CORVETTE TODAY #94-Learn About The Muscle Cars and Corvette Nationals with Bob Ashton
0 views
May 8, 2025
Car Show season is right around the corner. One of the huge Corvette shows to put on your 2022 calendar is the Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals in November in Chicago. Your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, introduces you to the Managing Member if the show, Bob Ashton! Bob gives you all the details you need to know about this show. It's a terrific family event that happens the week before Thanksgiving. After you listen to this CORVETTE TODAY podcast, you'll add the MCACN show to your 2022 list of events to attend this year!
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music] welcome to corvette today the podcast
0:06
that talks about everything corvette with your host steve garrett mc and dj at one of the largest corvette weekends
0:12
in the country corvette fun fest president of the corvette club of kansas city missouri and radio disc jockey at
0:19
the number one radio station in kansas city for over 40 years here's steve garrett
0:28
thanks for listening to corvette today the podcast that talks about everything corvette brought to you by mid-america
0:34
motorworks pursue your passion at mamotoworks.com i'm your host steve
0:39
garrett i appreciate you tuning in you can listen to corvette today on all podcast platforms you can also listen on
0:45
your smart device just say alexa or hey google play the podcast called corvette today and you're connected also visit
0:52
the corvette today website it's corvette todaypodcast.com and while you're there make sure you
0:58
visit the corvette today merchandise store you can also sign up for corvette today emails notifications and updates
1:04
at corvette today dot ck dot page and don't forget join the corvette today
1:10
facebook group we have over 3 000 members and i'd love to have you as a member as well i'm also excited to tell
1:16
you about the new youtube channel for corvette today see your favorite corvette today podcasts now on youtube
1:22
first i'd like to thank our flagship sponsors of corvette today aerolary wheels a true forged wheel with over 20
1:28
unique design styles to choose from for your c8 wide body versions of the c7 c6
1:34
and c5 corvette it's an absurd value starting in only 1988 for a set of four
1:39
fully forged wheels and now use the new promo code ct111 that's ct111 and get
1:46
100 off your purchase visit arrowlaurie.com that's a-e-r-o-l-a-r-r-i
1:53
dot with the new promo code ct111 for your 100 discount also corvette fever
1:59
magazine corvette fever has been relaunched with an online and printed version the online version has
2:04
incredible interactivity with hidden photos and information and the printed version is nothing like you've ever seen
2:09
before huge and glossy get your free online version at corvettefevermag.com
2:14
you can also sign up for the printed version there as well corvette fever magazine come along for the ride also
2:21
mid-enginecorvetforum.com the forum that focuses on the new mid-engine c8 corvette meet a lot of
2:27
fellow corvette enthusiasts like yourself at mid-engine corvette forum dot com also a shout out to
2:33
canadiancorvetforum.com welcoming corvette owners from around the world my guest on today's show runs what is
2:40
called the super bowl of car shows it's the ultimate gathering place for car enthusiasts who have a passion for
2:46
horsepower and it's a can't miss event every november he's the managing member
2:51
of the muscle car and corvette nationals mr bob ashton bob welcome to corvette
2:56
today i'm honored to be with you i enjoy listening to your cast and let's get to talking about some cars that sounds good
3:02
well thanks for being on the show with me bob talk about your early years growing up what was your first
3:08
introduction to cars well i grew up in a car family i'm from the detroit area and
3:13
my father was actually the vice president general manager for chrysler insurance company out of detroit area
3:19
worked in highland park wow so he was an executive out there so one of the cool
3:24
little benefits of that job was the fact that we actually had three company cars at all times so he had his own design
3:30
car you would get a new one believe it or not every two months amazing so he would get a car and then we would fill
3:37
out an order form for the next car so it was an ongoing thing so we'd have five or six new cars for him then my mother
3:43
had a leased car for quite some time was a station wagon but then she ended up with some pretty prime muscle cars which
3:50
we'll probably talk about and then my older brother also had a leased car so we had quite a variety of cars chrysler
3:57
products needless to say that's kind of what planted the seed for me in the muscle car world that's amazing so talk
4:03
about your introduction in the muscle cars bob well as i say i was born in 1960 so i was a little bit behind as far
4:10
as being of driving age and all that but boy i can remember the colors and the cars and we used to have the dealer
4:16
order data books and that's how we used to order the cars my older brother started out as being the consultant for
4:22
my dad because believe it or not my dad wasn't much of a car guy huh he was a died in the wall chrysler guy even to
4:29
the point where if you pulled up in a new impala and put it in the driveway and said hey dad look at the new dodge
4:35
out in the driveway he probably wouldn't have noticed no kidding wow but my brother who's four years older than me
4:42
he was at the prime age so in the late 60s he was driving so when he was able
4:48
to get a lease car and get his hands on those order sheets that's where it started 340 darts dusters demons we had
4:55
them all that's amazing now talk about your introduction to corvettes then how'd you get from those cars to
5:01
corvette well i think it goes back to that same time period because we both know the sounds and the sights and the
5:08
smells that we all can remember like it was yesterday well up the street from me was the gentleman who worked at the gm
5:14
tech center his daily driver was a monaco orange 69 427 435 corvette coupe wow and i can
5:23
remember that car driving by my house like it was yesterday because that thing would just shake the ground and i would
5:29
sit there on my stingray bike and i'd hear him fire that car up from up the street and i would just stop and wait
5:34
for him to drive by so it was like such a cool curse then when i saw my first mid-year it was
5:41
a 63 split window so again it's like what the heck is this and that would have been the late 60s and again these
5:49
are the memories you just never forget it feels like it was yesterday when i saw that car and i could chose a sebring
5:55
silver it was a four speed it had a black interior and i remember looking at that back compartment thinking wow is
6:01
that cool that's kind of where it all started for me in the corvette world that's the same for me bob because the
6:07
first car that got me into corvettes was that 63 split window and i was just amazed and i'd love that those are some
6:14
great memories talk about some of the things that you did as a child that kind of got you into the automotive industry
6:20
where you really got into corvettes and muscle cars did you guys you and your brother maybe attend car shows stuff
6:26
like that well i was really into my stingray bike even back then because like a lot of kids when that orange
6:33
crate came out i wanted one yeah my dad took me up to our local schwinn dealer which is not too far actually still
6:39
exists to this day took me up there and i tell people when i saw that ad and boys life magazine with the kids sitting
6:46
at the drag strip next to the rail on his orange crate i said dad dad i got to get one of these bikes had a birthday
6:52
coming up so you know convinced them it was time for me to get this new bike well long story short we walked in there
6:57
he looked at the price tag it was 82.95 in 1969. wow it was like it's not going
7:04
to happen you aren't getting a hundred dollar bike but i did end up leaving the bike shop with a shiny blue stingray
7:10
deluxe next best thing but always wanted to have a great bike so i would ride my bike everywhere across the street from
7:18
my subdivisions is the packard proving grounds oh there was an annual show there which was called carnival of cars
7:25
and i used to ride my bike up there i would jump the cyclone fence to get into the car show and see all these amazing
7:33
cars and at that time there were a lot of classics there and it was a pretty diverse show so there would be some
7:39
newer stuff but of course little early on the muscle car end remember seeing like 55 t-birds but a lot of classics
7:45
packards duesenbergs big buicks and that so it was like wow this car thing's pretty cool there's such diversity and i
7:52
just love the lines and hearing the engines so i did that every year for quite a few years that's kind of another
7:59
part of where my passion for all things automotive started man those are some great memories bob well i tell you what
8:04
let's take our first break and in section number two we're going to talk about the beginnings of muscle cars and
8:10
corvette nationals here on corvette today vetfinders.com is the internet's
8:15
original corvette classified ads website with classified ads starting at just 25
8:21
and every ad runs until your corvette is sold if you're in the market for a corvette betfinders.com has over 500
8:28
corvettes for sale from all around the usa and canada and covering all eight generations visit vetfinders.com the
8:36
internet's destination for buying and selling corvettes that's v-e-t-t-e
8:41
finders.com mid-america motorworks has been the industry leader and aftermarket supplier
8:48
and manufacturer of corvette replacement parts and accessories since 1974. we
8:53
have what you need for all years and generations of corvette whether you need a door panel or seat cover for your c1
8:58
corvette or the latest shirt jacket hat or lifestyle accessory to complement your new c8 you can get it at
9:05
mid-american motor works so if you're restoring repairing replacing or simply researching your corvette mid-america
9:12
motorworks is the place to go visit our website at mamotoworks.com and shop corvettes by
9:18
generation or specific year or call us monday through saturday toll free at 800
9:23
500 1500 and talk to one of our corvette experts to help you get the right part
9:28
or accessory pursue your passion with mid-america motorworks
9:37
this is the corvette today podcast with steve garrett hey thanks for listening to corvette
9:44
today the podcast that talks about everything corvette brought to you by mid-america motorworks pursue your
9:50
passion at mamotoworks.com i'm your host steve garrett with me today is the managing
9:55
member of the muscle car and corvette nationals bob ashton in the second segment we're going to talk about the
10:00
early beginnings of that show bob talk about what prompted you to start a show like the muscle cars and corvette
10:06
nationals well i was always a car show guy and you know being from the detroit area of course i used to go to detroit
10:12
autorama and a new car show and all that i was always fascinated by being able to see all the shiny chrome and new things
10:19
that were coming out and whatnot and those hot rods so i ended up as a kid for some odd reason it was my dream to
10:26
become a car salesman i didn't want to be a baseball player or football player
10:32
i don't know why but for some reason i decided i needed to be a car salesman i originally had plans to go to northwood
10:39
institute out here in michigan and get a degree in automotive marketing well i
10:44
was running a ski shop while going to high school ended up getting laid off saw an ad for a local car dealership a
10:52
dodge dealership actually looking for a car salesman and i was 19 at the time i thought i'm probably too young i don't
10:58
have any experience my parents and my wife at the time i was actually married convinced me oh what the heck go in
11:04
there and see if they'll hire you you never know until you ask so i did went in and did indeed get hired so that was
11:10
the end of my future in going to northwood institute i ended up going to local community college part-time and
11:17
sold cars was actually quite successful at it right out of the gate wow that's fantastic so did that prompt you to
11:23
start the show well that led to some other openings one thing that happened
11:29
is i was able to meet quite a few people being in the detroit area that were in the auto industry and between that and
11:35
my father's connection and all that and then making a long story shorter i ended
11:41
up working for a company that was running a road show for general motors a variety of road shows actually i started
11:48
out working in a fabrication shop from there we had created a huge display at
11:54
that time was known as the gm tuner tour and what it was is something you'd see at maybe a nascar track or indianapolis
12:01
the big displays that were outside where they'd come in and promote their product i oversaw the management of that and
12:07
traveled throughout the country from there i ended up expanding my portfolio so that i was working with the cadillac
12:13
cts-v race team on their roadshow wow expanded over to the ford harley-davidson side and i did that
12:20
which meant i had to go out to sturgis and daytona and a variety of other
12:25
events throughout the country and that company had a different division which
12:30
was the company that puts on the world of wheels and autorama shows throughout the country they were in need of a show
12:37
manager and i thought huh that might be a cool thing and ask about how that worked and
12:43
the suggestion was to come up for me to make the jump from the marketing side with the road shows over to management
12:49
of world of wheels and autorama shows which i did that's really really cool so talk about your first envisionment of
12:56
the muscle car and sports cars national show well what ended up happening is they purchased the show known as the
13:02
chevy vet fest in chicago okay i've always been a muscle car guy and i thought when i went into the chevy vet
13:10
fest being a single bank show with a high focus on corvettes i thought wow this is a lot of fun you know this is
13:16
really a cool deal and i loved it the people were great on every side between the enthusiasm and the spectators and
13:23
the participants you go there to hear stories and share stories and i thought that was just a neatest thing around so
13:29
as i was running that show i thought man this could be applied to a variety of makes and models you could really expand
13:36
on this concept that's where i put a lot of emphasis on the camaros and the chevelles along with the corvettes and
13:43
decided that it was time to kind of kick things up a notch and focus on higher quality cars and also on recruiting cars
13:50
from outside of the general chicago area so i really wanted to offer the spectators a show that would give them
13:57
something they hadn't seen locally at the cruise nights and the local shows so that's kind of where that basic idea
14:03
started but then the expansion to the multi-make show that we have now came in
14:09
that i did see the success in the show and thought well if you could break this up into different brands and makes and
14:16
models then you can not only raise the level of quality for the vehicles in the show but you could also appeal to a
14:22
wider variety of spectators very true all right let's talk about that very first show bob when was the first muscle
14:29
car and corvette nationals you know talk about how many people attended how many people were actually in the show and
14:35
what year was the first show sure well our first show was in 2009 and one thing
14:40
that happened in between working for my former employer and the current regime
14:45
is that i spent three years pitching the concept of doing a mix make show with the emphasis on higher-end cars to my
14:53
former employer for three years and each year i'd come through with a nice presentation telling all the
14:59
benefits of how this could work first couple years they sat it down said no we're not quite ready for that we don't
15:05
think it's the time to do that okay well the third year i had several years of success with the chevy vet fest
15:11
attendance was going up the quality of the show was going up thought well this is the year where they're going to go
15:16
for it this is where we're really going to kick things up a notch and i went in did my presentation and lo and behold
15:22
they said nah we think this whole muscle car thing and this passion for the corvettes is kind of dying so we don't
15:28
see any future in it and i was like what so i went home depressed and sat down
15:36
with my wife and my wife said you know what why don't you do it on your own i said what do you mean she goes why don't
15:42
we roll with the punches and give this a go because if you don't do it you're going to be sorry for the rest of your
15:47
life kids are set they're comfortable we don't have to worry about them anymore we're financially okay you've got some
15:53
good friends and supporters that i think would be on board so why don't we roll the dice and do it i thought well that
15:59
means no benefits it means no guaranteed paycheck but you know what if you're up for it i'm up for it let's do it so i
16:06
contacted a gentleman by the name of stefano bimby who was my title sponsor
16:11
for the chevy vet fest told him what was going on and what our thoughts were and he said give me 24 hours give me a call
16:17
back tomorrow and i didn't really have any idea what he was thinking i thought that he was going to offer me a job
16:23
because he knew i was kind of depressed about the situation with my employer well i called him back the next day and
16:28
he said you know that muscle car show you always dream of yeah you're ready to launch it we've been talking about it
16:34
we're trying to figure out how to make this happen but jesus it's a whole lot of money and he goes well if i could
16:40
tell you this guy this guy this guy and this guy were ready to make a large deposit in your bank account would you
16:45
put a year aside to launch the show the way you really want to do it my jaw dropped and was like looking out of
16:51
winning numbers on a lottery ticket and i said you're darn right i wouldn't well lo and behold by the end of the week we
16:56
were contacting the building and we had started up an llc with partners and we
17:01
were off and running to start the new muscle car corvette national show the rest is history right
17:07
absolutely best thing i ever did in my life i'm gonna tell you my group what we
17:13
call ourselves members we don't call ourselves partners our group is made up of like-minded enthusiasts and these
17:19
guys are all successful business people in their own right and they're also from across the country so they're not all
17:25
local chicago or detroit area guys we've got one in new york a couple out in phoenix one in california one in
17:31
virginia one in chicago so we're kind of a diverse group of guys each of the
17:37
partners also have their own specific passion one of them is colin comber
17:42
who's well known as a shelby historian and author and stephano bimbi being the owner of nikki performance out in
17:48
chicago and steve jogger who's very passionate about original and unrestored cars these guys all bring something to
17:56
the table it makes our show different than anything out there right out of the gate in 2009 i guess you could say it
18:03
was a bunch of networking where these guys and myself were out calling and
18:08
beating the bushes to get people to bring quality cars from out of state to get the show launched and come out with
18:14
a bang we didn't want to just have a show that had 10 or 12 good cars and a couple hundred average cars we came out
18:20
of the gate i can remember the first gt40 that we had confirmed and then it was like okay here's the fifth or sixth
18:27
yenko here's another heavy car it was absolutely amazing lineup that we had
18:33
right out of the gate we hit the ground running that's amazing what a great story bob now it's held every year
18:39
obviously tell us what city you're in and what the venue is yeah we're actually in rosemont illinois although
18:45
we're known as the chicago show it's suburban chicago we're about a half hour outside of downtown and rosemont is
18:51
right by o'hare airport oh and that was one of the reasons we chose that area is because of the proximity to the airport
18:58
and the neatest thing about that community is they've really embraced what we do there is a wide variety of
19:05
not only hotels and restaurants but just about anything else you could ever want within walking distance one of the
19:11
things i learned from producing shows is sometimes people bring people along that
19:17
may not necessarily have as much enthusiasm or passion as you and i have right maybe wise girlfriends boyfriends
19:24
whatever the case may be that are like yeah another car show okay well rosemont has what they call a rosemont
19:30
entertainment district and in that they've got indoor skydiving a movico
19:35
movie theater a wide variety of restaurants that range from anywhere from burger king on up to steakhouses
19:42
there's a 130 store outlet mall within walking distance that in a proximity to
19:48
o'hare and a wide variety of hotels which means i get to beat the hotels up
19:53
and get great rates made it the perfect place for what we do that's fantastic and what is the venue that you hold it
19:59
in it's called the donald e stephens convention center right on north river road in rosemont like our host hotels we
20:05
actually have six official host hotels five of them are right across the street the other one is just a couple blocks
20:11
away you just walk outside of your hotel room right in the convention center it's a beautiful convention center and we
20:18
occupy about 400 000 square feet that's amazing well talk about the setup of the
20:23
show bob because you've got muscle cars you got corvettes do you mix them together or do the corvettes have their
20:28
own area well that's kind of a yes and no answer every year i do a wide variety
20:34
of special and invitational displays among those there's a couple that are corvette specific and one that we're
20:40
really really proud of we have what is known as the triple diamond competition and the triple diamond which is
20:45
sponsored by corvette central is something that the best of the best corvettes compete for it's a very tough
20:53
judging criteria set up for that all applicants for that must first acquire an ncrs top flight award and bloomington
21:01
gold certification so that kind of tells you right out of the gate you're going to get the best of the best that are applying for this our incentive for
21:07
people to get their cars out there and show them and of course show with guy larson out at bloomington gold and then
21:13
go into the ncrs events and then giving you a goal to hit those events and then to come to us for kind of the crowning
21:20
glory with our triple diamond so that has grown into one of the biggest features of our show and we set that up
21:28
as a timeline so every year i'll take the earliest model that we get we generally do get 53s and 4s and 5. i
21:35
think just about every year we've had at least the 53 or 54 and sometimes multiples and then we'll set those up
21:41
chronologically to tell the story of the corvette so that's a really neat and fun display and this past year we had our
21:49
largest field of contenders we had nearly 50 contenders for triple diamond it was a sight to see i mean just to
21:56
stand there and see these cars lined up in chronological order it's just so much fun it's really a neat display in itself
22:03
then we also do another display which i actually change up every year that's called corvette legends and what i'll do
22:09
is come up with a particular theme that again is different every year to keep it fresh of some sort of special variation
22:16
of the corvette so in the past we've done l88 displays we've done zl6 display
22:22
one year this year i'm really excited because we've got something i've been kind of working on for a while with a
22:28
gentleman out of albuquerque new mexico and he has assembled a collection of
22:34
tankers and he has every year 63 to 67 tanker and he is going to bring out six
22:41
of his from his collection so that's the basis for our corvette legends display this year that sounds amazing well bob
22:48
let's take our final break and in segment number three we're going to talk about this year's muscle car and corvette nationals here on corvette
22:55
today american hydrocarbon your one-stop shop for custom interior exterior and
23:01
engine bay items for your c4 through c8 corvette we can help you create a custom look for
23:07
your core bet with carbon fiber or 10 different color patterns and styles we've served customers in over 28
23:14
countries all around the world whether it's a custom-made engine cover for your new c8-bit engine corvette or
23:20
custom-made c4 interior upgrades american hydrocarbon can help you transform your corvette into a
23:27
best-in-class show car our products have been featured in vet and corvette magazines so give us a call 813-476-5600
23:36
that's 813-476-5638 and now we're proud to announce that we can produce and
23:42
distribute officially licensed gm products with a c8 corvette that includes the front splitter the side
23:48
skirts engine appearance panels and engine fluid caps see everything on our new updated website
23:53
americanhydrocarbon.com yogi berra once said if you don't know where you're going you'll probably end
24:00
up there at true wealth and company we take that to heart see a true wealth and company we believe your retirement
24:06
lifestyle travels through two doors door number one the blue door gives you more options financial freedom your money
24:12
outlives you every happiness you wish for in life is through the blue door door number two the red door is where
24:18
you outlive your money you rely on family friends or even the state to take care of you at true wealth and company
24:23
we're not just financial planners the best way to walk through the blue door is to have a written plan make a work
24:29
optional lifestyle a reality with our proprietary true life map formula look towards your future with anticipation
24:35
not apprehension having a rock solid fiduciary partner like true wealth and company is essential to effective
24:41
financial planning there's no winging it there's nothing left to chance look we don't want you to become another yogi
24:47
berries give us a call today at 913-653-true visit us online at retirewithtrue.com
24:54
start your financial independence and work optional lifestyle today 913-653-878 visit us online at
25:01
retirewithtrue.com investment advice offer through true wealth and company llc a registered investment advisor in the state of kansas
25:08
and now back to corvette today with your host and my husband steve garrett
25:15
hey thank you very much for listening to corvette today the podcast that talks about everything corvette brought to you
25:21
by mid-america motorworks pursue your passion at mamotoworks.com i'm your host steve garrett with me is
25:28
the managing partner of the muscle car and corvette nationals bob ashton in this final segment we're going to talk
25:33
about today's show now bob where is the show for 2022 and where can people buy tickets absolutely we're at the donald d
25:40
stevens convention center which is in rosemont illinois and it's suburban chicago they say about a half an hour
25:46
outside of chicago right off of 294 and tickets go on sale in october okay
25:52
you can buy tickets online through our website it is a public show so you can come right into the box office in the
25:58
lobby and purchase your tickets on site very nice all right how does an owner enter and register for the show so you
26:04
like discuss the process that they go through to be accepted to exhibit at the show well it's gotten to the point now
26:11
where i pretty much hand select almost every car in the show so it's become somewhat of an invitational type thing
26:18
and we'll have about 530 to 550 cars in the show and of those
26:23
probably 400 or more will be ones that i've hand-picked and that i've recruited through going to shows and working with
26:29
various collectors that we've formed relationships over the years but you can apply online you know we're always
26:34
looking for the best of the best and we're always looking for fresh cars especially i give a lot of emphasis to
26:40
cars that are rarely and sometimes never shown to the public because a lot of times people will come out from private
26:46
collections where they don't usually go to the regular car shows and that so that's kind of what we spotlight those
26:51
cars that aren't normally seen by the public very cool now talk about some of the vendors that exhibit there at the
26:57
show as well because it's not just car shows you can see vendors there at the show as well absolutely what i really
27:03
pride myself on is the fact that we are 100 automotive related one of our primary
27:08
sponsors are our presenting sponsors bill stasek chevrolet and the team out there jeremy stasek and the crew are
27:15
prime corvette they're one of the largest corvette dealers in the country so they've been with us since our
27:20
inception and they have a fantastic display again kind of chronicles the corvette they'll bring in some older
27:26
ones and they always have the newest and the latest and they're a callaway dealer too so that's a really fun thing to see
27:33
corvette central is our sponsor for our triple diamond they're always there without fully supporting what we do but
27:38
as far as regular vendors go we are automotive related so you're going to see a wide variety of car stuff
27:44
memorabilia automobilia and all that i really pride myself in the fact that we don't have as i call uh headset hawkers
27:50
or travel agencies you come in there you're going to see the best of the best from the automotive world and it's
27:56
really neat because it gives you a great opportunity to interact with people face to face and meet these people that are
28:02
hands-on you know whether they're selling nos parts or the latest in die cast and memorabilia in that you're
28:07
going to see the best of the best at our show very cool man that's amazing now do people sometimes sell their muscle cars
28:14
or corvettes during the muscle car and corvette nationals there is a lot of wheeling and dealing going on now we do
28:20
have two areas that are specific to car sales i have what i call a vip car
28:25
corral that will generally have eight to ten very high end premium cars that apply with us that's in what we call our
28:32
vip car corral and then i have a standard we call it the car corral which is located at the back of the show and
28:38
even that we screen those cars so it's not a matter of just sending in your check and bring it into your old beater and put it on the floor it's got to be a
28:44
good prime collectible car that will usually have about anywhere from 15 to 20 cars that are being offered for sale
28:51
wow that's nice now talk more about the awards as well because that triple diamond is a cool deal talk about that
28:57
process and how the awards are handed out one of the other things that may be a little different than a lot of shows is that we have such diversity in our
29:05
judging and we actually offer what we call a non-judged pick eligible category
29:11
this is something i'd learned from working for the other company we've never put cars against each other
29:16
directly so cars are judged on their own merit they're judged as bronze silver
29:22
and gold level it's a point system so gold level award would be 950 points or
29:27
higher in the case of the concourse classes it's very very intense they'll
29:32
start out with a four page judging sheet cars are judged inside outside underneath by our team of mark
29:38
specialist in other words if you have a corvette say you have a c2 it's being judged by c2 specialists you don't have
29:45
a guy who would look at a mustang and then come over and look at your corvette so you're getting premium high quality
29:51
and very intense judging when it comes to our concours and concourse day two type judging then we have what we call
29:57
super street super street is more of a fit and finish type thing so that's something that you'd want to have if the
30:03
car was not restored to factory stock so maybe you did a color change or maybe it's a pro modified car we'll have a few
30:09
of those in the show also huh that's the fit and finish type thing but one of the things i learned from my previous
30:16
employer is i never as i say put cars in the first second third type thing so we do go by levels bronze silver gold now
30:23
you can have two cars side by side so you have 267 427 435 corvettes that are
30:29
side by side guy on the right might score 9.99 he could have a close to perfect car guy on the left might have
30:35
scored 951 so he just squeaked his way into a gold now those guys know what
30:40
they got but we don't publish that number we just published the level okay
30:45
it's up to the owner whether they want to disclose that some other things we do we do what's called vintage
30:50
certification vin certification is designed as we say it's all about
30:56
preservation instead of restoration so some might refer to these cars as survivors the emphasis is put on
31:03
documenting and looking and inspecting cars that are unrestored so that's a
31:08
special section that we have and that's been a hit that is really taken off with the popularity of unrestored cars and we
31:15
have two ultra high levels of judging which are called pinnacle and milestone
31:21
a pinnacle and milestone is designed for those very few people that will restore
31:26
a car back to originally as it was when it left the assembly line what that means is might have some coarse paint it
31:33
might have a couple of runs in the paint the undercoating might be a little sloppy but it also has a requirement
31:40
that all parts must be oem original no reproduction parts right down to the
31:46
tire that's a super super high very very intense three to four hour judging on a
31:51
lift type of standard we have pinnacle for shelbys and fords and we have milestones for other brains including
31:57
corvettes so that's something new that we launched last year that's amazing some people we realize love to show
32:03
their cars but they don't necessarily need another award so our non-judged pick eligible category is for people
32:10
that basically just want to go out and share their cars and the stories and have some fun and not have to worry about the car being judged so that's
32:17
been very popular and instead of just making it a non-judged category we hand out about 80 to 100 pick awards
32:24
in fact when you're joining us in november you're going to be one of the guys that's going to have to pick out your favorites we use our celebrities
32:31
and magazine editors and some of our staff members they will choose a car purely because they like it not because
32:38
it's got the best members matching drive train or the shiniest pain maybe something that stirs up some memories as
32:44
i say this would be something that i would have you do when you attend a show and have a pick award that you would
32:50
present well bob i'm ready i'm coming in november so i'll be happy to do that that'll be exciting i'd love to do that
32:57
talk about some of the celebrities that you've had at the shows well again there our focus is always on the car people so
33:03
this past november we had a blast i had what i call the legends of drag racing so we brought a bunch of the 60s and 70s
33:11
drag racers we had butch leo we had arnie beswick again there we did one of our panel discussions so we're very car
33:18
related over the years courtney hansen of overhaul and fame and now her new show she joins us on a fairly regular
33:25
basis we have a lot of fun with her as i say our emphasis is always on car people having car people get the spotlight and
33:32
be able to share their knowledge and their enthusiasm for what we're all about just having a lot of fun that
33:37
sounds great boy talk about some of the seminars that you have during the show absolutely again there we really focus
33:43
on the hobby we do a lot of drag race and road race type things we're not so much into the technical end as far as
33:50
our seminars and panel discussions one of the things again you know talking about having some fun interaction we did
33:56
something which i plan on continuing to do throughout the years that focuses on the younger enthusiasts we want to make
34:02
sure that this hobby has some legs to it so we put together a panel discussion last year that had a group of six
34:08
younger enthusiasts they range in age from 13 on up to 22. we had two young
34:14
lady one that races in the pure stock division another who restored a duster with her father and we had our youngest
34:20
actual car owner meaning he really i guess he couldn't have his name on the title because he was too young but at 13
34:26
years old kristoff came in with his 65 barracuda so we thought it'd be pretty neat to have him tell a little bit about
34:32
how he got into the hobby and how much passion he has for what we do how cool is that that's amazing we also do
34:39
informative seminars we had bruce shaw do a really neat seminar this past year that told a little bit about what to
34:46
look for when you're buying a car online the do's and don'ts our good friend john cramen always does seminar with us and
34:53
we've had him do a variety of seminars over the years ranging from auction highlights and what to buy what to look
35:00
for and trends in the upcoming years as far as what's going on in our hobby and jim madison from pontiac historic
35:06
services has done various seminars over the years i was just on the phone yesterday with a gentleman talking about
35:13
a very special 1963 tempest that was raised back in the day it has a very
35:19
interesting race history that will be joining us this coming year for discussion about the historical aspect
35:25
of that car that's cool i love the variety that you've got and i know you talked briefly about the kids i know
35:30
kids are an important part of what you try to do at the muscle car and corvette nationals talk about the things that
35:36
kids can do while the show is going on well they really are much like what we were saying earlier when we're talking
35:41
about having spouses that come along that may not have as much passion or enthusiasm i'm a grandfather now and i'm
35:47
fortunate that i have a pretty car savvy group of grandkids and a son who's very
35:53
active he shares my enthusiasm and passion for the hobby too maybe because i'm a grandparent now i'm starting to
35:59
recognize that these kids that we get to come to the show we need to make sure they make this something they want to do
36:05
every year so we've been really really big on having a wide variety of activities for kids they range anywhere
36:12
from just a simple coloring contest which really isn't a contest it's not a competition it's for fun we do hot
36:17
wheels races we do a model car make and take which is real fun where kids can
36:23
come in and we give them a free model car kit and we have a gentleman by the name of charlie crowe who's a master
36:29
model builder he'll sit and he helps them he doesn't build the cars for him but he'll give him a little bit of assistance it's kind of designed to
36:36
plant that seed where it's like hey there's some cool stuff here that is cool we do a scavenger hunt with our
36:41
sponsors where all the sponsors jump on board and give out neat prizes and they actually give out some pretty cool stuff
36:48
so all designed to keep the passion alive and to give these kids something to look forward to every year it's
36:54
really been rewarding for me because in our 13 years of producing the show i've seen some of these kids come in where
37:00
they're kind of dragged along when they were five or six years old and now they're like either they're getting ready to work on a real car or in some
37:07
cases they're so looking forward to coming back and building another model car or getting in some of the cars with
37:13
the hangar to use judging program that we do and so people ask me is there a future in the hobby i can tell you there
37:19
absolutely is we're seeing more young people that are getting involved than we ever have absolutely i agree with you
37:25
100 bob talk about your social media outlets and how someone can contact you bob of course we've got a website which
37:32
is real simple it's just our business name shortened so it's ncacn which stands for muscle car and
37:38
corvettenationals.com we're on facebook same thing it's just muscle car corvette nationals i try to put something on
37:44
there every day there's just so much going on all year round with our show between exciting cars that have entered
37:50
and people that are joining us and all that so it's not too hard to post something every day of the year 365 days
37:58
you can always get the most up-to-date information on our facebook page our website is pretty informative and it's
38:04
got some photo galleries and information about judging and hotel links all kinds
38:09
of information that you can use and all the common questions and whatnot we work real hard to keep it up to date that's
38:15
ncacn.com and facebook you can just look us up as muscle car and corvette nationals
38:21
perfect well bob thank you so much for taking the time to be on corvette today i really look forward to seeing you in
38:27
november up in rosemont i appreciate you having the opportunity to spread the word you are overdue and we look forward
38:34
to having you come and join us i'm going to get you up there to do a little panel discussion and some seminars too i think
38:39
there's a lot of knowledge that you could share that people would like to hear i'd be thrilled and excited to do
38:44
that that sounds like a date done deal thanks for listening to corvette today and please be sure to tell your family
38:50
friends and other corvette enthusiasts about the corvette today podcast and also thanks to our flagship sponsors
38:56
mid-america motorworks pursue your passion at mamotoworks.com american hydrocarbon at
39:02
americanhydrocarbon.com true wealth and company at retirewithtrue.com
39:07
also aerolary wheels get 100 off your purchase with the new promo code ct111
39:13
at arrowlaurie.com you've been listening to corvette today
39:19
with steve garrett if you'd like to contact steve with any thoughts on the podcast or ideas for guests on corvette
39:25
today you can email him at stevegarrettdj gmail.com
39:30
that's stevegarrettdjmail.com garrett has two r's and two t's or
39:37
connect with steve on social media on facebook twitter or instagram using at steve garrett dj
39:44
thanks again for listening to corvette today [Music]
40:09
you
#Autos & Vehicles
#Classic Vehicles
#Custom & Performance Vehicles
#Motor Vehicles (By Brand)
#Vehicle Shows