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CORVETTE TODAY #163 - Corvette News & Headlines, Late May 2023
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Jul 11, 2025
CORVETTE TODAY #163 - Corvette News & Headlines, Late May 2023 As we enter the Memorial Day week, there is a lot of news coming out in the world of Corvette! Keith Cornett from CorvetteBlogger is back on the show with your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, to detail all the important things happening with America's Sports Car. Here are a few of the topics covered by Steve and Keith on next week's show: 1. Engineers are spotted in what we think is the C8 ZR1 prototype 2. We have two new E-Ray videos available 3. New Z06 allocations went out in the middle of this month (May 2023) 4. The National Corvette Museum names a new Marketing Director
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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 Funfest, 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.
0:28
Thanks for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette and the only
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current podcast dedicated to Corvette. I'm your host, Steve Garrett. I appreciate you tuning in. Corvette Today
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enthusiasts like yourself at mid-enginecorvetforum.com. And a shout out to Corvette Forum and
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Canadian Corvette forum.com. Welcoming Corvette enthusiasts from around the world. It's time to bring you the latest
2:44
Corvette news and headlines with my buddy Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. Keith is here every other
2:50
week to keep us current and uptodate on what's happening with America's sports car. Keith, happy Memorial Day week.
2:56
It's the unofficial start of summer. It sure seems like summer is here, though. I mean, our weather's been warm,
3:02
but yeah, Memorial Day weekend's behind us now. It's time to get all those plans ready for summertime. Where you going to
3:07
go? Where you going to be? The different shows that are out there. It's just a great time of the year. And of course, families home from schools and stuff
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like that. We're looking forward to it. Me, too. I want to get this done so I can go to the pool, buddy.
3:17
Sounds good to me. Well, let's start off as we always do with Corvette News and get a production update from the Bowling Green assembly
3:24
plant. Yeah. So, we've got some big numbers we're going to be talking about today. You know, it looks like last week the Corvette Stingray production surpassed
3:30
37,000 cars for the model year. Wow. It's probably actually just a little bit more because our numbers are based on
3:36
last week's totals that we get. We are showing the last time we had those figures, 33,475
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regular Corvette Stingrays have been completed. And then you jump another 3500 3550 70th anniversary stingrays on
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top of that. Huge numbers being put out by the plant with the stingray. You just can't ask for anything really better
3:55
than that. As far as Corvette Z06 production goes, it's also moving along basically at the same clip that we saw
4:01
following the bash. We've got about 2500 regular Z06s that are produced. We are
4:06
very close to having that 500th 70th anniversary model done. These numbers are from last week, but we should have
4:12
surpassed 3,000 Z06s now for the 2023 model year. Again, like I said, we're
4:17
put up to big numbers here. You put the Stingray numbers together with the Z06 numbers and we are at 40,000 cars
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completed for the 2023 model year. We haven't seen that kind of production output since 2016. And the amazing thing
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is we still have a few more months to go production. The production is going to go all the way through September 1st. So
4:35
that number could actually grow. Are we looking at 42, 43, 44? A very good year
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of production for America's favorite sports car. Man, that's fantastic numbers, buddy. And also for May, we did get allocation
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back on May 18th for the Z06. Yeah, things are just real weird with the Z06. You know, back in April, they
4:52
said that they were only going to do the dealer stock orders, but they're still putting out allocations. They put out an allocation after that in April. They
4:59
just did another round in May. A little bit different again. And how they're doing this. Generally, they get their numbers on a Thursday. They have to have
5:05
them all submitted by that Monday night. It really did do some scrambling because again, dealers did not know about some
5:11
of those colors that were going to go on constraint. Of course, we're talking about Elkart Lake Blue and the caffeine color. You think about these people that
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have been on these lists forever waiting for their car. They love that Elkart Lake Blue and finally their name comes
5:23
up and they can't get it, but they were only told about it that day. So, a little bit of a scramble for dealers, but you know, they make the big bucks
5:29
and doing what they do. One of the things that we're looking at is that the 70th anniversary models have been put on
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a partial constraint. So they're still making them, but when they gave out those numbers allocations to dealers, you know, they might have gave them two
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Z06s, but none of them are 70th anniversaries or they got 20 Stingrays and only two could be 70th anniversary.
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It seems like the 70th anniversary models are being constrained across both the Stingray and the Z06. Not quite sure
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why that is yet. Kind of a shame because this is an anniversary year and we actually want as many as produced as
5:56
possible because you basically got one shot for it and then you're done. Yeah. It's going to be interesting to see where those numbers end up. You take the
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3550 70th anniversary Stingrays and then we have 500 or so anniversary cars for
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the Z06. That's 4,000 models out there representing the 70th anniversary of the cars. Still a very substantial number
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and again just great production figures coming from Bowling Green Assembly. And I'm proud to have one of those as
6:20
well, Keith. Yes, you are. What's your number again? Mine is 1455.
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Wow. So, yeah, you've had yours for a little bit then. Yeah, since November 10th of last year. Uhhuh. Also, we've got Corvette dropping
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two new videos for the -ay, which I was glad to see. Yeah. A couple of new teasers for May. You know, we hadn't had too much on the
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-ay. We had some stuff coming out at the bash, but these are actually for the academy series, these videos that Chevy
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does and puts them up on YouTube. The first video was called Conquer the Conditions, and it featured development
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engineers Stefon Frick and Cody Bley, and they were talking about like the various road conditions that the -ay was
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tested on. And one of the really cool stories, they were looking for like the worst roads, and it just handled everything. That tells you what to
7:01
expect with the -ray. The second video was called Corvette Electrified and it kind of goes into detail what makes the
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-ay the -ray, how the electrical batteries all charged up and how everything works there. That video was
7:12
done featuring Corvette team members Stephan Frick again and then Mike Cutcher, the lead development engineer.
7:17
Good stuff coming. It's a snack. It's not a full meal. We want more. We're looking for more info. Probably is going
7:24
to come in July with the order guide, specific pricing, and then possibly ordering. We're still kind of waiting to
7:30
find out if ordering is going to happen immediately with all the other cars for that September 5th starter production or
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if it's going to be a slightly staggered delay. We've heard both things going on. So, we're just going to kind of take it and see what happens.
7:42
I like that analogy, Keith. That was great, buddy. Also, Corvette and General Motors were
7:47
awarded for their automotive loyalty last year. Yeah, we got a few awards coming up. This was called the overall loyalty to
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manufacturer for General Motors and it was offered by the S&P Global Mobility Automotive Loyalty Awards. They took the
8:01
top spot in five different segments. Of course, Corvette won the luxury sports car and in fact the Corvette, this is
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the second year in a row that they did win that award. Also receiving model loyalty awards were the Equinox for the
8:13
small utility, the Tahoe for the full-size utility, the Silverado HD 2500
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and HD3500 for the heavy duty pickups, and then of course the Bolt for the small cars. Good to see loyalty awards.
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These are people that are buying the cars and expressed interest that they would buy it again. So good stuff for General Motors and Chevrolet.
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And the next award we got was Corvette got the Canadian Blackbook residual value award and that was for the second
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year in a row. And this would be the kind of awards that Corvette people really like because it's residual value meaning but basically that you're
8:43
getting an award because your car is going to be worth more than other cars 36 months, 48 months, 60 months down the
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road. So this Canadian Blackbook award was exactly that. It was the best residual value awards that measure the
8:56
future and then recognizes those vehicles that hold the largest percentages. This is the second time in a row that Corvette won that sports car
9:03
luxury category. And to do so, it beat out the Audi R8 and the Lexus LC500.
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Nice. In that competition. So again, yeah, if you get buy a car and it's going to be worth more than other cars
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in it segment four years, 5 years down the road, you picked the winner. Yeah, that's awesome. Also, General
9:19
Motors, this is really cool. They donated two Z06 LT6 engines to Wayne's
9:25
Community College for their automotive services education program. And who said summer school is not fun, Steve? Right.
9:31
Right. So, this is Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, North Carolina. They actually have a General Motors automotive service
9:38
education program. And so, thanks to these donations of these two engines, you know, these students are going to be
9:43
working on the technological tip of the spear, as our friend Doug Fhan would say. Getting real world experience on
9:49
the latest technology just means that they're even more prepared when they go out and find a job at a General Motors
9:54
dealership somewhere. So kudos for GM for seeding these parts and the cars out to these different organizations and
10:00
letting students work on them because they're only be worth more coming out with that knowledge. So congratulations to them.
10:05
Very cool. Well, buddy, let's take our first break. When we come back, Corvette Racing and Corvette Rumors are up next
10:11
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I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me every other week is Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. We always keep you
14:07
current and uptodate on what's happening with America's sports car. In segment number two, we always cover Corvette
14:13
racing and Corvette rumors. First, Keith. Corvette racing. How did we do at Laguna Secika? Well, we were doing good until we
14:19
weren't doing good. It was just one of those races again. And in fact, the PR piece that the team put out had another
14:25
what might have been moment. And it seems like we've had quite a few of those recently is boy, we were really doing well and if only this would have
14:31
happened, you know, we could have had a chance to win it. And Laguna Secika, what a great place to see a race. One of my favorite places to watch on TV with
14:38
all the elevation changes and everything. Both Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia were leading in the class
14:43
with less than an hour to go. I believe we were running second. We were ready to pounce too on that Aston Martin that was
14:49
in front of us. And then what happened was we got in trouble during a late yellow and it really cost us any chance
14:54
for the winds. What had actually happened was it was a yellow flag and then the GTD amateur cars actually got
15:00
the wave around. The problem is that you all of a sudden have all these GTD cars going around and it's like, "Oh, do I go
15:06
too? Do I go too?" And that's what happened. The Aston Martin was the lead GTD Pro car. They went first and then
15:13
Garcia followed him around and then realized, "Oh, I've just passed the pace car." And that's what happened. So both
15:18
the Aston Martin and the C8R got like a 2 minute and 50 second penalty for that inadvertent wave around. It just put us
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back. We were down two laps after that and very unfortunate. I'm sure Garcia is just raring to get back out on the track
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to make amends for that because he's going to want that moment back for sure. Yeah. And the number 33 Corvette C8 R
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over in the World Endurance Championship. They're going to be racing again at Lemons and that's just I think uh two weeks, three weeks away, maybe
15:42
three weeks away now. Obviously, a huge event there and we're winning in that class over there, too, with two wins so
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far this season. So, really exciting stuff there. We're not going to see the number three Corvette C8 in IMSA till
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the 6 hours of the Glenn June 22nd through the 25th at Watkins Glenn International. We've got a little bit of
15:58
a break in action. The other thing that's coming up, too, although we're not going to be participating in it, is the Grand Prix that's going to be
16:03
happening up in Detroit. They always ran on Bell Isisle before, but this year they're actually running downtown. It's going to be a fun race to watch, even
16:10
though we won't have the Corvettes there. We'll be anxious to see the new track and how they do that. One of the cool things I saw is that they've
16:15
actually got, you know, how the pits are always like pit roads on one side and then they all line up on the other side. Here, they're going to do a split pit
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lane. So, some cars are going to be on the left, some cars going to be on the right, and then pit road is right down the middle of those. So, that should be
16:28
an interesting setup. I'm kind of anxious to see how that all shakes out. Me, too. That sounds like fun. Also, the
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Z06 takes on a Porsche 911 GT3 RS and a BMW M4 at Willow Springs. Yeah, this was
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another Hagerty video and these have been really good. The last few videos from Hagerty, they're at Willow Springs
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and they brought in Randy Hopes to be the driver. He drove all three of them and then they put it all together. But
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the video is hosted by Jason Kamiza. He features this turn byturn analysis with some very cool effects. You've got like
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some augmented reality going on where, you know, it looks like the cars are on the track and Jason's just walking around talking about how each car does
17:04
through each of these individual turns and corners and such. On that day, it was actually kind of chilly. It looked
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chilly anyways for this Fidian. So, I don't know if the Corvette really got the best shake as it could have. It had
17:15
really warm tires and could have been really let off the chain there, but it was definitely a fun video to watch and it's just a cool way to drill down into
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the strengths and weaknesses of these three different cars and see how they did. Very cool. Now, the in the rumor
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section, Keith, this is a big one. We've spotted engineers driving a C8 ZR1
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prototype, or at least we think that's what it is, right? We're pretty sure that's what it is. Obviously, this is a different car. We
17:40
can tell that because they've got the wheel covers on. They've only done that when they're hiding wheels that have never been shown publicly before.
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There's some few other things, too. But, yeah, we think that they're just following their development schedule, and it's ZR1 time now that they've got
17:52
the -ay mostly put to rest. And of course, the Z06 came out last year. In this group, we actually counted four
17:58
different prototypes, and there was a mix of both coups and convertibles. The cars had that heavy black cladding camouflage on it. We're able to zoom in.
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We get big photos from the spy photographers and it really looks like that front end might have been reworked
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a little bit. Of course, it has this really huge splitter that kind of sticks out and it appears to be something
18:16
that's right on the corner of the nose that sort of connects everything together there. Again, it's an interesting car to take a look at. What
18:22
also is interesting is that where they worked on the front, it looks like the rear of the car not so much. So, it
18:28
looks like it's the same big wing from the Z06. Everything else seems to look the same on the back. One other
18:33
interesting thing too is that the ZR1s are being benchmarked against the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, which is the rear
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wheel drive twin turbo version of the Porsche 911. And again, just a monster on the car. I think that car did like
18:45
644, 645 over on the Nurburg Ring. Not only did it less than seven minutes, but like 15 seconds less than 7 minutes. I
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mean, it was a huge number. Yeah. So, that car was spotted in the group. And there was also a Cadillac CTS5 that was
18:58
in the group. And then they had two Z06s, what looked like to be a Z07, and then a base car. They were driving
19:04
around Detroit and then they were captured going into a General Motors vehicle operation center somewhere up in
19:09
Warren, Michigan, probably near the tech center there. So again, it bodess well. We had a comment from Mark Royce. I
19:15
think it was talking about the -ray, but he did mention two great Corvettes coming out, and it sounds like he was
19:20
talking about the ZR1 in addition to the -ay. So, good stuff there. And it's anytime we can see future product out on
19:26
the road is a good day for us. Absolutely. Right. And I know you said that the wheels were covered on the ZR1,
19:32
but we have a wheel design that we think is pretty close, don't we? Yeah. You know, this is kind of one of those things where uh it sounds like it
19:39
could be. It looks like it could be. It was put out by a YouTuber named Supercar Ranch. He's actually had some factual
19:45
stuff put out before that came true. He says he found the new ZR1 wheel online,
19:50
although he doesn't really share where he gets it. kind of says it's similar to how Carbon Revolution, the carbon fiber
19:56
wheel, showed up on eBay back in 2019. You know, that was three years before the Z06 came out.
20:01
So, it sounds like it might have been something like a test wheel or something like that. It's a very busy wheel. It's
20:06
a 20 spoke wheel, but when you line up the very center of that wheel and you look at the spy photos, it's a dead-on
20:12
match. It's a busy wheel. I think the jury is still kind of out on these, but it might be something that grows on people. And again, the other interesting
20:19
thing, too, is, you know, like the Stingray when it came out with the new wheels last year, that anniversary wheel that's on the 70th anniversary car.
20:25
That's a 20 spoke as well. It kind of looks like they took one design and laid it over on another design. And that's
20:30
how these ZR1 wheels look like. You can kind of see a little bit of that 2019 ZR1, that star pattern, but then there's
20:37
something else underneath it. It is a little bit of a busy wheel. And of course, we saw it in black, which just kind of is like, eh, you know, we like
20:44
the bright wheel if we can get it. That's what we'd like to see. And we'll have a picture of that wheel on the YouTube video of this show so you can
20:50
check it out. Yeah, check it out and leave a comment. Let us know if you like it or not. Everybody I've talked to has kind of been like, "Well, yeah, I I guess it
20:57
could be, but I don't see it grabbing any hearts right away." It is definitely different. That's for sure. Also, Keith, we have a big rumor
21:03
now. General Motors is investigating this, but we have a quote unquote ticking in the LT6 engine of the Z06,
21:10
don't we? Yeah. Back in the day when we were getting those Z06 teasers, you know, one of the videos they put out that said
21:15
basically the streets will never sound the same. I don't think that this is what they had in mind from the high revving 5.5 L flat plane crank LT6. What
21:24
they did was they issued a preliminary information bulletin which essentially says we're aware of this issue. We're
21:31
looking into it. They basically say that there's nothing that appears to affect drivability of the car. So, we're just
21:38
looking to see if it becomes a bigger issue before we do anything further. We've got two videos of people that had
21:44
what they call this ticking sound. Let's play it for you real quick and see what you guys hear. Here's the first one.
21:56
So, you can hear that ticking sound. And then this next one, this was from a video on Facebook. And that ticking
22:02
sounds a little bit more intermittent. It doesn't seem like there's much of a pattern. It seems like it kind of comes and goes. So, let me play this one for
22:08
you. [Applause]
22:17
I paid a lot of money for a Z06. That would definitely be one of the things I'd be concerned about. But again, it's
22:22
a new technology. It's a new engine. So, we'll just have to see what General Motors finds out with their investigation.
22:27
It'll be real interesting to see what comes of this, if anything. Also, Keith, our final rumor. Did we see a hint of
22:33
the new C9 Corvette on General Motors Instagram page? Yeah, you know, they've got this great
22:39
account on Instagram. They call it the General Motors design account and they're always pushing out different sketches and things they've done in the
22:45
past. Of course, with all the history they've got, there's some really cool historical stuff that comes out. But then they also put out new stuff like
22:51
designs that didn't quite work out or people doing design exercises. Just recently, we've gotten two that have
22:56
come out and again it kind of looks like maybe C9 stuff. That's of course what we're all thinking because we're heavily
23:03
deep into C8 right now and there's nothing that looks like this from the C8, right? But then you get into the question of,
23:08
well, isn't C9 supposed to be fully electric? And if so, why does this sketch have exhaust pipes on the end of
23:15
it? It could just again be a design exercise. But you could really see how somebody would say, "Wow, take that,
23:21
work it in, and get your performance out of it. It would be a really cool looking car." Again, these sketches, they're
23:26
always over the top. you know, the oversized wheels completely filling in the wheel arches and stuff like that. I think people like this kind of things
23:32
and so if they can see it, check it out and let us know what you think. I liked it. I thought it was pretty cool looking. But I'm still kneede in the C8,
23:38
so I haven't even thought about a C9 yet. Exactly. Well, buddy, let's take our final break. When we come back, the lighter side of
23:44
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And now back to Corvette Today with your host and my husband, Steve Garrett.
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Thanks once again for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette, brought
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833-639-4231. I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me is
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Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. Don't forget if you want a deeper dive into any of these stories we cover, you
27:33
can always go to corvette blogger.com. In our final segment, we always cover the lighter side of Corvette. Keith, I
27:39
was glad to see that after a long time, the National Corvette Museum has a new marketing director. Yeah, his name is Ryan Ikler and he
27:46
joined the NCM. I think his first day was last week. The guy comes with a ton of experience in marketing and he's
27:52
worked at PR firms such as Weber Shanwick which has done a lot of work for General Motors over the years. He
27:57
was a senior VP for Flechman Hillard. So he worked on the US Army recruiting account. He also has this huge
28:04
motorsports portfolio where he worked with NASCAR and Indie Car and even F1. He definitely brings some experience to
28:10
the position. We like to say to all new hires at the NCM, you know, welcome to the lunatic fringe.
28:16
That's awesome. You know that of course is a reference to all Corvettes are red the book. Yes. Back in the 90s that's what the Corvette
28:22
team called enthusiasts and owners the lunatic fringe. How about that? Wow. Also remember Keith
28:28
the Z06 owner that got the Stingray badge on the back of his Z06 but he kept it there. Well now that Z06 is for sale.
28:35
Yeah. This was an interesting one. I felt kind of bad cuz when we did our first story on this I'm like, man, I hope I wasn't too harsh because here he
28:41
is. He's all excited. He's getting this new Z06. He's taking off the covers. Here's the Stingray badge. He doesn't
28:47
even see it. And then it stays overnight with the dealer. They do the full PDI on it. They don't even see it. They give it
28:53
to the car. We're like, "Didn't anybody see the Stingray badge on the back of the Z06?" Obviously, it made it through
28:58
quality control, you know, two different times. I was a little bit worried. I came off our He referenced us in this video saying Corvette bloggers been
29:05
waiting for this video. Just wanted to find out, you know, you going to take it off and revert it back to normal or you going to keep that factory mistake on
29:11
the back? And he says he's keeping the mistake. However, he says that he came into this as the original buyer of this
29:18
car. Actually backed out, but it was already in the system. And so, he basically just picked up the car as is.
29:23
He couldn't order it himself. And so, he's thinking about selling the car and then buying a new one. Of course, we're
29:29
like, "Good luck with that, right?" Yeah. Obviously, you want to keep that car until your new one comes in because we
29:35
just have no idea how long it could be. He does call it the most famous Z06 factory mistake that's currently out
29:40
there. And again, I think if that happened to me, I'd probably do the same. I think the factory mistake, you got it documented and it'd kind of be a
29:48
fun story starter at Carson Coffee or something. Absolutely. You got to keep that Stingray on there. That's a great
29:53
conversation piece, but we had another Corvette that was delivered with wrong equipment. Yeah, but this is kind of a different
29:59
story, and this is nothing to do with the quality control, I think, coming out of Bowling Green. So, this story is
30:05
about a Z06 that arrived with blue seat belts when it should have had red seat belts. And of course, the car is
30:10
hypersonic gray and it's got a red interior. And so with the blue seat belts, it's like, well, boy, that's a
30:15
contrasting color there. That's strong. But it was actually ordered with the red seat belts, but during the process, the
30:22
build sheet shows blue seat belts. Of course, quality control is going to say, "Hey, blue seat belts. There they are." You know, we're not sure what's going to
30:28
happen there. They actually reached out to their dealer. They got a set of red seat belts to replace it with, and
30:33
they're kind of thinking, well, should we do it? Should we not do it? It's kind of a cool story. Again, that one I'm not so sure about. I think I probably would
30:40
change that to the correct one and just save the blue seat belts from the next owner. Yeah, there's a little bit of a twist to the
30:45
story because the person that we're talking about that owns this car is Gary Bennett. He was that ponytail guy that
30:51
was on Barrett Jackson for years. I remember one year there was like some special car was coming up and if it did
30:57
so much money he was going to cut his ponytail and sure enough he did. Oh, he's back. He's got his own premium car
31:02
dealership and appears to be doing well. So got a new Z06 and pretty happy about that. Just one of these stories that
31:07
comes out and I don't put the fault on the Bowling Green assembly plan. I just think something happened in the process between ordering the car and then it
31:14
getting built. Yeah, definitely. And we have a Speed Phenom update. Two things. First of all,
31:19
this is kind of weird. General Motors denied him his points because he's had his Z06 for 6 months of ownership, but
31:25
then he also had to turn to a Ferrari dealership in hopes that they would help him get his wheels and tires mounted
31:31
with the new carbon fiber Z06 wheels. Did that even work out? Well, let's
31:36
start with the first story because I think this one's probably the one that impacts people the most. Of course, we're talking about General Motors. They
31:43
had this process in place. They're trying to stop flipping of the car. So, we'll reward those owners that keep their car for 6 months by giving them
31:49
500,000 My Chevy rewards points, which is valued at $5,000 and they can use that for all kinds of stuff. You know,
31:56
buy parts, get service, what have you, right? So, he's actually had his car now for over 6 months. He hadn't seen the point
32:02
show up. So he reaches out to Chevy, finds out that he wasn't even enrolled in the program and that he was told he
32:08
did not qualify. We reached out to Chevrolet, actually found out some of the more details of it. There is
32:13
actually some hoops that you do need to jump through when you get the car and you want to have it in your account and
32:18
registered within that first 30 days of ownership. What happens is at the end of the 6 months, there's actually a
32:24
verification process that Chevrolet is doing with each of the states. So that could actually take an extra 45 days
32:30
just to hear back from the states to verify if that vent is still registered to that owner. And yeah, they held it
32:35
for 6 months. So they get the reward points. I have a feeling that he's probably going to be okay on this. The
32:40
guy's got a massive audience and he's well known and he's going to continue probably to make videos until you write
32:45
that ship, right? I have a feeling he's going to be okay. I'm just hoping that they somehow are able to take care of everybody. And
32:51
again, we're not really talking about that many cars. We mentioned, you know, about 3,000 have been built so far. It
32:56
could be something that could be salvaged right away and fixed right away and make sure that these new owners that are getting their cars have it
33:02
registered in their accounts correctly and are all set up for that. That's the first side of it. The second side of it is this is very frustrating because you
33:09
see these dealers out there, they're charging $25,000, $50,000, $75,000 over.
33:15
They'll gladly take your money on selling you the car, but they have not put the money into having the correct equipment to service the cars when you
33:21
come in with the problem. And that's what of course has been happening with Phenom. He doesn't have a problem. He's out there tracking his cars and these
33:27
Cup 2 RS, they're not good for a lot of miles. You know, you you run these cars hard a few track days and they're shot.
33:34
You got to go out and get some new rubber. And so, I believe after his cross country trip from Bowling Green, he did a couple track days, gets new
33:40
wheels back in November. Then he does it again. He gets another set of Michelin Cup 2s earlier this spring. In the
33:47
process of having these tires swapped out on his visible carbon fiber wheels, you know, they've been scratches and
33:52
nicks in the carbon fiber. And so when he brought that to the attention of the dealer, they actually did a warranty
33:58
swap with him, gave him new wheels, but told him, "We're not going to put the Michelin tires on there because we don't
34:04
want to damage them again." He went through about every different Chevy dealership he could find over on the West Coast, I think, and had no luck
34:10
whatsoever. No one wanted to work on them. So, he turned to Ferrari. They actually have wheels from Carbon
34:16
Revolution. They're carbon fiber wheels. They got the right equipment. So when he took his wheels in this Ferrari dealership, the issue then was these
34:23
Michelin Cup 2Rs, you know, they're run flat. So they've got a real short sidewall, but it's very, very stiff.
34:29
Unless you know how to do these wheels correctly, they're very hard to get on these rims and get the air to seal up
34:36
and bead. He was there at Ferrari two different times. Actually had the tires sitting out in the sun trying to loosen
34:41
that sidewall a little bit. Just could not get them to beat up and seal correctly. He actually just put out a video last Thursday that said, "Hey, I
34:49
found a Chevy dealership. I think we've got a solution." So, he goes there, they've got all the right tools, the
34:54
right cone thing to put in the center of the fit. When you balance the wheels, they've got this correct thing that holds them. And everything was done in a
35:01
way to not scratch or damage the carbon fiber finish of these wheels. He does have the wheels back on the car. So, we
35:08
all rejoice. We can have some more track days with Speed Phenom. It's just such an embarrassing situation again for
35:13
Chevrolet. It makes them wonder, you know, are you ready for the prime time of being an exotic car dealer or not?
35:18
It's just one of these things. And again, the the most frustrating thing for me is these people that spend tons of money over MSRP to buy this car and
35:26
then the dealer doesn't even support them by taking that money and putting it into the tools they need to service them. That's just wrong.
35:31
Yeah, that's crazy stuff. Well, I'm glad he at least finally found a dealership to get the wheels and tires mounted and
35:37
balanced and he's back on the track. That's good. Yep. Exactly. Also in Australia, they recalled the Corvette for being too
35:44
loud. You know, this is the land of down under, but this is also the land of Mad Max and Thunderdome. And of course, Tina
35:50
Turner, God bless her soul. But I mean, really, things are too loud in the land down under. According to Australian
35:56
government, yeah, the 2022 Corvette, they call it a issue in manufacturing that makes the drive by exhaust noise
36:03
exceed the limits as they were designed. There are actually 106 Corvettes affected by this recall and they're
36:09
going to have to go to their GMS dealer and have the engine control module software updated so it won't be so loud.
36:16
You know, I guess they'll just say, "Well, here's the American standard at 11 and we'll just back it down to 8 now,
36:21
I guess, which is where Australia is." It's just kind of a shame what's happened over there. I always thought they were a little bit more funloving than that.
36:26
That's a crazy story. That's for darn sure. It really, really is. Our final story, Keith, at the Indy500 last
36:33
weekend, the pace car driver was Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Hallebertton. That
36:38
had to be a thrill for him. Oh, for sure. You know, and of course being in Indiana and you're an Indiana Pacer and all you hear about is
36:45
Indianapolis 500. Congratulations for him getting named. I guess he's had some killer stats over the last few years and
36:51
has really done well there. I looked him up. He's 6'5 and 185 pounds. And so I'm
36:56
thinking, well, maybe that's why they put in a hard top convertible in case he was a little too short for the roof
37:02
there. You know, he could sit normally with the roof off. Yeah. Yeah. Of course, you know, we're recording
37:07
this just prior to the race being run. So, we're hoping everything went okay there. But I got to tell you, that pace
37:12
car this year is stunning with the red mist and the stripes, how they put them on there, and of course, the tech bronze wheels. It's a beautiful car, and I wish
37:19
we'd get to the point sometime when they could start making these replicas for sale again because people would love that car. That would be fantastic. Well,
37:25
buddy, thanks for being back on Corvette today. I appreciate you and all the information. We will see you back here
37:31
in two weeks. Yeah, my pleasure. Everybody, get out there. It's summertime. Get out there, drive your cars, say hello, make sure
37:37
you're waving to people, and we will see you in two weeks. Thanks for listening to Corvette Today. And please be sure to tell your family,
37:42
friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette Today podcast. And thanks to our sponsors, Wheelcraft. Want
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to dress up your Corvette with bright chrome or black chrome wheels? Visit wheelcraft.com to learn about their
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in Kansas City at cheviusa.com. You've been listening to Corvette Today
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with Steve Garrett. If you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette
38:36
Today, you can email him at stevegared djgmail.com.
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That's stevegared djgmail.com. Garrett has two Rs and two T's. Or
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