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Home » Celebrating Corvette, America’s Sports Car

Celebrating Corvette, America’s Sports Car

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June 30th is National Corvette Day, a good time to celebrate what many enthusiasts refer to as America’s sports car.

Photo: National Corvette Museum

The Corvette has been manufactured in Bowling Green, Kentucky, since 1981, producing more than 1.1 Million.

At full capacity, the factory can churn out 200 Corvettes a day, many in the most popular color – red.

Corvette calls it Torch Red.

I call it Copcatcher Red – which is how I describe all red sports cars, including America’s other home-grown favorite, the Ford Mustang, along with such foreign beauties named Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Jaguar, etc.

But I digress.

A popular option for Corvette buyers is to pick it up in a special program in conjunction with the National Corvette Museum, adjacent to the factory.

The option can be arranged through the Corvette dealer where the vehicle is purchased. It includes a VIP museum tour and plaques for your wall and for the door jamb of the vehicle.

The museum celebrates all things Corvette, and celebrated June 30th by opening its newest exhibit, An American Love Affair: 70 Years of Corvette.

The re-imagined space tells Corvette’s 70-year history and features iconic Corvettes alongside artifacts that showcase the love affair between America and the Corvette.

The exhibit includes a Skywall, an 8-foot tall, 300-foot-long LED wall that will provide guests with an immersive experience of sight and sound.

There used to be a factory tour, but that was a victim of the Pandemic. Fingers crossed it will resume again one day soon.

President Joe Biden in his 1967 Corvette
Photo: Biden Campaign via Detroit Free Press

Celebrity Owners of Corvettes

Not surprisingly, the Corvette is popular with celebrities.

Famous current owners include actor-director-philanthropist George Clooney, entertainer and auto collector Jay Leno, Sir Paul McCartney, Asbury Park’s favorite son Bruce Springsteen and President Joe Biden.

President Biden has owned a classic 1967 Stingray since he received it as a wedding gift from his father. Biden and his beloved Corvette were featured in his 2020 presidential campaign, but not – so far – in his re-election campaign.

Other celebrity owners include two astronauts – Scott Altman, pilot of the Atlantis Space Shuttle, and Alan Bean, Apollo 12 lunar model pilot.

Other owners – past and present – include KISS frontman Paul Stanley and hotel heiress Paris Hilton, and the late actors James Garner and Farah Fawcett Majors.

America’s other favorite sports car – the Mustang, already has an EV version, the Mach-E, and there is an e-version of the Corvette on its way, too.

Corvette E-Ray on display at New York Auto Show 2023_Evelyn Kanter photo (C)
Photo: Evelyn Kanter (C) Copyright

Corvette EV – The e-Ray

GM is set to launch the new all-electric Corvette E-Ray  in late 2023 as a 2024 model.

I saw a pre-production model at the recent New York International Auto Show, and to say it is drop dead gorgeous is no exaggeration. In Copcatcher Red, of course.

According to the GM media website for automotive journalists like me, the new E-Ray will feature a full-time e-AWD system that works in tandem with its LT2 V8 engine to give it the fastest ever zero-60-time – a blistering 2.5 seconds, faster than any traditional gasoline-powered Corvette. And 655 combined HP.

There will be three models – 1LZ, 2LZ and 3LZ, with prices ranging from $102,900 to $113,900 .

GM is building a new $3 Billion battery plant with Samsung, which is expected to manufacturer batteries for the new E-Ray electric Corvette and/or an EV Camaro that is expected as part of GM’s growing line-up of electric cars and trucks.

Corvette in front of GM Bowling Green factory
Photo: General Motors

Most Popular Corvette Models

The most popular Corvette models are the iconic Stingray, the ZR1 and the Z06. All three models are spectacularly fast and powerful, able to launch you zero-to-sixty in 3.4 or 3.6 seconds, depending on model.

The first 2023 ZO6, with a 001 VIN, was auctioned recently for $3.6 Million. But that was for charity, not for personal gratification.

And while closed coupe models are popular, there is nothing to match the top-down wind-in-your-hair sex appeal of a convertible.

Around 90% of Corvettes are sold in the USA, the largest market, and Canada, the second-largest. That should not be surprising, since Europe tends to buy sports cars brands manufactured there.

If money were no object – which sportscar would you buy?

Coupe or Convertible?

While closed coupe models are popular, there is nothing to match the top-down wind-in-your-hair sex appeal of a convertible.

Around 90% of Corvettes are sold in the USA, the largest market, and Canada, the second-largest. That should not be surprising, since Europe tends to buy sports cars brands manufactured there.

If money were no object – which sportscar would you buy?


ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter on Dune 45 NamibiaecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is a journalist with 20+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and author of guidebooks and smartphone apps – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.

ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter currently serves as President of the International Motor Press Assn. (IMPA), a former Board Member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) and a current member of the North American Travel Journalists Assn. (NATJA).

Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com.

Copyright (C) Evelyn Kanter

 

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Filed Under: Grab Bag, Luxury Drives Tagged With: Bowling Green, Chevrolet Corvette, Corvette e-Ray, Ford Mustang, Ford Mustang Mach-E, National Corvette Day, sports cars

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