San Jose NCRS Nationals

The San Jose NCRS National has come and gone. The Judging show was held at the San Jose Convention Center in California. The Northern California was the host Chapter. Southern and Central California Chapters all helped organize the event. Approximately 400 families and 160 cars were registered for the event. Trucks and trailers started moving in on Saturday the 11th of July. All the event organizers were frantically placing the sportsman cars in the hall, while others were lining up cars outside in the parking lot getting the flight cars lined up ready for operations checks on Monday morning. All seemed to go smoothly. Once all the cars were placed, everyone had a sigh of relief. I had my folks visiting from Australia so unfortunately I couldn't help much.

San Jose Nationals...Rest of the week

Monday morning we were up early for a judges meeting. I was judging 1968 to 1972 operations. We had 1968, L88 convertible, a 1969, 427 coupe, a 1970 small block and a 1972 small block convertibles to judge. All went well and judging was completed before lunch. After lunch owners underwent Performance Verifications. A Chevron gas refinery tour was the tour of the day. Monday night was the members meeting. This is where all deserving members received all their achievement awards for the year. Black hats, red hats, black jackets and shirts for all the Master Judges. Founders awards and plaques and much more.
I finally received my Black Hat after years of judging .
Tuesday was a day off the judging field for me, so I spent the day doing tech seminars in one of the meeting rooms. Bow Tie etc, Judging continued in the main hall. Following my seminar I had time to catch up with a lot of friends, that you only seem to meet up with at these events. I also had time to check out all the cars. The race cars were a treat and the Flight cars were exceptional representation as you would expect. All in all a fun day. The folks along with 100 others spent the day on San Francisco bus tour. The fun thing about this event, was that there was something for everyone to do, all the time, if you wanted to do it, or just relax between sessions.

Wednesday was a day off for me. I left the hustle and bustle of the show and took the folks site seeing. We went to the Winchester mystery house and the Egyptian museum. I also managed to check some of the local cars for sale ( I couldn't resist).
Thursday was my big judging day, so up early and to the judges meeting. The folks took the train tour through the mountains to Santa Cruz. My judging assignment was 1965 mechanical. Not easy and the most controversial section for judging in my opinion. It's never fun telling an owner he has a restamped engine or a clone. We had 4 cars to judge. A 365hp coupe, a 396 convertible, a 375hp convertible and a 365 big tank coupe. Fortunately all went well and we were done by 1pm. This was my first National Judging event judging. I finally made it. All these cars received their Top Flight awards.

That evening was the banquet. Fantastic. The food was exceptional and most people were ecstatic with there judging results.
A great show. Congratulations to the event organizers, participants and sponsors for a job well done.

Another year at Bloomington Gold, 2009

We flew in on Thursday afternoon. Did a quick inspection of the grounds late that afternoon, checked out the parts swap meet and looked for deals in the Gold Mine. Later on we went across the street to the exhibition hall to view some of the rarest corvettes in the world. Snacks were served followed by movie presentation. That was a treat.



Friday was a long and busy day. We were up very early. Rusty was off to the judging field. I was off to start my inspection of 320 Corvettes that were being sold at the Mecum Auction. Lots of average cars. Some with rust and body issues. Some with engine pad issues. Some were just plain bad. On the flip side, there were some fantastic examples of fully restored and well documented cars. Some very rare COPO cars, L88's, L89's, felines and one off cars. Overall a great cross section and variety of corvettes across the Auction block.


The Gold Mine car coral was also buzzing by now. Lots of private party sellers trying to persuade potential buyers to buy there cars. The swap meet also was crowded with people looking for those lost treasures.



Over 300 corvettes were on the judging field. A spectacular site to see on this fabulous golf course setting.

Owners waited in anticipation as judges buzzed around there cars like bees, scratching notes on their holy grails called judging sheets. For those of you that have had cars judged at NCRS events, this event seemed to show more of a worried and an intense look on the owners faces. The judges had a mission to accomplish. With speed and intensity they worked through their sheets and finished their tasks as expected. No rain, but it was in the low 90's with lots of humidity. Lots of bottled water consumed and lots of perspiration.



This year the Auction was in the air conditioned convention hall. That was nice. It was also broadcasted on live television on HD TV. The auction started at 3.00 pm. Time to do battle. The chemistry and intensity of the show changed dramatically. Auctioneers pumped up the packed audience as cars started to come though the Auction Block. The words "SOLD, SOLD, SOLD" blended in with " THE BID GOES ON" echoed through the hall exciting the crowd. The auction block was packed with potential buyers including me. By the end of the night, 9.30 pm, I had made 3 purchases. A 17,000 original mile 79, a 74 convertible 4 speed and a 67 convertible. All in all not bad. For the rest of the night it was time to take a break and catch up with friends at the host motel, watching the HD TV replay. I guess I was on TV. That was embarrassing, looking at my tired face, it was long day.

Saturday was another early morning. First priority was finish inspecting auction cars. With all our notes completed, we were back to the Gold Mine. There I did a deal on a 69, 427 roadster. Four cars so far. The auction started early today and was live on TV again. I tried buying several cars, but was unsuccessful. Prices seemed to be higher. All the big money cars went through, most of which did not meet their reserves. Auction results can be viewed at www.mecumauctions.com.

The auction in summary was nowhere near as strong as in years past. There were less cars for sale than usual. Most of the bid prices on cars that did not meet reserve, and were very low. If they sold at low prices, the cars had issues. Not many of the high dollar cars changed hands. The auction sale rate was low from years past. Probably a reflection of the economy. The good thing is most people were happy to keep their cars rather than give they away, therefore in my opinion keeping the corvette market alive.

Following the auction we spent a lot of time waiting to pay for the cars and getting truckers organized. Saturday night we had a sigh of relief, we were done. Sunday we did not stay for the survivor muscle cars, as we had an early flight out back to CA.

All in all a hectic, but fun and prosperous trip.

Written by John Piovesan

GM Downunder.