What % of home restores make top flight

[Stephen L.]

Re: What % of home restores make top flight

You can achieve "Top Flight" the first time out, if you do your homework, take your time doing the job of preparing the car, have some mechanical apptitude, some reasonable tools at your disposal, and have a car with the "original numbers".

I "National Top Flighted" without any credit for paint (2% point deduct, I have BC/CC) so its possible to Top Flight with no/poor paint on the exterior. Of course the remainder of the judging criteria points need to be pretty high, but its possible. I did my car myself, at home, with some help from friends.

It was a great and fun experience doing the research and work!!!

[Bill L.]

Re: What % of home restores make top flight

If I can keep forging forward, I am hoping to top flight one day and I am doing al the work in an oversized one car garage. It is a blast learning as I go.

Long way to go and I am not taking the body off the frame.

Stephen you give me hope. Mine is BC/CC. I do have send some parts out when specialty tools are required.

NCRS and this forum are invaluable and I do ask some stupid questions.

Bill

[Chris S.]

Re: What % of home restores make top flight

a monkey can do paint and bodywork". I can't believe those that pay $10K+ for a paint job. PT Barnum must have been right.

I disagree...
Most people dont have the time, the patience, the feel, the sight, the know how or training - let alone the tools, the place to do it or understand the chemistry behind it, or the process.
I have shown and taught couple hundred students what goes into the refinish process - some are really good........
so.....back to your statement - if monkeys can do paint and bodywork - go to a local car show.......it is a good head shaker.
sorry I respectfully disagree.
Also - there are even less really good combo men
either one is a good painter or a good body man
typically finding some one good or great at both is rare.

[Chris S.]

Re: What % of home restores make top flight

I would think that anyone trying for NCRS Top Flight from the beginning of a resto, the % success rate would be very high. The people who go after this from the beginning seem pretty dedicated so I would think a lot make it.

I agree - I started with three goals. Working towards those goals makes me more focused - which causes me to pay more attention to the details.

[Mike G.]

Re: What % of home restores make top flight

depends on who is doing the restoration not where they do it. my cars are done in my garage and they all get top flight. i have never built one that did not get top flight. i get a lot of help from my friends. i take a few years to do one but i take my time and do it right. i know a couple of guys here in the atlanta area that do c1 cars and do excellent work. carl etter builds 56 to 62 corvettes all the time and all of his stuff is top flight material. another guy david due( not sure of the spelling) builds 58 to 61 models. he builds about 1 per year and again all of his cars are as good as it gets. both guys are retired and both are ncrs members. both guys do excellent work out of back yard shops. lots of parts and lots of knowledge. my last car completed was my 57 fuelie and it is now a tripple crown car... built in a back yard shop.

[Patrick H.]

Re: What % of home restores make top flight

I disagree...
Most people dont have the time, the patience, the feel, the sight, the know how or training - let alone the tools, the place to do it or understand the chemistry behind it, or the process.
I have shown and taught couple hundred students what goes into the refinish process - some are really good........
so.....back to your statement - if monkeys can do paint and bodywork - go to a local car show.......it is a good head shaker.
sorry I respectfully disagree.
Also - there are even less really good combo men
either one is a good painter or a good body man
typically finding some one good or great at both is rare.

I'd agree.

23 years ago when in college I worked on my own car under the direction of a friend who is an excellent body man. He was starting out and let me keep my car there and work on it in my spare time. Having spent the many hours grinding, prepping, sanding, etc I learned that I detest sanding and I'd pay any day to have someone else do it. And, it's still quite possible to get tiger stripes and other defects with today's paints just like it was possible many years ago.

I have no problem paying for the right expertise. People pay me for mine every day.

Patrick

[Gene M.]

Re: What % of home restores make top flight

I can only answer from our chapter events as the judging chairman. The cars in our judging that receive top flight are right around 80% for guys that did the cars themselves to some extent. Of those 80% only about a third do the paint and body work. The majority of the guys that do the paint are only experienced with lacquer. Very few of us are experienced with urethanes.

Another area that owners shy away from is the engine internals. Most of them (again about 80%) have the engine/machine shop do it or drop it off to me.

Keep in mind that not all these cars are full frame off restorations. Many are frame on restored. Most of the cars were purchased and exhibit some form of restoration by previous owners. Our membership is mostly c1's (60%) followed by c2's (25%), everything else (15% and growing).

[Mike G.]

Re: What % of home restores make top flight

i dont do my own paint or body work. i dont build my motors and i send my suspention parts out to Bairs for restoration. only because i know better. i sent my carb out for restoration. i sent my smog stuff to hodel to restore. i sent all the brake stuff to lonestar, trim rings to rick miller,chrome to a local shop in atlanta,and al knoch will do the interior. you can find the right people on here to do most anything.