CORVETTE TODAY #172 - The R8C Museum Delivery Experience
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Jul 11, 2025
Having your Corvette delivered to you at the National Corvette Museum is a big deal. But what is involved in the whole R8C experience. On this episode of CORVETTE TODAY, you'll hear about the entire Museum Delivery experience from a man who has a lot of experience with this. Al Fuller has owned 14 new Corvettes and done 3 Museum Deliveries. Your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, talks with Al about how the R8C experience is done, what you should expect and how much fun it really is. Get the full story of the Museum Deliver experience from a Corvette owners perspective on this episode of CORVETTE TODAY.
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0:00
[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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is brought to you by Wheelcraft. Want to dress up your Corvette with bright chrome or black chrome wheels? Learn
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2:44
Corvette has always been a huge deal. But what happens and what do you do once you click on that RHC option when
2:51
purchasing your new Corvette? Well, on Corvette today, we're going to be talking to a man that has done three
2:57
museum deliveries at the National Corvette Museum. My buddy Al Fuller has owned Corvettes since 1987. He's owned
3:05
14, as a matter of fact, all of them new, all purchased one at a time. He's a lifetime member of the National Corvette
3:11
Museum, an NCM ambassador, and a board member for the Chip Miller Amaloy Dosses
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Foundation as well. Al, welcome to Corvette today. Steve, thank you so much. I'm honored
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and privileged to be here, buddy. I'm glad to have you on. Al, let's talk about that museum delivery experience.
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It all starts at the dealership. Overview the R8C process for us, starting when you order the car.
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So, the R8C is the code nomenclature just like any other GM option. And the
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cost is now $1,495. Looking to order your car, it has to be
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a specifically built order for you. You can specify RHC which indicates museum
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delivery and the charge is $995 but understand that helps the museum. Is
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there a nonprofit? That includes a number of things. One of which is a personalized plaque that goes on the
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waterfall in the car. Again, it has to be a customer order. And then after
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you've decided you want to do that and agreed to do it as part of your order, one of the next things that has to
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happen is the dealer fills out a very brief two-page form that they submit to
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the NCM that sort of starts the process down in Bowling Green at the museum. That's cool. Now, once the car is built,
4:28
how does the car get over to the National Corvette Museum? So once the car is built, it's treated like any
4:35
other car, except instead of being delivered to your selling dealership, it's delivered to the museum. It's
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brought over on a carrier just like any other Corvette, it's wrapped in the cover and it's dropped off across the
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street at the museum. One of the common questions that's asked about museum delivery is, "Do I have to still pay the
4:53
delivery charge?" And the answer, unfortunately, is yes. There's legal reasons behind that. That's not
4:58
something that GM or the museum or your dealer can control, but again, still worth it. And the car is brought across
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the street to the museum and dropped off. It's interesting. It's not driven across. It is put on a transport and
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tracked across the street, isn't it? Yes. Literally about a mile, I believe.
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It's kind of crazy. So, once the car is over there, how is the museum delivery
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coordinated? So, can't say enough. Shane Webb is the gentleman, museum employee who
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coordinates the program. If you do a museum delivery, you will engage with Shane. He and his team are phenomenal.
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The first thing that will happen is upon receipt of either the paperwork from the
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dealer that I just mentioned or a notification from GM depending on the build timing of your car, Shane will
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reach out to you typically via email, possibly by a phone call and ask what
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you want on your personalized plaque that goes in between the seats on the waterfall. You discuss that with him.
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You submit your thoughts on what you'd like on that plaque. And then after that process, you get updates along the way.
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Shane will keep you updated and you're always welcome to call him. He is incredibly responsive. I know most every
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Corvette owner is very, very interested in the production of their car, what steps it goes through, when it happens.
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Shane typically will respond within the same day to emails, and he will keep you
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updated. He will eventually provide you once it hits a certain stage in the pre-production process with estimated
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timing of delivery. And the one thing I would stress to all your listeners out
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there is that the Corvette Museum will provide you once you get close to delivery a lot of information on the
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process and the periphery of the process. Follow it. It's done from experience. One of the strong points
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they make is do not commit to flights and hotels until you are pretty much
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locked and loaded because situations do change. We're all aware of that. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Also, as of
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recent, I know that you can order extra items to be installed on your car during the PDI process. And the PDI process is
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done at the museum. Talk a little bit about that and what you can and cannot order there for delivery at the NCM. In
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terms of RHC museum delivery, you think of the museum as a dealership. Anything
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that's an LPO option that you can specify that means it would be dealer installed as part of PDI. The museum can
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handle that and they will work with you on that and they will take care of all of that. Additionally, the museum will
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go and help you with a number of reasonable aftermarket things that you might like to do. Perhaps splash guards,
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things like that. They will help you with that. You need to coordinate with Shane. You need to make sure that
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anything that's third-party that they have in their hands in advance of your delivery, there will be an installation
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charge. They will discuss that with you in advance. The other thing is you need to think of this as you're dealing with
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a high volume Corvette dealer. One of the things that we've always been concerned about is sometimes dealers
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that don't push a lot of Corvettes over the curb are not as familiar with the PDI. So, one of the benefits of R8C is
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you've got people who've done this many, many times before, know not just the PDI, but how to install these
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accessories for you. So, it's a great program and you can do these extra
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options. Just make sure you coordinate with both the NCM and any of these
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thirdparty vendors that you might be looking to procure things from. That's really cool because you couldn't
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do that until as of recent. So, I'm glad to see that Shane has expanded that program and you can get a front splitter
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or a side skirt or like you said, splash guards ready to go on your car for museum delivery.
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Yes. And one of the additional things is there is an affiliated company. It's called Auto Armor and it's based over at
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the track, which if you're familiar with the NCM Motorsports Park is a very short drive from the museum. I'd say maybe a
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mile, a little bit more. And Auto Armor does PPF, Auto Armor does ceramic
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coating, and Auto Armor also does grill guard installs. And specifically with
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the Z06 with the scrape armor grill guards, which require the front clip to
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be removed to properly install the grill guards, they can do that. One of the other benefits is if you would like to
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have PPF and any of those other things on your car before you drive it home after RHC delivery, you can work with
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auto arour coordinate with Shane and basically pick up your car all buttoned up and ready to go. In that regard,
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that's really cool because adding paint protection film and maybe ceramic coating will sometimes alleviate you
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having to put painters tape on your car for a long drive home. You can do that. You could even buy a Nova Stretch travel
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mask at the museum and put that on for your drive home as well, couldn't you? Yes. And the museum as part of that PDI
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process will in fact do the quote install of the snap head screws that are
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required to so you can easily attach and remove the Nova Stretch mask. All right, buddy. So, once this is all
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done, now you've got to schedule a trip to Bowling Green. You got to get a hotel. Talk about that. And when do you
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come in? Do you come in a week before, a day before, something like that? As I said earlier, one of the key things
10:24
to understand is that it's a variable process. You're one person of a number of people that are getting museum
10:30
deliveries at or about the same time. Things are subject to change. We've all seen the plant unfortunately due to
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supply chain issues having to stop production for a week here and there. So, the one thing you don't want to do
10:42
is commit to non-refundable tickets or hotel reservations before you're pretty
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locked and loaded. And locked and loaded typically occurs once Shane in the museum has the car. Once that happens,
10:55
make hotel reservations. And as you so wisely stated, Steve, when that day comes, it is so exciting. And I speak
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from experience, you tend to forget things. You have a whole list in your head. I want to do this. I want to do
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that. and you forget. So, I encourage people to come at least a day early and if you can get there in time, usually
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your car is on display in Corvette Boulevard. There are eight specific stations, for lack of a better term,
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each with its own webcam trained on it on Corvette Boulevard. Your car will be on display there. So, if you get there a
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day early, you can see your car there. You can take pictures of your car, browse the Corvette store, buy some
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merchandise, because again, the next day when you're doing the delivery, you're going to want to do it. but you're going
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to be being tugged from every different angle and it's entirely possible to forget and then you're so excited you
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remember it halfway home. So, I strongly suggest people get there at least a day
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earlier, enjoy the presence of the car, get a feel for the museum, and spend
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some time shopping in the store. Very cool. Well, buddy, let's take our first break. When we come back in
12:00
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I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is Al Fuller. We're talking about an R8C museum delivery from the perspective of
16:07
the customer. Al, in the second segment, we've got the Corvette built. It's over at the National Corvette Museum. Now,
16:14
let's talk about getting your Corvette. You've got your flight booked as well. What else comes with the R8C delivery
16:21
above and beyond picking up your Corvette? So, Steve, it's a laundry list of items. And when you look at it in
16:27
total, it just makes the price seem incredibly good. Such a deal. In no particular order, one of the things that
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you get is a factory tour. And by factory tour, I mean you go across the street to the Bowling Green plant where they build the Corvettes and yourself
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and up to three friends can get a full tour of the facility watching the cars being built with a specialized tour
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guide and it's you. You're not with a group of other people. You also get a similar tour of the NCM. And the museum
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is a wonderful place. Most people go in and walk through it and it's thoroughly enjoyable. But I guarantee to have
17:00
somebody give you a tour and go through it, the knowledge they have of the things behind the exhibits and the items
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and the cars that you're looking at is just incredible. You also get a wooden personalized plaque that can go on your
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desk on a trophy case to commemorate your RHC delivery. You get a sticker
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indicating the car is an R8C car that goes on your door jamb or you can take
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that and apply it to the vehicle later. We did mention the waterfall plaque.
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That's part of it where you've custom specified an engraving and that is on the car as you pick it up. It's already
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there. You get a one-year NCM membership. Many RHC people are already
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museum members. So, they allow you to transfer this membership to someone you designate, perhaps give it to a Corvette
17:48
club as a raffle prize or something. You get professional photography. They do pictures of you with your car both in
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and outside of the museum. You are allowed to pick one of those proofs for keeping and then the ability to purchase
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additional ones is also presented to you later. You get a coupon for track laps at a discount across the street at the
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motorsports park. You get an option to buy exclusive RHC apparel where you can
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have what is in essence your car's profile embroidered onto various
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articles of clothing. Very high quality clothing. Well worth it. There are monitors throughout the plant and they
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scroll through all the individuals that are taking R8C that day. So your name is displayed on the monitors. Then perhaps
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the most important feature of R8C is they give you a detailed introduction to
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your car. The person that you work with, your concierge I like to call them, spend as much time as you need to
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understand your car. all the knobs, buttons, all the functionality, all the
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settings, and they work with you at your pace. That in and of itself is something
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that unfortunately many dealers do not give you that extra effort despite the
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amount of money you're spending to purchase a Corvette in their justification. I know everyone's busy, but doing it at the museum and having as
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much time as you need to understand the workings of the car is just incredible. It makes that $995 well worth the value,
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doesn't it? Absolutely. All right. Now, you've gotten there. You're there a day or two prior to picking up your car with the RHC
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delivery. Let's talk about the legal things that need to be taken care of before you drive your Corvette off the
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museum floor. So, in addition to a valid driver's license, you're going to need a bill of sale, which indicates you've
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paid for and own the car. The other thing you will need is an insurance card. And because you own the car, I am
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often asked about when the insurance should be effective because you've more often than not paid for the car some
19:52
number of days in advance of picking it up. I am told the museum does have a policy that covers the car while it's in
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their care, regardless of who owns it. So, you do not need to have your policy effective until the day of pickup. But
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me being a very conservative individual, for the few extra dollars, the peace of mind it brings, I usually have my
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insurance effective with the date of the bill of sale. The last thing that you need to have obviously is a temp tag, a
20:19
temporary license plate, whatever applies to your state's own individual laws and regulations. Two other things
20:26
that I suggest that are not often discussed is if you're any sort of an
20:31
audio file, bring a thumb drive with some of your favorite music on it. you've got a 14 speakeraker Bose system
20:36
or a 10- speakeraker Bose system and having some music that's uncompressed high fidelity just really makes that
20:43
stereo system sing. And the last thing is if you have PDR option in the car,
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don't forget to bring a memory card. You pop that in and that you can actually record, as we will talk about later, the
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drive down Corvette Museum or Corvette Boulevard and out of the museum. Yeah. All right. So, delivery day is
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here. What happens when you walk in the door to the National Corvette Museum knowing you're going to pick up your
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car? First thing that happens, and it happened probably from the instant you woke up, is you have near to your smile.
21:14
My buddy Mike Ferman likes to call it a permagrin. You show up at the museum and you have a gentleman will typically meet
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you as you walk in and he will introduce you to your concierge, the museum employee that's your guide for the day
21:29
for the tours, for the intro to the car, all of those things. Then they will do
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all the steps of the process, but one of the beauties of this overall is their
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flexibility. They will tailor the process as long as they tick off all the important and mandatory boxes. They will
21:47
do the process within reason any way you want it. So you can make it a full day process. You can shorten it if you don't
21:54
want to do the Bowling Green assembly plant tour. You can postpone that and your tickets will be valid for a year.
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They will walk you through all the things that you need to do. They will make sure that the paperwork's in order.
22:07
There's anything you need to sign. If you should happen to have an invoice that you need to pay for any of the
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extra items that you may have had installed on the car, i.e. a Nova stretch bra, they will take care of
22:18
that. They walk you through it. One of the beauties is you don't need to remember all these steps. Your concierge
22:25
will do it for you. And two of the cool things about the museum delivery are the standup placard that sits right next to
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your car. And you touched on this earlier, the addition of the R8C sticker on the door jamb.
22:37
Yes. Just wonderful memories. You have those. Every time you see them, open the door, there's the sticker. Great memory
22:44
comes flooding back. Walk into your office or your trophy room or wherever else you might display that plaque.
22:50
Perhaps on the wall in your garage. Again, great memories. The plaque is personalized. It's a wonderful way to
22:56
memorialize the event. That's really cool. Now, you've gone through the process. You paid for the
23:02
car. You signed all the papers. You've gotten with your concierge. How does the Corvette come off the floor on Corvette
23:08
Avenue? So, what happens there is when everything is done, the last thing
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before that step is the photographer will arrive and take some pictures of you with a car as it's displayed in the
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museum because regardless of which of the eight slots you're parked in, the backdrop is uniquely Corvette Museum and
23:28
there's nothing else like it in the world. So you capture that image for safekeeping and then your concierge will
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allow you the opportunity to ride in the car. And another thing that's asked occasionally is can I drive the car out?
23:41
And the answer is due to insurance regulations. I do not believe the museum is allowed to do that, but you can ride
23:48
as a passenger. If you have a hard top convertible, as an example, your concierge will put the top down. You
23:54
will sit or someone you designate. My wife Andrea did it when we did our most recent museum delivery. They'll sit in
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the front seat. They will slowly drive you down the boulevard. You'll make what is typically a right turn down a side
24:07
hallway out a door to the outside of the museum. And during that drive, they
24:13
notify everyone in the museum that one of the RHC cars is leaving. And people
24:19
come out and applaud and clap. And it's almost I hesitate to use this terminology, but it's almost like the
24:25
parting of the Red Sea. You just watch everyone congratulate you on your new Corvette. It's a incredible, incredible
24:32
experience. And again, if you have the PDR running, you have that to look back on and relive that memory time and time
24:40
again. It is so cool to see everybody standing there applauding as you and your concierge drive that Corvette off of the
24:46
boulevard and out the door. It's so cool. Absolutely. Well, buddy, let's take our final break. When we come back, we'll
24:52
talk about what happens after your museum delivery. Coming up next on Corvette Today.
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913-384-1550. And now back to the only current podcast
28:08
on Corvettes, Corvette Today with your host, Steve Garrett. Thanks once again for listening and
28:14
watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette, brought to you by Wheelcraft. Summer's here and
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so is car show season. You want your Corvette looking its best. Dress it up with bright chrome or black chrome
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wheels. Visit wheelcraft.com and learn about their advanced PVD chrome finishing. They can refinish your wheels
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or do a wheel exchange and you get a 5-year warranty. Visit wheelcraft.com or
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call them at 8336394231. I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me is
28:43
Al Fuller. We're talking about the RHC museum delivery at the National Corvette Museum. Al, before we get into our
28:49
questions for segment number three, I almost forgot. You got to talk about the key presentation for the keys to your
28:56
car and taking pictures on that big mural right on the side of the museum.
29:01
So, Steve, absolutely. When you get outside, we kind of stopped as you're driving out of the museum. When you get
29:06
outside, you immediately stop outside of that mural that everyone's familiar with. Everybody's seen dozens of
29:12
pictures of people and their corvettes in front of this mural. Shows the spire and the yellow upper part of the museum.
29:19
That picture is the one that everyone thinks of. So once you pull out, you stop right in front of that mural and
29:25
the professional photographer takes an additional few pictures there. And at that point, generally the process is
29:32
over with. One of the things that I'm a personal champion for and I'm trying to get hopefully at least thought about and
29:39
considered as part of RHC is I would personally love to see what I call a key
29:44
ceremony or a key transfer where the keys to the car are formally handed to
29:49
you at that point. Another photo op I just think and it also captures your concierge in a picture. Typically he or
29:56
she is not in any of the photographs. I've talked to Shane about it. Hopefully, it can happen, but I'm going
30:02
to use your forum here as a plug to hopefully we can at some point include a key exchange ceremony as part of the
30:09
process at the very end. I think that's a great idea, buddy. Good idea for sure. All right, talk about how
30:15
long the whole entire RHC delivery process takes and when do you sign the legal documents? Do you do it the day
30:21
before or the day of or after you take delivery of the car? Give us the details on that. So, the documents themselves
30:28
typically are done with the dealer. And if your dealer's local, you can go in and sign at the dealership. If it's a
30:35
remote dealer, this most recent one I've gotten, I've purchased from Seioca, you do it via FedEx. The paperwork goes back
30:42
and forth via FedEx. When you're at the museum, again, taking delivery of the car. You already legally own the car.
30:49
There are a few other documents to sign, and that usually happens very early in the process. And again, as I stated
30:56
earlier, your concierge will guide you through all of that. It's not as though you need to remember, I need to do this
31:02
and have this signed. They take care of it. They have a checklist. In terms of the amount of time to allocate or how
31:08
long this takes, it typically is a very full day, maybe 3/4 of a day. You start
31:14
at 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. You break for lunch and then probably midafter afternoon
31:20
you're finishing up. But that includes both the museum and the assembly plant
31:25
tours. And as I alluded to earlier, one of the beauties of the process is your
31:30
concierge is there for you. The process is tailored for you. So if you have time
31:36
constraints of any way, shape or form, they will accommodate those. My most recent RHC due to personal constraints,
31:44
we had to do it in a very short period of time and the concier was just
31:49
wonderful. So, if it's your first time, allow that entire 3/4 of a day, full day
31:54
for it because you want to soak it all in. But should you not have that time available, they will work with you.
32:01
That sounds good. Once you are ready to drive the car away, you've pulled it out of the museum, you've taken your
32:06
pictures in front of the big mural, the car is yours. You can drive it away. You can drive it home, but a lot of people
32:12
do have the car transported home. Talk about how that is all arranged. Yeah. So, if you for whatever reason you
32:19
don't have PPF on the car and you really don't want to drive it, it's a long distance home, you don't want to drive
32:25
it and risk rock chips or damage to your paint or anything else, you can have the car transported. You do need to arrange
32:32
this on your own. Most Corvette people can help you have experience with enclosed and open carriers and all the
32:39
options there, but you do need to set it up. However, I will state that the museum is very, very helpful and will
32:46
work with you on that. If you perhaps need to leave the car there or pick up
32:51
site on the museum parking lot, they will work with you. You can't say enough good about the folks Shane and his team
32:57
at the museum. Whatever you need to have happen, they will work with you to see that it does happen. The other thing is
33:04
if you choose to drive it home and you don't have PPF on the car, you've got a
33:09
friend who does it at home or you've got somebody that you're loyal to, as you alluded to earlier, you can put painters
33:15
tape on the car. Highly suggest that, or track tape. You want to follow the break-in process and the specifics on
33:21
the way home. One of the things that's always talked about with a new Corvette is the break-in process, the engine
33:28
breakin, the brakes. You want to make sure you observe that. As an engineer
33:33
myself, one of the challenges for me is it's very nebulous the descriptions you
33:39
see on how to properly do it. I'm not saying this is the absolute gospel I would suggest somebody on the Corvette
33:45
team, but I asked give me specifics and I was told that if it were me, I would
33:52
not keep the engine at a constant RPM for more than 5 minutes. Right? So that literally helps. Maybe you want
33:59
to take back roads home, that sort of thing. And the other thing that I would mention is if you are looking to take
34:06
the car, when you come out of the museum and you're in front of that mural, you're actually on, for lack of a better
34:12
term, a patio. It's paved, but it's not a surface that people typically would
34:17
drive on. So, make sure you do yourself the favor and figure out the best way off of that. There are a couple ways
34:23
that are very easy to get the car off. There are a couple others that are maybe not so easy. So, you want to know where
34:28
you're going. Don't just hop in your car and try and drive off and end up going over a little bit of a lip or a curb or something.
34:34
Right. That's a good idea. Now, your wife was with you. Al just took delivery of a 2023 70th anniversary C8 Z06. Your
34:43
wife Andrea was with you for this museum delivery. Talk about what that experience is like for your spouse or a
34:49
significant other. Andrea was in seventh heaven. I'm blessed to have her in my life and she is a massive Corvette fan as I am. and
34:57
we decided that she would take the ride down Corvette Boulevard out of the museum. I actually used my phone to film
35:04
that. She had a smile that just would not leave. She had her arms in the air. Our cars in HTC, so the top was down and
35:11
she just thoroughly enjoyed it. And as a spouse, if you are there for the
35:16
process, you are accommodated. You are as important as the primary owner.
35:22
Family members, same thing. particularly when they're doing the orientation with
35:27
a car, your concierge would be very attentive to any questions anyone in your group has. So if your spouse says,
35:34
"Okay, seat set for Allen. How do I set the seat for me? What happens to get the
35:39
seat to that position when I go to drive the car?" Any of those questions you may have, they just treat you like a king or
35:46
a queen. That's fantastic. Well, buddy, thank you so much for giving us your experience of
35:51
the museum delivery here on Corvette today. This has really been a lot of fun. Can I add a couple extra thoughts?
35:57
Absolutely. A couple things that in preparing for this that I was thinking about that don't get brought up a lot, but just a
36:03
heads up to anybody that's going through the experience. The museum will give you the option of laminating for a small fee
36:11
your build sheet, your window sticker, and the little piece of paper that's displayed with your car as you're doing
36:18
museum delivery. Has the date, your car type, and your names on it. They will laminate those. I highly suggest you do
36:25
that. It's very, very affordable. The photographer, we talked about a photographer taking pictures. You should
36:31
expect an email in a day or two with information, proofs of the pictures, and how should you choose to purchase
36:36
additional prints or the files, how to do that. I talked about the RHC apparel.
36:42
I can't say enough about it. It's high quality merchandise. It's well worth it. But also be aware, you don't need to
36:49
make that commitment that same day. You can reach back out to the Corvette store after delivery, some period, 30, 60, 90
36:57
days, whatever you choose, and order it then. And then probably most important
37:03
to me, after you've gone through this experience and you've got that smile, you look back and you say, "Wow, that
37:10
was incredibly smooth. That was polished. Everything happened. It was
37:15
coordinated. It was choreographed. What an incredible team. And that's true. But
37:21
what really amazes me is they do that for every delivery. Multiple per day,
37:27
multiple days per week, hundreds of times. Shane and his team just do a
37:32
phenomenal phenomenal job. So I would quietly say, please consider doing a
37:38
little something nice for them if you so feel if you feel so inclined. That's a great idea. a little something
37:44
for them for all their time and effort and all the coordination they put in is well well worth it. Buddy, thanks again
37:49
for being on Corvette today. This has been a lot of fun. Steve, I cannot thank you enough. Thank you for what you do for the Corvette
37:56
family and the community. Your podcast is just incredibly informative, helpful, and very, very much appreciated.
38:02
Thanks for listening to Corvette Today, and please be sure to tell your family, friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette Today podcast. And
38:09
thanks to our sponsors, Wheelcraft. Want to dress up your Corvette with bright chrome or black chrome wheels? Visit
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wheelcraft.com to learn about their advanced PVD chrome finishing. They can refinish your wheels or offer a wheel
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exchange for most models and it comes with a 5-year warranty. Visit wheelcraft.com today or call
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833840-5334. Soul Performance Products at
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Also, Aerolari wheels. Get $100 off your purchase with the new promo code CT111
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at aerolari.com. And Hendrickk Chevrolet in Kansas City at chevyusa.com.
38:51
You've been listening to Corvette Today with Steve Garrett. If you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the
38:56
podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette Today, you can email him at stevegared
39:02
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39:08
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Steve Garrett DJ. Thanks again for listening to Corvette today.