Performance Verification: Missed it by that much....

Well, I've put off writing this post for four months after my Performance Verification (PV) in Auburn at the Indiana Regional Meet. I failed the PV.

As I've discussed previously, the PV is a really tough hurdle to pass. Unlike the Top Flight judging, where you start with points and deduct for originality and condition, the PV is a pass/fail test. Everything has to RUN like the day it left the factory, from the cigarette lighter to the cold start idle speed. Sadly, despite my best effort in preparation, we missed a couple of things.

The drive up was an uneventful two days. My restorer, Dan Martin, rode with me and we towed the trailer holding the Corvette. We rolled into Auburn around 5:00 PM the day before the PV and parked the trailer at the venue. The plan was to roll the car out early in the morning of the PV, which was scheduled to start at 9:00 AM, Friday, April 7th, 2022.

Early the next morning we headed over to the venue. This was the first thing we discovered, and it would prove to be an ominous omen for the day.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/ef7244_071dfebf6faf4c70a579e01aa71c45df/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

The right rear tire on the trailer was flat. That set us back an hour as we had to jack up the trailer and change the tire after unloading the car.

Things only went downhill from there.

We had been running the car in preparation for the PV, but down in Texas we were subjected to temperatures in the high 80's. The morning of the PV dawned with snow flurries! Indiana had a cold front roll through overnight and the temperature at the start of the PV was only 33 degrees. If you know anything about bias-ply tires, you know they develop flat spots when they sit for a while. They round out when they warm up after driving on them for a bit. Well, there was no way these tires were going to warm up in the frigid temperatures. That, combined with the poor asphalt roads up north, with their cracks, potholes, and pieces of asphalt from freezing and thawing, made the drive a pretty bumpy one. Chuck Berge is the National Judging Chairman for C-3 cars and gave me the PV. He rode in the passenger seat during the 10-mile driving portion and at one point reached over and felt the steering wheel. He could feel a vibration that he didn't like at all. Uh-oh.

To his credit, he said that if the vibration had been the only thing he had found, he would have given me the benefit of the doubt and passed me. But two more things proved to be my undoing.

Unbeknownst to me, during the 1,260-mile drive to Auburn, the vibration from the travel broke one of the solder points where the windshield washer tube connects to the wiper arm of the right wiper. Because of the broken solder point, the washer tube flailed around during the washer test and didn't squirt washer fluid where it was supposed to.

Failure Number 1.

During the check of the radio, Chuck pointed out that I was missing the inner bezel on the volume control of the radio that adjusts the treble and bass. Uh-oh. Dan and I had gone over the PV manual in great detail. Under the section titled "Radio Volume Controls and Tone" there is a whole paragraph that details the test. It describes turning on the radio, checking volume, changing stations, pre-sets, etc. The paragraph never mentions checking the treble and bass. The only mention of it is in the title: Tone. We just flat missed it. The inner bezel was missing. As far as we know, it's been missing since the car rolled out of the factory. Who knows?

Failure Number 2.

Both of these items, the washer tube and the radio bezel, are easy to fix, and parts are readily available, but it was too late for the PV, I failed for those two things. It is downright maddening. I guess that's why so many NCRS folks talk about the PV being a frustrating experience. Any little thing on a 52-year-old car that decides to break down the day of the test can sink you.

I had the rest of the weekend to stew in my disappointment. At least, the car looked good in the hangar.

In the second photo above, the guy taking a picture of the back of the car is someone who works for the Auction Company where the regional meet was held. He was one of two people who expressed interest in buying the car. He kept questioning me until I finally threw a number out. He said his buyer wouldn't go that high, but would come close. I finally told him he was hitting me up at a bad time. I was angry for failing the PV and part of me felt like getting rid of the darn thing. But in truth, I wanted to see this car to the finish line and win a Duntov award, I was just not ready to sell.

The other interested gentleman was sitting at my table for the awards banquet on Saturday night. As it turns out, he is a very wealthy collector who owns dozens and dozens of Corvettes and he also owns a Gar Wood boat: Miss Construed. He agreed it would make a great addition to his collection.

The regional meet had a great turnout and there were a lot of nice cars to see.

The week wasn't a total loss as Dan showed me around the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg museum and we saw some amazing cars.

Below is a picture of one of the General Lee cars that was used in the Dukes of Hazzard TV show. This one is the one that made the jump in the opening credits.

So, after a fun, yet frustrating adventure, we headed back to Texas. We took a detour down a portion of Route 66 and stopped at Uranus, MO. What a unique and fun place.

After the failure, I had to cancel my plans for heading to the NCRS National Meet in Mobile, AL. I will try again for the PV in late October at the Texas Regional Meet in Frisco, TX, the same place where I earned the 97% Top Flight in 2021. Here's hoping for a better showing than Indiana!

She sure looks good, though!