Bloomington Gold ’08 to Honor All ‘Survivor’ Marques

ST. CHARLES, Ill. — For the first time in history, the Bloomington Gold show in St. Charles, Ill., will allow cars other than Corvettes to participate in the event, if those cars are survivor vehicles. The June 26-29 event also plans to throw the spotlight on the powerful and rare L-88 Corvette by recognizing the 20th anniversary of its “Earthquake 88” edition of 1988.

The new “All Survivor” segment of the show will take place on June 29 only. It will be open to any car or truck, of any brand, that is at least 20 years old and qualifies as a “Survivor” under Bloomington Gold’s guidelines.

Bloomington Gold officials said they hope to see Mopars, Marmons, Morgans and many others participate in the new event. “Survivors of all marques are invited,” said CEO David Burroughs.

There will be a tent set up with instructors teaching non-Corvette owners about Benchmark and Survivor standards for judging. The goal is to do this for two years and initiate survivor judging for all 20-year-old collector vehicles the third year.

Bloomington Gold also hopes to attract more than 50 of the 216 L-88 Corvettes built between 1967 and 1969. This should create the largest gathering of L-88s ever held. The traditional Bloomington Gold Corvette events will take place all weekend, and there will also be a Corvette auction.

This year’s Mecum auction at Bloomington Gold will spotlight a special “Serial No. 1 Collection” from the Al Wiseman and George Swartz Collections. The cars being offered are the Serial No. 1 1955 Corvette V-8, the Serial No. 1 1956 Corvette (first car of the second design) and the Serial No. 1 1957 Corvette (the first of the marque’s high-performance models). The auction takes place June 27-29.

Check out additional details at www.bloomingtongold.com.