This past few weekends I’ve had some time to work on my VETTE Projects in my garage. I’ve been on the wagon for a while trying to get one of these Vette’s driveable, and I’m going to do it one way or the other. That is, I do it or I pay someone to do it. Well I’m not totally handicapped yet so I better do it. All the past technical sessions that I and others have put on take a fare amount of time. You tend to let your projects go. Well I’m on a new path now. The Tech session is in my garage. From now on we’ll work on the ‘66 or the ‘68. This past weekend was detailing the frame on the ‘68. I’m getting it ready for paint. This is the first item I’ll paint with the new HVLP paint gun I bought. I did my research and decided the HVLP would be the best choice for spraying the DP-90 Epoxy primer on this frame.

If you remember the article on painting we did in the newsletter a few months ago, we commented on the different paint systems and methods to paint. With the cost of painting a Corvette approaching $8-9,000 or more, it causes the "do-it -yourself" mode to kick in big time. I can experiment with the frame and take the next step. Dirk Gaddis has a few projects to paint so I’m sure the lessons I learn will help him out also. And I guess that’s what I’m getting at in this article. We in this Chapter are more doers than otherwise. Several of our members get it done because they are interested in doing it with their own two hands. We enjoy this and we also enjoy helping others learn how.

The recent trip to the UK by several of our members was a case in point. "JOE" would not have happened if it were not for Jim, Jack and a few others taking their time to help Barry Morris of the UK Chapter, find and build a correct engine for his Corvette. Now some would say that wasn’t a big deal but to find a correct 519 block, build it, dyno it and ship it to England took a few weekends. This is the personal interest we have in this Chapter, that makes the RMC a little stronger and a little more interesting than maybe the next organization down the street.

In response to the RMC members (primarily the "Spouses"), the Newsletter will continue to be mailed via USPS to those members with Internet access. At the July 4^th party it was disclosed that several of the members are not sharing their E-Mail and/or Computers with their spouse (in some cases the computer is located in the business office instead of at home). Thus, several people were being locked out of the "loop". We will continue with the Newsletter Articles on the WEB page, but will not duplicate the entire Newsletter there (as there are several cases of redundancy).

Trip Report -- Flight '98

It’s a wrap! Place was gorgeous and the sun actually came out/stayed out on the last day of the meet.

More than one lesson was learned. Biggest of all was British Corvettes are second to none. Two cars almost went off the Richter scale on raw score points. One was an ‘82 with 9000 actual miles that’s the owner’s daily driver. Car could Duntov/Bowtie if it were here in the States—a genuine pleasure to judge....

The other was Dave Tye’s ‘66. While he did the job mainly by himself reading and studying late into the night, the help he got from Jimmy Blakely and others in UK Chapter put the finishing touches on. Now, he’s toying with the idea of shipping it stateside, finding a friend to garage with and doing the Regional/National steps to Duntov....

Vette Magazine sent their editor over for the full weekend. The boys stroked him and included him in almost every Flight ‘98 weekend activity. He was vacillating between a feature and centerfold article. By the end of the meet he was leaning toward making the piece a cover article along the lines "Brits second to none"....

Friday night Jimmy Blakely pulled in late. The rest of the boys (us too) covered for him since there was no Judging Field plan and cars had been arriving since noon on trailers/and drivers. Had to "stuff" them somewhere, so we did an ad hoc judging field placement.

Jimmy had the back of his Toyota loaded to the hilt with beer, wine, and frozen margaritas. After the Judging School (Vinnie Peters/Chuck Berge) and five course meal at the hotel, we played "pick up sticks" and taught the Europeans what a tailgate party was. Folks were fascinated with this quaint Yank custom and the party went ‘til 2:00 in the morning....

Only one car (a ‘68 SB A/C coupe) came from Belgium. He won longest distance driven and fell just short of Top Flight—virtually untouched (original dated belts/hoses) driver with 32K miles. The other Belgies who had planned to bring their Corvettes but couldn’t for one reason or another came anyway driving behind Robert’s ‘68.

They were blown away by Brit/Yank courtesy and joined in EVERY activity scheduled. Originally, they were gonna stick it out in the cheap seat hotel down the road, watch Robert’s Corvette get Flight judged and boogie home. They attended each judge’s breakfast, got onto judging/tab teams, went on the bus with us to the Saturday night Knight’s Out medieval dinner, danced, partied, shot scads of pix, and set out for the drive home kissing/hugging everyone in sight (Marcia was assaulted with kisses at 6:00 AM Sunday morning waiting for her cab to Heathrow). They asked close questions of how the Brits got a Chapter charter and seemed determined to roll up their sleeves and make a UK Belgium chapter happen.

The one German entry, Helmut, trailered his ‘58 in just before 5:00 PM on Friday. Wheeled out as soon as the car was placed on the field to find a place to stay for him, his wife, and two kids.

The next morning, Helmut was nowhere to be found when judging started. About an hour into things, Helmut showed up. He was confused by the English language, and apprehensive. I hauled out Eckhard Pobuda and the Deutch flowed freely. Helmut was shocked to meet Chuck Berge, found Chuck had judged his car (19K original miles radio delete) on two prior occasions, knew where he bought it and was a genuinely nice guy impressed with the car.

Helmut and his wife got "sucked" into the crowd. They partied with us on Saturday night and brought the kids. On Sunday, Helmut was spotted with a judges shirt and worked on mid-years with Pobuda. By Sunday night, all language/culture barriers had fallen and Helmut was partying with the best of us. When given a bona fide Top Flight award, he had to choke back tears vowing "next year" there’d be more Germans in attendance!

The awards banquet was awesome. A single table seating +65 with a great five course meal. Posner was asked to make the opening speech. He set the tone in traditional British fashion. Hauling himself up to his full height and speaking into the microphone firmly he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you, let’s eat"....

Blakely shocked everyone with a tremendously eloquent from the heart intro speech and nicely done awards presentation. Tom Falconer was brief and basically said he was shocked on how far/how fast the UK Chapter experiment had come and the quality of cars he’d seen. Peters told the audience that they had just received full Chapter status (end of probation) and that the cars and people were all great, that this was one of the best Chapter meets he’d seen.

The Vette Magazine editor winced—not the right quote for him. Berge took the microphone and related that he’d been around NCRS longer than Peters and Vinnie was wrong. This was not one of the best Chapter meets in history, it was the best NCRS meet in history, period. The Vette Magazine editor beamed and feverishly pounded keys on his laptop. Look for a super article....

Trevor did a wrap and gave special thanks to the RMC sister chapter who’d given them support and sent a "bullet load" of experienced judges across the pond. Trevor got serious and acknowledged the time and contributions of the UK BOD members who’d made this possible along with the meet sponsors. He let a pregnant silence follow and reflected that there was one UK Chapter member absent who’d started the whole ball rolling and without whose help and assistance, none of this would have been possible. Trevor then raised his glass and offered a toast to Reed Merritt.

After the banquet concluded, it was discretely announced that Blakely’s Toyota had fresh remnants from Friday’s tailgater and "no prisoners" were being taken. Perhaps +40 of the flock found their way to the car park where things picked up where they’d left off two nights before.

Capsule:

The typical "Yanks" impression of England is that the food is bland, the beer is warm, it rains all the time, and the "Brits" are a bit "stuffy". MAN DO WE HAVE IT WRIONG!!!!

I have to say that I met the most gracious and friendly group of Corvette owners that I’ve ever met!

I have been to many NCRS judging events in the U.S. I have never enjoyed any event so much as yours. The setting was spectacular, the people I met were a fun group, the food was fantastic and I had my choice of either ice cold beer or your wonderful ales and bitters (I tried to sample as many as I could) which I enjoyed immensely!

I must thank Trevor for taking time from his busy schedule to pick me up at the airport and showing me his very interesting business. I must admit when I saw his 65 Corvette 4 days prior to the event, I had my doubts we would see it on the judging field. Was I ever impressed when I saw it on the judging field!! This is truly a determined individual!!

I must thank Barry immensely! I saw a man under tremendous pressure to make 6 "Yanks" comfortable in a home he had just purchased; to escort several of our group on a 2 day jaunt to Paris; to assist me in renting a car so I could intimidate many Brits on your round-abouts; to steal a company van and load it with company furniture and merchandise for the event; and if that wasn’t enough to have the added pressure of trying to get his Corvette completed for the event! I have the utmost respect for Barry and I’m sure the others in our group feel the same way!! Thanks again Barry!!!

To David Posner, David Abrahamovitch, Tom Falconer and the rest of the U.K. Chapter, thank you for the most enjoyable judging event I have ever attended! And thanks to that lovely lass with the rather large "hooters" at the Knights Out!

Belonging to several groups that have a love affair with the Corvette, I’m always amazed at the caliber of wonderful people I meet at Corvette events. Its funny how a car can bring together people from every background imaginable and put us all on a level playing field. People let their hair down (well at least those who have hair), forget their troubles and enjoy making life-long friendships. It’s always a little scary to travel in another country, but I have found all you need to do is find a local Corvette Club and you will make instant friends and people who will go out of their way to make you comfortable in a strange land.

When I purchased my first Corvette in 1966, I immediately found that other Corvette owners gave you a friendly wave as they passed by. I have continued this tradition and hope that the world of Corvette owners continue this tradition, indicating the type of people they are. SAVE THE WAVE!!!

Congratulations to all those who braved their first NCRS judging event and I hope it was a pleasurable experience, in the setting which it was held and the enthusiasm of the owners and judges alike it couldn’t have been anything else!

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