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CORVETTE TODAY #173 - Corvette News & Headlines, Early August 2023
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Jul 11, 2025
CORVETTE TODAY #173 - Corvette News & Headlines, Early August 2023 Well, here we are - the beginning of August. We are still in the dog-days of Summer. Kids will be going back to school soon. Corvettes at Carlisle is at the end of this month. And yes, it may still be hot outside, but "hot" also describes the Corvette news we have for you next week. Just like clockwork, Keith Cornett from CorvetteBlogger joins your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett to bring you the hottest news in the world of Corvette! Here are some of the headlines that Steve and Keith cover: 1. GM will still have a no-flip policy for the Z06 in 2024, but no 500,000 GM Loyalty Points 2. 2024 Corvette orders began on July 27th 3. The 1954 "Styling" Corvette goes to auction
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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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right, here we go. It's time to bring you the latest Corvette news and headlines with my pal Keith Cornet from
2:52
corvette blogger.com. Keith's here every other week. We keep you current and up to date on what's happening with
2:57
America's sports car. Keith, welcome back to the show. How's everything on your end of the world? Everything's great, Steve. You know,
3:03
we're in the August. We're kind of getting ready for a bunch of stuff coming up. I'm going to be headed up to Corvettes of Carile as well as you will
3:09
be. Immediately afterwards, we'll be at the NCM anniversary show and the Hall of Fame celebration. Lots of stuff on the
3:16
calendar these next few weeks. Yep. It's going to get busy, buddy. That's for sure. Well, let's start off the show like we always do, Keith, with
3:22
a production update at the Bowling Green assembly plant. Absolutely. So, production currently stands at approximately 47,779
3:29
for the 2023 model year. Those numbers are coming from late last week. So, obviously a little bit of change there,
3:34
but that's 42,894 Stingrays and then 4,885
3:40
Z06s. So, we're really closing in on that 5,000 Z06 milestone, which I don't think many people thought we'd hit. I
3:46
certainly didn't think would be that high based on the very slow ramp up we saw at the beginning of the model year. So all good news here. Close to your
3:53
heart as far as the 70th anniversary models. We can break these down. We have 4,17th
3:59
anniversary Stingrays and 721 70th anniversary Z06s. So 4738 is our count
4:05
for the anniversary models. We're wondering if we're going to hit 5,000. I think it's going to kind of be touchandgo. I'm not exactly sure we
4:11
will, but that would be a great milestone to hit that number. Our current total of 47,779
4:18
model year 2023 Corvettes has us now at fourth in production of all time and
4:23
only the 8479 and the 77 model years are still ahead of us. We should actually surpass the 1977 model year production
4:30
count. That number was 49,000 something. Between now and the next time we do our news and headline shows then it's
4:36
actually just going to be a race to see how many more we can get completed before the end of the model year comes to close on September 12th. Of course,
4:42
you know, the top production record, 1979, 53,87
4:48
and then that's followed in second place by the 1984 Corvettes, 51,547.
4:53
Of course, 84s, they started early and ran a longer time, so that's how they got that number so high there. I think
4:59
we might end up being second. I'm not sure if we can actually hit that top number, but we don't know what kind of
5:04
game Chevy's playing. We had a couple production days over the last few weeks where we actually surpassed 200 cars
5:10
over two shifts. Sounds like they're trying to make up some cars. It could be from another event that we saw that
5:15
first production shift had to close early, but there really looks like they're trying to make up cars. We know that they initially were going to end
5:21
production on the 1st. Now it's extended through the 12th. Looks like they're going for the record. It also looks like
5:26
there might be some additional parts that they're just trying to put on cars before the model year ends. It's really an interesting story and it's a horse
5:32
race that we're going to be watching closely over the next few weeks. It's going to be a photo finish like we talked about on our last news and
5:38
headline show, Keith. Uhhuh. And I saw that the 2024 ordering began on Thursday, July 27th, too.
5:45
Yep. It was the order books opening officially for the 2024 Corvette Stingray and Z06 models. This was the
5:51
first batch of 2024 models to hit the ordering process. There was a number of constraints that came out for both
5:56
models. The biggest constraints were those new exterior colors. Of course, we have the Cacti, Seawolf, and Riptide
6:03
Blues, but it looks like production just hasn't gotten there yet. There were zero cacti greens available for this first
6:09
order cycle for either the Stingray or the Z06 and then combined 12 Seawolf grays and a combined 47 riptide blues.
6:17
So, they're really just starting to ramp up. Hopefully, you had a rapid blue or a torch red car on order as opposed to one
6:23
of these new colors, but they'll catch up pretty quickly, I'm sure, as we get into the actual model year itself. Some of the other constraint news shows
6:29
plenty of Z07 aero components were available. Good. Decent quantities there. Chevy also had the J57 carbon
6:35
ceramic brakes with a national number of 220 available. Again, probably enough to
6:40
fulfill the Z06 owners out there that wanted them. We're kind of wondering why that was on constraint. We'd never seen
6:46
them on constraints recently. Wondering if that's kind of in preparation for the -ay, which has the J57 CCBs, the
6:52
standard equipment, kind of watching what was going to happen there. Those -ays, actually, the first order cycle for them begins on August 17th. That'll
6:59
take care of that first batch of all three models for 2024. And then the
7:04
model year starts on the 12th. Probably right around then there'll be another order cycle for we assume Stingray and
7:10
Z06 again to start filling in that second batch after production starts there. Lots of moving parts here though.
7:17
Really interesting stuff. We see a staggered start for -ay, but there's nothing that's really indicating that
7:22
production quantities are going to be low when it actually does start. We're just going to have to kind of wait and see. We'll talk to our dealers in mid
7:28
August to find out what kind of quantities they got for -ays and then that'll give us a really good indication of where we're starting production with
7:34
that car when it does start down the line. Yep, that's right. And speaking of 2024s, Keith, GM still has that
7:41
six-month no flip policy. However, there's one key difference. Yeah, Z06 enthusiasts know GM tried to
7:48
limit the immediate flipping of their cars with this carrot stick approach. you know, the buyers who kept their cars for longer than 6 months, they got
7:55
500,000 my Chevy rewards points valued at $5,000, but if a car was flipped within that time period, that owner
8:01
didn't get the points, and then the Z06's warranty was no longer transferable to the new owner. So, once
8:06
the ordering was getting ready to start, we reached out to Chevrolet to find out, you know, are they going to continue that policy for the 2024 model year? The
8:13
short answer is yes. However, with again, key differences, they are adding -ay as well. Also, is also now subject
8:20
to a six-month no flip policy. However, they got rid of the carrot, Steve. They said, "No more points. It hits the
8:26
seller. It hits the next buyer for the car." We've said this before that it looks like this policy now only rewards
8:32
dealers for charging higher market adjustments because that's the only place that you can get a car with a warranty if individuals start flipping
8:38
their cars within those 6 months. It's disappointing to see Chevrolet do this. There's again nothing reeling in these
8:43
dealers. I expect these markups just to continue for the Z06 and the Ray. We don't know how much is going to be on
8:50
eBay, but you know, there's a lot of buyers that had Z06s. They were looking at three and four year weights, so they jumped over to an e-ray list. Again,
8:56
it's just kind of everything up in the air, but yep, Chevy is getting rid of the 500,000 my rewards points. So, you
9:02
do not pass go, you do not collect your $5,000 in points. That's exactly what I was going to say,
9:08
buddy. That was perfect. Great minds think alike. Uhhuh. Also, the Z06 configurator is now up and
9:14
it's showing full pricing. We don't have that C dealer for pricing anymore in there. Yeah, that's what we saw when everything
9:19
first went live. And it's like, wait, pricing just came out. How can we see dealers for pricing? We had an inkling.
9:26
I think we mentioned this on the last show after one of our Chevy dealer friends said that the only pricing they
9:31
didn't have in the GM or system was the gas guzzler tax. It looked like it was
9:36
still pending. So, we actually reached out to Chevrolet. They did say, yeah, they were waiting for confirmation on the gas tax. However, the day that we
9:43
talked to them, they told us that has been confirmed. There was no change from last year's figures. Good. So, that means that a nonZ7 buyer, their
9:51
tax is $2,600, while the Z06 owner buying a Z07 performance package has to
9:57
pay the $3,000 for it. When you go to the build and price configurator for the Z06, prices are showing up across the
10:03
board for that. You know, we've had some interesting comments, too, about some people wondering if the would also have
10:08
a gas closer tax. We just have to remind people, no, that's using the LT2, the Stingray engine. That does not have a
10:14
gas nozzle tax. And in fact, gas mileage might be slightly enhanced with the front-wheel drive aspects of the car.
10:20
So, there is no gas or tax forays if people were wondering that. Absolutely right. Also in Australia,
10:26
Keith, GM Specialty Vehicles announced CO6 pricing and it's up in the Ferrari
10:31
range, isn't it? It's stunning is actually what it is. So, GM Specialty Vehicles handles the sales of Corvettes in the land down
10:37
under. They announced that 2024 Z06 will cost $336,000.
10:42
That's Australian dollars. That's before some of the on-road costs are tacked on. They call those on-road costs as
10:48
additional taxes. But we actually had a few Aussie readers chime in on our comment section and they said that
10:53
they're seeing the pricing there. A 3LZ Z06 at 265,000. Oh, and then there's nearly $100,000 in
11:00
taxes on it. There's a luxury car tax. There's a 10% general sales tax. And
11:06
then there's a stamp duty tax of around $20,000 Australian dollars as well. The website witchcar.com.au
11:12
predicts the final driveout price is going to be in that $350 to $400,000 range. Again, just stunning figures
11:19
coming out from Australia. Again, stunning prices down there. like you said, Ferrari range, the whole importing
11:25
of the car, the differences between United States dollars, the Australian dollars, and then of course all the
11:30
taxes and regulations that Australia has thrown on its uh process to bring in cars from outside the country as well.
11:36
So, yeah, not good news, but hopefully there'll be some people down there that will be able to secure one and enjoy it. We don't expect quantities to be that
11:42
high. We were talking about Japan's exports being about 16 for that first order cycle over there. These guys, I
11:49
think, got 30 or so stingrays. Okay, I think quantities are going to be very limited, at least in the initial roll
11:54
out. We'll see what happens. It's for the Australian elite, that's for sure. Our final story, Keith, in the
12:00
news section, Bowling Green assembly plant had an underground water pipe break, didn't they? Yeah. So, this news came out on Friday,
12:06
July 26th. So, it's Friday afternoon, and a friend of mine says, "Hey, I was on Facebook and did I see that there was
12:12
a sinkhole at the Corvette assembly plant?" Oh, those are the words that people don't want to hear, especially after the 2014
12:18
sinkhole at the Corvette Museum that swallowed eight cars in the sky dome. We actually got in touch with the
12:23
communications director up there. What they told us was there was an underground water pipe that burst and it
12:29
actually impacted the surrounding concrete. We still don't know where this location was. I don't know if it was
12:34
inside or outside, but they did tell us that at the time that it happened, it affected the plant's fire suppression
12:40
system. So the first shift actually ended early, but then they had the fire department out there. They had some
12:45
geological experts out there. They said, "Nope, everything is good. We can go with second shift." So second shift opened up that day, and we haven't
12:51
really heard much about this since. We're going to check it out when we get up there again for the NCM anniversary
12:56
celebration and find out from some of our friends exactly what happened up there. But yeah, it looks like we dodged a bullet for sure.
13:02
Sounds good. Well, buddy, it's time for our first break. When we come back, it's Corvette Racing and Corvette Rumors.
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I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. We keep you current and up to date every
17:13
other week on what's happening in the world of Corvette. In segment number two, we always talk about Corvette
17:18
racing and Corvette rumors. We have a couple previews for Corvette racing. Keith Limerock and also Road America.
17:25
Yeah. So Limerock happened at the end of July. It was kind of a bad news, good news situation for Corvette Racing. You
17:31
know, bad news was that Garcia and Taylor finished fourth in the number three C8R. So, not a great finish
17:36
overall, but the good news is that the points that we got and the other teams in the mix allowed us to move actually
17:42
into second place and securely into second place in the drivers team and manufacturing standings. We're chasing
17:48
that number 14 Lexus and boy, you know, we really need to get some wins. That's really what it comes down to is we get
17:54
the wins, we get the big points, we're over 100 points down from them, but within striking distance still. So,
18:00
there it's not a runaway yet. And then of course, like you said, it all comes together this weekend or actually last
18:05
weekend. We're recording this prior to Sunday's race at Road America. But traditionally, Corvettes have always done well at that high-speed track. The
18:12
other thing, too, about Road America is that they were recently repaved and have a new surface there. So, the team is
18:17
hoping that'll help with some tire degragation. That's always been the price paid for those high-speed curves around that four mile track. We'll have
18:23
the results for you in the next news and headlines podcast. But, we are closing in on towards the end of the season. I
18:28
think about three races left after Road America. That sounds good. But I like Road America. It's a fast track for sure.
18:34
Also, I was really glad to see this, Keith. AWA Racing is going to feature a pair of Z06 GT3RS in IMSA's GTD class.
18:42
Yeah, this is the second announcement we've been waiting for with Pratt Miller Motorsports Canada's AWA Racing. They
18:49
announced last Thursday on Twitter that they'll be fielding the dual Z06 GT3R racers in the GTD class in IMSA for both
18:55
the 2024 and 2025 seasons. So, for Corvette racing fans, we'll now have four Z06 GT3R racers to root for, which
19:03
is great. We'll have the two in the GTD Pro class, fielded by Pratt Miller Motorsports, and then the two from AWA
19:08
Racing. That team is currently racing in the LMP3 class at IMSA. They actually
19:14
won their class at the Rolex 24 Daytona this year. We always like to welcome these new companies and organizations to
19:19
the Corvette Nation. You know, we always like to say, "Welcome to the Lunatic Fringe because, you know, your autograph
19:24
lines just doubled in size. the amount of merchandise and apparel that you sold is probably going to skyrocket. So, I
19:30
would definitely embrace the Corvette lifestyle and get on some of that stuff right away. But again, great news for Corvette fans. You know, the other
19:37
thing, too, is I didn't really delve into this any substance yet. But there's a lot of talk about how Corvette racing
19:42
might be using its driver pool and we might see these different racers here and there, you know, like Jordan and Antonio split up and maybe going, but
19:49
maybe not because Pratt Miller's got two cars. Maybe we'll see them together as a team. There's still a whole lot of up in
19:55
the air about that, but that stuff usually starts to flush it out before the end of the season at Petite Lemon.
20:00
I'd be looking for the next month or so, month and a half to see any kind of announcements that do come out of Pratt Miller Motorsports over their drivers
20:06
lineup because we should be getting some announcements shortly, I would think. I would think so, too. And I'm really excited about the GT3RS. I think this is
20:13
going to be great. I'm sad to see Corvette Racing going away in its current form, but man, those GT3RS are
20:19
just awesome looking cars. They are. And you know, we say Corvette Racing going away, but are they really?
20:24
I don't see what I was expecting leading up to those announcements and then seeing we're have the two cars by Pratt
20:30
Miller Motorsports. It doesn't feel like Corvette Racing's really going away. It really feels like a name change. It's up
20:37
to the fans to embrace that name change. They're going to keep calling it Corvette Racing no matter what. So, we'll just have to see how fans embrace
20:43
these new cars, these new teams. I think it's going to be pretty big, though. I think so, too. Corvette racing is not
20:48
going away. It's evolving and morphing. That's what I think. There you go. Also, in the rumors category, we hear
20:54
that Bowling Green Assembly Plant and the UAW are starting to do their local negotiations. Yeah. So, you know, this is a contract
21:00
year. So, the national labor talk started on July 18th between the big three automakers and the United Auto
21:06
Workers Union. In Kentucky, members of the UAW local 2164 in Bowling Green,
21:11
they're going to have a Q&A session on August 12th as their local bargaining positioning begins over there. The local
21:18
president, Brian Farret, was on WKU Public Radio and was talking about some of the goals they had for their new
21:24
agreement. They wanted to see an elimination of the current tiered wage system. They wanted to win back some
21:29
cost of living adjustments and some better working conditions. From the local side, you know, the working conditions and things like that, the
21:35
things that directly affect those workers at that plant is where they have their most control. The current tiered
21:40
wage system, winning back cost of living adjustments, that's probably mostly dealt with the national negotiations.
21:47
We're really hoping the negotiations go a lot smoother than they did in 2019. We had the UAW do a nationwide strike
21:52
against GM, right, that lasted, I think, around five weeks or so. We do know that it delayed the start of the 2020
21:58
Corvette Stingray from December of 2019 into February of 2020. So, we're really
22:04
hoping that things are smoother. There's been some talk that Mary Bar and her team are showing some interest in
22:10
offering some of those concessions, but it's the opposite from Ford. We're hearing there's a little bit more trouble there and increasing wages. So,
22:17
it's going to be interesting to see how each of these three automakers works with the UAW. One other point, there was
22:22
a study that showed the economic impact of General Motors in Kentucky. It $1.7
22:28
billion in GDP contributions. Wow. 326 million in tax receipts. And there's
22:34
13,000 jobs through Bowling Green Plant and all its suppliers to support the Corvette and other programs in Kentucky.
22:41
It's a huge thing. We just hope things go really smooth. We don't want to see anything disrupt the launch of the 2024
22:47
Corvettes. I think the contracts are over. I think the national contract ends on September 15th. Okay. Of course, our
22:53
cars are starting on the 12th. So, you can see it's all going to kind of come to head there in that midepptember time
22:59
period. Yep. That's for sure. And we also heard that the 2024 is going to be competing
23:04
for the North American Car of the Year. That's outstanding. Yeah. The North American Car of the Year. It's a collaboration. and they
23:10
call it the North American car truck of the year organization. So there's three awards. They do the car of the year, the
23:16
truck of the year, and now the utility vehicle of the year. It used to be the sport utility vehicle of the year, but now they just call it the utility
23:21
vehicle of the year. This is all done in conjunction with the Detroit Auto Dealers Association. What happens is
23:26
there's 50 automotive journalists that make up the jury and they'll have the next few weeks to review and test all
23:33
the cars available in the competition, the cars, the trucks, and the utility vehicles. and then they'll file their
23:38
reports back to the organization and then we'll get what's called the semi finalist. They call this list the best
23:43
of 2024. That'll be announced during the Detroit Auto Show September 13th. Okay,
23:49
we're just actually a little over a month away from the semi-finalist being named. And then the finalists for the
23:54
award will be named November 16th at the LA Auto Show. And I think they pick three per category there. the winners of
24:00
each of those categories, the car, truck, and utility vehicles. They'll be announced on January 4th as the overall.
24:07
That'll be the 30th anniversary for these honors. And of course, we all know the 2020 Corvette Stingray won this award in 2020. We're really hoping that
24:14
the -ray can come up with the same kind of magic to get that win again. Because of the -ray and the performance hybrid,
24:20
and it touches on some of the things that a lot of the regular automotive journalists might like, you know, the hybrid platforms and such, we might see
24:27
it make it to those later rounds of voting. So, that's what we're hoping for. We'll keep our fingers crossed, buddy. That's for sure. All right, let's take
24:32
our final break. Let's sell a couple things. We'll pay a couple bills, and we'll come back with the lighter side of
24:38
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And now back to Corvette Today with your host and my husband, Steve Garrett.
27:22
Thanks once again for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette. Brought
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8336394231. I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is
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my buddy Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. If you want a deeper dive into any of the stories that Keith and I
27:59
cover on this show, you can always go to corvetteblogger.com. In this final segment, we always talk
28:04
about the lighter side of Corvette. Keith, this was interesting. I haven't heard this name forever. Joey Chitwood
28:10
had a C1, a 58 FY, and it sold on Bring a Trailer. Yeah, but it's the backstory
28:16
that's really incredible. So, if you're not familiar with the Joey Chitwood Thrill Show, this was one of these
28:22
attractions that traveled from City. I think they started right after the war, like 46 or 47, and they would do stunts
28:29
for crowds. So they would jump from one ramp to another. They jump over things. They would force the car up on two
28:35
wheels and ride around on two wheels. Just all kinds of stuff. And and it was really cool back in the day. A lot of
28:41
people remember these shows. In fact, there's video where they came out to General Motors and the whole crowds
28:46
filled with people with white shirts, you know, all the engineers and stuff. All the engineering white shirts out
28:51
there. Yeah. Watching these cars do these deathdeying stunts. The drivers were called the hell riders. The story goes that Evil Conval
28:58
was greatly impacted by what he saw Joey Chitwood doing and then took his stuff
29:03
to a whole new level. One of the cars that they had was given to him directly by Chevrolet. It was a 1958 Fuel. They
29:10
only used it for a year. There's a famous picture of the car jumping off a ramp with a crowd in the background. They used the car for a year and then it
29:16
was retired and sold. The second owner actually kept it for about 50 years or so. Wow. It was eventually found and restored.
29:22
We've seen the car come up and go. We saw in person at Mikum maybe five or seven years ago in CMI and actually
29:29
there I met Joey Chitwood Jr. and then Joey Chitwood III is also involved in
29:34
automotive stuff. I think at one point he was like the director of the raceway in Daytona. But this whole family's just
29:40
grown up with these car stuff. So here's this 58 FY that's been jumping around and stuff like that. It's totally
29:45
restored. It's got the great Chitwood throw show graphics on it. When it went to bring a trailer, it actually sold for
29:51
$180,000. Wow. new owner said that he's got a real big personal connection to the car.
29:57
Sounds like maybe family or friends were involved with it back in the day. So, he's all excited to get hold of this car. It's a really cool thing. If you
30:03
don't know Joey Chitwood, Joey J O I E Chitwood, go to YouTube and do some
30:08
videos because there's some really cool stuff out there. There really is. And also, there was a 1954 styling Corvette that I saw at
30:16
Amelia Island in person, and that's also heading to auction. That one's going to the Pebble Beach Show. Yeah, this car
30:22
has got a really interesting history. We've delved into it a couple times. The first time we saw it at a Bloomington
30:28
Gold show and it was actually sold, it was being built as a 1953 car. It's actually a 54. The story goes that it
30:34
was pulled off the line and it was painted and used in the GM Motor shows and then it was given a shop order, shop
30:41
order 2151, and then it was turned into this styling car. And it was really unique because what Chevy would do is
30:48
they would style the car in one side one way, flip around the car, do it something different, and then they'd go
30:53
outside, be on a turntable, and all the execs would be out there looking at it saying, "What do we want to do for any changes? Is this anything that makes
30:59
sense to do?" So, here's this car with these two different designs. I mean, not majorly radical designs, but they were
31:06
definitely different. The other thing, too, is it was painted like a Bermuda green, right? Just had this green interior as well. So, very beautiful
31:12
car. Well, the car disappears as they usually do. It popped up in ' 63 and supposedly in ' 74 it was just a basket
31:19
case and a guy named George Campbell, he bought it. He owned it for about 40 years or so. He was researching the
31:24
history. He was trying to gather some parts restoration. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could do anything
31:29
with it. But it was this new owner that really then took it and did 1,800 hours of restoration on the car. And like you
31:36
said, it's only been shown once publicly at the 2023 Amelia Island concourse. It's going to be out at the Pebble Beach
31:42
auction. Gooding and company is going to be doing the sale on it. You better bring a banker, Steve, because the pre-sale estimates have it selling for
31:48
about 1.5 million to $2 million. Wow. I saw the car. I touched the car. It was really, really cool. And I talked
31:55
to the owner. He talked with me for a long time. He said, "Oh, I love Corvette today. I'm so glad you came by to see
32:01
the car, but it was really, really cool. I'm surprised that it's going up for bid at auction. This is going to be cool."
32:07
Yeah. There's a guy named Jerry Heasley did a video on it. He talked extensively about the restoration, how they had to
32:14
fabricate all these parts by hand, right? Trying to find all these pictures to match everything up with. I mean,
32:19
just an amazing job. I mean, you're part doing automotive restoration, but you're also doing archaeology at the same
32:25
point, you know, trying to figure out exactly how the car looked and was presented and then trying to match that.
32:30
Fantastic job there. We're anxious to see what this car is going to do there. I know. Speaking of Pebble Beach auction, Mikum's going to be out there
32:36
for 3 days and they've got some amazing cars as well. So, there's going to be some news breaking there about some of the cars coming through that auction.
32:43
So, I think it's going to be a great weekend for car people out at Monterey. Yeah, Pebble Beach is going to be the
32:48
place to be. That's for sure. Also, another place to be is the Woodward Dream Show because they're going to have
32:53
70 Corvettes there representing every single year of Corvette from 1953 to
32:59
2023. Yeah. So, there's not enough to do around Metro Detroit in the month of August. There's always the Woodward
33:04
Dream Cruise that comes up. I had the fortunate to be up there for 2012 as a guest of Chevrolet. Although I think
33:10
they punished me, Steve, because they gave me a manual car to drive at Dream Cruise, which is stop, go, stop, go,
33:16
stop, go. Right. Talk about not skipping leg day. It was a fantastic experience to be up there for that. The M1 Concourse is this track
33:24
that's up there in Metro Detroit, and they're doing this exclusive gathering of 70 years of Corvette. So, it's invite
33:30
only for the cars. They'll have one from each model year. And then they went out and they also have the 1983 Corvette
33:37
coming up from the National Corvette Museum. Oh, we're actually told that this is the first time that the 83 Corvette has been
33:42
let go, has been pried loose from the NCM. Wow. We go to the museum every year. We see it has kind of become old hat to us. But
33:49
for all these people that have never made it to the museum, it's a once in a-lifetime opportunity to see the 1983 car, plus the 70 other cars that are
33:56
going to be representing each and every year. One of those cars actually is from our Detroit bureau, Steve Burns.
34:01
Nice. He was invited to show off his green 1994 ZR1. If you do go to the show, make
34:07
sure you say hello to him up there. There's going to be other events. They got like hot maps going. There's seminars. There's going to be food and
34:14
beverage trucks out there. And then there's a after show concert from like 5:30 to 7:30. That's on the Friday
34:19
before the Woodward Dream Cruise. And then on Saturday, the Woodward Dream Cruise, they're doing parking for like $20 a vehicle. And then all kinds of
34:26
stuff going on there, too. That's always one of the things up there is parking is a premium because most people don't drive the whole time. They'll drive for
34:32
a while and then they'll park and watch all the cars. It's a big part of the event. M1 Concourse is the name of it
34:38
and you can get your tickets up there. That sounds like fun. Also, going back to 1954, Keith, there was a 54 Corvette
34:45
owned by Jerry Lewis and it's up for sale. It's on Facebook. Yeah, Facebook Marketplace, which you
34:51
know, sometimes you're surprised at what you get. It's a unrestored car. car has 21,000 m on the odometer. It was
34:57
actually owned by Jerry Lee Lewis, the famous rocker. One of the reasons why we know this, the documentation is there's
35:03
an IRS letter which states that the car was seized in 1980 along with two other
35:08
vehicles over back taxes owned by Jay Lewis. So, that's unfortunate. But again, the car appears to be unrestored,
35:14
but it's a video of the car running. It looks like a great candidate for restoration, especially with its
35:19
celebrity ownership. Maybe there's some additional documentation out there with Jerry Lee Lewis's name on it. And boy,
35:24
if you could find a photo of him in the car, that would be gold. Yeah, absolutely right. And our final story, Keith, this is really cool as
35:30
well. We've got some great lifestyle stories. The Peterson Automotive Museum is going to have a Corvettes and
35:36
competition racing America sports car coming up real soon. Yeah, this is a actually a fantastic
35:41
collection of competition Corvettes that they put together. The exhibit actually opened on Saturday. It features just
35:47
significant race cars from early to the latest ones that you're thinking of. Cars featured include like the 1960
35:54
Cunningham Lemons racer, the number one car. Wow. 1963 Grand Sport, the 76
36:00
Spirit of Lemon, a 1989 Corvette Challenge racer, uh 1995 Callaway
36:06
Lemon's race car, and then several examples of Corvette racing C5R that was raced at Daytona with Dale Nhard and
36:13
Dale Jr. You have a C6R or C7R. There's some other cars out there, some very classics like the real McCoy from 56. So
36:21
yeah, it looks like a great collection. You can actually check that out at the Peterson Automotive Museum. And if you go to their website, they actually have
36:27
pictures of the cars up so you can see the different ones that are going to be on display. Definitely one that I would love to see. Too bad it's out in Los
36:33
Angeles. We might have to do another bonsai run like we did back in the day. Yeah, great collection of competition
36:39
Corvettes at the Peterson. Let's see. I got to go to LA to the Peterson. I've got to go up to Detroit
36:44
for the Woodward. Then we've got to go to Corvettes at Carlilele. Then we've got the anniversary celebration at the
36:49
museum. We're gonna be busy. Our dance card is full, my friend. Yep. Absolutely right. Well, buddy,
36:55
thanks for being on Corvette today. Have a good two weeks, and we'll see you back here in a couple. Thanks, Steve. Everybody out there, just
37:00
keep watching, waving, and if we see you out there, throw those arms up. Thanks for listening to Corvette Today. And please be sure to tell your family,
37:07
friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette Today podcast. And thanks to our sponsors, Wheelcraft. Want
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37:54
with Steve Garrett. If you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette
38:00
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That's Steve Garrett DJgmail.com. Garrett has two Rs and two T's. Or
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