2017 Nationals Photos

[Richard M.]

Please add yours here for our members to see. I've been told we have close to 200 cars in attendance.

Here are a few quick shots after Operations Tests and car placement yesterday.

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We brought 5 cars in from Florida via Exotic Transport. All of those photos are disoriented when I upload here. Ill see if I can fix them on a real computer later.

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[Michael J.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

I can almost see my Bowtie candidate in one.......

[Joe R.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

Turn yo head sideways!

The cars must not have arrived yet as the place looks empty.

JR

[Scott S.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

Lots of Corvettes. This is one of the most spacious venues you will ever see. Oh, did I say we are only using one half of the facility.
A job well done by the Texas Chapter and our National Board of Directors.
Scott

[Richard M.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

Just a FYI. One of the '67's we brought got a hundred.
Rich
PS sideways again. I miss my laptop.
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[Gary J.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

Rich, glad to meet you at the Nationals. Why don't you start a new thread when you get home with some pictures of Franks car and him getting a perfect score. He has a lot of factory recreated details on that car. Neat to see.

[Richard M.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

Hi Gary, Good to meet you, and many others there in Texas.

.....
It was a great time and special thanks to all of the Texas folks to make it happen. They all put on a fantastic event. Without all of the volunteers we would not have had such a good time. We brought 5 cars from Florida, 4 for Flight, 1 for Display, along with another acquaintance and his car from Texas for Flight.

It was a special time for me. A few months ago my good friend and Corvette compadre Frank Tetro asked me if I'd like to join him and his son Frankie for the trip. Frankie has restoration talents that must be seen to understand as well. He is a young restorer with a special passion just like his Dad. Frankie has two 8 year old twin sons. I'm hoping they will follow their Grandfather and their Father as they mature. We need them to carry on.

We flew in Saturday to San Antonio. I was there to assist if any of the cars had any hiccups from the long transport rides. Fortunately all was good when we unloaded and did pre-OPs OPs tests. All cars passed official OPs on Monday morning and then all finished up with a 99%+ score in Flight, all from 99.3 to 99.8. The car that reached the 99.8, the White/Tan '67 Convertible owned by Rick and Mercedes Benitez, was first judged 7 months ago in Lakeland at 99.6, got bumped up 2 tenths on it's mere second outing there in Texas. This is also a milestone. A car that only had 2 events under it's belt, now with a unbelievable 99.8%.

It could have been even better, but as we all know, what we see as results from one event don't always get noticed. Judges are human and can miss something at previous viewings. These then get noticed by the next viewings, and so on. Then sometimes, we as restorers go to fix something from the sheets, then we hiccup and do something wrong. If we didn't make mistakes, we'd all be non-humans.

One of 2 cars reached that ultimate milestone, Frank's Blue '67 L71 Convertible...... 100%. I'd also like to equalized that Tom & Alisa Green's '67 L71 Coupe also reached that same 100% plateau. Their car was restored by another passionate restorer, Elio Martin. Special congratulations to all.

Frank is Corvette passionate, like many of us, but goes beyond comprehension in his definition of passion. At each and every NCRS event, he has listened to the judging "inspectors" in such a way that has no comparison that I've ever seen, even if there is some disagreement. Never have I seen him get flustered. He grins and nods and moves on. I've been with him to many of these events. He listens, he absorbs, he researches, he questions, and then he implements the changes and/or enhancements. He goes far beyond to get to a even higher level of authenticity and originality from the previous time. This is our NCRS Charter.

His efforts have been justly rewarded.


Here are more photos from Sunday morning when we unloaded all of the cars. Tom's Coupe is in there too on the right of the clan. Also a few shots of the Riverwalk, Host Hotel, etc.

Rich

[Patrick H.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

It was a special time for me. A few months ago my good friend and Corvette compadre Frank Tetro asked me if I'd like to join him and his son Frankie for the trip. Frankie has restoration talents that must be seen to understand as well. He is a young restorer with a special passion just like his Dad. Frankie has two 8 year old twin sons. I'm hoping they will follow their Grandfather and their Father as they mature. We need them to carry on.

One of 2 cars reached that ultimate milestone, Frank's Blue '67 L71 Convertible...... 100%. I'd also like to equalized that Tom & Alisa Green's '67 L71 Coupe also reached that same 100% plateau. Their car was restored by another passionate restorer, Elio Martin. Special congratulations to all.

Frank is Corvette passionate, like many of us, but goes beyond comprehension in his definition of passion. At each and every NCRS event, he has listened to the judging "inspectors" in such a way that has no comparison that I've ever seen, even if there is some disagreement. Never have I seen him get flustered. He grins and nods and moves on. I've been with him to many of these events. He listens, he absorbs, he researches, he questions, and then he implements the changes and/or enhancements. He goes far beyond to get to a even higher level of authenticity and originality from the previous time. This is our NCRS Charter.

His efforts have been justly rewarded.

Rich

Rich,

Sorry that I did not see you there or get to meet you.

You are very correct regarding Frank and Frankie's efforts. One of the first cars of theirs I recall seeing was Frankie's 72 at Bloomington ~5 years ago. It was stunning. I've talked to Frank and seen his restorations, and they are exceptional.

Elio's work on Tom and Elisa Green's car is also superb.

For those that think that Corvette restorations are "dying" just look at Harbor Auto Restorations' efforts.

[Tim G.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

Thanks for your post, Rich. It was good to see the group from Florida at the event. The cars you brought were beautiful as was the car Tom brought.

[James G.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

It was so nice to see you again Rich. Thanks for your friendship and sharing efforts. And thanks for attending the CORVETTE RACE CAR SEMINAR on Thursday morning at 10 AM. We had about 120 people, as many that wanted to attend had judging conflicts. Overall, it was a great success.

Special guest DAVE MORGAN and the 67 L-88 Race car he and DON YENKO drove at SEBRING in 1967 and again at DAYTONA with JERRY GRANT in 1968 when it was a year old were together again. At 92 years, his memory is super sharp and he shared many stories at the SEMINAR.

DAVEY JORDAN was also on stage with us. He co drove the #44 JIM GARNER 1968 Corvette with SCOOTER PATRICK at DAYTONA in 1968. DAVEY celebrated his 82nd birthday at Convention.

We all had a special celebration dinner funded by great NCRS members Jaime Gesundheit, Michael Pierce, Mark Berns, and Jeff Reade on Thursday evening.

[James G.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

DAVEY JORDAN at DAYTONA in 1968 in the JIM GARNER A.I.R #44 race car.

[Rick G.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

Jim,

Thank you for the great photo's! I wish I could have attended your seminar. Thank you aslo for the your continual research and the history you preserve.

Best regards,
Rick

[Richard M.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

Patrick, Yes, sorry we missed each other. I think I may be going to Frisco so maybe there if you go. Now that I'm retired and nothing to do I may make the trip. Well, not "retired" retired, just "kinda" retired.

Tim & Jim, It was great seeing you guys, and so many other folks.

Jim, your Presentation was great. You could post the link to it on a separate thread and folks could download, or if you can you could upload it here for folks to download. I bet lots of folks who couldn't make it would really enjoy it.

Rich

[Ed N.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

Hi Gary, Good to meet you, and many others there in Texas.

.....
It was a great time and special thanks to all of the Texas folks to make it happen. They all put on a fantastic event. Without all of the volunteers we would not have had such a good time. We brought 5 cars from Florida, 4 for Flight, 1 for Display, along with another acquaintance and his car from Texas for Flight.

It was a special time for me. A few months ago my good friend and Corvette compadre Frank Tetro asked me if I'd like to join him and his son Frankie for the trip. Frankie has restoration talents that must be seen to understand as well. He is a young restorer with a special passion just like his Dad. Frankie has two 8 year old twin sons. I'm hoping they will follow their Grandfather and their Father as they mature. We need them to carry on.

We flew in Saturday to San Antonio. I was there to assist if any of the cars had any hiccups from the long transport rides. Fortunately all was good when we unloaded and did pre-OPs OPs tests. All cars passed official OPs on Monday morning and then all finished up with a 99%+ score in Flight, all from 99.3 to 99.8. The car that reached the 99.8, the White/Tan '67 Convertible owned by Rick and Mercedes Benitez, was first judged 7 months ago in Lakeland at 99.6, got bumped up 2 tenths on it's mere second outing there in Texas. This is also a milestone. A car that only had 2 events under it's belt, now with a unbelievable 99.8%.

It could have been even better, but as we all know, what we see as results from one event don't always get noticed. Judges are human and can miss something at previous viewings. These then get noticed by the next viewings, and so on. Then sometimes, we as restorers go to fix something from the sheets, then we hiccup and do something wrong. If we didn't make mistakes, we'd all be non-humans.

One of 2 cars reached that ultimate milestone, Frank's Blue '67 L71 Convertible...... 100%. I'd also like to equalized that Tom & Alisa Green's '67 L71 Coupe also reached that same 100% plateau. Their car was restored by another passionate restorer, Elio Martin. Special congratulations to all.

Frank is Corvette passionate, like many of us, but goes beyond comprehension in his definition of passion. At each and every NCRS event, he has listened to the judging "inspectors" in such a way that has no comparison that I've ever seen, even if there is some disagreement. Never have I seen him get flustered. He grins and nods and moves on. I've been with him to many of these events. He listens, he absorbs, he researches, he questions, and then he implements the changes and/or enhancements. He goes far beyond to get to a even higher level of authenticity and originality from the previous time. This is our NCRS Charter.

His efforts have been justly rewarded.


Here are more photos from Sunday morning when we unloaded all of the cars. Tom's Coupe is in there too on the right of the clan. Also a few shots of the Riverwalk, Host Hotel, etc.

Rich

Rich, can I use this story and photos for our Florida Chapter newsletter?

~ Ed Nieves

[Richard M.]

Re: 2017 Nationals Photos

Rich, can I use this story and photos for our Florida Chapter newsletter?

~ Ed Nieves

Ed, Yes feel free to use it.

Rich