![[PICS] Bloomington Gold Judges Restomod Corvettes](https://www.corvetteblogger.com/images/content/2020-2/092920_103c.jpg)
When it comes to the Bloomington Gold Corvette show, our thoughts bend toward exquisitely restored or well-preserved factory-correct Corvettes. Earning a Survivor award, Gold Certification, or the prestigious Benchmark award has become the standard for signifying a Corvette’s originality or correctness.
In recent years a new trend has emerged in our hobby – restomod Corvettes. This new portion of the hobby has gained momentum over the last decade and continues its exponential growth today. Just look at some of our more recent auction Top 12 lists. You see restomods showing up on those lists more and more. More surprisingly, their price tags are often higher than their factory-correct restored counterparts. Enthusiasts across all makes are realizing the fun of driving a classic car riding on all the industry’s latest technology.
Last year Bloomington Gold had their first-ever Corvette restomod display. This year, they judged restomod Corvettes for the very first time. Since a restomod is basically the opposite of a factory-correct Corvette, the process is opposite as well. Instead of deducting points for deviations from typical factory production, restomods are awarded points based on how far an item has been changed from original. Points are awarded in 5 categories, just like traditional Bloomington Gold judging. Those categories include Interior, Chassis, Engine Compartment, and Exterior. The fifth category is Tech which evaluates the functionality of all items on the car. Additionally, there’s a section that allows the owner to expound about their inspiration, vehicle theme, and any specific modification in any of the 4 non-tech categories. Once everything is tabulated participants can achieve Gold, Silver, or Bronze status just like in traditional Bloomington Gold Judging.
![[PICS] Bloomington Gold Judges Restomod Corvettes](https://www.corvetteblogger.com/images/content/2020-2/092920_110c.jpg)
This year’s restomod class featured example from the 2nd and 3rd Corvette generations with judging taking place on Saturday morning. The judges, sporting new purple restomod shirts, poured over each car in the usual Bloomington fashion while many interested onlookers kept watch.
We think the restomod class is a natural evolution to the hobby and Bloomington Gold as well. Given the explosion in popularity of that niche, it just makes sense to do it.
We’re looking forward to seeing how that category grows in the coming years. Until then, enjoy our gallery of the 2020 restomod judging at Bloomington Gold.
Source:
Photos by Steve Burns
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Yes! Yes! Yes!
Restomods. At first I simply thought these were Frankencars. That was some years ago. I’ve come to see the error of my ways. With shows like Kendigit’s “Bitchen Rides,” and the Las Vegas SEMA car show as shining examples, there are literally hundreds of shows that portray what goes on in concepts and engineering in the category of, “Restomods,” all over the United States and yes, the world. An earlier show demonstrating how far this could go was, “West Coast Customs.” After some of the great designers from the Los Angeles and Bay Area of California became famous for their redesigned and reimagined cars, the earlier, “Pimp My Ride,” shows began to show a market in viewership for simply, “being different.” And there are diverse versions of this, “…being different…” all over the world in garages of every kind and dealerships that have developed a mark in it. Jay Leno’s garage has honored such cars. And now with Bloomington Gold having a class and judging for the Gold, Silver and Bronze, at this stage of auto diversification, IMHO, it is a stroke of genius. By the way, the category is really so far expanded and legitimized these day, that the custom cars of of East Los Angeles with its cult of airbag and custom painted mostly American cars shows just how far Technology can take Transportation. Bloomington Gold proves that there is a lot more going on in the world that simply, “TAAS,” or Transportation as a Service,” a part of the Electric Vehicle Revolution. PS: A strange evolution of Restomods occurred many years ago as people started showing up as the Sunday morning car shows, AKA, “cars and coffee,” with example of home garage-made electric cars with the platform coming from such cars as the 914 Porsche and little MG’s and Sprites. This may seem far afield from Bloomington Restomod. However, this shows just how, ” stretchy,” the concept is; shows how early and how far the concept was started and then taken and shows that the creative mind in automotive is certainly not limited to what comes out of, “Detroit…” so to speak. A easy further look on YouTube and we see the same thing happening in just about every corner of the world. AF
Restomods can be interesting daily driverable classics at best, and Frankenstein underground car show hack jobs at worst. That said, there’s no objective way to judge these cars. Bloomington gold has been historically understood to set the standard for objective judging of true-to-form classic restorations and survivor vehicles. They should leave the judging of modified creations to Cars and Coffee parking lot gawkers, or Speed Channel TV viewers.
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