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CORVETTE TODAY #138-Meet The New Director of Collections & Education At The NCM, Brian Baker
May 8, 2025
The National Corvette Museum continues to add A-List talent to their roster!
On this episode of CORVETTE TODAY, your host, Steve Garrett, introduces you to the new Director of Collections & Education at the Museum, Brian Baker.
Brian has a rich working history with General Motors and actually was the designer of the SSR!
Brian joined the NCM recently and has a wonderful vision of the future for the Museum. You'll hear all about that in this episode of CORVETTE TODAY.
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[Music] welcome to Corvette today the podcast
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that talks about everything Corvette with your host Steve Garrett MC and DJ at one of the largest Corvette weekends
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in the country Corvette Fun Fest president of the Corvette club of Kansas City Missouri and radio disc jockey at
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the number one radio station in Kansas City for over 40 years here's Steve Garrett
0:25
[Music] thanks for listening and watching Corvette today the show that talks about
0:31
everything Corvette and the only current podcast dedicated to Corvette I'm your
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host Steve Garrett I appreciate you tuning in Corva today is brought to you by wheelcraft want to dress up your
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Corvette owners from around the my guest on today's show has years and years of Automotive experience and
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you'll hear all about that in this episode of Corvette today he's worked at the Discovery Channel ESPN and General
2:39
Motors he's the new director of Collections and education at the National Corvette Museum he's Mr Brian
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Baker Brian welcome to Corvette today hello Steve thanks very much for having me it's great to have you on the show my
2:52
friend Brian let's start out as I always do tell us a little bit about yourself where were you born where Were You
2:58
Raised did you come from a car family I was born in Indianapolis about five miles from the racetrack I grew up in a
3:05
neighborhood of former winners and actually the owners of the speedway the Holman George family that sold the
3:11
speedway to Roger Penske a couple years ago so I was steeped in Automotive on my
3:16
paper route where two former Indie winners and it wasn't uncommon in my neighborhood to see an old Roadster in
3:22
someone's garage so Northwest side of Indianapolis but my Automotive routes come heavily from my grand grandfather
3:29
who was a Riverboat Captain traveled up and down the Mississippi but he loved his cars he had Packards Pierce arrows
3:37
and a car that I still own a 71 Buick boattail Riviera been in the family since day one and still runs like a
3:44
dream wow that's amazing so were you a young boy when you got into cars because of your granddad or was it kind of in
3:50
high school and stuff like that it started early because my dad was a DJ
3:55
like yourself he did a lot of appearances at local county fairs so he always had a convertible to this day I
4:02
own four cars three of them are convertibles so I was into the cars riding around with Dad I had two older
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brothers who were obviously an influence but I had the artistic skills that I had inherited from my mother and my
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grandfather and I liked drawing cars I was the kid sitting at the edge of the
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playground with my sketch pad drawing cars instead of participating in all the sports that was my thing I was a drawing
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nerd and drawing cars was my favorite hobby that's really cool now you got to tell me more about your dad because
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being a DJ in Kansas City for 45 years I got to hear this backstory too well
4:39
bouncing Bill Baker as he was known was an institution in Indianapolis he was 30
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plus years as the morning man on WIBC over there growing up around his life
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you don't realize when you're a kid how special or how different things are but Dad got a call one day in the early 60s
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from a promoter asking him to emcee a rock show Dad brought us along I went backstage met the guys and then sat in
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the front row of the only outdoor Beatles Concert ever held in Indianapolis in 1964. wow and my mom
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said I spent most of the time curled up in a fetal position because of the girls screaming over my head someday I hope to
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be one of the few people alive that remember seeing them in person it was exciting a moment of levity was my dad
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who's High forehead I'll say he put on what was popular at the time a Beatles wig sure just for fun to come out and
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introduce the group and as he came out Ringo had his drumsticks in hand and he
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flicked the wig off of my dad and dad just left it on the floor there but that's my early exposure to the world of
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radio and I decided to go into art while my brothers decided to go into broadcast that's a great story Brian I have a
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Beatles Story too here in Kansas City my best friend had a grandfather who was the vice president of one of the local
5:58
drug stores here in Kansas City who sponsored The Beatles coming to Old Municipal Stadium I could have gone for
6:04
free but my mom wouldn't let me go because it was a school night a Tuesday night I don't think I've ever forgiven
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my parents for that I don't think you should and if the ticket stops as I've seen them it was
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probably only about five dollars to go to the show am I right that's right absolutely right it was just amazing
6:23
Brian tell me about Corvettes in your family well not so many vets in the family but I gotta tell yeah growing up
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in a neighborhood full of race car drivers My First Crush was Sally Beller who had a 427 tri-power 69 vet and one
6:39
day her younger brother who had just gotten his license and I decided to take her vet for a drive so my first exposure
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of the world of Corvettes was Big Blocks of tri-powers we stayed out of trouble got the car back I don't recall him
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getting in much trouble for it but lots of friends and neighbors growing up in a town full of GM Executives with Allison
6:59
division based there in Indianapolis a lot of vets patrolling the neighborhood that sounds like fun where'd you go to
7:06
school Brian talk about where you went to college and what did you study in school well after I knew I wanted to get
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into the Auto industry I knew I wanted to spend time doing that my parents made me attend Indiana University for a year
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before letting me come up to Detroit where I started at the College for Creative Studies a school that I've
7:25
taught at for 30 plus years myself teaching how to design cars and on the history of the automobile that led me to
7:32
saying you know if I'm going to work in Detroit most of my career I'd like to see California so I called my dad and I
7:37
said dad why don't we go to the other school for what I did at General Motors which is the styling area that Arena
7:43
there's two schools in this country the Harvard and Yale for that business is College for Creative Studies in Detroit
7:50
and the Arts Center College in Pasadena where myself Tom Peters about half the
7:55
Auto industry went to school there in Pasadena and it was great I got to tell you as a young man living in Southern
8:01
California I bought a surfboard I attempted to ride a few waves and got an education that led me to General Motors
8:08
in 84. that's amazing living out in Southern California during that time had to be fantastic it was to discover a
8:16
different Community up and down the Strand from Orange County up to Malibu and throwing frisbee on the beach Sunday
8:21
mornings it was a little different than my neighborhood in Indianapolis or Detroit for that matter I bet it was I
8:28
right now here's the big question Brian have you got Corvettes in the garage now and if you do tell us what it is if you
8:34
don't what Corvette would you want in there that maybe might not be in there right now well I own the C4 I helped
8:41
design the C7 I just in the very early stages none of my work went to the production car but I did do some scale
8:48
model work on C7 I'm shopping for a C3 convertible right now A Roadster I'm a
8:54
big truck top guy it's got to be a roadster I'm looking at a 75 right now because having moved recently from
9:01
Michigan where I got maybe 25 times a year put the top down on my cars down here I get to have an extended season
9:08
and I'm looking for a driver I can drive a C3 to and from work every day besides
9:14
here at the National Corvette Museum we have special parking spaces for Corvette owners only it gets me a better spot
9:20
near the building that's a great thing that's a double combination I think that's a wonderful idea well buddy let's
9:25
take our first break when we come back we're going to talk about your work career we have Brian Baker the new director of Collections and education at
9:33
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on Corvette Corvette today with your host Steve Garrett hey thanks for
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833-840-5334 I'm your host Steve Garrett with me is the new director of Collections and education at the
13:16
National Corvette Museum Mr Brian Baker in the second segment we're going to talk about Brian's work career Brian you
13:23
are working at GM as a senior Creative Design manager tell us how you got into GM and talk about your time there as the
13:30
design manager well following my education in California GM brought me back to Detroit which was an interesting
13:37
time because in 84 GM was starting a West Coast Design Studio actually it was
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a little further west than North Hollywood where it ended up and I had the choice didn't want to stay in California do I want to go to Detroit
13:48
and I chose Detroit because that was the home office that was where the game was really played the reason I chose GM over
13:54
other offers was I had the chance to move my desk across the hall and I could move from Cadillac to Chevrolet to at
14:02
the time Saturn simply by moving across the hall that was a more interesting scenario for me to be able to design
14:08
lots of Brands but Chevrolet Studio was my first main Studio assignment I had
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designed the interior for a concept vehicle in advanced design for Buick called the Wildcat 4 which was a
14:21
mid-engine bubble top show car the mid 80s they saw something they liked and moved me to Chevrolet Studio where I
14:27
started working on Cavaliers and I did z34s and of course the convertible I had
14:33
to get in on that of course and they all knew when I was a kid from Indy and pace car projects would come up occasionally
14:39
I'd always raise my hand for that and I got out of Chevrolet Studio moved over to Cadillac for about a decade doing
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some work there but then I got put in charge of a space called the corporate brand Center CBC was a chance to handle
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all of General Motors brands and being the generation that I was we decided we
15:00
were going to have the revolution the digital Revolution instead of just doing clay models we were going to do
15:05
everything electronically I was given a giant Studio about 30 co-workers and we
15:11
went after everything from the top of the line of the corporation Corvettes and Cadillacs and European Opals and
15:18
such and we designed what we thought the world would look like by the year 2023 it was a lot of fun it was this an
15:25
exercise and trying to come up with icons for each brand and one of the icons that we came up with in 99
15:32
Volkswagen introduced the new Beetle they reintroduced that car and I was walking at actually the Tokyo Motor Show
15:39
with the vice president of design at the time Wayne Cherry another kid from Indianapolis by the way and I said to
15:45
Wayne and there's a whole generation of us that want to do all this stuff digitally instead of just using the clay
15:51
models and he said well what do you need and I gave him some names and he said come see me when you get back to Detroit
15:57
and in 99 we launched this all digital Studio we had a 60-foot screen in front
16:03
of us and we're all using our computers to create computer generated animations and images of these cars of the future
16:10
without the clay model well you can only go so far with that you needed to make foam or some full-size representation of
16:18
our designs for it to be real because it's one thing to look at a projection but you really need to see a car in
16:24
person to understand it one of the ideas I'd come up with was let's use our mid 50s Chevrolet pickup trucks the 48 to 53
16:33
styling was really breakthrough for Chevrolet I said let's use that as the inspiration and let's come up with some
16:40
ideas for internal cars again never intended to be shown to the public we came up with four different directions
16:46
one we called funkstalgia which was kind of modern but a little bit of nostalgia thrown in one was the farmer's truck
16:53
which had a stake side wooden bed the whole thing one we called the Motorama truck which was a two-tone teal over
17:01
white with coves like a Corvette on the side of it and a side mount spare at the
17:06
back but we decided what if it was a convertible and we put a soft top on it you could visualize this thing it was
17:13
wild looking and then we did one called The Slammer The Slammer was every 50s
17:18
custom technique that I could think of it was chopped channeled lowered sectioned anything you could do to make
17:24
it look like it was ready for the show circuit in 1955. they loved it they loved the slammer but they love the
17:31
convertible Motorama truck just as much and I had worked in Germany for a couple of years I was over at our opal Division
17:37
and there was a guy who was kind of the John DeLorean of the European Auto industry flamboyant wanted to make his
17:44
own sports car and he created a one-piece retractable hard top for his own personal sports car well I took that
17:51
as the inspiration and went back and took the slammer version of that truck put a top patent that I share with GMO
17:58
to this day for a two-piece retractable top that folded in behind the seats we showed the idea to our board of
18:05
directors one of them who was so excited about it he did sort of a Michael Jackson moonwalk in front of it wow he
18:11
said you got to build this one so we did a show car in 99 in a matter of three
18:16
months we worked Untold hours three shifts a day at the design center in the fabrication shops the guys worked
18:22
tirelessly to turn this thing into a running prototype and it was on a Chevy S10 pickup chassis totally threw the
18:29
body away complete retro body and that was the birth of the SSR of all the
18:35
projects I worked on in 25 years at GM styling hands down that was the most exciting because it went from an idea in
18:42
a meeting where I sketched out the beginnings of it showed it to the vice president he said go do it about nine
18:48
months later it was approved for production I'm proud to say I still have one driving around a lot that's awesome
18:53
that's fantastic what a great story Brian you're the SSR guy I am it was a
18:58
team effort a lot of people had a lot to do with including Ed welburn who became the vice president of design shortly
19:04
after that but I will say I was the guy who embraced the idea first and I'm honored I tell my students this the best
19:11
dream every rock star talks about the first time they're driving in their car and they hear their hit song being
19:16
played on the radio right that same feeling is what car designers get when you see a car coming towards you it's
19:23
you designed that Rush of oh my gosh here it is it's right in front of me that's a feeling I get goosebumps just
19:29
telling the story because that is the same feeling I think pure adrenaline my friend pure adrenaline yeah that's
19:35
awesome Brian you were also the vice president of design and marketing at the American history College for Creative
19:40
Studies talk about your time at the college well a little mix there I was vice president of designed for a company
19:47
called American specialty car or American Sunroof Corporation before that they were the supplier who put t-tops in
19:53
everybody's cars in the 70s but after that when I came back from Europe in 98
19:59
and I've got a great quick story to share with you about working in Germany as an American car designer I flew into
20:05
Berlin because the Berlin Wall was still standing yeah this is an 87-88 I flew
20:11
into the city to see it and I went to a car museum I bought this beautiful coffee table book at some expense and I
20:17
was walking around Berlin with this thing under my arm and I got to Checkpoint Charlie that classic place
20:23
with the tanks pointing towards one another and all those famous exchanges of prisoners and they had a sign see Ace
20:30
Berlin it was the official East German tour I could hop on a bus and see the
20:35
Soviet side of Berlin so I did I got on the bus I sat down and the most attractive woman in the entire East
20:42
German Army steps on board she's wearing an out that Michael Jackson would have envied the spaghetti and shoulder boards
20:49
and this High Soviet style hat did I mention she had an AK-47 over her shoulder she was not only a powerful
20:56
woman but she was beautiful and she's not quite chicken stepping down the main aisle of the bus gets to me looks at my
21:03
little package next to me and she says I gave her the book and she opens the
21:10
book and immediately turns to the front of the bus and says Fritz hi it's called Fritz and Heinz come hustling on the
21:16
buses and in their uniforms not nearly as attractive as her but they had AK-47s as well
21:22
and they're looking at my book and I'm feeling around my pockets for my passport because I just brought a book
21:27
of Western propaganda on board it was the cars of West Germany so they looked through my book every page at a time
21:34
everyone on the bus is upset with the American who's held up the tour about 10 pages into the book Fritz turns to Heinz
21:40
and he says oh thus is on fantastic Auto and that's it it's Ben's they were just our guys they were East German car guys
21:47
and she was just letting her buddies enjoy my car book so they handed me back my book saluted me and I got to go see a
21:54
world that's long gone now but and I'm so glad I did the Soviet statues The Changing of the Guard all that was still
22:00
going on in 87. but anyway that was one of my fun adventures as a car designer
22:05
for General Motors in Europe that's cool that's a great story well to get back to your question which was about the
22:11
schooling when I returned from Germany in 88 I started teaching fun money something extra to do in the evenings I
22:18
was a single guy and I started teaching how to design cars to the Next Generation Well I finally about three
22:25
months ago in the middle of 2022 here I retired from teaching after 33 years but
22:31
in the process trained generations of designers whose shoulders they were standing on I taught them who Bill
22:37
Mitchell and Harley Earl and all the great designers of the past were and how this business of styling came to be to
22:45
this day I'm called upon as an expert witness by the automakers to testify about the history of design and what
22:51
impact that has on today's and tomorrow's cars wow that's really cool you also started your own company too
22:57
Brian Auto archeology talk about that as well well because of this passion for
23:03
Automotive History everyone started calling me from GM Executives who wanted to track down their original first car
23:09
after college Rick Wagner had a Corvette and right after he graduated in the 60s I believe it was a 63. I didn't help
23:16
Rick but questions like that caused me to form this group that could do a little of anything like I said I'm an
23:21
expert with witness for the Auto industry I do history seminars for groups all over the world for that
23:26
matter I've gone as far as India and Korea to speak about Auto design and what it's about cultural side of it is
23:33
what fascinates people you know the Corvette is an icon for American performance and it means something
23:39
special to us I remember driving in the Swiss Alps on the Switchback roads and
23:44
about a half a mile ahead of me I saw a white mid 70s C3 Corvette dicing up at a
23:50
faster Pace than I could and I said you know that's America that's America on wheels that Corvette represents us it is
23:57
the thing that can travel the world now with right hand drive as well as left-hand Drive comfortably and it
24:02
speaks to what we're capable in this country now you also spent some time at the Discovery Channel in ESPN that's got
24:09
to be an interesting story as well I was leading a group of college students in a summer program at GM design they came
24:16
from South America Europe everywhere in the world to try and break into the car styling business and I was in charge of
24:23
that program one day when I found myself at a meeting room with a whole bunch of
24:29
vice presidents and me so you know you know who's going to do the work right it was a group of Executives from a
24:35
Discovery Channel and they were sitting with Bob Lutz myself Wayne cherry and Ed
24:41
welburn and they said we want to do a show about the future of the automobile we'd like to bring the cameras into the
24:47
studios which is strictly forbidden it's a top secret environment sure it wasn't going so good this was a testament to
24:54
the Discovery Channel executive I don't recall his name but he was a former Marine and he knew that Bob Lutz was a
25:01
former Marine and he leaned forward just enough that Bob could see his Marine lapel pin on his shoulder and the
25:08
conversation suddenly went very positive Bob Lutz said how are we going to get this done and Bob knew me and he says
25:15
Brian could you do this with your students and so we allowed the cameras into a special Studio along the lake at
25:22
the General Motors Technical Center there in Warren and we filmed All Summer Long these young people designing their
25:29
own visions of the future of General Motors that show became a series called
25:34
Future car was a great experience and part of the deal was the producer pulled me aside and he said hey we really want
25:40
to do this right I said well I'll tell you what I'll Teach You How We design cars if you'll teach me how you do television and he said deal you're now
25:48
an associate producer I was flying into New York to a CBS editing Suites and
25:53
watching how these hours and hours of filming were boiled down into one hour episodes and it was a fascinating
25:59
insight into your world too that's amazing that's really really cool these are some great stories Brian I'd love to
26:05
hear these now before you came to the National Corvette Museum you were the vice president of education and
26:11
principal historian at the automotive Hall of Fame talk about that experience well following bouncing around from a
26:19
few auto museums I I'd become the president of the Society of Automotive historians for Southeastern Michigan
26:25
that title got me invited to I'd worked at the Henry Ford Museum as a docent I
26:31
had worked at the the aaca museum in Hershey Pennsylvania then I landed at
26:36
the automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn which is right next to the Henry Ford for your listeners if you're ever going
26:42
to Detroit and you go to the Henry Ford Museum which most people do right next door to it is another smaller Museum
26:49
called the automotive Hall of Fame at that place I signed an agreement to work
26:54
for them about 12 days before covet hit that allowed me a quiet period of time
27:00
while we were closed to the public to establish a virtual speaker series where we brought guests in from as far away as
27:06
Italy one of the pinaforeina family just spoke to a group of high school kids virtually we brought in a level of
27:13
passion for automotive education because of my decades as an educator myself I'm
27:19
really passionate about passing that along to the Next Generation and what we're doing here at the National
27:25
Corvette Museum now with my leadership here is we're going to have an education gallery opening up in the spring of 20
27:31
23 we'll be hosting people from all over the world virtually and we'll be hosting
27:37
groups from the local schools as well this Automotive passion or a passion for Mobility is really important I hope all
27:44
of your listeners take their sons and granddaughters and such car shows with them we're trying to do that virtually
27:50
as well as in person here in our Gallery but to Circle back to your question about being in charge of education at
27:56
auto museums is really really important because it would be very easy as the 20th century Fades into our memory we
28:03
need to keep alive how critical the automobile was to the development of society in the 20th century and how it's
28:11
going to affect us going forward the electrification of the automobile those are the topics that we'll be covering
28:16
here in our education Gallery at the National Corvette Museum that's a perfect segue Brian in section number
28:22
three we're going to talk about your new job at the National Corvette Museum I've got Brian Baker the new director of
28:28
Collections and education here with me on Corvette today
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28:46
hey honey are you awake um I am now I can't sleep since turning 50 I keep
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you're listening and watching Corbett today with Steve Garrett hey thanks once
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them 833-840-5334 I'm your host Steve Garrett
32:02
with me today is the brand new director of Collections and education at the National Corvette Museum Mr Brian Baker
32:09
in this third and final segment we're going to talk about Brian's new job at the NCM first of all Brian before we get
32:15
into all that you got to tell me the back story of how you were contacted by the National Corvette Museum and talked
32:21
into getting this job there at the NCM well Steve about a year ago I came to
32:26
the Nan conference hosted here at the national Corvette Museum and that's the National Association of automobile
32:32
museums I was amazed at the facility here from the grill to the retail space
32:38
to the conference center to the amazing collection of automobiles a dear friend of mine Derek Moore was leading this
32:45
activity while I was here a few months passed by and I decided I wanted to see if I could leave my snow blower in
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Michigan so I was searching and I found a posting for Derek's job and I called
32:57
him up and he said yeah he says I'm moving on to another Museum great museum down in Nashville called the lane Museum
33:04
another one I hope your listeners get to visit but he said please put in for the position a number of friends came out
33:10
and supported me friends at General Motors I managed to convince people that this was the natural final job for Brian
33:16
right I'm 62 years young I'm not looking to become the chairman of the board of General Motors or anywhere else I love
33:23
Automobiles and this job will allow me to do that I came down was interviewed
33:28
by the team and one of the great things they do here at the National Corvette Museum is the people who are going to
33:34
work with you are the ones who interview you not just the CEO or the head of HR and that speaks volumes to the quality
33:40
of how they do business here so obviously for a guy who had worked on early stages of Corvettes in the Design
33:46
Studios and my study of the history of the automobile 70 almost years of
33:51
Corvette is a big part of what I love sharing with everyone and it's not just
33:56
kids it's not just the Next Generation it's all the 38 000 enthusiasts who are
34:02
members of our Museum here it's a dream job it's like working at Disneyland I gotta say everybody who comes here is
34:09
either taking delivery of a brand new C8 Corvette or they're coming to celebrate their interest in this car because they
34:15
keep seeing it along I-65 north of Nashville and they say someday I'm going to go in there and we get guests from
34:21
all over the world I hosted a family from Thailand a few weeks ago and from Paris wow it has become a global
34:27
destination and for me to bring to this group the decades I have working
34:33
elsewhere and learning from them about how we honor the Corvette here I pinch myself sometimes driving in every day
34:39
it's like they're going to pay me to do this good story buddy good story now tell me
34:45
this how does your new position there at the national core Museum possibly differ from previous people like Derek Moore
34:52
who are in that similar position I'm blessed with having had 40 plus years in
34:57
and around the automotive industry from the very beginnings of any car program in Detroit through completion of show
35:05
cars and production cars and such adding to that the fact that I segued into the
35:10
museum and education Arenas I bring a little different mix Derek and my other predecessors are fabulous Museum
35:16
professionals I'm bringing the perspective of an industry professional and with Museum experience over a decade
35:23
at that before I came here I think I look at it a little differently when I see a C4 Corvette in our our display I
35:30
remember seeing Tom Peters and the guys sketching the car John caffero and all the others to me these cars are more
35:37
than just what hit the showroom floor the vehicles that I know the men and women who conceived of them it makes for
35:43
a story that I want to make certain is shared we've done that we have a brand new exhibit we just opened here called
35:49
driven by Design Bob bubnas curated this along with Tom Peters the recently retired head of Corvette Studio it shows
35:57
people visiting the museum how we go from a gesture sketch in the very beginnings of conversation about what
36:04
the next Corvette should look like to a scale model to a digital model to an
36:09
animation for the aerodynamics all the way to the full-size car and it walks
36:14
you through that process and interviews some of the sculptors Engineers interior designers I'm shouting out to my
36:22
interior design friends because so often those of us who were focused on the exterior of Corvettes got most of the
36:28
credit man if you look at a C8 interior you can tell it's a work of art and you
36:33
can go back through the years of the unsung heroes and that's part of what we're trying to do is make certain that
36:38
people understand the lineage of Designing eight generations of Corvette how the past influences the future
36:44
that's a big part of where we're going yeah that's really cool and that again segues right into one of my other questions for you what is your vision
36:51
for the future of the natural Corvette Museum the National Corvette Museum is geographically located right in the
36:58
middle of the United States and that makes it really easy for folks if they're flying into Nashville or driving
37:04
across the country to stop here we do see an amazing cross-section of guests from all over the world the National
37:10
Corvette Museum has this amazing history they are if nothing else incredibly durable from surviving sinkholes in 2014
37:18
through the tornadoes of 2021 we have the opportunity to expand this Museum as
37:25
the history grows we're literally making plans for the 100th anniversary bursary of Corvette that's my background of
37:32
doing long-term 15-year plans and more at General Motors that I'm trying to
37:37
bring here working with Sharon Bronner's vision for building us into a national
37:43
destination you don't have to love Corvettes to come here but it helps absolutely no doubt but part of my
37:49
vision for the museum and what I'm bringing in the conversations that I'm a part of is how do we appeal to the
37:56
others around us who may not be quite as Corvette crazed as those of us on the phone here but appreciate what the
38:02
Corvette does for American culture it is an American icon for performance and you can measure that in more ways than just
38:09
with the automobile itself that's for sure now you touched on what is there now at the Museum right now Brian talk
38:15
about that a little bit more plus what you see coming in the future for exhibits at the National Corvette Museum
38:20
one of the things I'm hoping to Leverage is my friendships up in Michigan I was
38:26
just there over the weekend I get back and forth occasionally my friends at General Motors like Mike Simcoe vice
38:32
president of design there every six months we're going to be swapping out vehicles from the GM Heritage collection
38:39
down here so you don't have to go all the way to Detroit right now I've got the Mako Shark iconic Corvette that
38:45
everyone seems to love on a turntable back in the gallery if you haven't been here in a while we now have additional
38:51
turntables to Showcase these cars 360 degrees for you we have the Corvette SS
38:57
from 1957 on display we'll have the stingray racer from 59 here in about
39:03
another six months every time you come by I want you to see something new that's my commitment to the museum and
39:10
to our guests is to always be refreshing it with something special we have 35 years of Callaway Corvettes on display
39:16
right now I've got a room stuffed full of perfect callaways from all years for
39:21
the last 35 years we're planning more exhibits than expand the world of Corvette Beyond just what the factory
39:28
put it's out that's my tease to come see us that sounds wonderful Brian if someone wants to reach you how can they
39:34
get in touch with you and with the National Corvette Museum if your listeners have suggestions or something
39:40
that they would like to see they can reach out to me at brian.baker at
39:46
corvettemuseum.org perfect Brian Welcome to our family it's wonderful to have you
39:51
on the show I look forward to working with you and seeing you soon at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling
39:57
Green thank you Steve it's been an honor I can't wait to meet you in person and I look forward to sharing dozens of more
40:03
stories with you in the future thanks for listening to Corvette today and please be sure to tell your family friends and other core of that
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enthusiasts about the Corvette Today podcast and thanks to our sponsors wheelcraft want to dress up your
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you've been listening to Corvette today with Steve Garrett if you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the
41:00
podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette today you can email him at Steve Garrett
41:06
DJ gmail.com that's Steve Garrett DJ gmail.com Garrett has two r's and two
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T's or connect with Steve on social media on Facebook Twitter or Instagram
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using at Steve Garrett DJ thanks again for listening to Corvette today
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