. (the toughest test there is, but enormously satisfying). Now you can hang one of these on it:
Thanks guys,
I was hoping to PV in Lousiana in Feb but will probably have to flight again to get above the 97% mark and get that out of the way. The PV will have me chewing nails, as I lost my drivers side low beam and instrument lights between Austin and Waco, a distance of only 100 miles! I am hoping to Duntov the car in Hershey next summer if all goes well. Now that I have a lift, I will try to get some pics taken this week and find a place to post them.
I need to educate myself on how to build a web page, but will just find a photo hosting site for now.
:seeya
Waco was a great time. We had 42 cars there for flight judging, 8 for PV, 6 for special display and 16 for Sporstman. A great group of people. It was nice to meet John and a whole bunch of other new folks. The icing on the cake was when my '71 Top Flighted the first time out of the bag. I drove down through a rain storm and was worried as I did not have a lot of time to clean it up. The judges were great and really knowledgeable. I learned a lot more about my car and will work on some things to improve it.
Chuck I'm glad they didn't get on me about the water spots on the underside. I got it pretty clean but I figured if they nailed me for that I could fix it next time.
That's the beauty of the NCRS judging/scoring system - the underbody/chassis doesn't have to be "concours/show-n-shine" clean, as long as judged details and numbers are legible; NCRS encourages driving your car, and awards bonus points for driving your car to the meet :cheers:
Hi All
Sound like you had fun in Texas hope you can join us at the Mardi Gras Regional in La. Feb. 27th through March 2nd
Check out our web site and turn up the sound
Hope to see you all there. http://www.lachapterncrs.homestead.com/lachapter.html
I plan on being there! I had the privilige of seeing Norris's 58 at Waco and what can I say, WOW! that was without a doubt the most beautiful 58 that I have ever seen!
:seeya
Corvette Store
Happy NCRS Story
