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CORVETTE TODAY #147 - Corvette News & Headlines, Early February 2023
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Jul 11, 2025
CORVETTE TODAY #147 - Corvette New & Headlines, Early February 2023 We are finally into February...is it Springtime yet? Even though we are still in Winter, there is an abundance of Corvette news to be had! Keith Cornett from CorvetteBlogger returns with your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, to deliver all the headlines making news in the world of Corvette. Here are a few of the topics Steve and Keith will be covering this week....
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0:00
[Music] Welcome to Corvette Today, the podcast
0:06
that talks about everything Corvette with your host Steve Garrett, MC and DJ at one of the largest Corvette weekends
0:12
in the country, Corvette Funfest, president of the Corvette Club of Kansas City, Missouri, and radio disc jockey at
0:19
the number one radio station in Kansas City for over 40 years. Here's Steve Garrett.
0:28
Thanks for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette and the only
0:34
current podcast dedicated to Corvette. I'm your host, Steve Garrett. I appreciate you tuning in. Corvette Today
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is brought to you by Wheelcraft. Want to dress up your Corvette with bright chrome or black chrome wheels? Visit
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mid-enginecorvette forum.com. And a shout out to Corvette Forum and Canadian Corvette forum.com, welcoming Corvette
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enthusiasts from around the world. It's time to bring you the latest Corvette news and headlines with my buddy Keith
2:33
Cornet from corvette blogger.com. Keith is here twice per month about every other week. We keep you current and up
2:39
to date on what's happening with America Sports Car. Keith, welcome back to the show. Is it springtime yet?
2:46
Well, Florida in February, it feels like spring here. We've had Chamber of Commerce weather and it looks like another great day today. This is why we
2:53
live in Florida is what I always say. That's exactly right. Well, we're getting there in Kansas City. It's been a mild winter, but I can't wait for
3:00
springtime. Well, I just heard about a recent ice storm, so I know you're probably waiting to get that new 70th anniversary
3:05
Corvette out. Absolutely right. I've been chomping at the bit, buddy. I don't even have the th000 miles on it yet, but at least I've
3:10
gotten past the 500 mile breakin period. So, that's a good thing. That's a good thing. All right, let's start off as we always
3:16
do with the latest Corvette production update from the Bowling Green assembly plant. Yeah, Corvette Stingray counts just
3:23
continue to be strong. We could actually surpass 25,000 on the VIN count at the end of this week. And that's just for
3:28
the regular Stingray. So, I mean, they're really banging them out. We also should surpass 2500 70th anniversary
3:35
Corvette Stingray. So, that's 27,500 Stingrays for 2023, and they're not done
3:40
yet. So, yeah, these Stingray production numbers are really climbing. Very excited to see that. We've talked about
3:45
Z06 production still ramping up. The good news is that over the last two weeks, we've seen more than 125 Z06's
3:52
produced per week. Our chart runs a few days behind, but we're starting this week. I think we'll have an estimated
3:58
850 regular Z06es completed and about 125 or so 70th anniversary Corvette
4:03
Z06es completed. Right there, we're just under 1,000 Z06's total for 2023. That's
4:09
actually not even counting the number of CTF cars that are out there either that might end up going to dealers as well.
4:15
It's interesting for 2023 Z06 production could really surprise us. I think right now we're looking at they're building
4:21
about 500 per month which means over the remaining production for the model year we could see 3,000 maybe over 3,000 3500
4:29
Z06s. Wow. We're not out of the woods but it certainly feels like we're picking up steam. Things are moving well. We've
4:35
gone a few weeks without any kind of production snafoos or anything like that. Supply chain seems to be holding.
4:40
So let's keep our fingers crossed and keep building Corvettes. And Bowling Green set a new record for Z06
4:46
production back on Tuesday the 24th of January, too. Yeah, that's right. January 24th. We saw
4:51
32 Z06s built during the two shifts. So, they did 24 regular Z06s and 870th
4:57
anniversaries during that workday. It looks like they worked a little bit longer. We hear the counts are somewhere
5:02
around 194 to 200 is what they do during the shifts. They did 196 that day and
5:08
the Z06 production accounted for just over 16% of those cars. That's really good news. I'm cautiously optimistic,
5:15
Steve. That's great. That's good news. I'm glad to hear it. And this is something, Keith, that affected me personally.
5:21
General Motors is going to reimburse 70th anniversary owners if they were double charged for bright red brake
5:26
calipers instead of having the edge red brake calipers. I called my dealership. They said, "Yep, you're on the list."
5:32
And I got my check. Well, that's great. Yeah. So, I guess what had happened was people noticed the double charge. And if you recall, you
5:39
know, last summer there was a fire at the vendor plant that makes Edge red paint. And so, General Motors had to
5:46
swap out the Edge Red brake calipers for the bright red on their 70th anniversary packages. That's what I heard about this
5:52
story. I was like, "Huh, I wonder if this is related to the 70th anniversaries because they had to switch to the bright red and GM with their
5:58
billing and all that stuff, that just slipped through and it got an extra charge on there." Nice to know someone that actually had that done. I'm glad
6:04
you got your check already. Yeah, I always say check the receipts and make sure that you're only paying for what you got.
6:09
Check your sticker. See if that charge is on there. Contact your dealership. I got a check from the dealership itself.
6:16
There was a question of, "Well, should we just put it back into the loan?" They said, "No, we're going to give you a check." And I got a check for $595. So,
6:24
I'm a happy camper, that's for sure. Yeah, that's great news. Also, Chevrolet Canada is going to get
6:29
the -ay and their starting price is $128,800. Yeah, that's pretty strong price. That's
6:35
for the 1LZA. They did not release anything on the 2LZ or the 3LZ or anything else. Just the starting base
6:41
price. Canada, they also have a destination fee that's higher than ours. Ours is $13.95. They pay $22.95 as a
6:48
destination freight charge. And then they also have taxes. They get like $100 for an air conditioning tax, $700 in
6:54
dealership fees. While that sounds expensive, and you know, we're all going on top of that 12878.
7:00
But Canada's got this new luxury tax on cars over $100,000. So you add 10% of
7:06
the cost of the car on top of that. The ERA is going on sale in Canada. It's going to be a little bit pricey.
7:11
And Mexico is getting lucky, they're getting Z06s as well. Not only are they getting the Z060,
7:16
their model there that they're going to sell is the coupe with the Z07 performance package as standard.
7:22
Wow. They're going to get the big wing and all the fun stuff there. And then there's also an optional 70th anniversary special edition that they
7:28
can get as well. The standard Z06 model with the Z07 is gonna sell for 3.7 million pesos, which is is $194,600
7:38
USD at our current exchange rates. And then the 70th anniversary special edition will be even higher. That's 3.79
7:44
million pesos or just over $200,000 American. Also, the first market outside
7:50
United States and Canada to get the new supercar. We assume from there it's going to end up over in the Middle East and then Europe and down in the southern
7:57
Pacific with New Zealand and Australia. I call it the world domination tour because everywhere we go in these
8:03
markets is new for the car. There's just so much excitement over it. And while we got racing going on in these different
8:08
markets as well, it's really a good thing to see these cars sell. I know a lot of people say, "Oh, they should take care of the United States market first."
8:15
And yeah, there's a little bit of that. I mean, the numbers that we're exporting aren't huge numbers anyway. So, it's just a way to get these cars into
8:22
different markets and support the enthusiasts that are there. That's right. Also, I love this, Keith. There's a new carbon flash stripe option
8:29
that's coming for next year's Corvette. It looks awesome. It does. We actually found this one
8:34
playing on the -ay visualizer. I've built like a 100 cars on the visualizer and I joke that I must have unlocked an
8:39
achievement level or something because all of a sudden I'm seeing new stripes. So, the -ay's got this special stripe
8:45
called electric blue and it's different than the current racing stripes because it comes down. There's a little bit of a point to it. It's got the blue in the
8:51
middle and then it's got an accent color on the outside. These new ones are all carbon flash metallic as the base color
8:58
and then on the edges of the stripes, there's five different accent colors you can get. They look really, really nice.
9:03
The five colors are blue, yellow, orange, red, and silver. It's also different on the back. The current
9:09
stripe, as it goes along the back, it goes over the spoiler and then down all the way to the black fascia where the
9:15
exhaust is. Now, this one just stops right there at the third brake light. It's a good looking stripe. We did a
9:21
number of different colors to try to match it to like interiors and seat belts. You could really have a lot of fun with it.
9:26
It looks good, buddy. They're nice stripes. Yeah, I like them. Absolutely. Well, let's take our first break, Keith. When we come back, it's
9:32
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And now back to the only current podcast on Corvettes, Corvette Today with your host, Steve Garrett.
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Hey, thanks for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette, brought to
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models, and it comes with a 5-year warranty. Visit wheelcraft.com today or
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call 833-840-5334. I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is
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Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. We keep you current and uptodate on what's happening in the world of
13:35
America's sports car. In this second segment, we talk about Corvette racing and Corvette rumors. Keith, we had our
13:41
first race at Daytona for the 24 hours. How did Corvette racing fare in that race? Wow, that was an exciting race. We came
13:47
in second in our GTD Pro Class. If you stayed up and watched it, there was some drama, especially overnight if you would
13:53
have stayed up. We went down two laps in the middle of the night. We had a flat tire. They also decided to do a brake
13:59
change. But yeah, when I got up in the morning, we were running first or second. It seemed like the final battle came down to the number three Corvette,
14:05
the number 14 Lexus, and the number 79 Mercedes. And it was the Mercedes that would grab the win. It was a fun race to
14:12
watch. The Corvette really had the speed on the banks and on the ovals, but not so much in the interior of the road
14:18
course. And that's where the other cars always kind of pull away just a little bit or not allow us to close it. We close on them on the banks and then
14:24
they'd get away from us on the infield again. Great race though. Hats off to the team. Second place is a great way to
14:30
start the season. A lot of racing to go here. Yep. I'd say we're on our way. I think so, too. Second place is not bad
14:35
to start the season. I'll take it. Also, I was real excited about this. I love this car from the get-go. The Z06 GT3R
14:43
officially debuted on Friday, January 27th. And it ain't cheap either. No, it's not. So, Laura Clauser and other GM
14:50
big wigs, we had Chevrolet global design manager Phil Zach, GM President Mark Royce was there. They're all at the
14:55
Daytona International Speedway the day before the Rolex 24. And they did the big reveal, pulled the cover off, and
15:01
there's the car. This is a car that utilizes the Z06 production frame and other components straight out of Bowling
15:07
Green. And it's all built to these global GT3 specifications. So, wherever GT3 cars are allowed, this Corvette car
15:13
should be ready to race there. teams had to fill out a questionnaire and Chevy says they're still going through and
15:18
they're looking for racers and teams who will compete professionally in the car and they haven't announced teams yet,
15:23
but we do know the cost of the car is going to be $735,000. Big chunk of change there, but you know
15:30
what they say about racing, if you want to make a little money in racing, you start with a lot. Chevrolet revealed its
15:36
plans also for 2024. Corvette Racing will be competing in both IMSA and the World Endurance Championship with the
15:42
Z06 GT3R. The plan is that they think that IMSA will have up to four GT3R
15:47
entries running in both the pro class and the amateur class and then another two more will be competing in the FIAWC
15:54
and they want two cars there because that's how you get your double entry into the 24 hours of Le Man. That's the
16:00
thinking there. Again, they're still lining up some teams. There's been some talk about who might be some teams. They'll probably have that sorted here
16:06
in the next few months. Oh, by the way, following the Rolex 24, Corvette Racing was back on the track with the Z06 GT3R
16:14
and they were testing it there on the high banks of Daytona. Also being tested there was that NASCAR 56 car again,
16:20
which is going to be racing at Lemons this year. It's like an exhibition car. Corvette Racing is doing some stuff there. In fact, I thought this was
16:25
funny. Jordan Taylor is doing some consulting with the drivers there on that car. He showed up wearing a shirt
16:31
that said coach on it. So, I thought that was pretty funny. You know, the drivers are Jimmy Johnson and Mike
16:36
Rockefeller. I believe there's another guy I'm not thinking of, but these are all professional drivers. They don't really need coaching, so to speak. But
16:43
Jordan Taylor being the funny guy, that's great. In the rumors category, Keith, GM is going to be gearing up for
16:48
a new sixth generation small block V8 engine. And this is really specifically more for SUVs and trucks, isn't it?
16:56
It is. But anytime you hear an announcement of a new generation of engines, I still think that's just good
17:02
news for the market in the industry. and they're going to invest like a billion dollars. Four facilities are going to
17:07
get this money. This is the sixth generation of small blocks. Like you said, they're aim for the GM trucks and
17:13
SUV lineups, but we have no details yet on exactly which cars or trucks they're going to go into. As we said, this is
17:18
obviously good news. The real question is, will there be any plans to extend the Gen 6 small blocks to Corvettes? The
17:24
LT2 is a fifth generation small block. They're always coming up with new ways to save fuel and more power, make the
17:31
engines more compact and more efficient. You never know what they can come up with and there might just be something there for Corvette down the road. We
17:37
don't know that for sure, but you just can't put it past the guys Jordan Lee and Dustin and the other guys up there
17:42
at the small block building these engines. And anytime we hear ice engines being scheduled for production, that's a
17:48
good thing. That's a good thing for sure. Also, we heard about a rumor of the E-RA top speed being 180 mph.
17:55
Yeah, we got this at the end of last week. A YouTuber I just in is a technology YouTuber. She's got like 7
18:01
million subscribers and she's had over a billion views on her channel. My daughter used to watch her back in the day. That's how I knew about her. And
18:07
then all of a sudden I saw her standing in front of the -ay. I thought, "Oh, this would be interesting." So she saw it out at the Peterson and she's
18:12
interviews Aaron Link and Kirk Benyan who were out there. As she's standing next to Kirk, she says, "Oh, and the
18:18
Corvette - top speed is 180 mph." Kirk was right there. He didn't dispute it. We're assuming that that's what he told
18:24
her. The nonZ51 Stingray is capable of 194. And the Z-51, I believe, is at 186.
18:31
So, we're at 180. You know, obviously, we've got a different car with the widebody. And of course, we've got the
18:37
extra weight of the batteries. You know, an extra 300 lb there. 180 seems doable. It might be a little bit lower than what
18:43
we were hoping for, but when's the last time you were 180, Steve? Exactly. We're not going to use that speed anyway. It's like 0 to 60. It's
18:49
bragging rights. We're not going to worry about that, you know? Right. So, stop speed. Also, I was glad to see
18:55
this. GM expects to return to full production this year, buying 400 automotive transports as well. It looks
19:02
like the guys that they contract with is going to be going away then, aren't they? Actually, no. You know, Jack Cooper does
19:07
the shipping for Corvettes. This is in addition to So, what they found was that they had all these cars that they were
19:13
making, but they were missing parts. So, they had almost 500,000 cars that were missing parts, and a lot of those cars
19:19
had to be stored. So, they got the parts, they got them in the cars, but then there was no available transport to ship them. So they bought 400 transports
19:26
and so that way they're not a slave to the shipping industry and then they have their own fleet where if they've got to
19:32
move some vehicles from one place to another, they've got the means to do it themselves. It was Scott Bell who's Chevrolet's vice president believes that
19:39
a lot of the constraints that we've been seeing are actually going to be going away during 2023. They've really been working on opening up the supply chain.
19:46
We're seeing some results here, which we're going to talk about in just a couple minutes with Z06, but they think
19:52
that stuff's really going to start to happen well in 2023, and they're all gearing up for it. We call it a rumor
19:57
because you never know what's going to happen to the supply chain, but again, just another great indication that this is shaping up to be a great year.
20:04
Absolutely. Keith, let's take our final break. When we come back, it's the lighter side of Corvette here on
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You're enjoying the only current podcast on Corvettes. Corvette Today.
22:12
Hey, thanks once again for listening and watching Corvette today, the show that talks about everything Corvette, brought
22:18
to you by Wheelcraft. Want to dress up your Corvette with bright chrome or black chrome wheels? Visit wheelcraft.com and learn about their
22:25
advanced PVD chrome finishing. They can refinish your wheels or offer a wheel exchange for most models. And it comes
22:32
with a 5-year warranty. Visit wheelcraft.com today or call them 833-840-5334.
22:40
I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. Don't forget if you want a deeper dive
22:45
into any of these stories we cover on today's show. You can always go to corvette blogger.com. In this final
22:51
segment, we always talk about the lighter side of Corvette. Keith, I thought this is awesome. Finally, the
22:57
Z06 highwing availability is coming back around and it's going to be available for most people. But there is a catch,
23:04
isn't there? There's always a catch, Steve. We got to know that by now. But speaking to the positivity, the good vibes we're getting
23:10
from some of this news. We had a surprise Z06 water cycle the last week of January. It wasn't planned back at
23:15
the end of 2022. They said the next Z06 order cycle would be in February. So, we
23:21
got a surprise one in January. Since the first allocations came out last August, we've always seen the Z06's highwing at
23:27
100% constraint, zero availability nationwide. So, when we get the constraint reports, I'm actually calling
23:33
up different dealers and trying to figure out what we got because the dealers are getting different reports from each other. They don't just get one
23:39
report and it's a standard one. So, from four different constraint reports, we saw that were actually 75 to the carbon
23:46
flash high wings and 54 TOGS, which are the visible carbon fiber. The catch is
23:52
though to make the Z07 you also have to have the ground effects. These are the splitters and the rockers. That's the
23:57
CFZ and the CMV ground effects. Gotcha. That's actually what was stopping dealers from submitting Z07 orders last
24:04
week. We only showed 20 CFZ carbon flash ground effects and zero availability on
24:10
the visible carbon fiber ground effects. So, if you have zero availability, you're not being able to place that
24:16
order. But the fact that we're starting to see numbers show up here tells us that there was a number of orders back
24:22
again in December of Z07 people that were pushed back into February. And so we think that they have quantities of
24:28
these now and that they're going to those people that ordered that first order cycle, maybe the second order cycle. Really good news there to see the
24:35
product that's actually available. It might not be able to available yet, but boy, we are so close, I think. And I'm
24:40
really hoping next month's order cycle we'll really see some movement with the Z07 again. Me too. That would be great. Also, this
24:46
is so cool, Keith. A 1969 Corvette ZL1 sold at Southby's auction for $3.14
24:55
million. Yeah, this was the orange 1969 ZL1 convertible. Only two were made. Only
25:01
one was a convertible. There's some questions about this car. It does have a ton of paperwork with it. It's been
25:07
around for a while. People do know it. But there's this outstanding questions on I don't want to say the legitimacy of
25:13
the car, but whether or not it was actually one of the two production ZL1s. These organizations like Bloomington
25:19
Gold and NCRS. Bloomington Gold has judged the car. They gave it Bloomington Gold status. The NCRS has not judged the
25:25
car. I don't know why that hasn't happened. A car this important. It would seem to me you want to bring in all the
25:31
experts as you can and really try to nail down the authenticity of it. Right. In the meantime, the buyer
25:36
thought it was real because he paid 2.85 million for it and then with the commission, the total sales price was
25:42
3.14 million. This is actually the third highest selling Corvette at auction and it's the highest selling C3 that we've
25:49
seen so far. Strong price for a very rare car. We could just get some of those pesky questions answered. You
25:55
know, it'd be really worth celebrating, I think. Definitely. Also, this is amazing. And Keith, you correct me if I'm wrong, but
26:01
McMolan was now taking -ay deposits as of February 1st. Weren't there people
26:06
waiting overnight to get their deposits in? Yeah. So, here's how they did it. We look back at what Sioka did last year
26:13
when they opened up their list for the Z06. And I don't use the fiasco term lightly, but it was a fiasco. You had
26:19
people that were at the dealership and then you also had people that were sending wire transfers. So, everything
26:25
was done based on when that deposit was made. and the people that were able to make the wire transfers just jumped ahead of all these people that were
26:31
waiting in line and waited overnight. What McMullin did was a little bit different. They said, "No wires. We're going to have in-person deposits. You
26:38
can also send by mail, but we're not going to tell you what the deposit amount is until the day before." So on
26:44
January 31st, they came out and said, "Depit amount is going to be $4,000. Here's the process for mailing it. If
26:49
you want to mail it, if you want to be there in person, we're opening the doors at this time." But then the weather was
26:55
really horrible up there. It was kind of cold. So what they did was basically like a early check-in. So on the 31st,
27:00
the day before, they actually opened the dealership from 7:00 to 9:00, took people's names and numbers and that kind
27:06
of thing. So that way they wouldn't have to stand out in the cold all night. We saw some pictures. There were some good crowds there. There were probably well
27:12
over 100 people Tuesday night at the dealership waiting for the Wednesday morning to open. So what they did was they opened the doors, people filed
27:18
through, they made their deposits. I talked to one guy who took some pictures. He was number 81 on the list
27:24
there. And then the mail came in too. The problem was that for people that were sending mail and especially like overnight stuff, a lot of the FedEx
27:31
package, people send FedEx, they send UPS. The UPS people got there like at 7:39 in the morning, so they're all
27:37
happy. But the FedEx people, a lot of their tracking showed that their checks were stuck in Kansas City because of
27:42
some ice storm. The fact they took the in-person deposits, I think says a lot because dealerships serve their local
27:48
communities first. the people that are coming in. Obviously, McMolin wants the opportunity to service those cars, maybe
27:54
sell accessories and upgrades for those cars. Working with that local community is obviously very important for them.
27:59
They had people show up from all over, too. California, Florida, flew in to be there as part of that.
28:04
Wow. And again, that just makes it fun. And for them, too. They're now the world's largest Corvette dealership. So, this is
28:09
new for them as well as what people are expecting from them, what they need to do to make sure that they live up to
28:15
their commitments to the customer. I don't know how many they took deposit-wise, but they sell a lot of Corvettes. Hopefully, people won't be on
28:21
that list for years and years like we saw with Z06. Exactly. Boy, you think they were lining up for a Taylor Swift concert or
28:27
something. You're right. Our final story, Keith, this was a great behindthescenes video of the Corvette
28:34
assembly plant done by a group called Savage Geese on YouTube. Yeah, Savage
28:39
Geese is basically an auto reviewer channel, but they just go so in-depth. And their Z06 auto review is one of the
28:45
best that came out. One of the main hosts, his name's Jack, he actually bought a Z06. His car was one of the
28:52
first, I think, 30 or 40 cars to be built, and GM allowed him to be in the
28:57
plant as the car was going down the assembly line. He was able to film. He was able to talk to people. They put
29:02
together this documentary that is very well done. Highest production standards
29:07
that anybody I've seen out of the plant coming there. It's like the television show. I would definitely recommend if you got YouTube on your TV, watch it on
29:14
your TV so you can see everything nice and big because it's a great documentary on the making of the Corvette at the Corvette assembly plant. Go watch it
29:20
right now. It's that good. It is that good. It really is. Buddy, thanks for being on Corvette today as
29:26
always. Take care of yourself. We'll see you in two weeks. Well, thank you, Steve. We're looking forward to it. Got all kinds of good
29:31
stuff coming up here. February is shaping up to be a busy month like they always are. We'll see you on the roads.
29:36
Keep waving and keep visiting Corvette Blogger for all the latest news and updates. Thanks for listening to Corvette Today.
29:41
And please be sure to tell your family, friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette Today podcast. And
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30:27
You've been listening to Corvette Today with Steve Garrett. If you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the
30:32
podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette Today, you can email him at stevegared
30:37
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Steve Garrett DJ. Thanks again for listening to Corvette today.