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CORVETTE TODAY #205 - Corvette News & Headlines, Late March 2024
Spring officially starts on Tuesday, March 19th! That signals the start of Car Show Season-it's time to get those Corvettes out of winter hibernation!
Your CORVETTE TODAY host Steve Garrett and Keith Cornett from CorvetteBlogger.com (http://corvetteblogger.com/) team up to bring you the latest and greatest news in the world of Corvette. Here are a few of the topics that Steve and Keith cover on this show...
1. MacMulkin and Criswell Chevrolet get their first customer E-Rays
2. The 2024 Corvette makes the Top 5 in Kelly Blue Book's Best Resale Value Award
3. E-Ray #18 already listed for sale for $389,995
4. Dave Kindig's version of the C1 Corvette, the CF-1, wins the coveted Riddler Award at the 2024 Detroit Autorama
5. An E-Ray hits the dyno and has the highest torque of any Corvette
6. A preview of Corvette Racing at Sebring
These stories and many more can be seen and heard on next week's CORVETTE TODAY show as we swing into Spring!
_________________________________________________________________________
Listen to the podcast, watch the YouTube video, join the Facebook group, sign up for weekly email notifications, follow the show on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X (Twitter) and Threads. Plus shop in the CORVETTE TODAY Merchandise Store at:
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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
0:20
City for over 45 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? 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. All right, my friends, it's time once again for the latest Corvette news and headlines with
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my pal Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. Keith is here every other week and we keep you current and
3:25
uptodate on what's happening with America's sports car. Keith, welcome back to the show. I'm so excited because
3:30
springtime starts this week and nothing else better than to start it with the news and headlines show.
3:36
Yeah, we love springtime. It's a great time of year and you we also had the time change so we got more daylight
3:41
during the day which I guess is good. My sleeping patterns have been a little freaked out the last couple weeks but
3:46
yeah glad that spring's here. We're getting Corvette season. We got races happening. All kinds of shows coming up.
3:51
Making plans for the bash. So yeah, this is an exciting time of year. Absolutely right buddy. Well, let's start off as we always do with an update
3:58
on production at the Bowling Green assembly plant. Yeah. Well, Steve, as we've been talking the last few months, apparently there's
4:03
nothing holding back the Stingrays. They've been building like 150 of these per day on average. And we just look at the VIN counts daily, and we're always
4:10
surprised just to see 145, 150, 160, 150. I mean, it's just like clockwork. They're banging out the Stingrays. We're
4:16
looking at the VIN counts. We're already at 16,419 cars produced for the 2024 model year.
4:23
Great news on Stingray. The Z06 production actually appears back on track as well. We had that February hiccup where we went a few days without
4:29
any being produced. Now suddenly we're back again. The plant's been building an average about 45 a day or so. Good. You
4:35
know, it seems like we were just talking about Z06 production reaching that 4,000 unit milestone and we've already added
4:41
another 500 cars. So, we're at 4,500 Z06es built so far for the year. I know many of you are interested in
4:47
production. We really took a hard look at this to see where we're going. you know, they've had a handful of units going down the line almost every day now
4:53
in March. And in fact, there was just two production days in March where those counts have been zero. So, they're
4:58
building like 20 or so per week, and we are currently sitting at 174 through last week. You know, when you add up all
5:04
three of these models together, we're at 21,000 Corvettes produced for the 2024 model year. That's great.
5:10
I also want to add this about the -ay because a lot of people are saying, "Wow, this really feels slow. Feels slower than Z06." I went back and
5:16
actually took a look at that. The assembly plant actually started building the Z06s the month of October and it
5:22
took them all the way to March 16th to build like 150 customer cars. And for the -ay, we're doing it much faster.
5:28
Production really started in earnest on January 8th. We had the three cars built in December, but really things kicked off on January 8th and we're already at
5:36
174 cars completed through basically the same time period, March 16th. So they are moving them. There is some sort of
5:42
cadence. you see a pattern developing and they just need to be building the car every day and then just get those
5:47
counts upward. But it's still a ramp up. We've got some ordering we're going to talk about. We haven't had any allocations recently for the -ay, but we
5:54
think that might change later this month. That sounds good. Speaking of allocations, we did get allocations for March for the dealers.
6:00
Exactly. We believe there's going to be another two cycles again this month. They referring to the first one as motorcycle one. So that leads us to
6:07
believe there will be a second one. But the very first one came out. Those allocations were just for stingrays and
6:13
Z06s. Okay. No E-rays allocated during that round. And then the cycle 2 allocations we
6:18
think will start again this Thursday. And that's where we're hoping to see the E-Rays picked up. I don't think we've had -ays fully allocated in mass since
6:26
like last September when they opened up the very first order cycle. So they did those initial orders. They've been holding them back. I've had people
6:32
saying, "I've been at 3,000 status since September and some point you're going to get there." But we haven't had any other
6:38
allocation rounds. So, we're hoping that if we do see something in March, that'll give us greater understanding. Yeah,
6:44
they're starting to ramp up again. They've handled some of those cars from that first allocation cycle. So, now that we've got the numbers for Stingray
6:49
and Z06 last week, we got the constraints for that. And we can tell you that once again, the Q9i gloss black
6:55
wheels, they're on a controlled release. They had just come off constraint the last order cycle and everybody was like
7:00
really excited like, hey, maybe they've gotten to the point where these can just be ordered, but now they're back on a controlled release again. And for those
7:07
that wanted the painted highwing, that's still not available. Dealers still have to do a split between Z-51 and nonZ51.
7:13
The Chevy dealer will be told you can order this many of this and this many of that. It's just what that is, and it's
7:18
always changing, so there's no real way to determine what a dealer is going to have. Finally, for Z06 constraints, we
7:24
have the TOG, visible carbon fiber arrow. That is not available. You can get the painted carbon flash arrow, so
7:30
people can still order their Z07s and the other things with the car. no constraints on -ays because there was no
7:36
allocation. So that's where we are for the Marshall motorcycle. That sounds good. But you know, speaking of -ays, I know McMullen got an -ay. I
7:43
know that our buddy Mike Ferman from Chrisell got an -ray. As a matter of fact, my Hendrickk Chevrolet dealership
7:48
here in Kansas City got their very first -ay. I went and saw that last Thursday. They look great.
7:54
Yeah. You know, it's always an exciting time, too, when a new Corvette model starts showing up in the dealers. It's like, finally, it's real. You know, it's
8:00
real. It's here. You can put your hands on it. The new owners are obviously excited with the world's largest
8:05
Corvette dealer, McMullen, and getting their first car in. They pulled out the cameras, did a little film, threw it up
8:10
on YouTube. They had a really nice car. They had a riptide blue with a natural interior, I believe.
8:15
And then the pearl nickel wheels, which I think are really pretty on the car. Yeah. So, after they took off the transport covers, they moved the car
8:21
around the parking lot in stealth mode and then they did a little flying start so you can hear the V8 roar to life. And
8:26
then there was another dealer, actually, Tim Lai Chevrolet out of Cleveland. They did a video of their first -ray. They had Arctic White with the new electric
8:33
blue stripe on it. And that they demoed the shuttle mode which allows you to move a car around the shop under electric power only. We're going to see
8:39
dealers get the new in. We're going to see them showing it off. Everybody wants to play with stealth mode and the shuttle mode because that's the real
8:45
trick with the Exactly. That'll be fun. I'm looking forward to seeing more videos and getting more information about
8:50
dealerships getting these cars. Also, Keith, what is going on with this? GM is raising the price of their extended
8:56
warranties by 30% and that starts next month. Yeah. Now, Steve, let me ask you, do you have an extended warranty on your 70th
9:02
anniversary, Stingray? I do. Okay. Yeah, that's good. You know, a lot of people know right away, I'm going to have this car for a while. Yes.
9:08
That's the great thing about Corvettes and Corvette owners. They're going to take really good care of it. The factory warranty is only 3 years or 36,000
9:14
miles, I believe. So, if you are going to hold your car longer than that, obviously, you want to be protected. We learned through our friends over at
9:20
Miden Corvette forum that GM is going to be raising the prices of all their extended warranties. This is across all four brands. We're hearing that the
9:26
Chevrolet plans are expected to go up roughly around 30%. And I was told 28% by another person. It's funny, you know,
9:32
dealers charge different prices for these plans. So, you want to shop around, get a quote from your local dealer. Over the last few years, one of
9:38
the places to go to for an extended warranty is McMullen. They have very aggressive pricing on their plans. You
9:44
want to talk to Todd Sutherland in their finance department. And then for people that have been on Corvette forum for a
9:49
long time, we know that Dennis Fitner was always one of the go-to guys for extended warranties. Fitchner is now
9:54
with laurelvy.com. You can reach them at laurel chevy.com and get a quote there. These prices are
10:00
different from the different dealers. So definitely shop around if you're going to get them, but that's a big nut. 30% is a big increase.
10:06
Yeah, some people would buy their Corvette and then add the extended warranty in like year two or year three of their ownership, right?
10:11
So it might just be something that you want to get a quote right now cuz you could actually save several hundred or more depending on who you go with.
10:17
Realize that these things are pure profit for the dealership. So they are willing to negotiate with you. Remember
10:23
that as you go in and get these extended warranties before April 7th. Yeah, it's a good point. Also, Keith, this is really cool. Japan
10:30
is getting two limited edition Corvettes. What's the backstory on that? Yeah, these are cool. First of all, I'm
10:35
going to ask you another pop quiz, Steve. Okay. You know how many Corvettes were exported to Japan last year? 15.
10:40
No, no, no. See, this is why they went right-hand drive. They did actually 576 Stingrays and eight Z06s went to Japan
10:48
in 2023. Now, Chevrolet likes to offer these limited edition cars because it's
10:53
one car and it's an easy way to promote one car, but Japanese customers also like these limited editions as well. For
10:59
2024, Chevy's going to be offering what they call the Serve One Edition, which is modeled after the old Zora Serve One
11:07
research vehicle, and that's serve CERV, right? It stands for Chevrolet experimental research vehicle. Zora
11:14
built this bulletshaped car back in 1959. Allowed him to do a lot of testing of advanced suspension components and
11:21
other things that they were dreaming up there at Chevrolet. And so this new car is a C8 Corvette Stingray. It's going to
11:27
be in silver flare with the edge blue stripe on it like the ser one vehicle. And then these are limited to 20 units
11:33
with 15 being a 2LT coupe and then five being a 3LT convertible. The second special edition, they're not really
11:39
special, they're limited editions. They're building just 20 of these as well. This is called the heritage edition and it's outfitted with a new
11:45
Seawolf gray tricoat and it's paired with that fully dipped adrenaline red interior. Wow. And it's going to have
11:51
the hard to get Q9i gloss black wheels as well. Again, they're only making 20 of those. 15 being a 3LT coupe and five
11:58
being the 3LT convertible. They did this last year. They had two different Stingrays. They offered a limited edition package. They go pretty quickly.
12:05
I guess these are already for sale at dealers in Japan. So, go Ariato and go pick yourself up a new Stingray. They
12:11
always get the cool cars, don't they? We ready. We're due for another special edition here, I think, for 2024. I'm
12:18
excited to see what they come up with. I agree, buddy. Also, speaking of 2024, Corvette made the top five in Kelly Blue
12:24
Book's best resale value award. Yeah, these are annual awards. They recognize the 10 individual vehicles
12:30
projected to keep their highest percentage of the original MSRP after 5 years. I don't want to say it's a guess,
12:36
but you're taking cars, you're looking at everything that the car offers and where their MSRPs are over the years.
12:41
And they track this stuff year by year, so they have a very good idea of where it's going to be. What they say is that
12:47
according to KDB, these top 10 vehicles retain their vehicle better than 95% of all other models. And while the average
12:53
vehicle may only be worth 42.4% of its original MSRP after 60 months, these top
12:59
10 cars are worth an average of about 59%. I'll break it down for you real quick. Ford Bronco was the highest at
13:05
66.7%. Number two, Toyota Tacoma, 62.6%.
13:10
Number three, Mercedes-Benz G-Class. Number four was the Toyota Tundra. Number five was the Corvette at 59.9%.
13:17
Six was a Toyota GR Supra. Seven, Toyota Prius. Eight, Toyota 4Runner.
13:23
Nine, a Porsche 718 Cayman. And then the 10 was the Ford Maverick. Yes, you heard me correct. Toyota had five cars on this
13:30
list. They're obviously doing something right over there. Yeah, that's amazing. Well, buddy, let's take our first break.
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Wealth and Company LLC, a registered investment adviser in the state of Kansas. And now back to Corvette Today with your
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host and my husband, Steve Garrett. Thanks for checking out Corvette Today
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on podcast and YouTube. It's the only current podcast dedicated to Corvette. Corvette Today is brought to you by
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833-639-4231. I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is
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my buddy Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. Every other week, we keep you current and uptodate on what's
16:43
happening in the world of Corvette. In segment two, we always cover Corvette racing and Corvette rumors. Keith, we've
16:49
got racing news from Carter and also at Sebring. Yes, we talked about the Cutter race
16:54
actually before it ran. So now we can actually go back and look at it and it was pretty exciting. We opened the seasons. This this is the World
17:00
Endurance Championship season opener. Previously it opened at Sebring the last few years, but they went ahead and moved it back out to Cutter for this and they
17:07
actually ran the 1812 kmter race. So it was a good long race. The good news really started for Corvettes. The number
17:12
81 car won the pole position. And this was the first GT3 pole position in WAC.
17:18
It was cool that the Corvette won it on his first time out. Once the race started, the Corvettes ran pretty well for the first half of the race. They
17:24
stayed out of trouble. They were right there in the mix. We did see one of the cars spun out. Didn't really cause any damage or anything like that, but it did
17:30
drop us down the standings just a little bit. There's a lot of cars over there. I think in the GTD categories, I think there's something like 20 cars or so.
17:37
Wow. So, there's a lot of cars there. But then one of the other cars for TF Sport ended up being some electronic issues.
17:43
They replaced electronic shifter, took them really out of contention for the race, but they were still going to go on and get some laps in with the new cars.
17:50
But then it looked like that issue was then related to an electrical harness issue. So that Corvette had to be retired early. So I think we finished
17:56
T10 and P18 in class. Okay. The next race for TF Sport and the wet
18:02
Corvettes will be at the six hours of Amola April 19th. Looking forward to that. That sounds good. And we just had
18:07
Sebring race this last weekend, didn't we? Yes. We're obviously recording this on Friday. This races Sebring is that
18:14
Saturday. Always a great place. One of the hardest tracks. You got to respect the bumps as they say there. A lot of
18:19
that track is still run on concrete from the old runways of the bombers. It was World War II bomber base back in the
18:25
day. So, we'll talk about this the next time around. But one thing I did want to mention was running these special liveries for the Pratt Miller
18:31
Motorsports cars in celebration of the Mobile One 50th anniversary. These are gold cars now. They have the Mobile One
18:37
Pegasus on them and they look really cool. And so if you get a chance to check those out, Cadillac also did one
18:43
of their prototypes in the color. Just a nice way to celebrate our longtime partner. Mobile One has been the factory
18:48
oil fill in Corvettes since I believe 1993. So longtime partners there and good friends with the team. As for
18:55
Sebring, we're hoping Corvettes really fare better this time around, especially for AWA racing. They had the two Corvettes at Daytona that didn't finish
19:01
that race, and so we really want to see some better reliability down these cars. Sebring and those bumps are a great
19:06
place to test. Yeah, definitely. Also in IMS IMSA manufacturers are asking them to retake
19:12
control of the balance of power for the rest of the season. Explain more in layman's terms what that exactly means.
19:19
Yeah. So this is kind of a different system. So we all know BOP, balance of performance. Basically what it does is
19:24
allows race organizers to get all these different manufacturers with different engines. Cars is naturally aspirated.
19:30
Some cars are turbos. and they all try to squeeze them down into a way where they all run competitively with each
19:36
other and no real car rep has an advantage over another. For 2024, things were going to be a little bit different.
19:42
They had this test at Daytona and the manufacturers basically were responsible for setting their own performance
19:48
expectations is what they called it. But what happened was Ferrari and BMW exceeded those expectations at Daytona.
19:55
They lost a whole bunch of points because of that. You know, we say that sandbaggers are going to be sandbaggers, right? Seems like there was some
20:01
confusion there because the manufacturers are supposedly the ones that said, "You know what? You guys really need to take a bill a bit more
20:07
control over this. They're trying to be as transparent all about it, but there were still some issues there." What we're looking at now is race organizers
20:14
basically taking back the system, utilizing some of the testing data they had from tests that they do between
20:19
races as well as from last year. They've put everything back together again. We did get a new boop for Cring. The
20:26
Corvette gained a little bit extra weight. We did lose a liter of fuel. I think we're carrying like 104 liters of
20:32
fuel total now. But there is wholesale changes up and down the GT3 classes. So, we really have no idea how this is all
20:39
going to shake out until we see how the car is finished afterwards. And then moving forward, we're going to see probably these little changes here and
20:46
there until I gets a better handle on it. But yeah, it looks like it's just same old same old. They do need to make
20:51
sure that everything's fair and people are playing within the boundaries of it. Unfortunately, it's not a perfect system, but it's what we have. It'll be
20:57
interesting to see how it does for Corvette. Doug Tehan used to always say that if you're crying about BOP, then they're
21:04
probably doing something right. That's exactly right. Also, if you're personally tracking your Corvette, we
21:10
have some information about how you need to add more fluid for the transmission. So, we've been conditioned since 2020
21:16
Corvette Stingray. The owner's manual called for adding an additional two quarts of transmission fluid to the dual clutch transmission for those who are
21:23
taking their cars to the track. you know, that required taking the car down to the dealership. It was expensive. It
21:28
was something that, you know, there's a lot of questions. Do I take the fluid out afterwards? What do I do there? The good news was in 2024, a new redesigned
21:35
pan was introduced for the car. So, now you no longer have to add those two quarts to the transmission.
21:41
Well, that's good. But that was actually a change that happened during the 2023 model year. And
21:47
so if you have a 2023 Corvette and you're thinking about going to the track and if you need to add the fluid or not,
21:53
you need to take a look at your bin first because we have the break of where the old one ended and the new ones
21:58
began. And we want to thank Chevrolet and particularly Harlon reached out and gave some of this information over at the Miden Corvette forum. If your
22:05
Stingray is sequence number 37,263 or higher, you have the new 2024
22:11
transmission pan and you do not need to add the two quarts of transmission fluid if you want to go to the track. And then
22:16
if you have a 70th anniversary model, that sequence number is 3905 or higher.
22:22
One of the things we looked at was how many cars did this affect? And it's actually quite a bit. It's like 5,500
22:27
Stingrays. Wow. And 674 70th anniversary Stingrays that did get the new updated DCT pan on their
22:33
cars. Good to know. Glad that we got this information out there and thanks to Haron for help putting it out there for us.
22:39
I'll need some extra fluid. Mine's number 1254. See, you didn't know that before, though. Exactly.
22:44
And unfortunately, the owner's manual wouldn't have stated that either because they didn't know there was going to be that change,
22:49
right? These things are good to know whenever you have running changes that really are impactful, like the updating of a transmission.
22:54
Also, in the rumors category, Keith, I was kind of excited about this, but I don't think it's going to work for me. GM is looking at patenting a modular
23:01
interchangeable steering wheel. I thought, "Wow, we can add some carbon fiber on the steering wheel." I don't think that's what they're talking about,
23:08
though. Well, I mean, it could be, you know, so the idea is that you could change the style of your steering wheel without
23:13
actually having to go to the dealership. Your column comes out. You have your internal center area with the airbag and
23:19
all the electronics and stuff. And then you can basically custom design how the steering wheel that you want it to look
23:24
like. If you wanted a yolk style like Nightrider or the Teslas, you could go with that. And then you could snap on a
23:31
rounded bottom or a flat bottom. You could snap on a rounded top or you could even do like the squirtful design of the
23:37
C8. But the idea is that you can customize the designs and shapes of your steering wheel based on your taste and
23:43
then you can do it yourself without having to go to the dealership. I don't know if this will come to fruition or not. There's always these crazy patents
23:49
that are out there that all the manufacturers do, but this one's not bad of an idea. I think it sounds like a fun cool deal. I hope
23:56
they throw some carbon fiber in there. That's for sure. Buddy, let's take our final break. When we come back, it's the
24:02
lighter side of Corvette up next on Corvette today.
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26:04
I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me is Keith Cornet from corvette blogger.com. If you want a deeper dive into any of
26:09
the stories Keith and I cover, you can always go to corvetteblogger.com. In this final segment, we always talk
26:15
about the lighter side of Corvette. Keith, this first story, I couldn't believe it. E-Ray number 18 is already
26:21
listed for sale. Are you sitting down? $389,995.
26:28
Yeah. You know, no sooner did we start hearing that the first Corvette were showing up at Chevy dealers. Then we
26:34
learned that one had shown up at a Chevy dealer, had already been flipped, and now was at a pre-owned dealership with
26:39
this huge astronomical sales price on it. Yeah, you're right. It was VIN 18. It's an convertible in torch red. It's
26:45
for sale in Michigan for over $240,000 more than its MSRP. Now, this car was
26:50
really nicely loaded with options. Had visible carbon fiber ground effects, carbon flash painted, carbon fiber
26:55
wheels. I think the MSRP was 147, but yeah, to be listed for $389,995.
27:02
I bet they're going to be open for offers. I got two words for the guy selling it. Pipe dream.
27:09
I got two words. Drug testing. Yeah, well, that too. Now, the E-Rays are not subject to the six-month wait
27:15
before the warranty is transferable, is it? It is. Okay. It's one of the restricted cars. So,
27:21
this car no longer has a warranty on it. We did a story last week about a Z06 where it was flipped and then the new
27:27
owner is looking at having to replace the transmission, but he's so underwater with the car, he doesn't know what to do with that. So, this is going to be
27:33
another issue that we're going to be watching. Now, we're dealing with some new technology with the battery in the
27:38
battery pack and the front motor, but for the most part, we have the tried andrusted LT2 in the back. That's been
27:44
no problem. We do have a new transmission to keep an eye on. So, yeah, it's a good thing, I think, to have a warranty with these cars, both
27:50
Z06 and Eray. Good points. All good points for sure. Also, this was kind of cool. In New
27:55
Zealand, they had a hundred Corvette people gather for their national Corvette convention over there. Yeah, it turns out Corvette enthusiasts
28:01
are the same all around the world. They like to gather. They like to mix it up and then they like to go for a drive and
28:06
that's what we saw in New Zealand. They had the National Corvette Convention in Deneden which is on the south island of
28:12
New Zealand and they had about 100 Corvettes from all generations. They come in, they do a show, a lot of
28:17
camaraderie and then they go out for a cruise around 100 kilometers around the countryside. There were some pictures. I
28:23
mean just really beautiful countryside there. Really cool to see. We always like to share that. Plus reach out to them and just say, "Hey, we saw what you
28:29
did over there. It's pretty cool." And lets them know that they're not alone in the world either. That's very cool.
28:34
Also, our buddy Dave Kendik, a friend of the show who's been on Corvette today, he has built a version of the C1
28:40
Corvette called the CF1 and that won the Riddler Award. Talk about that and tell us what the Riddler Award is.
28:47
Yeah, so it's a prestigious Riddler Award that's given out at the Detroit Autoama every year. I think the Autoama
28:52
show has been going on for like 70 years now. I mean, it's really a long time going way back. And they do custom cars.
28:58
So, the Riddler goes out to the best custom car or hot rod. Here's the key. A lot of times it takes these guys years
29:04
to build these cars. The car has to be built in secret. It cannot be revealed prior to the show. Oh.
29:10
So that's why we've never heard about this car before. This is a coupe version of that CF1, the 1953 Corvette Roadsters
29:16
that Kind has been building, but this is the coupe version. So that's why it's really cool. Not only that, but the car
29:22
is powered by a 12cylinder motor, hence the nickname 12 air. Just an amazing piece of rolling artwork. Dave says that
29:28
there isn't one store-bought piece on the whole exterior of the car. Everything was hand fabricated. We had this walkound video. You can really see
29:35
the amount of craftsmanship that went in this car. It's truly stunning and it definitely worthy of winning the Riddler award and this is actually his first
29:41
Riddler award. Actually the first time that he's went out for it. Seen other designers in the past win it. Good for
29:47
him. And again, go back and listen to Dave Kindig on Corvette today. Yeah. And he's one for one when he goes
29:52
for the Riddler award. That's pretty cool. Pretty good odds. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Also, we had an -ray
29:58
hit the dyno and it gives us the highest torque of any C8 Corvette. Yeah, this was exciting. Paragon
30:04
Performance got their hands on one of the very first -ays. I think they drove it from St. Louis up to their place in Iowa where they had made sure it was
30:10
properly broken in. They put it on the dyno and ran some baseline pulls and then the idea was to compare it to the
30:16
baseline stock poles of the Stingray and the Z06 that they already had too. For this test though, they had to use this
30:22
linked dyno jet. So, basically, we see the Corvettes always go on the dyno jets to rear wheel spin, but this also has
30:28
frontwheel drive. Oh. They had to do a link dynino jet, which has the drums on both the front and the
30:33
rear wheels, and they're linked together. So, it's able to measure the full power out of both the front and the
30:38
rear. And when they did that, they came in 573 wheel horsepower and then 630
30:45
foot-lbs of torque. Wow. Highest C8 Corvette torque and it's out there. And what's really amazing is it
30:51
makes this torque almost instantly. 600 lb of torque at 2,000 RPMs. They show
30:56
the dyno curve and it basically just goes straight up. It plateaus out to about 4200. I mean, it's just a amazing
31:02
number, especially when you see it compared with the Z06 and in the Stingray. Both the Stingray and the
31:08
E-Ray, they fall off together. Whereas you look at the Z06, it just keeps going because that car can rev all the way up
31:13
to the 8600. So, that's where it's making all its power at the end there. But that making that instant torque at
31:18
2,000 RPMs, that's your low torque king right there. That's amazing. What numbers? Wow. That's pretty incredible.
31:25
We need to see that car at the drag strip. Yeah. That's where we're going to see the full benefits of the all-wheel drive. Exactly. Our final story, buddy. We had
31:32
another L88 Corvette sell for big money at Mikum Glendale. Yeah. You know, it seems like big money,
31:38
but in the grand scheme of things or not, it was surprising how low this car sold for. I commented on it cuz I didn't
31:43
understand the details at the time. It's a yellow 1966 L88. Fully documented.
31:48
Everybody knows this car. I think it's the only one that's in yellow. It might be the only L88 from ' 67 that has its
31:55
original engine block in it because these cars were used as racers and blew them up all the time. Yeah. It hammered for 1.65 million and then
32:02
the buyer commission the total was 1,815,000. I say this is surprising because
32:09
Corvette Mike had this car listed back in 2019 for $3.95 million and it sold at
32:14
Mikum Glendale 2021 for 2.65 million. So, it looked like the seller took
32:20
nearly a million dollar loss on the car. Ouch. But this is where it gets sad. We unfortunately learned this was ended up
32:25
being an estate sale. The car was owned by Rick I can never say his last name correct. Rick Twari of the American
32:31
Muscle Car Museum. He did this huge collection that he liquidated, but he still had a couple L88s. This was being
32:38
one of them that he bought for 2.65 billion just a couple years ago, but he passed away last year. And so his estate
32:44
put the car up for sale and obviously it was at no reserve and they did not get the money out of it that I think they
32:50
thought they were going to get. On the flip side, it was Terry at Protein was there. He picked up the car and I'm sure we're going to see it again at another
32:56
auction in the not too distant future. Yeah, probably. Well, buddy, thanks for being back on Corvette Today. We'll see
33:02
you in a couple weeks. Our next news and headline show will come out in April, which will be the start of year number five for Corvette Today in just a few
33:09
weeks. Yo, that's going to be exciting stuff. year five. We're always humbled to be on the show. We love talking to people.
33:14
We're going to be in the bash coming up here soon. We got one of those coveted spots to do the tours. So, we're open to find out all kinds of exciting things
33:20
here in the next month. And when we do, we'll share them here on Corvette Today. Thanks again for listening and watching Corvette Today. And be sure to tell your
33:27
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34:17
Thanks for checking out Corvette today on podcast and YouTube. If you'd like to contact Steve with ideas for Corvette
34:24
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