VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION VCCA Judging Questions battery

I have a friend who has a beautifully restored '64 Corvair coupe. Factory stock in every way. At an area show he had points deducted for incorrect battery. A Delco battery for this car is not available. He got the closest looking one that fits nicely but is not a Delco. We both thought that batteries were a replaceable item.
Anyone clarify this. CorvairEd VCCA #47508 Dade City Fla

Batteries are a replaceable item. So are tires!

There is a "mandatory" deduction on the VCCA judging form for non-Delco batteries even when there were no Delco batteries for the first 20+ years of Chevrolet production. It is in my opinion an error that should be corrected.

An option is to find an original battery even if not functional that can be a replacement on the judging field if the point deduction is not tolerable. A few owners have done that with tires and other parts when correct functional ones are not available if the point deduction is not acceptable.

The option that I use is to ignore the unjustified deductions as there are others that the judges missed. A few point deduction might hurt an ego but in most cases doesn't change the award.

That Corvair battery is a long narrow type that may not be available, today, in any brand. Many Corsair guys use a battery made for Hondas. It fits the narrow space but is not as long as the original battery so it does not have the original appearance. I believe it has substantially more cranking power than the correct type Corsair battery.
I have a Corvair battery (not Delco) that I bought many years ago and only used it to start a car a few times. It might respond to one of the "battery renewal" methods that can be found online. Some Delco stickers, copied from an original battery, might fool the judges next time.

Mike