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CORVETTE TODAY #194 - Tom Hill And The Legend Of The ONLY Red/Red L88 Corvette In Existence
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Jul 11, 2025
Tom Hill is a retired GM employee with over 35 years at the company. He is also the curator of the ONLY Red/Red C2 L88 Corvette inexistance. And it will be selling at the Mecum Auctions/Kissimmee later this week. Your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, visits with Tom to learn more about the L88 Corvettes, what made them so special and why they are so desirable. Tom was one of the people on the management team that moved the Corvette plant for St. Louis to Bowling Green. He talks about that transition and the legend of the L88 on this episode of CORVETTE TODAY!
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0:00
[Music]
0:03
Welcome to Corvette Today, the show that
0:06
talks about everything Corvette with
0:08
your host Steve Garrett, lifetime member
0:11
of the National Corvette Museum,
0:13
president of the Corvette Club of Kansas
0:15
City, Missouri, and radio disc jockey at
0:18
the number one radio station in Kansas
0:20
City for over 45 years.
0:23
Here's Steve Garrett.
0:28
Thanks for listening and watching
0:29
Corvette Today, the show that talks
0:31
about everything Corvette and the only
0:33
current podcast dedicated to Corvette.
0:36
I'm your host, Steve Garrett. I
0:37
appreciate you tuning in. Corvette Today
0:39
is brought to you by Wheelcraft. Want to
0:41
dress up your Corvette with bright
0:43
chrome or black chrome wheels? Visit
0:44
wheelcraft.com and learn about their
0:46
advanced PVD chrome finishing. They can
0:49
refinish your wheels or offer a wheel
0:50
exchange for most models. And it comes
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with a 5-year warranty. Visit
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wheelcraft.com today or call them at
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833-84-5334.
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Forum, welcoming Corvette enthusiasts
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from around the world. My guest on
3:16
today's show has a long career with
3:18
General Motors, and his relationship
3:20
with Corvette spans over three decades,
3:23
and he's intimately familiar with the
3:25
L88 Corvettes, too. We're going to talk
3:27
about both on today's show. His name is
3:29
Tom Hill. Tom, welcome to Corvette
3:32
Today.
3:32
Hey, it's good to be here, Steve. Thanks
3:34
for being on the show, Tom. First of
3:36
all, let's talk about your years with
3:38
General Motors. How many total years
3:40
were you with GM?
3:42
Well, I actually started in 1979 in St.
3:44
Louis and worked through 2014. So, it
3:47
was almost 35 years.
3:49
Wow. Working with Corvette.
3:51
That's amazing. Now, let's talk about
3:52
the jobs you had with GM over those
3:55
years because I know it took you to a
3:56
few different places, didn't it?
3:58
I got to be honest, I got to see all of
4:00
General Motors. Like I say, I started in
4:03
St. Louis. I was able to move to Bowling
4:05
Green and help build that assembly plant
4:08
and start up the new plant with the 1981
4:11
model Corvette. But then I took some
4:14
other opportunities and moved to
4:16
Detroit. Worked at the engineering
4:17
center in Warren.
4:18
Okay.
4:19
I also worked up in Detroit at the
4:21
Milford Proving Grounds for a little
4:23
while.
4:23
Nice.
4:24
Got involved with teaching technical
4:26
problem solving to engineers. Try to
4:29
teach an engineer something. I mean,
4:30
there's a challenge that actually took
4:33
me to just about every GM facility in
4:36
North America.
4:37
Wow.
4:38
As well as I spent some time in
4:40
Australia and I spent some time over at
4:43
Russel time, Germany.
4:45
Wow.
4:45
With our European contingent.
4:47
Man, that's amazing, Tom. Now, you
4:49
alluded to going from St. Louis to
4:51
Bowling Green. I'm kind of fascinated
4:53
with how that transition went. Talk a
4:56
little bit more about that. Going from
4:58
St. Louis to Bowling Green. Well, I
5:00
started at St. Louis. Initially, they
5:03
put me on the truck assembly line,
5:06
okay?
5:06
And basically, I was building full-size
5:08
trucks. I was an engineer. Every day I
5:10
went to work and I said, "I want to work
5:11
on Corvette." And they said, "Corvette's
5:13
a dead end." I said, "You don't
5:15
understand. I really have no interest in
5:17
working for General Motors. I want to
5:19
work for Corvette." I beat them down.
5:21
And in three months, they had me moved
5:23
over to Corvette. Three months later,
5:25
they announced they were closing the
5:26
plant. and I was on the initial team to
5:29
help relocate the St. Louis facility and
5:33
the process to Bowling Green.
5:35
Wow. That had to be a real intensive
5:37
process, wasn't it?
5:38
You know, it's hard to believe. I look
5:40
back on that. Do you realize in a year
5:42
and a half we took a vacated plant from
5:46
Chrysler Corporation and turned it into
5:49
a fully functional assembly plant and
5:51
built our first Corvette?
5:53
That's amazing. Just a year and a half,
5:54
huh?
5:55
Year and a half. Yeah. It was
5:56
phenomenal. I don't think you could do
5:58
that today.
5:58
I don't think so either. I think you're
6:00
absolutely right. Now, when you retired
6:02
though, you were the Corvette quality
6:04
control manager at Bowling Green,
6:05
weren't you?
6:06
Yeah. Basically, I was the engineering
6:08
manager for the product at Bowling
6:10
Green. I like to describe my job as the
6:13
guys in Detroit designed it and they
6:15
sent it to Bowling Green and the guys in
6:18
Bowling Green, the manufacturing people,
6:21
had to put it together.
6:22
Yeah. Well, we were the team in between
6:25
because we understood the design. We
6:27
also understood the manufacturing. So,
6:30
we had to help them put it together in a
6:32
higher level of quality. That was really
6:35
our mission. I had 16 engineers working
6:38
for me at the time. We were busy, but I
6:40
think the fruits of our labor showed in
6:42
the quality of the product.
6:44
Absolutely. Did it go smoothly, per se?
6:47
Nothing goes smoothly at General Motors.
6:50
Every day was different. There was
6:52
always a challenge. It was always
6:54
something new. But I got to say this,
6:56
the majority of the people that work at
6:59
Corvette, whether it's in Bowling Green
7:00
or Detroit, love Corvette. So, it was a
7:03
passionate position to be in for most of
7:06
the employees. When you had problems,
7:08
you could get through it. It wasn't as
7:10
bad because of the passion that was
7:12
around the product.
7:13
It has to be a monumental task. And
7:16
kudos to you and your team for getting
7:17
that move done from St. Louis to Bowling
7:19
Green.
7:20
Yeah, that was the big deal.
7:21
It really was.
7:22
I look back on that and I remember when
7:25
we moved to Bowling Green, we trained
7:27
all these people from Kentucky, Bowling
7:30
Green specifically, because we didn't
7:31
think anybody from St. Louis would want
7:33
to move to Bowling Green, Kentucky. I
7:35
mean, why would I leave my family and do
7:36
that,
7:37
right?
7:37
Well, the thing we didn't know is that
7:39
they announced that they were closing
7:41
the St. Louis plant. So, everybody from
7:43
St. Louis moved to Bowling Green.
7:45
No kidding.
7:46
They were all transplants. Yeah. Wow,
7:49
that's amazing.
7:50
That has obviously changed since then,
7:52
but that group that came and Corvette
7:55
was primarily the low seniority UAW
7:58
people, but those people that moved from
8:00
St. Louis to Bowling Green literally
8:02
spent the rest of their career in
8:04
Bowling Green. So, it took about 25
8:07
years before that last person from St.
8:10
Louis retired.
8:11
That's amazing. Well, Tom, let's take
8:13
our first break and when we come back in
8:15
segment number two, you know, I alluded
8:17
to you're intimately aware of the L88
8:19
Corvettes. Let's talk about that more
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And now back to Corvette Today with your
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I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is
11:36
former GM exec Tom Hill. Tom has got an
11:39
L88 that's selling at Mikum CMI that is
11:42
pretty dogone legendary. Tom, this is a
11:45
rare car. So, first off, how did you
11:47
acquire it? How long have you had it?
11:49
And why did you sell it?
11:52
Well, here's the rest of the story. In
11:54
2014, I ended my career with General
11:57
Motors. I retired because I had another
12:00
opportunity. I moved to Windemir,
12:02
Florida, which is just outside Orlando.
12:05
and I currently manage a private car
12:08
collection.
12:08
Oh.
12:09
In January of 2014, we made a trip to
12:14
Barrett Jackson out in Scottsdale,
12:16
Arizona, and that was the day that we
12:18
bought the 1967 L88 Corvette, and we
12:22
added it to the collection. At that
12:24
point, I thought I knew a lot about L88,
12:27
but you don't really learn about these
12:29
cars until you have one. So, I went to
12:32
town doing the research to find out
12:35
everything I could about these cars. For
12:37
the past 10 years, I have had the luxury
12:40
of being able to share that car with
12:42
Corvette people at many different car
12:45
events. Not just Corvette events, but
12:47
just regular Concour events.
12:49
Nice.
12:50
It's been a wonderful car. I really am
12:53
sad to see that car leave the
12:54
collection. Like every collection, you
12:56
got to keep rotating the inventory and
12:59
keep it interesting. I understand that.
13:01
That's for sure. Let's talk about the
13:03
rarity of this L88 because I know
13:05
there's a laundry list of stuff that
13:07
makes it a oneof one, doesn't it?
13:09
Oh, yeah. Yeah. The big standout on this
13:11
car is the fact that it's a red car. On
13:13
top of that, it's got a red interior. Of
13:15
the 2067 L88s that were built, there was
13:18
only one that was red with a red
13:20
interior. There's another thing that
13:22
most people don't think about, but this
13:24
particular car is an L88 with a 456 rear
13:27
axle ratio. Oh,
13:29
and most Corvette people don't even
13:31
realize that they even offered a 456
13:34
rear axle ratio. And there's a reason
13:36
for that. In 1967, only five cars had
13:39
it.
13:40
Wow.
13:40
The only reason that you would get a 456
13:42
rear axle ratio is you were going to the
13:44
drag strip.
13:45
Definitely.
13:46
This particular car didn't necessarily
13:49
go to the drag strip. It actually was
13:51
delivered to Birmingham, Michigan. I
13:54
actually lived in Birmingham, Michigan,
13:56
about a mile from this dealership when I
13:58
worked at the engineering center. If you
14:00
were going to buy a 1967 L88 with a 456
14:04
rear axle ratio and you lived in
14:05
Birmingham, Michigan, I know exactly
14:08
where this car was headed. Woodward
14:10
Avenue. Yes.
14:12
Because it was going to go out to
14:13
Woodward Avenue. And that's where it was
14:16
probably going to spend most of its
14:19
energy trying to beat Fords and
14:21
Chryslers and all the other hot rods of
14:23
the day.
14:24
Definitely. Let's talk about the legend
14:26
of the L88 engine because like you said,
14:28
there was only 20 of those cars built in
14:30
1967 and a lot of people might not know
14:33
about L88 engines, but give us an
14:35
overview of why these cars are so
14:37
special.
14:37
It's interesting. The 1963 Z06 was a
14:41
factorybased race car and they did that
14:44
in 1963 and then they stopped and they
14:47
didn't do it again until 1967 when they
14:50
brought out the L88 package. Now the L88
14:54
package is not a car package. It's an
14:58
engine,
14:58
right?
14:59
However, you could not get it without
15:02
getting all the other extras to go with
15:04
it. So, an L88 was 950 bucks, but you
15:09
had to spend another $700 to get brakes,
15:12
suspension, radio delete, several other
15:15
things that were required. So, by the
15:17
time you got all done, you had about
15:18
$1,600 invested in this car.
15:21
Wow.
15:22
What's interesting to me is they derated
15:24
the car. They rated it at $430
15:26
horsepower. So no one would buy the car
15:28
because they wanted this to be a target
15:30
audience that was specifically focused
15:34
towards automotive racers, people that
15:36
would go out and compete with the car. I
15:38
think they kind of shot themselves in
15:39
the foot in the fact that they only
15:41
built 20 cars,
15:42
right?
15:43
They hit it so well that no one found
15:45
it.
15:45
And the actual horsepower is really
15:47
about 650, wasn't it?
15:49
Well, it's like five, five and a half.
15:51
Okay.
15:51
Depending upon the tune of the car.
15:53
Yeah. This was basically a 427 cubic
15:57
inch four-bolt main cast iron big block
16:00
engine, but it had aluminum heads on it
16:02
with 12 1/2 to one compression. So, you
16:05
basically got the 7 L or 427 cubic inch
16:09
displacement with the weight of a small
16:11
block. That was really a big deal. But
16:14
the other thing that's hidden in there
16:15
is this car used a lightweight flywheel.
16:18
The reason they put the lightweight
16:20
flywheel on there is that the engine was
16:22
more responsive. The problem with a
16:24
lightweight flywheel, it's also easier
16:26
to blow up.
16:27
Oh,
16:28
and that's exactly why a lot of these
16:29
engines didn't survive. And in fact,
16:32
this particular car, what do you think
16:34
happened with a 427 L88 with a 456 rear
16:38
axle ratio?
16:38
It was racing almost all of its life, I
16:40
bet.
16:41
You bet. And they demolished the block.
16:43
So, this has a replacement block that is
16:46
a period correct block for the car, but
16:48
not the original one with the car. I'd
16:50
say of the 16 remaining cars, there's 16
16:54
of the 20 that still exist. I'd say
16:56
probably half of them, maybe less than
16:58
that, still have their original engine.
17:00
Oh, yeah.
17:00
Nobody thought these things were going
17:01
to be collectible. They thought they
17:03
were just hot rods from the factory,
17:04
right? That's amazing.
17:07
Gosh. So, the extra $1,500 that it took
17:09
to get the L88 engine, that's really
17:11
like $13,000 in today's money, isn't it?
17:14
Oh, yeah. I'm looking at the sticker for
17:16
this car and it was $6,15.30
17:21
which was a lot of money in 1967.
17:23
That was a lot of money. Yeah. When you
17:25
consider the base price of the car was
17:27
$4,300.
17:28
Talk about the awards that this L88 has
17:31
won. Tom,
17:32
first I want to give credit to the
17:34
neighbor brothers down in Houston, Texas
17:36
that saved this car. It was an old worn
17:39
out drag car, if you would. Street
17:41
racer.
17:42
Someone discovered what it was. They got
17:43
it to the neighbor brothers in Houston
17:46
and they completely redid the car. The
17:48
car is absolutely stunning in its
17:51
restoration. Basically won all the
17:53
awards. It's got the Bloomington Gold
17:55
certification, NCRS Top Flight Awards,
17:57
but most importantly, it's got the Dunto
17:59
Mark of Excellence Award. Wow.
18:01
And it gets invited to everything
18:03
because a 67 L88 or red one, I mean, if
18:06
you're putting on a car event,
18:07
especially a Corvette event, that car
18:09
will always be invited to come.
18:11
Yeah.
18:11
Because it's so special. That's amazing.
18:13
Well, Tom, let's take our final break.
18:15
When we come back, we're going to talk
18:16
about the driving experience of an L88
18:18
Corvette. Coming up next here on
18:21
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You're enjoying the only current podcast
20:59
on Corvettes, Corvette Today.
21:02
Thanks for listening and watching
21:03
Corvette Today, the show that talks
21:05
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I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is
21:31
Tom Hill, Corvette's former quality
21:33
control manager at Bowling Green. In
21:35
this final segment, we've been talking
21:36
L88. We're going to talk about the
21:38
driving experience of an L88. Tom, when
21:41
you start this car up, the exhaust note
21:43
is like no other. Isn't that right?
21:45
That's true. In fact, this is an under
21:47
the car exhaust. A lot of people love
21:49
the side exhaust. I personally love the
21:51
side exhaust. I love the way they look.
21:53
This is an open exhaust system which was
21:56
the off-road exhaust system that was
21:58
available with these cars and it's got a
22:00
different note. But what you really
22:01
notice is the engine's just a little bit
22:03
noisier because it's a solid lifter big
22:06
block
22:06
and they typically make that little
22:08
clattering noise that initially you
22:10
think something's wrong and then you
22:11
realize, oh no, no, that's something
22:12
good.
22:13
It's just getting warmed up, isn't it?
22:15
Absolutely. And we talked about this a
22:17
little earlier in segment number two,
22:18
but the horsepower was greatly
22:20
understated, wasn't it?
22:22
It was. It was. They did that
22:23
intentionally. I mean, it's probably
22:25
between 500 and 550 horsepower. It's
22:28
relatively radical cam shaft in the car.
22:31
Once it's warmed up and it sits there
22:33
and idle, it'll rock the car back and
22:36
forth on that cam shaft.
22:37
Wow. That sounds like fun, though. I
22:39
mean, if it's rocking, it sounds like a
22:41
good time, you know?
22:42
Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's just waiting to
22:44
pounce. And speaking of waiting to pop,
22:47
if you don't get this car running and
22:49
moving, it overheats, doesn't it?
22:51
Yeah. It was intended to be a race car.
22:53
It was not intended to be a street car.
22:56
So, when they do that, they remove
22:58
things from the car that you need for
23:00
the street, but you don't necessarily
23:02
want on a racetrack. And probably the
23:03
most significant thing is the fan
23:05
shroud. That fan's in there to help pull
23:08
air across the radiator. And when you
23:09
take the shroud away, it's not pulling
23:12
air from the radiator, it's pulling it
23:14
from everywhere. So, if the car sits in
23:17
idles for very long, it's definitely
23:18
going to overheat. In addition to that,
23:20
they put a smaller radiator in the car.
23:23
It has the small block radiator.
23:25
Huh.
23:25
So, it's not even as much capacity as
23:28
what the big block would have. But, they
23:30
did that because you don't want extra
23:32
weight in the car. You don't need that.
23:34
And as long as the car is moving, you're
23:36
just fine.
23:36
Now, this thing has no power steering
23:38
and some other deletes as well, doesn't
23:40
it?
23:41
Well, yeah. There's no power steering on
23:43
the car. With the thin tires that they
23:45
had back then, didn't really matter that
23:48
much. Again, at speed, you don't need
23:50
power steering,
23:51
right?
23:51
It also doesn't have a radio and doesn't
23:53
have a heater. You couldn't get a heater
23:56
with an L88. Again, you don't need a
23:58
heater when you're on the racetrack.
24:00
Exactly.
24:01
You're going to drive it on the street,
24:02
you might want to have that. The other
24:04
noise that you get when you're driving
24:05
the car is this grinding noise coming
24:08
from the tunnel.
24:09
Huh. That is because these cars and
24:12
actually only the 20188s in 1967 had the
24:16
M22 manual transmission. The M22 manual
24:20
transmission makes noise because it has
24:22
the hardened square cut gears in it
24:25
which are stronger, but they're noisy.
24:27
Yeah.
24:28
So, they got the name Rockc Crusher, but
24:30
it's because of the noise from these
24:32
gears basically coming around and
24:34
smashing against each other. Once you
24:36
realize what it is, again, it's one of
24:38
those great noises.
24:39
And there's the legend in the story of
24:41
the rock crusher rear end, isn't it?
24:43
Yeah. The rear axle. These cars required
24:46
that you had to have posy traction. And
24:48
most of them got 411 rear axles. I think
24:51
I mentioned earlier that this car has
24:53
got a 456 axle. So, this was a real tire
24:56
smoker.
24:57
Yeah. Absolutely right. And you talked
24:59
about the restoration of this car, but
25:00
you've got full documentation, too,
25:02
don't you?
25:03
Yeah. In fact, let me tell you just a
25:05
little bit about the restoration. The
25:07
neighbor bros, I mean, they did
25:08
everything to the extreme on this car to
25:11
make sure that it was right. They've
25:12
done a lot of midyears. That's what
25:13
they're famous for. One of the things
25:15
they did, they sprayed this car in
25:17
lacquer, and so it still has that
25:20
lacquer that is now gone on 30 years
25:22
old.
25:23
Wow.
25:23
It still looks great. In fact, it's one
25:27
of the things that the judges don't like
25:29
because it's too shiny. It doesn't look
25:32
as crappy as it did when it came out of
25:34
the plant. As a quality manager, I'm
25:37
offended by that,
25:38
right?
25:38
You know, our goal at Bowling Green was
25:40
to make the cars so good you can't over
25:43
restore them. But not back in 1967 in
25:46
St. Louis. I always referred to it as a
25:48
loved lacquer paint job. In other words,
25:51
the owner has polished this car over the
25:53
years and made it smooth. So, it doesn't
25:56
have the dry spray on it that it would
25:58
have originally had.
25:59
Yeah. That's the only thing the judges
26:01
can find fault with. Everything else in
26:03
the car is fantastic. One little detail.
26:05
This is kind of that little insider
26:07
thing. The car has J56 brakes. Everybody
26:10
when they hear of J56 brakes, they go,
26:12
"Oh, that's the one with the front
26:14
calipers that have two pins in them
26:16
instead of the one center pin." That's
26:18
true. What people don't realize is that
26:21
the master brake cylinder on a J56 car
26:25
is unique. And it's unique in the fact
26:28
the part number that is cast into the
26:31
brake housing is upside down on a J56
26:35
model.
26:36
It's the same part number on a power
26:38
brake car as it is on a J56, except on
26:42
that car it's right side up.
26:43
That's interesting.
26:44
I don't know why they did that. All I
26:46
know is they did.
26:48
That's how about that. And also, you've
26:50
got documentation like the build sheet
26:51
and the tank sticker, too.
26:53
Yeah. 67 was the first year that the
26:56
tank sticker went into place. And a lot
26:58
of people don't realize why they did
26:59
that. I'll tell you exactly why they did
27:01
it. They did it because they were
27:02
missing too many cars in St. Louis. And
27:05
so down the chassis line with numerous
27:08
combinations of engines and
27:10
transmissions and suspensions, they
27:12
decided to put an identifier on the car
27:14
as it went down the line so they could
27:16
double check and make sure the car was
27:17
built right. 1967 was the first year
27:20
they did that. I have the actual sticker
27:23
that came off of this car that
27:25
identifies everything about the
27:26
suspension, the engine, and basically
27:29
the build of that particular vehicle.
27:31
Wow, that's amazing. Tom, thank you so
27:33
much for taking the time to be on
27:35
Corvette today. I would love to see this
27:37
L88 sometime.
27:39
Well, hopefully you can hear it. That's
27:40
the best part. Seeing is pretty good,
27:42
but hearing it is the true joy.
27:44
Thanks again for listening and watching
27:46
Corvette today. And be sure to tell your
27:48
family, friends, and other Corvette
27:49
enthusiasts about the Corvette Today
27:51
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