Judging question, c-3 rivets and body seams

[Steven G.]

All no hit c-3 corvettes that I have owned has revealing front top nose panel rivets and side body seams. My question is," how much reveal is acceptable in the body judging process" ? This may be a hard question to answer, but when refinishing paint, a good body man could block sand, prime and completely hide these reveals or try to leave as much as possible to prove they are original body seams and factory filler over the aluminum nose panel rivets. I do realize that in due time these areas will reappear. Is there any wording that a body man should keep in mine while preparing for finish paint. Steve

[Tom H.]

Re: Judging question, c-3 rivets and body seams

I would restore the car with no more defects in the body than you would have accepted if the car were new. If it were mine, I'd hide all of the imperfections and document the unhit body with photos for the future.

Just my opinion.

[Jack H.]

Re: Judging question, c-3 rivets and body seams

The nose panel rivet locations were NOT visible when these cars shipped new from the factory. The inter-panel seam joining lines were 'relatively' invisible when the cars were fresh/new.

There was always an issue on these 'kit' cars regarding 'blow hole' blemish marks along panel seams + the consistency (car to car, panel to panel) of the joined seams. So, there IS a variance range on factory originality here that winds up being a personal judgment call issue from those who execute the judging task...

What you CAN do during your restoration, is wind up making the car SO PERFECT (lack of any/all parting seam visibility, lack of any/all body panel 'ripple', lack of typical factory paint application, e.g. orange peel) that you wind up losing points for over-restoration.

These were 'kit' cars assembled with UAW labor in a paced assy line environment. They were NOT hand-built Mona Lisa vehicles a la Rolls Royce and/or Italian crafted sports cars.

[Steven G.]

Re: Judging question, c-3 rivets and body seams

Would it be fair to say when refinishing is completed, some reveal may recieve little deductions and no reveal or near perfect would recieve more deductions. Steve

[Jack H.]

Re: Judging question, c-3 rivets and body seams

It 'might' be fair to conclude that. Bottom line, this sport/hobby is NOT a 100% solved science--there IS an art-form content to the process AND there is some degree of randomness in the judging process based on the specific knowledge and view(s) of the judges assigned to your car on that specific day.

What I'm saying is we can generalize on this/that, but there WILL be differences in judgement call(s)...

[Tom H.]

Re: Judging question, c-3 rivets and body seams

The other thing to consider................ are you restoring the car for the judges, or yourself. I realize the Top Flight may be the goal, but the judges look at the car for an hour or so, you have to look at it all the time !

If you duplicate the way the car "really" was, you should not encounter many deductions.

[Patrick H.]

Re: Judging question, c-3 rivets and body seams

My 72 has some of the usual bumps on the nose as well as some very mild seam "show through." Because the car has original paint, I don't recall receiving any deduction regarding the body on these issues. Often with an original car it'll receive a "pass" unless the seams or rivet bumps are horrible.

Restored cars will be judged somewhat differently, whether we like that thought or not.

Patrick

[Steven G.]

Re: Judging question, c-3 rivets and body seams

I have owned many and still own 3, c-3's over the past 35 years, So I have/am accumulated knowlege about quality and originality of c-3's. Only 1 of the 3 deserves the highest award challange, the rest are and probably will be drivers, So I am not concerned about pleasing myself with vin.#9, just wanting to keep this car originally presentable as possible for future generation owner/collector. As we know, a matching, very low vin. #'s, no hit original corvette are at a premium and I probably will never aquire another. I do APPRECIATE your opinions, I think the car will score best with the vast knowlege I have accumulated from this board. Steve

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: Judging question, c-3 rivets and body seams

Steve:
In your original post you said that a good body man could block sand, prime and paint to hide the nose rivets. I can tell you from experience that they will be gone for a short period of time and then reappear unless the root cause is removed permanently. That is how my car was done many years ago because the body shop did not understand what caused the rivets to pop and just sanded them down and primed and painted. They were back within a year or so. The rivets have to be removed and the header bar has to be reattached with adhesive. No matter how flat you get the bumps, the rivets will expand again and re-pop the fiberglass.
Jeff

[Steven G.]

Re: Judging question, c-3 rivets and body seams

There was a recient discussion about the cause of rivet deteration, (electroyl...., battery theory) and their reappearance unless they were removed, glued and refilled to stop the problem. Well my concern is that when they are removed and (top drilled) refilled, in time their will be a new and different reveal depending on materials used of course and this has nothing to do with another factory panel bond area that is adjacent to revealed rivets (top front fender surround, corner filler reveal). I think this will reappear somewhat reguardless, since old fiberglass will always be dryer than new and fillers will not last forever, their will be shrinkage. The factory alum. rivets attach the underside bonding strip to metal support and as rivets corrode, swell causing upper fiberglass panel to buldge upward due to corrosion caused pressure, there is NO factory holes or NO filler on the top finished fiberglass surface (above rivets). Some cars, depending on country region, past weather conditions, are better than others. I think its a judgement call one has to make, once originality is gone, it can't be replaced, so caution must be used when making final decisions. Steve