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CORVETTE TODAY #195 - News & Headlines & The Biggest Corvette Stories of 2023
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Jul 11, 2025
CORVETTE TODAY #195 - Corvette News & Headlines, Early January 2024 Our first News & Headlines show of 2024 takes a look back at the biggest stories of last year! Your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett along with Keith Cornett from CorvetteBlogger look back at 2023 and give a glimpse of what we can expect for 2024. Here are a few of the stories that Steve and Keith will cover: 1. Chevrolet announces the C8 E-Ray and starts building them in December 2023 2. We think more Corvettes were built in 2023 than in any other year! 3. Kai Spande retires as the Plant Director of the Bowling Green Assembly Plant
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[Music] Welcome to Corvette Today, the show that
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talks about everything Corvette with your host Steve Garrett, lifetime member of the National Corvette Museum,
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president of the Corvette Club of Kansas City, Missouri, and radio disc jockey at the number one radio station in Kansas
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City for over 45 years. Here's Steve Garrett.
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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? Visit
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wheelcraft.com and learn about their advanced PVD chrome finishing. They can refinish your wheels or offer a wheel
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exchange for most models. And it comes with a 5-year warranty. Visit wheelcraft.com today or call them at
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from around the world. It's time to bring you the latest Corvette news and headlines with my pal Keith Cornet from
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corvette blogger.com. Keith is here every other week, that's twice per month, and we keep you current and
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uptodate on what's happening with America Sportscar. Since this is the very first news and headline show of
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2024, Keith and I are going to take a retrospective look at 2023. Talk about the biggest stories last year and look
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towards this year as well. Keith, first off, happy new year, buddy. How was your holiday season,
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Steve? Happy New Year to you, my friend. Holidays were great. Christmas was fantastic. Spent a ton of time with the
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kids and the family. Stayed here in Florida, so we had some great weather. Although, we're chilly today. It's 56 as
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we're recording this right now. So, it's a little chilly. what we call shorts and jacket weather here. But I love these
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year- end reviews because it's easy to get lost in the minutia of every day and what you're doing. And then we just look
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back at every two weeks when we get together, but then you start thinking about what really happened in January and February and March and then April
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and then the summertime and and then fall and then couple months ago. So, I really enjoy these. These are fun. We
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did our top 10 stories list. I have my top five personal, which is a lot different of what I feel was the big
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news for 2023 versus what people sort of thumbmed up by just reading our everyday news and stuff. It's always fun to look
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back and say, "What really set the news apart last year?" And uh so I'm glad we're doing this retrospective.
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Yeah, we need to do this at the beginning of every year, buddy. So, we'll put that on the agenda for sure. In our Corvette news section, Keith,
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probably the biggest story of the year last year was the announcement of the -ay and they started building some in
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December. Yeah. Well, anytime Chevy announces a new Corvette, it's a really big deal. But the fact is that the -ray is the
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first electrified Corvette with all-wheel drive. And that made that announcement just even bigger. Chevy
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officially revealed the 2024 on January 17th, which was the 70th year to the
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date that the original 1953 Corvette was first displayed at the GMA in New York City. All the news came out. Of course,
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we knew about the car. There was a leak the month before. Really big exciting news there about this brand new car.
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This is bringing new technology into it, which is why I think this is such a big deal. And of course, like you said, the
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automaker officially started production in late December. We saw three customer cars go through in late December. And then we know that the models really
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expected to kick off next week, January 8th, based on some of the TPWs we've seen people posting. So, it's really
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going to start in earnest next week. I would say the biggest overall number one news story would be the announcement and
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the start of production for the Corvette. Absolutely right. And also, 2023 was a big production year. We think that 2023
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will be the biggest model year of production ever. It is funny that we're still talking about we think, we know, we're not sure and
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it's 3 months after the model year ended. It's just with the crazy stuff that's going on. So, yes, the 2023 model
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year production ended on September 15th. We are still waiting for Chevy to provide the official total. Haron
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Charles said in September that it was 53,448, which would be second all time for
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production behind the 1979 model. However, during a ride and drive video, Jay Leno and Corvette executive chief
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engineer Tad Jupter and they were in the -ray and Tad said that 2023 model year did set the record. So, again, we're
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still waiting to hear. We believe that there's the delay in these stats of being published just because there was all those 2023 Corvettes that were
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built, but they were still being retrofitted for parts. We heard that first in August and September. Of course, the 2024 model started in
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September as well, but we knew that 2023s continue to be delivered into November, nearly two months after the
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2024 started. As soon as we have these stats from the National Corvette Museum, they're the ones that put them out there
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on behalf of the General Motors. We should have that number soon. And I expect it soon because based on the
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rules and stuff, there can be no 2023s built now because we're in the 2024 model year. And not only that, but we're
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in the calendar year of 2024. So, federal regulations don't allow them to build 2023 cars in 2024. I expect we'll
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have these stats wrapped up here pretty soon. I think so. And I think they're still waiting for those cars that are up in Michigan to get updated and have those
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repairs done. Those are 2023 cars as well, aren't they? No, that actually see those were all 2024s. We think that they were there
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because of the change to the transmission cases. Okay. No one really knows, Steve, because General Motors does not talk about stuff
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like this. We definitely see the results. The results are we don't have 2023's total number of cars produced
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yet. We don't know how many cars are affected with that trip up to Michigan with the 2024 buyers and customers are
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affected with it. Yeah, definitely. Also, we got a lot of awards for the C8 Corvette in 2023.
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Let's overview those, Keith. Okay, so I went back and looked at the headlines that we had starting in
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December and then moving back through the year. JD Power 2024 Residual Value Award, Canadian Black Book 2023 Best
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Retained Value Award, Car and Drivers, TED Best, 2023 Vehicle Engineering Award
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for the E-Ray. The -ray was North American Car of the Year semi-finalist. The Corvette convertible wins strategic
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visions total quality award. Wards Auto names Corvette Z06's LT6 V8 as one of
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the 10 best engines for 2023. CA Corvette ranks highest in segment in JD Power Multimedia Study. Corvette wins
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Canadian Blackbook residual value award for second consecutive year. Chevy C8 Corvette wins loyalty award from S&P
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Global Mobility. 2023 Corvette wins Kelly Blue Book's 2023 best resale value
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award. 2023 Corvette Z06 is named Motor Trends best performance vehicle of 2023.
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And of course that car also was crowned performance car of the year by Road and Track. And then our final one, Corvette
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beats Porsche 911 as Consumer Reports most satisfying car to own. We win the big awards, we win the little awards, we
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win the awards about quality, we win the awards about best retained value. There's just no stopping the Corvette on
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multiple fronts. You know, these industry awards just again shine the light on what the engineers and the
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designers and builders are all doing right with Chevy's Corvette. That's a great list, buddy. That's an absolutely great list. Also, another big
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story in 2023, the UAW labor strike. Yeah, you know, we really lucked out
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this time around with the UAW electing to target select plants from all three automakers as opposed to single out just
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one automaker and then doing a general walk out on all of their facilities. That's what we saw back in 2019. GM was
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targeted first. We had a shutdown of over six weeks and it delayed the new production of the C8 by several months
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as well. So again, we really lucked out here. employees at the assembly plan actually voted down the new labor
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agreement once it was put together, but it did end up passing nationwide with 55% of employees voting for it. Probably
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the biggest deal ever for the UAW. We did see some of the stats there with incomes going up in some cases 75% for
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people that were working at battery factories and other EV related things, but the average worker made out pretty
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well in this deal. And we'll do this again in four years, it sounds like. Unfortunately, that's true. And speaking
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of Bowling Green assembly plant, Keith plant manager Kai Spandandy retired and Ray Tero is our new BGA plant manager.
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Yeah, this is a little bit of a surprise. Kai Spandandy led the Corvette assembly plant as plant director for eight years. It was at the NCM Bash in
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April. He announced he was taking a GM buyout that was being offered. He officially retired on July 1st. Taking
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his place is Ray Thor. He held posts for GM around the world. Has backgrounds as quality manager, EV supply integration,
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and of course, he was an assistant plant manager at Spring Hills engine facility. So, he brings a wealth of knowledge. He's been stationed everywhere from
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China to the United States. I feel pretty good about Rey. I've heard some good things about him. I've not met him
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personally yet. Hope to do that at the bash this year. Yeah, me too. And our final news story, Keith, was the passing of Reeves
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Callaway, a friend of Corvette today and a great loss not only to the Corvette community, but to the entire automotive
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industry. Yeah, this was a huge gut punch. Happened back in mid July. Reeves unfortunately had a fall in his home. I
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don't know what happened to him, but he fell in the home and he died just a couple days later. His accomplishments are so underappreciated in the hobby.
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What a great company. It's in good hands with his son Pete Callaway. I know you recently did a podcast episode with him.
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One of my favorite Corvettes of all time. You know, I call myself a Callaway fanboy, but I go all the way back to
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1988 with the Callaway Sledgehammer. I was in college at the time, really kind of cut off from reality and being a
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college student, but I knew all about the Callaway Sledgehammer. that twin turbo Corvette built ran a top speed of
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255 miles an hour in Ohio. Amazing car and from that day on I was ever a
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Halloway fan. I actually sat next to Reeves and Pete at the C8 reveal out in
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Tungsten back in 2019. Had a great conversation with him, but I remember when they announced the price of the C8
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being $5995, he literally gasped out loud. I could hear he was shocked at how cheap they
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were selling the car. Great memories from the guy. When I first started blogging, I wrote about five people in the hobby I'd like to meet. He was one
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of them. I had the pleasure of meeting him several times and just a fantastic personality. So, we'll miss him, but we
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do know that the company's in good hands with Pete and everybody else up there. Definitely. As a matter of fact, Reeves told me he said, "Steve, my Corvette,
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today's interview was the best Callaway Cars interview ever." And I was stunned, but very, very honored. He will be
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sorely sorely missed. Keith, let's take our first break. When we come back, it's the biggest stories of Corvette racing
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[Music] And now back to Corvette Today with your
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host and my husband Steve Garrett. Hey, thanks for checking out Corvette
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Today on podcast and YouTube. It's the only current podcast dedicated to Corvette. Corvette Today is brought to
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833-639-4231. I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me is
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Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. We're doing a 2023 retrospective on the
14:57
news and headline show. In this segment, we always talk about Corvette racing and Corvette rumors. Keith, another huge
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story was Corvette racing ended after the 2023 season. Yeah, this was a big news, but yet
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expected. You know, racing rules are always changing. Recent move to worldwide GT3 specs really forced TM's
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hand to Corvette racing as we know it. Of course, the C8R program was retired early because they had to develop this
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new Z06 GT3R to those new specs. With this new car comes the first time that GM will be supporting customer racing
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programs with the car. So, they'll be providing parts and knowledge and even strategy for racing, providing factory
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driver on some teams. It's been a real interesting reveal of how they're all going to do that. Of course, it all comes together this month when we see
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these new cars take to the Daytona Rolex 24. Corvette Racing had said it was ending, but actually it's going to
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continue on under the banner of Pratt Miller Motorsports, who are fielding the two cars in the GT3 Pro class for IMSA.
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So, it's like the cars changed. The name might have changed a little bit, but for the most part, it's a factorybacked
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racing program. Still have that going for us. Of course, the WEC does not have a pro class. So, the customer team over
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there will be racing with amateur racers. They'll be carrying that Corvette banner over there. And then we have several teams to root for here in
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IMSA in the amateur class as well as other GT racing series. So, 2024 should be really interesting as there's more
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Corvettes racing than ever before. as the cars going around the track, somebody else to focus on and pin our
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hopes for victories on as well. It's going to be really interesting. Corvette racing ends, but yet it doesn't really.
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I think all is good there in the end. It really morphed more than ended. It just transitioned into the next phase.
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I think the biggest thing for us, you know, as somebody that follows it is where do we get our Corvette racing news? There was always the Corvette
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racing Twitter feed. They kind of backed away from that. They went to a Pratt Miller feed for some races. I think
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we'll see a little bit of consolidation around more Pratt Miller Motorsports branded stuff. The Corvette racing
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spirit will still be there. Definitely. And the neat thing is is we won LAMA last year and the WEC
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championship. Yeah. So, talk about going out on top. You know, despite being outnumbered at the 24 hours lemons with all the
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Porsches and the Ferraris, Aston Martins, the WC Corvette racing team, Nikki Catsburg, Ben Keading, and Nico
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Veron, they drove their asses off that number 33 Corvette C8R. They won their ninth victory at Lemons and it was the
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first time that the mid-enine Corvette won at Lemons as well. It was just a really storybook ending for the season.
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Of course, they jumped out at the very beginning of the season when they had a win at Sebring. Then the second race, Cordio, they won that race and then the
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third race, they were second place at Spa. So, right away, they stacked the deck against all the others. They won
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Lemons. That was their third win for the season. They clinched the season's championship with a fourth place victory
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at Monza with two races left to go. It was just a complete domination of the WC
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over there with the GTD cars and the C8 R. So, good job. We're looking at two new cars coming in, a new team racing
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over there. So, we'll be watching, see what happens. It'll be a lot of fun. In the rumors category, Keith, we saw the ZR1, we
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think, out at the Nurburg Ring, didn't we? Yeah. New King of the Hill ZR1 shed its camo and really gave us a great look at
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the car as it was testing at the Nurburg Ring back in October. We were pleasantly surprised to see some big changes to the
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widebody design. We have additional vents on the rear quarter panels. And now we have a waterfall trunk design
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that's designed to allow air to pass through the car and over the nose of it. Much like the GT3 cars that we have
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today. And finally, we got a huge wing on the back that's even bigger than the Z06. We're really expecting great things
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from this car. It's expected. We think that'd be a 5.5 L the same as the Z06 except with twin turbos. We actually had
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a leak from the GM parts catalog which seemed to confirm those stats as well with the LT7 engine. They were out there
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for about two weeks. Did some testing. We didn't get any fast times that we are aware that they were able to run. They'll tell us that they're not there
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for fast times. They're there for developing the car. I still believe we're going to see this car this year and I'm hoping for an announcement
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sometime here in first quarter about when it might be revealed or displayed or when we'll know more about it.
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Yep. For me, it comes down to three words. I can't wait.
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Also, Keith, we had a big rumor. We still have CH and we alluded to this in the first segment of the show. Hundreds
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of C8 are still waiting for parts to make them complete. We just had this whole thing happen on was it because they were trying to set a
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record for production for 23 that they were doing this. Was it because if they stopped not building cars, what we call
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build shy, meaning without all its parts, would that have stopped the line completely? We just don't know. This
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goes back to about August of 2023. We had a friend send us photos. They flew a drone over the Corvette assembly plant.
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We saw a parking lot that we' never seen before. I pulled up some other spy shots from other flyovers and sure enough it
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was a brand new parking lot that was built and it was filled with new cars and they were just driven in. It wasn't like they were parked in neat rows or
19:41
anything like that. They were just driven in and all different directions and angles. We had people reaching out to us saying that their cars had been
19:47
sitting there at 3,800 status for weeks and weeks and weeks, even a couple months gone by before some people
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received their cars. We had actually reached out to Chevy about it. They confirmed that they were building cars without parts and then retrofitting them
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later. Of course, we're not a big fan of that at all, but they kept the assembly line moving and everybody got the cars
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they ordered. I guess it's okay in the long run. But yeah, there was a lot of concernation there about orders about why is our cars parked outside. They're
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not finished. They're not covered. Hopefully, this was a supply chain issue that's been now been corrected or at least allowed us to catch up on parts.
20:17
We don't really want to see this happen again. Yeah, definitely. Also, this was a story that I know you had a lot of readership
20:23
on. There's supposedly a mid-engine Mustang that's going to come out and it's supposed to rival the C8 Corvette.
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Well, that's what we thought. So, there was there's rumors of a new Mustang coming out. This actually goes back to August and initial reports seem to
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indicate that they were going to be a mid-enine car to compete with the Corvette. I laugh. This was our second most popular story of the year in terms
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of page views. But what ended up being revealed was a $300,000 front engine Mustang called the GTD with 800
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horsepower. It's got the big wing on the back. During the reveal, it was interesting. Ford executives said their quote European rivals never saw it
20:55
coming, but they never talked about cross town rivals over at Chevrolet and they never mentioned the Corvette as a direct competitor to this car as well.
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Mustang day also had their dark horse Mustang come out kind of being able to take advantage of the fact that they're producing these front engine sports cars
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and muscle cars, whereas the Camaro is now gone and we've lost the Challenger and Chargers as well over died. So,
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they're kind of the last man standing in that individual segment. I don't think they're really on par with sports cars
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and Corvettes and Porsches, per se, but they want to be. That's why they came out with the GT. Yeah, 800 horsepower is a lot of
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horsepower, buddy. Also, our final rumor, Keith, Motor Trend says that we're still looking at a
21:32
Corvette EV and SUV that's supposed to be announced this year. Yeah, these rumors, all kinds of rumors
21:38
about future Corvette models. We've got friends over at Muscle Cars and Trucks have been talking about this as well. Corvette SUV we've been hearing about
21:44
for a long time as well as an EV sedan model that would carry the Corvette Cross flags logo. Of course, we got
21:50
rumors of a Grand Sport model and we keep hearing about these EV sports cars based on the C8. So, it's hard to really
21:55
know what's happening. Motor Trend says in 2024 that we'll see an ice powered SUV model. This is a internal combustion
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engine powered SUV and then a reveal of an EV sports car concept. And I
22:07
highlight with my finger quotes they are concept. We have seen a definite cooling of the EV market, but Motor Trend says
22:13
that it's a concept only and not for production. So, we'll continue to see what happen. These predictions, they come up all the time. They're always
22:19
different. We always hear about, oh, Corvette's going to split off from Chevrolet, be its own brand. There's both advantages and disadvantages to
22:25
that. But, in the end, the Corvette is a popular car, and if they could leverage some of that success in other models, we
22:31
know that they would do it. Of course, we've seen Porsche do it, Lamborghini do it with their SUV, their performance SUV. So, why not Corvette?
22:37
Yeah. When everybody says that about SUVs, I say just go to Chevrolet.com and look at how many SUVs they're selling
22:43
right now. There's nine of them. Yeah. Where is a Corvette going to fit in that lineup? Of course, you got the EV Blazer
22:48
now. There's a lot of selection there. I don't know if I see a path forward for that yet. I know, but variety is the spice of
22:55
life, Keith. And I know many people who have trouble getting in and out of a low slum sports
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car would have no problem getting out of a 6 or 700 horsepower SUV. I know there's a definite market there for
23:06
Corvette fans. The question remains, will Chevrolet ever decide to do it? Great point, buddy. Great point. Well,
23:12
Keith, let's take our final break. When we come back, it's the lighter side of Corvette. It's our 2023 perspective here
23:18
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You're enjoying the only current podcast on Corvettes, Corvette Today.
25:59
Thanks once again for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette.
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Corvette Today is brought to you by Wheelcraft. You want your Corvette looking its best? Dress it up with bright chrome or black chrome wheels.
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Visit wheelcraft.com and learn about their advanced PVD chrome finishing. They can refinish your wheels or do a
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I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. It's our 2023 retrospective. Keith, in
26:34
this final segment, we always talk about the lighter side of Corvette. One of the stories we found, the Stingray has set a
26:40
new quarter mile world record, hasn't it? Yeah. You know, back in 21 and 2022,
26:45
there was this huge race between several different builders and tuners, all to have the fastest Corvette Stingray, of
26:50
course, Amelia. There was late model Racecraft was involved. We of course FuelTech USA was the ones that actually
26:56
were the first to get their car under the eights. And then Extreme Turbo Systems, they were actually the first
27:01
car in the nines, I believe. So, there was this whole competition that was going back and forth over these 12, 15
27:07
months or so, 2021, 2022. Then it kind of died down a little bit once FuelTech did get the record. But we just had
27:13
another one set. So Extreme Turbo Systems, they took their C8 Corvette Stingray to the track. This was back in
27:19
December. And they ran 8.64 seconds at 170 mph in the 1/4 mile. Wow.
27:24
That time beat the previous record held by late model Racecraft. Their record was 8.83 seconds at 160 mph. It was a
27:31
fun competition. Glad to see that some of these guys are still at it. What's interesting is we've had these people
27:36
all going after this Stingray, but we haven't really seen that same kind of enthusiasm or willingness to attack Z06
27:43
the same way with mods and make it faster and then a competition where multiple people are trying to get the
27:48
fastest car in the record. Hopefully, we'll still see that. Hopefully, it's just a matter of supply and demand and we just need these people to get their
27:54
cars and then feel comfortable about modding them. I know that was one of the things Amelia did when she put the twin turbo system on her car for just a few
28:01
weeks. She just said it was too good of a car to modify and that's one of the reasons why she sold it. Records were made to be broken and there's always
28:07
going to be somebody out there that wants the fastest car. So, I do believe that we'll continue to see these times drop.
28:12
Yeah. It's always fun to watch and see those times and where they are and how they inch by inch just keep dropping and
28:17
dropping. Yep. Uh-huh. Also, sit down everybody. Chevrolet dealers are actually discounting now C8
28:23
Corvettes for the first time. And it's not just here and there. There's actually now a Facebook group that's dedicated to this. A lot of
28:30
people are talking about it. Of course, our first time that we saw it happening was a Montana dealer. They had two dealer stock orders and they were
28:37
offered $3,000 off on both cars. We actually called and talked to one of the people up there and said, "You know,
28:42
we've got some winter coming. It's Montana, so, you know, our season ends early, but these are dealer stock items
28:48
and we want to sell these cars and we think that discounting them $3,000 off of MSRP will get them moved." Yeah.
28:53
Sure enough, they did. And in fact, just last week, Whitmoer Chevrolet in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, they had a brand new
28:59
3LT 2023 convertible. They listed that for $10,000 off its MSRP. And you know
29:05
what, Steve? People still complained. Come on, everybody. They're complaining about this car
29:11
because the original buyer had ordered two sets of wheels. They ordered the Spectra gray wheels, I think, and then they did a Tech Bronze wheel on top of
29:17
it, which is like $3,000. So, you know, the carried $103,000 MSRP with $10,000
29:24
off, it's $93,000 and people still complain. So, there's no pleasing people sometime. But I think this is a trend
29:30
that we've seen dealerships and we've heard from, especially some of the larger dealerships that basically said, you know, for the most part, the wait
29:36
times for the C8 Stingray are over. On certain dealerships, you can come in, order one, and have it built within 3 to
29:41
6 months or so. We think that's a good thing. would think that eventually we might even see some Stingrays ending up as dealer stock orders where you can
29:48
walk into a dealership and actually see three or four cars being offered for sale. Wow. So things are really changing here. And
29:53
then on the other side too is the Z06 has been out for over a year now. Are we starting to see some of those crazy
29:59
additional dealer markups, the ADMs, are they coming down a little bit? Initially they were 50,000, $75,000, $100,000. Now
30:06
on that MSRP group I told you about on Facebook, people are saying 6,000 or $10,000 over. So much more palatable on
30:13
a car like that versus $50,000 over. Yeah, we might be really starting to see it. There's going to be weight list for
30:19
the -ray. There's going to be weight list for the Z06 wherever you go. There's going to takes time to satisfy that demand. And hopefully that demand
30:25
will be satisfied over the course of its run. The ADMs just need to go away. Period. Really do. And again, we could talk
30:31
about that as a whole show. Yes. Why can't it be controlled? Chevy tells us, oh, you know, all these dealers are
30:37
independent businesses. Something's got to be done. And I know other automakers again struggle when they put out limited edition or hot cars and they don't want
30:44
them flipped. I know there was a whole thing about the Cyber Truck not being flipped. Some cars are being offered only as leases for their first year,
30:50
right? So that they can't be flipped. So there's ways that automakers are trying to combat it. But it's difficult. Yeah.
30:55
For some people, especially on the Corvettes, it never really affected the main guy selling the car. It only affected the second guy buying the car.
31:02
Right. Until you can hurt that first guy, cause him pain if he sells his car. And I mean that figuratively or do I mean it
31:08
literally, Steve? I'm not really sure. So, what had happened was these dealerships, they're the ones that were
31:13
doing all the markups because there was really nothing that Chevy could do to stop it. Not a good situation, but hopefully all
31:19
those ADMs will eventually go away. It just takes more production. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Also,
31:24
Keith, a Corvette Transport got rearended by another 18-wheeler in Indiana, wasn't it?
31:29
Yeah, that was a sad story, actually. You know, at Corvette Blogger, we do post stories about accidents, and I tell our readers that accidents are just a
31:36
part of life. Sometimes Corvettes crash. We know how people slow down and stare at accidents on the road. They do the whole rubbernecking thing. And they do
31:42
that as well when we publish these crash photos. And I tell people, because I do get questions on this quite a bit. We
31:47
don't do it for shock value, anything like that. And in cases where the Corvette owner is at fault, it's a good way to send a message not to engage in
31:53
that behavior. Don't drink and drive. Don't be a reckless driver. Don't go out there with cold tires on a cold day and
31:59
think that you're going to be Mario Andreddy. That's how you end up on the side of the road, you know? Right. One such accident we covered was a
32:05
semitr had crashed in the rear of a Corvette Transporter. Normally, it's just one car here and here's 10
32:10
Corvettes on the side of the road. Sadly, the driver of the truck, which rear ended the Corvette Transporter, died due to his injuries. Very sad news.
32:16
We didn't know that at the time. It came out a couple days after that. But sometimes Corvettes crash. It's effective life and we don't do it for
32:23
shock value but it's something that people are interested in and something that we do show. Yeah. Also, Chevrolet, this is an
32:29
interesting story too and I know it garnered a lot of looks on your website at corvette blogger.com. Chevrolet is
32:35
officially out of the attainable performance car game. Talk a little bit more about that. Absolutely. This was actually our top
32:41
red story of the year published on December 14th by Alex Summers, one of our writers. And it dealt with mostly
32:46
with the fact that GM has killed the Chevy Camaro again. And with that model passing, there are now no longer any
32:52
attainable performance cars in Chevrolet's lineup. If you want a V8, you're looking at $70,000 for a base
32:58
Corvette, where back in 2017, you could get a V8 powered Camaro for the 30s.
33:03
Also in 2017, there were like six choices for V8 power with Chevrolet. And one of those was a four-door SS sedan.
33:10
So, where there used to be choices, they're no longer. Chevrolet used to be the place where the everyday man could go and buy a performance car. Looks like
33:16
those days are gone. Yeah. Unfortunately, as we were talking off air here, our top two stories of the year based on our
33:23
readers clicking on the stories was about a Mustang and a Camaro. That's not even right, buddy.
33:29
But again, it's about the market and what's affecting the what Alex a lot of times calls any kind of like Camaro or
33:35
Cadillac stories. He calls those Corvette adjacent. There you go. Because they really do go hand inand with the car. And a lot of times you
33:41
can't talk about Chevrolet or General Motors without the various cars underneath their umbrellas, not just the
33:47
Corvette. True. When you think about Alex's points, you know, he's very right. You know, it used to be you could walk into a dealership,
33:52
get a great V8 powered car and go and enjoy that and you could be a blueco collar worker and have one of those
33:58
cars. There you go. Yeah. Today it's much different and not in a good way. Yeah, definitely. And we have a neat
34:03
thing coming up that we'd like everybody to join us on. We've got Corvette Day coming up at the Mikum auction in CM.
34:09
Yeah, this is going to be a lot of fun. I know you've written about it. You put it out on your mailing list. Well, we've done it as well at Corvette Blogger.
34:15
Mikum is hosting a special Corvette day on Thursday, January 11th. Of course, we're going to be there. Steve's coming
34:20
to CMI. We're also going to be joined by Vet Views Magazine and the folks of Bloomington Gold, which are holding
34:26
their first judging action for Corvettes at Mikum CMI. Mikum's going to be providing us with behind the scenes tours. We're going to have the
34:31
opportunity to meet with some of the consigners like the guys selling the L88 1967 Corvette, of course, Dr. Mark Davis
34:38
and his ultimately preserved collection and the color of the seven Corvette split windows from 1963 all in their own
34:44
individual colors. Right. So, we're all doing that on January 11th, which is Thursday. So, if you can join us, that would be fantastic. To
34:51
make it even easier, single day tickets cost $30, but if you use Corvette Day as a promo code, it's all one word,
34:58
Corvette Day, one word. When you buy tickets, they'll give them to you for $15 off, so you can buy them at half price. And of course, children 12 and
35:04
under are free. We're going to have a lot of fun there. We've got the agenda up on corvette blogger.com. Essentially,
35:10
we're going to meet two different times. At 10:30, we're doing a tours and then again at 2 o'clock we're doing tours.
35:15
Steve's going to come in at 2 o'clock for that one. We've got some really fun stuff planned. So, come out to Corvette Day. Meet with CMI on January 11th.
35:22
Hey, Florida in January. Sounds awful good to me, buddy. We're looking at weather. So far, it looks like a good clear day. They're
35:28
going to have 4,500 cars. There's over 460 Corvettes being offered. a crazy amount of cars, the best and the best
35:34
Corvettes, but there's also Corvettes that are going to be offered for the everyday man. Yeah. Where you can go out and find a nice driver and something
35:41
that you can feel proud about driving at Mikum CMI. It'll be a lot of fun. Well, buddy, thanks for being back on Corvette today.
35:46
I'm looking forward to being with you every other week in 2024. My pleasure, Steve. This is just a joy
35:51
for us. We really have fun doing this. Thanks again for partaking in both the podcast and reading corvette blogger.com
35:58
as part of your everyday place to get Corvette news. and we'll see you all around in 2024. Thanks again for listening and watching
36:04
Corvette Today. And be sure to tell your family, friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette Today
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Show. And thanks to our sponsors, Wheelcraft. Want to dress up your Corvette with bright chrome or black
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chrome wheels? Visit wheelcraft.com to learn about their advanced PVD chrome finishing. They can refinish your wheels
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36:50
Thanks for checking out Corvette Today on podcast and YouTube. If you'd like to contact Steve with ideas for Corvette
36:57
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