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CORVETTE TODAY #178 - Meet GM Quality Launch Manager, Jeff Brown
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Jul 11, 2025
On this episode of CORVETTE TODAY, you'll meet another integral engineer behind the scenes that makes Corvette the supercar it is today. Jeff Brown in the Quality Launch Manager for Corvette. Previously, he was the Vehicle Systems Manager. You're probably saying to yourself, "what exactly are those two jobs and how do they relate to Corvette?" Your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, sits down with Jeff to talk about his role with Corvette. But here is a hint...Jeff was brought in for a one year stint to help launch the C8 Z06. He loves it so much, he decided to stay long-term! This is another great episode about a "behind-the-scenes" person who helps insure Corvette is great for us. Enjoy getting to know Jeff Brown on this episode of CORVETTE TODAY!
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0:00
[Music] Welcome to Corvette Today, the podcast
0:06
that talks about everything Corvette with your host Steve Garrett, MC and DJ at one of the largest Corvette weekends
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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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Canadianc Forum.com, welcoming Corvette enthusiasts from around the world. My guest on today's show is the quality
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launch manager and more recently the vehicle systems engineer for GM and Corvette. Now, I know you're probably
2:52
saying to yourself, what exactly is a quality launch manager and a vehicle systems engineer? Well, he's going to
2:57
explain that to you and how it relates to Corvette. He's been featured on Corvette videos, namely the most
3:03
outstanding Savage Geese video about Corvette production. His name is Jeff Brown. Jeff, welcome to Corvette today.
3:10
Morning, Steve. Thanks for having me. Great to have you on the show, buddy. First of all, let's talk about you, Jeff. Let's talk about your childhood,
3:17
where you grew up, your siblings, and did you come from a car family? Sure. Good question. So, I actually was
3:22
an only child, which I think a lot of the people that I work with point that out pretty quickly to me. Actually grew
3:28
up in a military family, so I've never really lived in one place for more than five years my entire life. And I really
3:34
enjoyed that upbringing because you're always going to a new place, a new town, meet new people, and those skills have
3:39
transferred to me as an adult today. As far as being from a car family, my parents, they're airplane enthusiasts.
3:45
My dad was an F-15 pilot, so that's what kept us so mobile when I was younger. But on my mom's side of the family,
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yeah, I definitely came from a line of gear heads. So all my cousins when I was growing up had Chevel's and El Caminos
3:57
and trucks of their own that I was exposed to at a very early age. So seeing where I am today isn't much of a
4:02
surprise. That's cool. So you did come from a Chevrolet family, right? Yeah. As I look back and kind of think
4:08
how I was brought up, I was probably drinking the Kool-Aid pretty young. My mother's side of the family, they ran a
4:13
farm, so all of the support trucks that we ran were Chevrolets. That's all I've owned. And again, the personal hot rods
4:19
that we've been building over the years have been Chevy as well. Small blocks, big blocks, we've been fans. So again,
4:24
it's a pretty natural fit for me to be able to do this for a living. Fantastic. Now, when did you know you were a car guy? And was Chevrolet your
4:31
car from the get-go? Um, it's it probably was. So, I've known I was a car guy for as long as my memory
4:38
has served me. And my parents have definitely confirmed that as well, that when I was a toddler, I think one of my
4:44
favorite stories that my mom tells me, and again, this is past my memory. I was coming down the stairs into the garage
4:49
and trips rolled underneath our old mobile at the time and they panicked. They thought I was going to panic as
4:54
well when they looked underneath the car. They saw me just staring at the engine and poking at stuff and they had a pretty good idea at that point in time
5:00
that I might have a future being a gearhead myself. Well, and I know that in previous videos that I've seen, you knew all the car
5:06
brands growing up as a little boy and you love the like a rock marketing from Chevrolet.
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I did. Yeah. But again, another story that my folks tell, when I was young enough to just see over the sill out the
5:18
window of the car to other vehicles near us at a stoplight, all I could see were hubcaps. And apparently, I was able to
5:24
identify that shape to the car that it was on. And to my parents' surprise, because my dad wasn't there with a car
5:30
encyclopedia telling me what was there, I just picked up the different names and I guess it was a natural fit. That's cool. Now, how did being a car
5:38
guy influence your career path when you went on to college? Uh, sure. So that passion really drove
5:44
my entire academic career. At a young age, I pieced together pretty quickly that what I wanted to do as a car guy
5:51
was get the opportunity to engineer the cars, right? So not just work on them. I enjoy spinning wrenches a lot myself,
5:57
but to be able to influence their designs and affect how customers interact with the cars that I cared
6:02
about. That led me through a very STEM focused academic career through high school. So, you know, going through
6:08
different robotics competitions and calculus and things of that nature. And then as far as getting into school in
6:14
university, it was no different. Let's talk about university for a minute, Jeff. What did you study at
6:19
college and what jobs did you take once you graduated college before you got to General Motors?
6:24
Yeah, so I went to Texas&M University down in College Station, Texas. I studied mechanical engineering and I
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actually stayed there and got my bachelor's and masters both consecutively. I decided, you know what,
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I want to learn a little bit more and I'm probably not going to want to come back to school once I'm working. So, let's knock them both out together. And
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I think the most pivotal decision I made while in school was serving on our Formula SAPE race car team. So,
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basically, that's a collegiate competition around the world where students come together to build a car
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over the course of a year and compete and race with it. And I got the opportunity to serve as the project
6:58
manager and technical director for that vehicle, which largely got me the exposure to General Motors and to get me
7:03
into a job doing this professionally. When I was in high school, again, I was pretty clear that I wanted to get into
7:09
the automotive field, looking at all of the universities across the country. Admittedly, when I was younger, I was
7:15
much more of a truck guy. So, my first vehicle that I cut my teeth on as far as wrenching was a Jeep Cherokee that I've
7:21
since built into this massive rock crawler that I take across the country and run the hardest trails I can find. I
7:26
was looking for a combination of a strong mechanical engineering school that also had an off-road club. And
7:33
believe it or not, they kind of narrows the list down quite a bit. And I found the Texas&M off-road club. And during my
7:40
junior year of high school when I went to visit the university, I went and met some of the folks that participated on
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that team. And I definitely found my group. And of course, the university itself had an outstanding program. So
7:51
the decision was pretty easy for me. As soon as I made that visit, I canceled the rest of my applications and just
7:56
full steam ahead down to College Station. Very cool. Great story. Well, buddy, let's take our first break. When we get
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I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me today is Jeff Brown, the quality launch manager and more recently the vehicle
12:06
systems engineer for GM and Corvette. In the second segment, we're going to talk about Jeff's work career and how he got
12:12
to General Motors. Jeff, we talked a little bit about your jobs right out of college. give me the story about your
12:17
transition from the job you had into General Motors. Sure. So, when I was in college, I took
12:22
full advantage of getting any internship that I could. Right. So, I had a lot of fun working for a variety of different
12:28
companies doing different things just to see if I'd be interested or not. So, I actually started out doing some material
12:34
science research for Boeing. I also went to Peterbuilt Company in Denton, Texas to put semi-truckss together. And I even
12:40
spent a summer as a field service electrical engineer servicing the Midwest, going to various power stations
12:46
and learning that's exactly what I did not want to do for the rest of my life. And I got very lucky that the final
12:52
internship that I was able to secure was with General Motors at the Milford Proving Ground. As we've touched on,
12:59
it's pretty evident. I'm a car guy. I love this stuff. And to arrive at the proving ground for General Motors for
13:05
the first time was surreal and a shock. And you're talking about the largest automotive proving ground in the world
13:11
with around 145 miles of testing roads that are specifically engineered to
13:17
bring out the best and worst from all of our products. So that first summer working on full-size truck, basically
13:23
durability testing them and see where they broke and improving them, I was sold. That was the end. I knew I had no
13:29
chance I would have to come back to work for GM for a living. That's fantastic. Now, let's talk about how you got into GM and what jobs you
13:36
had when you first got there and then how did you get to Corvette? Sure. So, as I mentioned, I was able to
13:42
work with our college race car team and that got me the visibility to get an interview with GM and got me that first
13:48
internship. And also, as I mentioned, my initial interests were largely in the full-size truck space because that's
13:54
where I spent a lot of time growing up. Spent a lot of time around them. I knew the products very well. So my first job
14:00
was as a driveline development engineer. And I really enjoyed that time because it was a really hardware focused role
14:07
where I was constantly in the garage with the engineers and the technicians tearing vehicles down, putting new
14:13
components on them. And it also gave me the opportunity for a lot of seat time. I just love being behind the wheel of different products and seeing what their
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strengths are and and just general vehicle performance is something that I really appreciate. So that first year,
14:25
year and a half or so, I was focused at Milford testing those vehicles and also getting to do different ride trips where
14:31
we'd go to the sand dunes for example and evaluate the off-road prowess of the vehicles as well as their on-road
14:37
capabilities. So great start. Really enjoyed that opportunity and that led me to the next assignment as assistant
14:43
program engineering manager on the full-size SUV vehicles. So your Taho,
14:49
Yukons, Suburbans, Escalades that we build in Arlington, Texas, I got the
14:54
opportunity to work with that team while they were introduced to the plant for the first time. So that zoomed me out a
15:00
bit from the fun of hardware exposure and seat time and more of the nitty-gritty of program management,
15:06
right? business side and the launch execution of bringing pre-production vehicles from the relative comfort of
15:13
headquarters where the entire team is able to be there to support into a new manufacturing footprint and getting that
15:20
other team up to speed and bringing those new products into light in a very condensed timeline so that way we can
15:26
get new products into market as quickly as possible. Very cool. Now, you more recently were the vehicle systems engineer for General
15:33
Motors and now you're the quality launch manager. Talk about those two titles and
15:38
exactly what those entail. Excellent. Yeah. So, after I did that truck work, a Corvette opportunity came
15:44
up and those are very attractive roles. So, I raised my hand as soon as I saw that. And the first job that I got in
15:49
Corvette was actually as what's called an IRT coach. That's an issue resolution
15:54
team co-chair. and I was assigned to Bowling Green assembly here in Kentucky for the Z06 launch. So, there's
16:01
obviously a period of time before the vehicles are available for customers where we get factories up to speed on
16:07
various brand new models and get everything going before we're able to be at full production run rate. I was
16:12
serving the chassis and active thermal space specifically in that role. So,
16:17
everything on the vehicle basically the dirty side, right? the structure, steering, suspension, brakes,
16:22
powertrain, cooling, air conditioning as well. All of those components of the car were my responsibility when those Z06s
16:30
were coming down the line for the first time. So, you can imagine the mix between intensity and reward cuz there's
16:37
so much going on at once and there's a lot of pressure to make sure that you're able to deliver from your space. But, I
16:43
absolutely loved it and really thrive in this launch type environment. About a year and a half into serving as the RT,
16:50
I got the opportunity to expand my responsibility to take on, as you mentioned, the vehicle system
16:55
engineering role as well. So, I actually served both those roles concurrently where I maintained every vehicle that
17:02
came down the line in the launch cadence as well as owned the business aspect and
17:07
the current product aspect of the entire architecture. So, as a vehicle systems engineer, you really represent about 40
17:14
to 50 engineers around the globe that own the individual components within the subsystems that I just mentioned. And
17:21
there's a ton of different deliverables that you got to stay on top of within all of those different components. So,
17:26
that even includes different warranty items if that might be the case and also pre-production design items if that's an
17:32
option as well in addition to the manufacturing responsibilities. So, I enjoyed being able to maintain presence
17:38
here in the plant as well as being able to expand to the larger vehicle as a whole.
17:43
Wow, that's amazing. Part of your job, an important part of your job was getting back to the design engineers
17:49
about how Bowling Green assembly plant installs what they've designed. You were essentially like a conduit between
17:56
Bowling Green assembly plant and the design engineers, right? Yeah, you have a very good understanding of my job
18:01
responsibility. Steve, to be honest with you, as an engineer, having tangible skills and wrenching experience
18:08
personally and professionally, that was crucial in being able to convey some of the challenges that we might see live
18:14
with tangible assembly back to some of the engineering teams that work in different spaces that may not be as
18:20
close to the product as I was. So, I felt uniquely suited and in a unique position to help the team succeed
18:26
because I had so much exposure to everything live while also having to maintain a really good understanding of
18:32
the virtual presence of the vehicle and how we engineer within those different models and things. You are the perfect person for the job,
18:38
Jeff. That's for sure. I appreciate that. I'll send that along to my manager. You got it. Tell them you need a raise.
18:44
Jeff, outline a typical day for you at the Bowling Green assembly plant. Sure. So that as you can imagine
18:50
probably the most cliche answer is there is no typical day but that couldn't be more true. I'll speak to that as a VSSC
18:56
in a launch window. We have scheduled build weeks where the new cars are introduced to the factory. When we're
19:03
not in those build weeks, there's an enormous amount of preparation for a variety of different aspects. So
19:08
material availability and presentation is probably paramount in ensuring that you can actually assemble the cars, but
19:15
you also have to manage any potential design or process changes that can help iterate the product or process to
19:22
improve it in the long run. So it's really a balance of the essentials, the foundation of putting a car together as
19:28
well as introducing these incremental improvements as the launch cadence matures. So that really took a lot of my
19:34
time. And of course, when it's showtime and it's a build week, it's all hands- on deck. I might be unique and just kind
19:40
of enjoying the firefighting aspect. When you're there with your team and it's happening live, you really have no
19:45
one to rely on but yourself. So, you have to be very resourceful and creative. Understand your team and your
19:51
capabilities of what you can do to solve these problems as they're happening because there's so much depending on all of this running smoothly and
19:57
successfully. Amazing. Well, buddy, let's take our final break. When we come back in segment three, we're going to talk more
20:03
about the Bowling Green assembly plant and the C8 Corvette. Coming up next on Corvette Today.
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[Music] This is the Corvette Today podcast with Steve Garrett.
23:32
Thanks for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette, brought to you by Wheelcraft. Summer is here and so
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I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is quality launch manager Jeff Brown. Jeff, in this third segment, let's talk about
24:06
the Bowling Green assembly plant. GM spent a lot of money transitioning Bowling Green from the C7 to the C8.
24:13
Let's talk about that transition and about the differences between the build lines from then up to now.
24:18
Sure. So, as you can imagine, going from a front engine architecture to a rear engine architecture for the first time
24:25
was an unbelievable undertaking and a lot of the conversations focused around what it took to make the car different
24:30
and how to architect it from that perspective. But again, as you'd imagine, the assembly process is just as
24:36
critical because if you can't put the car together, then you have nothing more than rendering. So, back for the 2020
24:41
launch for the C8 Stingray, the amount of effort put into the lines to completely rearchitect the plant was
24:48
mind-boggling. Working and talking with the team members that supported that live on a daily basis. Honestly, it's
24:55
such a herculean task. It's amazing to see how smoothly we're able to run today. That's really cool. Jeeoff, talk about
25:01
the C8 Stingray and transitioning into the Z06 and then the upcoming -ay as
25:06
well. Yeah. So, that was the first job that brought me to Bowling Green Assembly. Admittedly, that was intended
25:12
to be a one-year assignment a few years back, and you can see how well that's lasted as I'm still here working on a
25:18
daily basis. I just love what we get to do. But, as you can imagine, when you introduce a new architecture into a
25:24
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that single car to come down the line right after C7 just because they're so fundamentally different in the way that
25:44
they're engineered and assembled. We had similar iterations coming into the widebody variants of Z06 and E-Ray. So
25:51
again, working on Z06, I was boots on the ground, sort of the tip of the spear, and seeing what that looked like.
25:57
The lines themselves have to be prepared for all of the new features and differences in them. So when we brought
26:03
Z06 here, the line was moving with Stingrays coming down on a daily basis. We didn't get the opportunity to turn
26:09
the line off and say, "Well, let's see how this fits here or how does this operation feel. We had to have all of
26:15
our homework done. So when that first car hit the line, we were ready to go." So in addition, as I mentioned to some
26:21
new content, for example, the center front radiator, we knew that was going to be coming in for Z06. It was a
26:27
requirement to ensure our thermal capacity was there. That station was already allocated down one of our
26:33
chassis lines. We just didn't need to turn it on until that variant was introduced to the plant. Wow. That is part of the process of
26:40
launch is getting not only those new features turned on for the first time, but also getting repetitions for us as a
26:46
launch team and the operators that are going to do it on a daily basis. So the entire activity is very comprehensive
26:52
and what needs to be accomplished. That also of course carried into the -ays that we're building today. It was from
26:58
my perspective a good transition that we got exposure to Z06 first seeing the widebody proportions running that down
27:05
the line, the wider wheels and tires. Steve, as you know, you've seen the rear wheels and tires on -ay and Z06 are
27:12
awesome and they're almost hilarious for their dimensions, the amount of grip that they provide. That's amazing. I know a really
27:18
important part of the Bowling Green assembly plant build line is the integration of the Stingray, the Z06,
27:24
and then also the exports. Talk about that philosophy behind the different variants coming down the line all at the
27:30
same time, which is pretty amazing. It is, and it also definitely adds some workload to us as you can imagine. So,
27:36
yeah, the our export exposure is greater than it's ever been. This is the first time that we're building right-hand
27:42
drive variants down the production line and sending them around the world. As an enthusiast, it's very exciting because
27:48
now you're seeing people globally sing the praises of the car that we all know is so amazing. And now it has the
27:55
opportunity to get into the hands of more drivers. That was something we were adamant about early on in the scoping of
28:00
C8, wanting to get the car out because we knew how worldclass it would be that it'd be a shame to limit it to only
28:05
left-hand drive markets. And it's it's always fun when I am taking new people through the factory and they see just the dash or the instrument panel and
28:12
they see the steering column on the right hand side. Everyone is very surprised by that. It's like, yep, same line. Those all of those different
28:18
unique features have to be assembbleable in the exact same way that we've been doing to this point. So again, it's
28:24
really a function of preparation and doing your homework to know what you intend to offer and then ensure that you
28:30
have the capabilities of so doing. That's amazing. I recently at the NCM Michelin Bash went through the plant
28:37
again on a tour. And it was so cool to see right-hand drive cars just sitting there. You see them in pictures. When
28:43
you see it in person, it's just really, really cool. Yeah. You do a double deck, don't you? Yeah, absolutely. Also, you got a new
28:50
job now, Jeff. You're a quality launch manager. Talk about that and the transition that you made from the
28:55
vehicle systems engineer to this current job. Yeah, this this has been a really fun transition and it happened relatively
29:01
recently and fairly quickly again at working as a vehicle systems engineer. Your home room is really focused on the
29:07
product side of the house. So, as I mentioned, I was in a unique spot being a liaison for product engineering in a
29:13
manufacturing environment. Whereas this new role serving as a quality launch manager, my home room is now the
29:19
manufacturing footprint. It's really exciting opportunity for me because I get to zoom out and take on the entire
29:25
automobile instead of just focusing within the chassis and active thermal space as I'd been doing before. So, I'm
29:31
looking forward to seeing different aspects of the vehicle that I was aware of but wasn't as focused on previously.
29:37
And now I get to work with an unbelievable team of quality engineers that have a lot of experience in this
29:43
space as well to ensure all of our future products are as good as we're building today. Well, congratulations on the new job for
29:49
sure, buddy. Thanks, Steve. I'm loving it. Talk about some of the biggest challenges you've had with C8 production. How's that being addressed
29:55
among the workers and the team builders? Yeah, I think the biggest challenge that I always harp on is also what makes us
30:02
so good, and that's really the complexity that we offer. And that's not an accident. It's very intentional. As
30:07
we just mentioned, we want to get the car to as many customers as we can, but we also want to offer as many options as
30:13
possible. And of course that introduces a pain point here because the easiest thing that we could do to build a car
30:19
would be the Henry Ford mentality of you can have any color you want as long as it's black. But as you know as a
30:25
Corvette owner yourself, your expectation is going to be a little bit higher than that. What that takes it's a
30:30
full court press from the entire team in organization supply chain management as
30:35
well as introducing efficiencies where we're able to. So the way I look at being successful here is from the
30:42
product side of the house to engineer as many efficiencies into the vehicle as you can not have unnecessary
30:48
redundancies and then from the manufacturing side of the house it's kind of more of a function of innovation
30:54
to absorb these greater workloads in the breadth of the portfolio that we offer.
30:59
That sounds really really cool. That's amazing. Jeeoff let's talk about the engine build center. I know somewhere
31:04
down the road we're going to have the Z06 engine build experience. In a video I saw in eight hours you can build 2.75
31:11
engines. How does one become a Z06 master engine builder? Yes, as you can imagine a very
31:18
prestigious opportunity with in the factory here and one that a lot of people pursue. But of course it's not as
31:24
easy as just raising your hand wanting to do it because then we'd have a line going out the door of people who'd be building LT6 engines. Of course with the
31:32
LT6 itself it's in a different realm as far as engine assembly. It is literally
31:37
a race car engine. So, as you're aware, Steve, we're going into GT3 racing next year with Corvette and the LT6 that
31:44
supplies those vehicles come from the performance build center here in Bowling Green. Wow.
31:49
Yeah. Of course, it's got some modifications after the fact to fit the spec of the different series which they
31:54
compete. But the bones of that engine are what you have in your Z06 going to work every day or going to the track on
32:01
the weekends, which when you zoom out and think about what that means, that's pretty special. that you're really
32:06
driving a street legal race car on a daily basis. Again, all that prestige makes it a very attractive position, but
32:12
we have to make sure that the individuals who put these together have the skill sets to put a successful engine together. This isn't a hard and
32:19
fast syllabus, if you will, to be credentialed. But we typically ask the engine builders to work for about a year
32:24
in other engine assemblies. So, here at the PBC, we also put together LT4 engines and LT1s for Camaros. So LT4 of
32:31
course for the Cadillac portfolio, the awesome Escalade V and our CT5V Blackwing giving operators exposure on
32:38
those engines. Then they'll get the opportunity. Of course there has to be some manpower availability. It's not
32:43
just you want to do it, you get the chance. There has to be an opening and a need. You apprentice for roughly 6 to 8
32:49
weeks. So that is working with a current LT6 master engine builder to understand
32:54
all the specific precision needed for that engine itself. And at that point in time, of course, after being able to
33:00
prove your own individual competence, can we cut you loose to put your own LT6s together and have that sacred name
33:07
plate on the back of the engine in the car, which is of course very special. They take a lot of pride time. Absolutely. Right. Now, I know each Z06
33:15
engine is doed for 20 minutes right after assembly. Run through that process for me and what happens if an engine
33:21
doesn't pass the dyno test. Yeah, good question. So, for those that don't know, LT6, again, being a race car
33:26
engine, gets a lot of white glove treatment. So, we send every single handbuilt LT6 engine off for a 20inut
33:34
dyno break-in run. So, that process, as you can imagine, is very tight, very scripted. So, after the engine is built
33:40
and passes all the quality gates here at the PVC, it's sent over to a separate facility where it's plumbed, put into
33:46
the dyno cell, and the first movement that the engine fields is actually just motoring of the dyno before it's even
33:52
fired. just make sure the rotating assembly is passing all of our quality gates and it's hugely instrumented as
33:58
well. We're pulling a ton of data off the engine as it's exposed to the dyno to the first time as a health check.
34:04
After that point in time, fired off and it runs through a very specific and it's
34:09
been iterated over the years a ramped breakin schedule. So, as you can imagine, race car engines breakin is
34:16
very crucial and imperative to good performance out of the engine. And this script basically ramps in different
34:22
engine RPMs. But interestingly, after each plateau, there's a slight relaxation window. And as an engineer, I
34:29
find these things fascinating because that was largely advised by our metallergists to allow for some bearing
34:35
relaxation as it entered the next cadence of the engine dynamometer test. So, after it finishes this ramp, it gets
34:42
to sing with its full lungs. We do a full load, full watt pull. You just absolutely open it up. Anyone who knows
34:49
anything about these cars, whether you've heard it live or just have heard every video on YouTube, as I have, her
34:55
voice is beautiful. So, in the Dino Cell, it's absolutely screaming. And then the final step of that test is to
35:01
motor it down the same way we motored it up. And that's again a final health check to look at all the sensors on the
35:06
engine before we take it off. And then the final step or the quality gates to do a final inspection on it. And we even
35:13
cut open the oil filter to identify any potential contaminants. give it fresh oil, send it back here to the general
35:20
assembly line, and we put it in the car. And as one of the guys who was very focused on the engine line during the
35:25
Z06 launch, I always loved seeing the LT6 itself because the heat shields around the exhaust manifolds were
35:31
already rainbowed. They'd already had one hard pulling them. You could see it and it just I don't know, even though the car is fresh, the engines already
35:37
had a nice pull and it's ready to go. That's really cool. I'd love to see one of those dynino tests. And it's really cool that you cut open the oil filter,
35:44
too. Yes. That's really neat. You know, Corvette would be nothing, Jeff, without the pride and the enthusiasm of every single
35:51
team member. Talk about that and what sets the Bowling Green assembly plant apart from everybody else.
35:56
Yeah, there's something intangible in the air here and I think that's really what made it a no-brainer for me to
36:02
extend my tenure indefinitely. There's the unspoken understanding that this is
36:08
the American supercar and everyone that comes into work on a daily basis day in and day out, you can feel it. Just the
36:14
way that people speak around the jobs, the way they speak around the car, it really does feel like more than just a
36:21
paycheck or more than just a job because every car that rolls off this line is somebody's dream because at the end of
36:27
the day, you don't necessarily have to have a Corvette to be able to get to work or get to school. This is a treat.
36:33
This is something that a lot of people have strived for their entire lives. And that's well known at every level of this
36:39
organization in the plant and in the engineering teams. That type of energy to come into every day is very inspiring
36:45
and makes us all bring our best foot forward. To bring all that home, again, it's known amongst the team, but on a
36:51
daily basis, we have tours going through the factory as well. And as you can imagine, that's not common for every GM
36:57
manufacturing facility. Not everyone is asking to see how their commuter is put together, whereas every one of these
37:03
cars is built for someone who's very enthusiastic. So seeing the tours come through on a daily basis and seeing
37:09
everyone absolutely marvel as to how we put the pieces of the puzzle together that just keeps that energy thriving.
37:16
That's fantastic. You can see the pride in the line. I remember going through and saying hi to some of these people while they were building. You could see
37:22
the pride just gleaming off their face. Yes, absolutely. Buddy, thank you so much for taking the
37:27
time to be on Corvette today. This has been so much fun. Let's do it again soon. Absolutely. See, this has been a lot of
37:33
fun. I look forward to see when you come back out to Bowling Green. Thanks for listening to Corvette Today. And please be sure to tell your family, friends,
37:39
and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette Today podcast. And thanks to our sponsors, Wheelcraft. Want to dress
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38:26
with Steve Garrett. If you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette
38:32
Today, you can email him at stevegaredjgmail.com.
38:37
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38:44
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38:51
Thanks again for listening to Corvette today.
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