<VV> Origin of "Bone-Stock"?

rbuckridge at comcast.net rbuckridge at comcast.net
Mon Mar 1 16:18:06 EST 2010



Right on Mark, 

If you look at the Corvette magazines today, there are a few that are saying the same thing. Enjoy your car get out and drive it. 

When my cousin was looking for a Model A we went to a few shows to learn more about the cars. At one show a guy had a beautiful Model A and there was a crowd of people around it all arguing over the correctness of some of the components. Each guy had his reference book or paperwork and what they were fighting about was the finish on certain bolts. Are they cad plated, painted or natural. 

The guy had a beautiful car. Let it go. Who cares what the exact finish on certain bolts is. 

Manufactures make many running changes as the cars come down the assembly line and the manufacturer really isn't concerned if you have the right documentation 40 years later. 

Many small block mid 60's Corvettes came through with big block hoods, right from the factory. They ran out of small block hoods and to keep the line moving, they installed big block hoods on small block cars. Imagine what that did to some of the show correctness guys years later. 

Vincent is right on, you have the pleasure of owning it and if it increases in value, OK. 

Roy - Bayshore 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: airvair at earthlink.net 
To: rbuckridge at comcast.net 
Cc: "Virtual Vairs" <virtualvairs at corvair.org> 
Sent: Monday, March 1, 2010 12:47:16 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: <VV> Origin of "Bone-Stock"? 



Your last line is the key. I think almost all Corvair people are not concerned with "numbers-matching" status as much as some Corvette people are. 

About all I concern myself with in relation to "stock" is 1) factory "stock" conponents, 2) factory installed options, and 3) factory-approved, dealer-installed options. The only reason for any of it is for concours show purposes, as I'm a CORSA concours judge. Pure stock needs to have accurate components to be considered "stock". But even CORSA is not concerned with matching up numbers on engines, drive trains, body tags, glass, etc. As one person emailed me privately said, being that anal takes the fun out of the hobby. 

Personally, I don't see any "fun" in having a car that isn't totally to my liking. And that is what I bet most people have when they pursue a "pure numbers-matching" vehicle. Maybe they don't particularly like the color, or equipment, etc. of their car, but something isn't exactly right. It just doesn't match how they'd have ordered the car had they had the opportunity. "Numbers-matching" may be intellectually interesting, but what fun is having a car you really don't like? 

The late Vincent Price, a noted art collector, once advised people to buy what you like. If it goes up in value, great. But if it doesn't, you at least you have the pleasure of owning it. If you don't really like it, you don't even have that. 

-Mark


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