The owner offered Brent a ride back to the dealership. The drive up the steep White Rock hills was fast, loud, and unforgettable. “He scared the crap out of me,” Brent recalls with a laugh. “But that was when I really discovered what a Corvette was.” The power, the sound, and the feeling stayed with him long after the ride ended.

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Soon after leaving school, Brent purchased his first Corvette, a 1964 roadster. That decision marked the beginning of a lifelong relationship with the marque. Over the years, Brent accumulated Corvettes steadily, often owning several at the same time. At one point, he had five Corvettes alongside other vehicles, each representing a different chapter of his life and interests.

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Today, Brent has refined his focus, choosing to concentrate on three cars that each hold unique meaning. The first is a 1960 C1 Corvette that has been lightly restomodded and is driven regularly. It’s a car meant to be enjoyed on the road and seen at events, reflecting Brent’s belief that Corvettes should still be experienced, not just displayed.

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The second is a truly exceptional NCRS show car: a 1966 Corvette equipped with a 427 engine and four-speed transmission. What makes this car remarkable is the rare N03 option, a 36-gallon “big tank” fuel system available only between 1963 and 1967. Just 66 of these were built in 1966, and only two were delivered to Canada. Brent owns the only example known to have come to Western Canada.

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Brent and his wife purchased the car from its original owner in 2004. With just under 40,000 original miles, it remains an extraordinary survivor. In 2015, the car earned a coveted NCRS Star award  for Corvette Preservation Excellence at the national level in Denver, a testament to both its originality and the painstaking effort invested in preserving it. “That one,” Brent says, “I’m very proud of.”

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The third Corvette is a 1972 big-block convertible, another Canadian delivered car, that Brent is currently restoring. Beyond its mechanical appeal, this car carries deep personal significance. “It’s the car I dated my wife in,” he explains. “That alone makes it irreplaceable.”

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Brent’s journey into the National Corvette Restorers Society (NCRS) began in 1987. Initially a member of the BC Corvette Club, he appreciated the social aspects but found himself searching for a group that shared his growing interest in the cars themselves, their details, their history, and their originality. A fellow Corvette enthusiast introduced him to NCRS, describing it simply as “all about the car.” That description resonated.

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At the time, many Corvettes were still treated as affordable hot rods. Owners modified them freely, added chrome, repainted them, or altered mechanical components without much concern for factory correctness. NCRS emerged to preserve what was being lost: a record of how Corvettes were actually built and delivered.

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“The NCRS standard,” Brent explains, “is how the car arrived on the transport truck before the dealer touched it.” That distinction matters. It defines everything from finishes and fasteners to how components functioned when new.

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Although Brent joined NCRS in the late 1980s, his professional life kept him traveling extensively. It wasn’t until he began to semi-retire in the early 2010s that he fully immersed himself in the organization. That deeper involvement led him into judging, a role that would become a defining part of his NCRS experience.

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Judging at NCRS events is a meticulous and demanding process. A single car can take a full day to evaluate, beginning early in the morning and continuing into the afternoon. Judges assess roughly 4,500 points across a detailed, multi-page score sheet. They examine finishes, mechanical components, and authenticity down to the smallest detail. But judging goes far beyond nuts and bolts.

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“We judge operation,” Brent explains. “If the owner’s manual says to pump the pedal twice before starting, that’s exactly what we test.” Judges check lights, switches, washers, window operation, seat movement, horn function, and more; ensuring the car operates exactly as it should have when new.

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Equally important is authentication. Before judging begins, trim tags and VIN tags are examined closely to ensure they are original and unaltered. This rigorous verification is why NCRS awards carry significant weight in the collector market. A Top Flight ribbon isn’t just cosmetic, it signals credibility.

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Cars are judged across several categories. Top Flight recognizes restored cars scoring 94 percent or higher. Bow Tie judging focuses exclusively on originality, valuing untouched finishes and factory patina regardless of wear. Open Class, recently updated, welcomes both stock-appearing and modified cars, including modern C8s, helping bridge generations of Corvette ownership.

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Judging judges is another unique aspect of NCRS. Every judging event earns points for the judge, which are tracked centrally by the organization. Accumulating over 100 points qualifies a member as a Master Judge, a designation Brent earned through years of volunteer service, travel, and education. “There’s no politics,” he says. “It’s all recorded. Either you earned it, or you didn’t.”

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