[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show

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[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show

The 2012 version of the Bloomington Gold Corvette Show took place last weekend in St. Charles, Illinois. Chamber of Commerce weather, a fantastic setting, and spectacular cars all combined to produce yet another memorable late-June celebration of Corvettes.

We rolled into town late Thursday afternoon and made a quick run through the GoldMine Corvettes for sale and the GoldMarket swap meet. With Thursday being largely for setup, the Cubic Knowledge seminars, and judged vehicle check-in, the crowds were pretty sparse by the time we got there.

We got up early Friday and headed straight to the judging field. The field was packed with Gold Certification candidates including over 30 cars alone in the 1967 class. The judging field was full of legendary Corvettes like a 1957 airbox fuelie, a 1963 big tank Z06, a 1971 ZR2, and a 1972 ZR1 with just 300 miles on it. This was the first Bloomington Gold to feature the new engine stamp pad judging guidelines announced earlier this year.

Next up for us was lunch and a trip through the vendor areas where our sponsors Corvette Central, Mid America Motorworks, and Corvette America were setup at various locales for the weekend.

We checked out all the new Corvettes for sale by local dealers and spent some time in GM’s booth checking out the new 2013 Corvettes. GM engineers were present there to answer questions anyone had regarding the new models.

Saturday was headlined by the Mecum Auction and Survivor and Benchmark judging out on the golf course. Due to some messy road construction in the area, the 20 mile Survivor road tour was eliminated this year. The top sale at the auction was a 1967 427/435 roadster at $115,000 while the highest no-sale went to an unrestored 1969 L88 coupe at $385,000. We’ll have more on the auction a little later this week.

As the auction wound down we headed back over to the show field to catch the awards ceremony and see all the winners drive up to received their accolades. This was also a great opportunity just to wander around the grounds and look at all of the great Corvettes in the club and general parking areas. We don’t ever remember seeing that many Corvettes on the golf course before.

We finally made it over the The Great Hall where 10 people/groups and 10 Corvette where being saluted for their respective contributions to the Corvette hobby. This was one of the best collections of significant Corvettes we’ve seen in a long, long time. Keep an eye out for a full wrap up from The Great Hall coming soon. Although we weren’t able to make it this year, the GoldTour departed for its annual jaunt through the Illinois countryside a bit later on Saturday evening.

Sunday we stopped in at the new Survivor Collector Car show. This show is strictly for unrestored cars and all makes and models are welcome. We love these time capsules and it was oddly refreshing to see some other makes after swimming in a sea of Corvettes for 3 days. We’ll have a review of that event later this week as well.

This was somewhat of a transitional year for Bloomington Gold. It was the final year in St. Charles after a decade-long run there before next year’s move to Champaign, IL next year. It was also the first show under the leadership of new owner Guy Larsen as well as the first use of the new engine judging standards. With a new generation of Corvette coming late next year, we’re definitely looking forward to the 2013 Bloomington event.

Our wrap up of the 2012 Bloomington Gold show is just beginning so check back here often for more stellar coverage from this year’s event. Meanwhile enjoy some pics from last weekend. We’ve also uploaded a mega gallery of images up on our Facebook page as well. Check them out!

[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show
[PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show [PICS] The 2012 Bloomington Gold Corvette Show

* All photos © 2012 Steve Burns for CorvetteBlogger.com


Related:
Bloomington Gold Corvette Show Moving to Champaign, IL in 2013
Bloomington Gold Announces New Standards for Engine Stamps
Corvette Auction Preview: Mecum at Bloomington Gold

 



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