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CORVETTE TODAY #186 - Meet Corvette's Program Manager, Devon Blue
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Jul 11, 2025
On this episode of CORVETTE TODAY, you'll meet one of the fresh, new faces of the Corvette team. Your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, introduces you to Devon Blue! Being Corvette's Program Manager sounds like a big job, and it is! Devon tells you exactly what her Program Manager job entails. Actually, she is the glue that keeps the entire Corvette program running. There is no other source that takes you "behind the scenes" of Corvette like 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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corvette forum.com. Welcoming Corvette enthusiasts from around the world. My guest on Corvette today is another one
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of the fresh young faces on the Corvette team. You see her at all the shows. You probably talk to her, too. And you see
2:54
her name badge with her first name on it. Well, she is the program manager for Corvette. Now, you might say to
2:59
yourself, "Wow, that sounds pretty cool, but what does a program manager do?" She's going to explain that to you
3:05
today. Her name is Devon Blue. Devon, welcome to Corvette today. Thank you so much for having me, Steve.
3:11
What a pleasure it is to be here. You know, Devon and I have been talking about getting her on the show for about a year now. So, it's an honor and a
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pleasure to have you on the show, my friend. Awesome. So happy we were able to finally make it happen. It's about time, isn't it?
3:26
Devin, let's start out. Talk about your family. Tell me where you grew up. Talk about your parents and your siblings if
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you have any. And did you grow up in a car family? Well, I am the youngest of four. I have
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two older brothers and an older sister. Interesting enough, we actually grew up in a very small town not too far from
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Bowling Green actually called Bardstown, Kentucky. And so I was actually born in Kentucky, not too far from Bowling Green
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where we make those wonderful corfettes. But soon after, I was probably about 3 years old, my parents unfortunately got
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a divorce and I actually moved to Cincinnati. So that's really where I spent most of my youth is in Cincinnati,
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Ohio with my mom and my three other siblings. We didn't necessarily grow up in a car family per se, but I do
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remember us having GM vehicles. We owned I remember a Monte Carlo. I remember we
4:13
had this bright yellow Nova. And then when I turned 16, my first car was actually a white Pontiac Lemons, believe
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it or not. Nice. So, growing up, were cars kind of on the radar for you, or did you really
4:27
like other things? So, I knew I always wanted to be an engineer at a very young age? I didn't
4:33
necessarily pinpoint that industry, per se. I actually had interest in biomedical
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engineering, which at the time was mainly a graduate program. So when I was in college, I actually interned at GM,
4:44
which is where I kind of changed the discipline of engineering I wanted to go into. And so I just really had a great
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time working there and I decided to go with mechanical engineering and that's where I really had my first introduction
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into the automotive industry and I really had a great time working there in plant engineering at Flint Assembly.
5:02
Nice. Now talk about the influence your mom and dad had on you at an early age and how they kind of influenced your
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career as well. You know, it's actually quite a funny story. I am an engineer today because of
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my mom. She wasn't an engineer, but I remember at a very young age, I think I
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was in the third grade at the time, so in elementary school, there was an assembly where there were some parents
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that came in and they kind of talked to about their profession. And I was always a student that was really strong in math
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and science. And there was this one dad that got on stage and, you know, he kind of put it in layman's terms, right? Because we're only third grade. So, you
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know, he really kept it simple describing his job. and he talked about, you know, if you're really smart in math and science, you really should be an
5:41
engineer. And so that was really all I needed to hear. And I remember going home and I told my mom, I said, "Oh, we
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had this great assembly, you know, and I want to be an engineer." My mom was always my biggest cheerleader. And I
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just remember she would tell everybody that would listen. It didn't matter where we were, if we were in the grocery
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store, in the doctor's office, somebody was going to hear that her baby wanted to be an engineer. And of course, at that point, there was
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like no turning back. Like I was not going to make my mother a liar. So here I am,
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Devin the mechanical engineer. That's awesome. Now, on a personal note, too, you're a nutrition coach. Tell me
6:15
more about that. Yeah. So, I love everything nutrition and fitness. It's the thing that keeps me sane, I like to say. But, you know,
6:21
the real drive behind that is I lost my dad at a really young age. He had a massive heart attack when I was only 19
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and he was only 47. And then at 27, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure.
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And so I've always been an athlete and in a fitness and I just wanted to change the narrative for my family. I didn't
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want my dad's story to be my story. So I decided very early that I was going to make some lifestyle changes and that's
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really been a great part of my journey. I really find joy in helping people understand the role and importance of
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nutrition. Initially thought, you know, maybe I'd make a business out of it. And I just found that it took away from my
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purpose of just wanting to help people. you know, I don't want to help people and have to pay for the knowledge that I
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find joy in sharing. And so, I've just really taken that as a part of my own life. But the biggest part of it is just
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sharing that with other people and helping other people find what brings more health and long living to them. So,
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that's really a joy for me. Good for you. That's awesome. Now, you actually have two degrees. You have one
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in mechanical engineering and a master's in lean manufacturing operations. Talk more about that and your preferred
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fields of study. Yep. As I mentioned before, I do have the bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering that I've received from
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Tennessee State University. And then once I hired on full-time in General Motors, I actually started in
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manufacturing. And so at the time, having a great deep knowledge of lean manufacturing really made perfect sense
7:46
for me. And so GM has a program called technical education program. And it's a
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great program that balances the ability to continue to work full-time, you know, manage your family life, but also
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continue to learn so that you can be an asset to the industry. And so I did take
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part in that TP program, what is what we call it, and received my masters in lean manufacturing while still working at GM
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full-time. Very nice. Well, Devin, let's take our first break. When we come back, we're going to talk more about your college
8:16
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I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me today is Devon Blue, the program manager for Corvette. In the second segment,
12:18
Devin, let's talk more about your college career and your start at General Motors. You know, in the first segment, we touched on your two degrees from the
12:25
different universities. You've got your bachelor of science, as you said, from Tennessee State, but you've also got
12:30
your master's of science in manufacturing operations from Ketaring University. Talk more about your college
12:36
career and how you got all those degrees. Yeah, again, I'm always about all these interesting stories. And so when I was a
12:43
senior in high school, I remember my guidance counselor calling me down and she said, "Hey, you know, there's a summer program that you can attend at
12:49
Tennessee State after doing some research. I found out that if I attended and was one of the top students in the
12:55
summer program, I would be awarded a full scholarship." Now, who wouldn't like that? Yeah. So, went down to Nashville, Tennessee,
13:02
spent eight weeks in a summer program that was basically college during the summer. We stayed on campus. We took
13:07
classes just like we were in school with real professors. They graded our material, we had test, homework, the
13:12
whole nine yards. And then at the end of the program, I did find out that I was one of those top participants and that I
13:19
could attend the college for free if I wanted to do so. And so, of course, with that great news, not for just myself,
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but also for my mom being a single mom with four children. It was just a great opportunity. And so, of course, that's
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kind of how I ended up there at Tennessee State University and getting my bachelor's of science in mechanical
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engineering. You know, I later found out, believe it or not, that General Motors was one of the sponsors and
13:40
contributors to my scholarship. And so, I was able to intern for two summers at GM. And after having those two interns,
13:47
I was offered the full-time position. And so, after working for a few years, I think I mentioned earlier that I took
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part in the GM technical education program. It's called TEP. And that's really how I got into my masters in
13:59
manufacturing operations. And so while I was able to work full-time, I attended classes through Ketaring University
14:05
online which was a great way for me to manage my career. My family at the time I had small children and I was able to
14:12
find the time to continue my education. So super thankful for General Motors for both helping me with my undergrad and my
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grad. Yeah, that's really cool. So was the was the goal always to get into General Motors and build your career there then?
14:25
Well, you know, after finding out about their contribution to my scholarship and all of that, it definitely was where I
14:31
wanted to be. I know growing up, I grew up in Cincinnati. Most engineers from there graduated and went to work for
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Proctor and Gamble. But again, having that knowledge that General Motors took
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the time and the finances to invest in me and I was definitely appreciative of that. That's really where I wanted to
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end up. and then having two successful summer internships, I was super excited to be able to work for such a great
14:55
organization. Yeah, definitely. Now, I always love to hear the stories about how you got into
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GM. Talk about the interview you had and the story about you getting hired at General Motors.
15:05
So, because I did intern, I never had to interview for my full-time position. Oh.
15:11
But I will say my two summers and internships was kind of a two-phase interview, if you will, right? And so
15:17
they were looking at how I was performing when I was working at Flint Assembly. And it was enough to show them
15:22
at that time that I would be a good asset to the GM family. I do remember though going in as a young high school,
15:29
well actually I was in college at the time, but a young 18- 19 year old going in for my first interview in a big
15:34
organization like General Motors. When I was interviewing for my internships, I remember them pulling me to the side.
15:41
There were, I don't know, several students from different colleges interviewing and I remember them pulling me to the side and into the office and
15:47
saying, you know, the interviews that you had today, the interviewers really enjoyed you and they wanted to extend an
15:52
offer to you while you were here today. And they said, you know, this is not something that we typically do because we continue to have students come in and
15:58
interview, but they really liked you and so they really want to secure you as a summer intern here. And so it really
16:06
worked out great. So, I was able to go in there and kind of wow the interviewers at the time. And that was
16:11
kind of my first interview with General Motors as a 18, 19 year old trying to secure an internship. And that was
16:16
really the only interview I had. So, wow, that's amazing. I mean, look at you, a late teenager, and you're
16:21
impressing them enough that they want you there for the summer. That's pretty fantastic. Yeah, it was a great opportunity.
16:27
That's great. All right, so you're in General Motors. You got a full-time job. What were your first jobs at General
16:32
Motors? And talk about how that led you to Corvette. So, I've been with GM actually for 23 years now and I've
16:38
worked in various organizations. I started off my career in manufacturing.
16:43
I started as a manufacturing engineer in an organization we call General Assembly Engineering and I provided tooling to
16:49
all of the full-size SUV and pickup trucks at the time. There were seven of them and I would travel to all of them
16:56
when we were launching new products and I would work with third party suppliers and develop lift hoists and things like
17:01
that that they needed on the assembly line. But once I started having a family, traveling week after week really
17:07
wasn't sustainable. And so I was able to secure a work assignment at Marine Assembly, which actually took me closer
17:14
to home because it's in Dayton, Ohio, which is just a little north of Cincinnati. We made the Chevy Trailblazer there, the GMC Envoy, Buick
17:21
Reneer, and the SAB 97s. And so I started off there as a production supervisor. That was a very character
17:27
building assignment to say the least. And then I moved into being a problem solver there at the plant where we use
17:33
strategic problem solving methodologies and kind of my expertise was in water leaks. And so I spent a lot of time in
17:39
and out of vehicles trying to make sure that 100% of our vehicles went through the water booth that if we ever had any
17:45
evidence of water that I was right there on target to root cause those unfortunately Merine closed and so I
17:51
transitioned back to Michigan and I started working as the validation and test engineer for the volt battery back
17:58
in 2009 and then after that I joined program quality and I worked on the
18:03
Chevy Blazer program at the time which is another exciting product that we have. Yeah. And so then I transitioned after working
18:10
on the Blazer, an opportunity presented itself to be the program quality manager on the Corvette. So I decided to move
18:16
over to that side of the world and I became the program quality manager. And about a little over a year and a half
18:22
ago, I then transitioned to being the program manager. So needless to say, I've got a pretty diverse career working
18:28
for GM. But the space that I'm in right now has definitely been the highlight of my 23 years for sure.
18:33
Very nice. So how long have you been then with Corvette? You started with C8, didn't you? I did. Yes. So, I've been working for
18:39
the Corvette team for a little over six years now. Okay. And I started out as the program quality
18:45
manager about halfway through the launch of the C8. There comes another funny story. I remember when the opportunity
18:52
came available being a little unsure, like, do I really want to move over to that team? And I remember coming home
18:58
and talking to my husband and saying, "This opportunity has presented itself." And he looked at me and he's like, "Uh,
19:04
you're kidding, right?" He's like, "What is there to think about? It's Corvette." And so I accepted the role moving over
19:10
to the Corvette team, and it really truly has been the best decision. This team is awesome to work with. I mean, it
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really is just the icing on the cake right now. I work with some of the brightest and hardworking people at GM.
19:21
And so, to say the least, I'm very passionate about this car and about the team that I work with. It's definitely been a great ride.
19:28
Well, and thanks to your husband for pushing you in that direction. I know, right?
19:33
That's fantastic. Devin, let's take our final break. When we come back, we're going to talk more about what a program
19:39
manager is for Corvette. That's coming up next on Corvette Today.
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wheel exchange, and you get a 5-year warranty. Visit wheelcraft.com today or give him a call 833-639-4231.
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I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is the program manager for Corvette, Devin Blue. In this final segment, we're going
23:18
to talk about exactly what a program manager is. Devin, let's start off the segment that way. Tell me what your job
23:24
entails being the program manager for Corvette. So overall, Steve, my job function is to ultimately oversee the
23:32
execution of our vehicle launches and any life cycle improvements of the vehicle program. And we operate in what
23:39
we call program execution teams. And by that I mean it's made up of representation across all of GM
23:46
functional areas. So there's representation from design, from engineering, from marketing, from
23:51
finance, from purchasing, from manufacturing, and then of course our executive chief engineer tabs director
23:56
and our chief engineer Josh Holder are a part of that team as well. I kind of characterize it as being like their
24:02
chief of staff, if you will. Mhm. So as a program manager, you know, I make sure that we as a crossf functional
24:08
team are meeting our deliverables throughout the vehicle development process and I make sure that we as a
24:14
team are in alignment as we make critical decisions because as one organization makes a decision, it
24:21
impacts the whole enterprise sometimes. So it's really important that we are are in lock step and that we have great
24:27
communication and so that things that impact one organization gets cast across the whole cross functional team and we
24:34
can adjust to make sure that we're bringing the product to market with quality and on time. Very nice. So you touch all areas of
24:41
Corvette, but you've got to be incredibly organized. Oh, being organized is absolutely
24:46
important. It is for any program manager for that matter. But Corvette is a very complex program with all of the variance
24:52
and the offerings that we have for our customers. It's definitely a must to be very organized. While we're always
24:58
working to make our vehicles better, we still have to consider what we currently have in production. So, you know, it's
25:03
balancing, you know, what are we doing for the future while also continuously improving what we have in production
25:09
today. And thankfully, you know, I work with a lot of great people and I have, you know, a great and awesome assistant
25:15
program manager, you know, that really helps keep me in line and and keep the rest of the team in line as well.
25:21
Very nice. Talk about some of the unique hurdles inherent with your job as a program manager, Devon. As I mentioned
25:28
before, you know, it's really important that the decisions that we make get cascaded across all the functional areas
25:35
because one decision, whether it be a design change or cost or an offering,
25:42
whatever the case may be, it's really important that that gets cascaded across all the functional areas because they
25:47
may need to pivot. Sometimes that can be challenging and then sometimes not everybody from each functional area
25:53
agrees on a decision. And so it's really my job to make sure that I lead us as a
25:59
collective team to what decision is best overall for the collective team. And
26:04
that's kind of where one team comes in. And part of the reason why I love working on the Corvette team. I don't
26:10
know if I've mentioned it already, but we truly are kind of like a family. And within your family, you may have disagreements, but at the end of the
26:16
day, you hug it out and you keep moving. And that's really how we operate on team Corvette. It really is a great group of
26:22
people. and we always find a way to get to ultimately the decision that is best for our customers.
26:28
Very nice. And you're right, the team is like a family. Everybody that has been part of Corvette today has been
26:34
fantastic. They treat me like a friend and a respected resource for Corvette and I really do appreciate that. For the
26:40
C8, we're obviously into the eighth generation and this is the fifth model year because we started production on
26:46
the 2024 model years just a little bit ago. talk about some of the ongoing items and projects that you have to keep
26:52
track of and organized as the C8 goes into its fifth year of production. So, as I mentioned before, we're always
26:59
working to make our vehicles better. And I think one of the key things that helps us is we have the ability to support
27:05
several events during the year. So, we have the unique ability to interact with our customers firsthand and we get great
27:12
feedback and we take that feedback and we discuss it as a collective team. In some instances, we're able to bring some
27:17
of those items into production like the visible window on the convertible that's now available in 24, the cinching frunk.
27:24
So, those are some of the things that we heard from our customers and we're gladly able to bring those things to market. And so, we're just continually
27:30
looking for ways to make our product better. Needless to say, you know, there's never a dull moment working on
27:35
Corvette. We're always excited and eager to find new ways to delight our customers with great products and
27:40
offerings. I think it's so fantastic that you guys reach out and touch customers and talk with them and find
27:46
out what they want and then put it into production and your example of the visible window is a prime example of
27:52
what you're talking about. I think that's absolutely fantastic. So, as your role in program manager, do you get to
27:58
work with the people at Corvette Racing as well? I do actually. It's another one of those
28:03
unique opportunities working on Corvette. At every race, there's usually a Corvette corral and we typically send
28:09
members from our program team to do a presentation at the corrals and interact with the customers that are there. So, I
28:15
work with the motorsports team to coordinate that support. I was in fact able to attend my first race this year
28:20
at Laguna Secika and it was by far one of the highlights of my career. Being able to witness the enthusiasm and just
28:28
the pure thrill of seeing the race was so fascinating. You know, I'd never been to a Corvette race before, and to be
28:35
able to go and experience the pit, to see the drivers and the technicians working in the race car garage. I mean,
28:41
it truly was an awesome, exhilarating experience. That's fantastic. Well, Devin, thank you
28:46
so much for taking the time to be on Corvette today. Like we said at the beginning of the show, we've been talking for about a year about having
28:52
you on the show. It's about time we did it, and it's been fantastic. Well, Steve, it truly has been my
28:58
pleasure. I really appreciate the time to be able to explain to people, you know, what I do for Team Corvette, and
29:03
I'd be willing to come back anytime you'd have me. That'd be fantastic. Let's do it again soon. Okay, have a great one. Thank you so
29:09
much. Thanks for listening to Corvette Today, and please be sure to tell your family, friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts
29:15
about the Corvette Today podcast. And thanks to our sponsors, Wheelcraft. Want to dress up your Corvette with bright
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in Kansas City at chevusa.com. You've been listening to Corvette Today
30:00
with Steve Garrett. If you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette
30:06
Today, you can email him at stevegared djgmail.com.
30:12
That's Steve Garrett DJgmail.com. Garrett has two Rs and two T's. or
30:18
connect with Steve on social media on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using @ stevegaredj.
30:25
Thanks again for listening to Corvette today.
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