Saturday I went with an old friend to the Bloomington Corvette show held at the ISU campus about two hours south of Chicago.
This is a big event for Corvette lovers. My friend Joe has an original 1966 Corvette, 427 engine, four speed, factory knock off wheels, factory side pipes and original paint. He has owned his Vette for 35 years but did not bring it. While this event covers all year Corvettes, it seems like most the cars shown were high end C1, C2 and C3 cars. Lots of vendors with restored and unrestored parts for sale with $$$ prices. Also what might have been interesting seminars, unfortunately the sound system not good making it almost impossible to hear what the lecturers.
Beautifully restored C3 chassis.
IMG_3622 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
Serial number 1, C1 Corvette. Mostly original although it looks like some items have been restored.
IMG_3628 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
This year's Bloomington Gold judging area. Featuring over the top restorations and unrestored originals. From a distance some of the unrestored cars are hard to tell from the restored cars. We spent over an hour talking to one of the judges who is a high school friend of Joe's. The knowledge level of the judges and the details they scrutinize is impressive.
IMG_3630 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
IMG_3631 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
IMG_3632 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
I think its safe to say that most of the restyored cars are driven very littl, if at all.
IMG_3633 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
IMG_3635 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
This hall contains a lot of previous years Gold certified and historic cars.
IMG_3636 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
IMG_3637 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
IMG_3638 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
After the show we took a scenic ride home on parts of the Historic Route 66 that parallels Route 55. This service station is mostly original inside and out.
IMG_3640 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
IMG_3641 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
Well, not everything is original. This Sun automotive tester is very similar to the one I used in autoshop 1970. Back then it was so state of the art. Now it sure looks old.
IMG_3642 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
Sun distributor machine. We would use to test and recurve spark advance.
IMG_3643 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
Me on the left and buddy Joe on the right.
IMG_3656 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
Another mostly original Service station.
IMG_3657 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr
IMG_3662 by
Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr