January 5, 2010

The 3rd Annual Corvette Market Seminar in Scottsdale, AZ, is fast approaching.  Held on January 21, at 9:00 a.m., it features no-holds-barred discussions with the industry luminaries.  Ask them questions about the Corvette Market!  Click here to send us your seminar questions and here to register for the Seminar. Admission will be complimentary for Corvette Market subscribers, owners of Bloomington Gold Certified Corvettes and registered bidders and consignors.

November 19, 2009

Join David Burroughs and Keith Martin at The Corvette Market Insider's Seminar, recognized as the place for Corvette collectors to gather and exchange opinions and information about the market.  Bloomington Gold is a proud sponsor for this event.

This year, the seminar will be held as a part of the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car auction in Scottsdale, AZ, January 21, 2010. Admission will be complimentary for Corvette Market subscribers and registered bidders and consignors.

Email Mary Artz of Corvette Market for more information or call 503.261.0555 ext 204.

November 10, 2009

Our good friends at Hagerty Insurance have created a video entitled "Series 2 Spotters Guide".  This project shows David Burroughs evaluating a Corvette.  Please click here to watch the video.

October 21 , 2009

The article, "Bloomington Gold..." by Russell Williams, appears in Volume 12 of Official C5/C6 Registry Publication.  It is reprinted here with their permission.  Please click here to read the entire issue.

October 6 , 2009

It has come to our attention that there are rumors swirling about the Bloomington Gold Show.  We have a signed contract with Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles to have our show there through 2013.  The dates for the upcoming shows are:

October 6 , 2009

The article "Bloomington: The Glitter of Gold" by Bob Stevens, appears in the December 2009 issue of Corvette Enthusiast.  Please click here to read the FREE digital edition of Corvette Enthusiast.

September 28 , 2009

The following article "Bloomington Gold, Restored or Original, The Country's Best Corvettes are Always Shown Here" by Richard Lentinello, appears in the November 2009 issue of Hemmings Motor News. This is printed courtesy of Hemmings Motor News.

Please click here for the article by Richard Lentinello

September 16, 2009

At our 2009 show, Angie Cordell and John Finlay got engaged to be married.  Below is Angie's heartwarming story:

Cheers to the Grand Finale of my wait for the right man!  If I needed to describe the man of my life I would say he is a deeply loyal, passionate, good hearted, best friend, driven and strong.  His touch makes me feel like a beautiful woman.  My love for John runs beyond the simple key strokes that set up this document.  He brings my life to a fork in the road that was always the path we were meant to arrive at together. 

To bring the story up to speed, I was part of John’s life in college.  He and I studied for all classes together, walked down the long isle beside one another to take the diploma, and have driven parallel paths with our careers and life hobbies.     

I read once that you should: 

                  Risk more than others think you should risk.

                  Care more than others think you should care.

                  Dream more than others think you should dream.

                  Expect more than others think you should expect.

I believe now is my chance to expect to dream of a wonderful life with no care in the world that I am risking my heart.  John is the safest investment of my heart, mind and spirit. 

John planned a trip to the Bloomington Gold Corvette show this year to be present for the prestigious award of Gold Certification of the 1962, “MAX”.  His parent’s came along to witness this event as they had originally been the owners before they presented “Max” to John as a graduation gift of achievement.   The new owner had contacted John back in early winter of 08 to invite us to the show.  John has been planning the trip all year and we traveled with his parents in our convertible corvettes, “Ardun”,

 and the “Silver Bullet”.   

Once we arrived at the show the excitement was electric in the judging areas around the cars. The cars gleamed in the noon sun.  The sky presented the sun with the crisp blue you expect on perfect summer days.  People were wondering around the cars respecting the proper distance from the judging but pausing to watch as the judges carefully and skillfully checked off the list of specs that qualify for the highest award of “GOLD”.

I was amped up to be at this show again.  This was the first Corvette show that John and I come to years ago with the COCOA Corvette Club.  We reminisced on the trip from Ohio about the first time we made this trip as best friends.  John recalled the pains of traffic in “Amon” our 1985 coupe.  The corvette life had just begun for me.   

“Max” was B1 in the front row; he had already been gone over with a critical eye by the panel of judges that morning at 8:00am.  The new owner Jonathan was standing with his 3 year old son, Kenneth and “Max”.   We approached the small group to meet and greet the family.  All eyes were on “Max” as the story of his frame off restoration unfolded and rebuild of his drivetrain progressed.  I listened and stepped only far enough away to take some historic photos of this once in a lifetime event for all of us. 

I could hear the details of the conversation, but I got lost in my pictures as always.  The memories flooded my head of first time I ever saw “Max”.  John and I had talked in college about cool cars and we shared favorites.  I told John then I would get butt naked to sit in a 1962 corvette.  He replied, “Really!” but never gave his little secret away. My first glimpse of “Max” was after a long study group for finals had wound down and John asked if I would take some thing out to the garage.  I opened the door of the garage to meet “Max”, a convertible 1962 white corvette for the first time.  As you can well expect my mouth dropped.  Behind me I heard, “Did you mean what you said?”  Referring to the conversation of cool cars.  He had never told me he had a 1962 Corvette because of the Corvette stigma that some people have. 

My attention was soon back on the car and the family that now owned it.  Jonathan’s wife and daughter had arrived to greet us.  So I returned my attention to conversations at hand.

She stood proudly next to Jonathan and their two children. I was thinking of how great it would be if John and I could get some photos with various groups with “Max”.  So I asked if we could get some pictures.  Everyone was happy to help and stood as expected for the shots.  I got an idea that it would be cool to get a photo of John and me inside “Max”.  

In that next few precious minutes my life took a new direction.  John opened the door for me, as he always does, to get inside.  He came to the drivers’ side of “Max” and got in slower than I would have expected as it was someone else’s car and we were just getting a picture and then getting out, so I thought.               

Once inside he leaned over to me and I saw his eyes.  The color blue had never been so brilliant.  John fixed his gaze on me as he kissed me softly and gently asked, “Will you marry me?”   I pulled back to see the blue eyes of a man who was giving me his heart and a ring that he slipped on my finger.  He then asked, “Yes or No?” as I had not yet said a word and could not form a sentence.  I then found the strength to say a “YES”.  I realized in that very moment that John had just changed my life forever.  He had just made my dreams of a life with him come true.  I must have been welling over with tears because he jokingly asked me to keep it together as we got out of the car. 

I was hoping to get a historic photo of the most beautiful 1962 Corvette with the most important man in my life and “Max” made another dream possible for me.  This car has a rich history for John and his father followed by memories made by John and myself.  No one could have prepared me for this day.  I floated the rest of the day on a cloud. 

The judging had begun for the cars and the awards were to be given out the next day at noon.  All of the events at the Bloomington show were in full swing and we walked around looking at the cars and people who own them. 

I frequently glanced down at my left ring finger.  “Did that really happen?”  Yes it did!

John’s mom was often by my side giving a loving squeeze as if to say, yes my dear you are going to marry my son.  Her hugs reassured my beating heart. 

The next day I woke to see the face of a man who asked me to marry him.  His morning snuggle kept me close to his heart beat.  He held me tight and whispered in my ear, “Guess what?  You have a fiancé now.  No more worries about the men asking if you are taken.”  I took a deep breath to somehow inhale the moment. 

Our hearts were full and our minds excited about the possibility of a Gold Certification award for “Max”.  We arrived at the show in time to spend time talking to Jonathan and see the lineup for the awards.  No one knew if he or she had gotten the Gold, Silver or Bronze award until called upon to drive up to the presenter.  Anticipations were high as “Max” was called to the lineup.                                                                        

“The Bloomington Gold award goes to: Jonathan Spivey and his 1962 Corvette. “

Max drove proudly up to receive the ultimate achievement award.

January 18, 2008

The following article by Drew Hardin appeared in the July 2007 issue of Muscle Car Review.

What, Exactly, is a Survivor?

Depending on how into the car hobby you are, the first answer that came to mind was probably either “TV show” or “unrestored      original car.” You probably didn’t go to “registered trademark.”

Turns out all three answers are correct. In the wake of the “Survivors” theme on the cover our Winter 2006 issue, I got a call from contributor Arvid Svendsen,  who said I should have a chat with David Burroughs, the founder of the Bloomington Gold Corvette show. Burroughs told Svendsen that he had, in fact, trademarked the term “survivor” as it relates to collector cars. “He wants to protect the term as a criteria for judging a car’s originality, and he wants to talk to you about it,” Arvid explained.  

Honestly, my first reaction wasn’t a positive one. I was concerned that Burroughs, who I had never met, was going to try to limit the way we talk about unrestored, original cars and possibly even wave the threat of trademark infringement if we didn’t comply with his wishes.  

I did all that in my paranoid little brain before actually picking up the phone to talk to him. I can be dumb that way.  

David Burroughs is a pleasant, well-spoken, earnest individual who cares deeply about preserving authentic cars. While showing his original Corvette back in the early ’70s, he noticed the shows were doing a great job of handing trophies to car owners who dressed up their rides with flashy paint, plated trim and other gaudy doo-dads. An owner who wanted to preserve his car in factory-delivered condition – original or restored – had little chance of collecting metal.  

Burroughs felt there should be a way to reward those who wanted to preserve a car’s authenticity. So he started the Bloomington show for like-minded Corvette owners, and a few years later developed the Bloomington Gold Certification process.  

A Bloomington Gold certificate is awarded by expert judges who assess a Corvette’s condition as being within 95 percent of the way it left the factory. The car can be original or restored, but it has to be authentic and no better than when it rolled off the assembly line.  

That was in 1978. Ten years later, Burroughs noticed that, as time took its toll on original, unrestored Corvettes, some otherwise fine cars were being dismantled and restored in the quest for a Gold certificate. So in 1989, Burroughs developed another judging system: Cars that were at least 20 years old, were unrestored, could pass a 40-mile road test, and still had at least 50 percent of their factory finishes in good enough condition to act as a template for the restoration of a similar car earned what he called a “Survivor” award. At the time, Burroughs trademarked the “Survivor” name.

The result was two-fold. Burroughs now had a way to identify and reward those who left nice cars unmolested. But so did the rest of the collector car hobby. “You look at Hemmings or any other magazine that advertised cars for sale prior to 1989 and you won’t see the term ‘survivor’ used to describe a car,” he told me. “Then, when people got the concept, they’d advertise their car as a ‘survivor.’”  

Three or four years ago, Burroughs saw an “explosion” in the use of the term, which sounds like it corresponded to the start of the current musclecar market craziness. And it worried him. “People who were using the term inaccurately were going to dilute it and make the concept meaningless,” he said. To him, many of these so-called survivors were just original, unrestored cars not nice enough to preserve. Others were worse – modified cars that blatantly misused the term.  

 “Any trademark protects the buyer and the seller,” he explained. “A buyer of a Survivor car should be able to say there truly was value added to the car, that an expert declared it as meeting those standards set by Bloomington Gold in 1989.” 

All well and good, except that, for one thing, it’s hard to protect a trademark when it becomes the generic name for a product. Just ask the folks at Kleenex, Xerox, Velcro, and so on. Also, while there are judges who grant Survivor status to Corvettes at Burroughs’ show, no similar panel exists to do the same for any other segment of the hobby.  

At least, not yet. Burroughs wants to get other car groups on board with his Survivor criteria, so that Survivor status can be a consistent standard, whether you’re talking Corvettes, Mustangs, or any other collectible vehicle. Towards that end, he hopes to start a show open only to these original, unrestored, high-caliber vehicles. He’ll also be happy to grant the trademark rights to other groups, provided they establish an expert panel to verify a car’s authenticity.  

“This has nothing to do with money or protecting Bloomington Gold,” he said. “We see it as a chance for collectors, while there’s still time, to get involved and protect these cars. We’re not trying to change the world, just trying to change the direction of a few people. In 25 years I’d like to be able to say, ‘Isn’t it neat that we set up this thing to protect these cars.’ I’m not doing this for the next car show. I’m doing it for car shows 25 years out.”

Drew Hardin

drew.hardin@primedia.com

Muscle Car Review

July 2007 Issue

January 16, 2008

The following two articles appear in the Winter 2008 issue of Keith Martin's Corvette Market, published January 2008.

“Earthquake 88s” Will Shake Up St. Charles

Bloomington Gold expects to show 50-plus L88s, and the first “All-Brand Survivor Show” will be open to 20-year-old collector cars

by Paul Duchene

Corvette fans heading to the 2008 Bloomington Gold show at Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Illinois, can expect an even bigger version of the “Earthquake 88” event, which was held 20 years ago.

For the upcoming June 26–29 event, Bloomington Gold CEO David Burroughs has announced the featured model will be the thundering, high-compression, aluminum-head L88 Corvette. He plans to assemble more than 50 of them in the building where Gold School took place in 2007, across the highway from Pheasant Run. There were 216 L88s built in all—20 in 1967, 80 in 1968, and 116 in 1969.

In addition, on Sunday, June 29, the event will intro­duce the first All-Brand Survivor Show on the Pheasant Run Golf Course.

“If you think you have a survivor of any marque, you are invited,” says Burroughs. “The car has to be 20 years old and be driven there. It can be a pickup truck or a car. We’re expecting everything, including Mopars, Corvettes, Packards, and Duesenbergs.”

Burroughs stresses this will not be a Corvette-focused show; there are plenty of Corvette events at the festival, including an auction and Benchmark and Survivor judg­ing. Entrants for the All-Brand Survivor Show can register on the Bloomington Gold web site.

“We just want people to enjoy this. There’s no judging and nobody has to worry about driving his car to the event and having somebody say, ‘What are you doing here? This isn’t even close.’ If you think it belongs and you register, you’re in,” says Burroughs.

Burroughs plans to have an education tent set up with examples of Mustangs, Corvettes, and Pontiac GTOs to illustrate Benchmark standards and Survivor standards, as well as cars that don’t qualify, so entrants can see where their cars fit in.

“Instructors will be on hand to discuss what we’re looking for. Nobody will win or lose or be embarrassed,” he says.

Entrants interested in becoming judges in different classes will be advised on how to apply and on what’s involved in judging.

“The next year, we’ll do it again and audition Survivor judges to see if they pass. Judges will be certified once they are qualified. The third

year we’ll have Survivor judging.”

He says Bloomington Gold is also expanding its Road Tour schedule. “We’ve had road tours since the 1980s, but we’re announcing off-season tours to the Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountains, and the Indy 500, for example.”

Burroughs is also taking the Bloomington Gold judging school on the road in May, with three seminars planned so far, in Hartford Connecticut, Chicago, Illinois, and possibly Atlanta, Georgia.

“The seminars are to help people understand how we judge and attendees can decide if they are interested in learning how to become judges themselves.” ■

Bloomington Gold Boot Camp

Light up a big-block car with side pipes and drive it like a hooligan, and I defy you to lose sleep over uneven stripes or smeared adhesive

By Rob Sass

There’s nothing like going back to school, especially when your text­books are vintage Corvettes. 

When we were first discussing launching Corvette Market maga­zine, David Burroughs and the Bloomington Gold organization gra­ciously stepped forward and offered to put our crew of Auction Analysts through “Corvette Boot Camp” to  sharpen their skills by crawling around some unmolested, original cars.

CM Executive Editor Duchene covered Bloomington Gold’s philosophy as to authenticity and preservation in “What Makes a Survivor?” (SCM, March 2007, p. 32). Now it was time to view that in less abstract terms.

Burroughs had laid out an impressive selection of Bloomington Gold  Survivor and Benchmark cars, including a 1957 Fuelie, a 1967 big block, a 1968 convertible, and a fabulous Nassau Blue 1965 small-block car that everyone wanted to take home.

Our first task was to weigh in on whether we thought these amazing cars were original or restored and to state our reasons therefore. As it turns out, we all correctly determined these cars to be unrestored; however, few of us looked at some of the most obvious things first.

Put your hand on my jambs

“The first thing we’re going to do is feel some door jambs,” Burroughs said. As Illinois is one of the few states where it is not illegal to do such  things, at his urging, we proceeded to rub some door jambs.

“An original door jamb should talk to you,” according to Burroughs. And the rough-as-a-cob jambs did just that, making very audible sounds as we ran our hands across them. The texture of the original lacquer (unbuffed in the door jambs) is nearly impos­sible to duplicate.

The list goes on and includes nuances like rubberized sealant oozing out from behind windshield trim, unevenly sprayed flat black paint under the hood  (“masked,” if you can call it that, by autoworkers with a piece of carpeting), haphazardly applied weatherstripping adhesive, offset and uneven big-block hood stripes, and more. All were hallmarks of midyear Corvettes as they were assembled at the now-shuttered old plant on Natural Bridge Avenue in my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.

Once Burroughs points them out, the gaffes and variations are easy to spot, but they are also very difficult to duplicate by restorers. Seams and hot bonds are impossible to fake. Once a body is worked and painted, they disappear. Original cars also have wavy sides and a fair amount of orange peel. Again, few restorers care to attempt to duplicate the somewhat casual original finish standards.

Corvettes from the ’60s clearly weren’t built to the same standard as contemporary Porsches and Benzes. At about half the money, precision assembly and fit and finish weren’t part of the program. But light a big-block car with sidepipes and drive it like a hooligan, and I defy you to lose sleep over some uneven stripes or smeared adhesive. And if you’re paying a premium for originality, these are some things you’d better find.

Playing Sherlock Holmes

There are several other key clues to midyear originality, too.

Body seams: They will almost always show in waves, as shrinking and warping can follow a “hot” joint with too much hardener in the resin.

Door glue: Seal glue is usually sloppily applied at the leading edge of the door. 

Windshield dum-dum: It’s generally visible squeezing out around the trim.

Big block: The radiator core support holes are visible under the nose of the car.

Inner fender: There are differences between big- and small-block cars.

Radiused wheelwells: They’re often done to ac­commodate larger tires.

Crooked hood stripes: Restorations are invariably more accurate and arrow straight, and as Burroughs likes to say “not typical” of original work.

Body bump in hood channel at cowl: It’s often smoothed out during restoration.

Rough body in channel at cowl: Again, often smoothed over.

Thin chrome thin underneath rear bumpers at the bend: Replacement parts are much better, but “not typical.”

Original armrest: It can tear the door panel due to mounting spring.

Date code seat belts: Check that they match the year.

Cowl vents a slightly different color: These were laid in the back and painted separately from the car, so overspray marks should be visible in the body behind the front seats.

At the end of the session, we had gained a new ap­preciation for just how painstaking it is to restore a Corvette to “original” condition, including replicating all the imperfections the cars originally included. At the same time, we had a greater respect for the judges at Bloomington Gold, who live and breathe all of this stuff, and who spend so much of their time sorting out the dif­ferences between “original” and “restored,” to the benefit of all of us in the hobby. ■