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CORVETTE TODAY #257 - Corvette News & Headlines, Mid March 2025
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Jul 12, 2025
CORVETTE TODAY #257 - Corvette News & Headlines, Mid-March 2025 Well, Springtime is finally starting to show its face, Corvettes are coming out of hibernation and CORVETTE TODAY is ready for you with the latest news in the world of Corvette! Your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, welcomes Keith Cornett from CorvetteBlogger back to the show. Steve and Keith cover these stories and more! 1. GM issues a “full stop” to Corvette production in March 2. Spy photos capture 2026 test vehicles with possible new interior 3. Ken Lingenfelter joins the Board at the National Corvette Museum 4. The UAW at Bowling Green is bracing for possible loss of workers 5. Live tracker shows almost 5,800 Corvettes on the ground 6. The National Corvette Museum hires a new CEO We are keeping our fingers crossed for consistent warm weather and seeing more Corvettes on the road. CORVETTE TODAY continues to be one of THE best resources for Corvette news! Listen to the podcast, watch the show on YouTube, join the Facebook Group, sign up for email notifications, follow the show on social media and shop in the newly updated CORVETTE TODAY Merchandise Store at: www.CorvetteToday.com (about:invalid#zCSafez)
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[Music] Welcome to Corvette Today, the show that
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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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friend. Here we go. 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. As you know, Keith is here every other week and together we keep you current and uptodate on what's
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happening with America Sports Car. Keith, welcome back to the show, buddy. We've got Tampa weather here in Kansas
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City. Sunny and 78. I think spring is peeking out a little bit early this year. Oh, yeah. And with weather like that,
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you've got to get your car out because even though it's mid-March, you just don't know how long that good weather might last or another storm might come
4:17
through. So, heck yeah, if you got good weather, get that Corvette out and get on the road. Buddy, I remember when I bought my first
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Corvette, you know, you think back to when you were 16 years old and you always said to your mom, "Mom, can I run an errand for you? Do you need anything
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from the grocery store?" You just want to drive, right? You need to go this, go there, go to the dry cleaner.
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Exactly. And you know, at my age, I still feel like, okay, where do I need to go that I can drive the Corvette? So,
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I'm thinking just the way you are, buddy. That's for sure. That's right. Well, I hit the bank and the dentist last week. And so, uh, not
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very exciting cruises, but I do it in a Corvette. It makes it all better. That's right. Absolutely. Well, buddy,
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let's start off the show like we usually do. Let's get a Corvette production update from the Bowling Green assembly plant.
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Absolutely. So, we got current production standing currently at 17,180 Corvettes produced for the 2025 model
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year. That count includes 10,482 stingrays, 4,924
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Z06s and 1,774 E-rays. Pretty interesting there. Again, we're getting up to nearly 5,000 Z06s,
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which will probably happen here in the next day or so. They're just continuing to pump out these cars. We do have some
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interesting things happening. The assembly plant will be closed for the next two weeks as part of their improvement projects for the assembly
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line. They announced actually four weeks of closures maybe a month ago and already we had a shutdown for the week
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of February 22nd. So after this twoe closure there'll be just one more closure and that's going to actually
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happen the week of May 19th. Again the idea was that they're going to try to improve the line for widebody Corvettes.
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There's some other things going on which we're going to talk about a little bit later. Sounds good. Also GM issued a full stop
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for Corvette orders for March. That kind of left dealers in the dark as far as allocations, didn't it?
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Absolutely. So yeah, we really have two situations happening with these orders. The first is those initial ZR1 orders
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that went into the system exactly one month ago. We told you how those first ZR1 orders had 100% constraints on the
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highwing. So that when public outrage seemed to really hit a fever pitch there not having that wing, they decided let's
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pause it until we can find some more wings. I don't know how you just go out and find more wings, but that's what they're doing right now. These orders
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are still holding at 2000 status and again no communication to dealers about how this is all going to play out. We're
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still dealing with that situation. But now we've got the second issue is that March we were supposed to have another
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round of orders going into the system and GM appears to have paused everything including those for Stingrays and the
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Z06. There are no allocations for any of these models in March and again no communications from GM about the
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misorder cycle. Where this gets even more crazy is that if you remember, GM originally distributed an end of the
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model year dates to dealers back in January that showed March was supposed to be the last month for ordering a
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2025. That model year was set to end on May 30th and then the start of 2026 would begin on June 2nd. However, now
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dealers are actually having target production weeks for upcoming orders that have spilled into June and we've
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actually heard one in July. So, it's possible that we are looking at an extension of the 2025 model year. A lot
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of confusion there. Why would you put out these dates and not to do them? But it's kind of crazy to hear what's going on. To recap, we have no orders going in
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for March, but it looks like the model year is being extended possibly into June or July. We're still hoping for
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some guidance for dealers so they know what's going on with these ZR1 orders that were placed over a month ago. We
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were assuming more orders would go in for March. Those are obviously put on hold with the others. Kind of a wait and see what goes on. Kind of a crazy
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ordering situation, but nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to General Motors. Yeah, it does make sense to
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extend the model year for a month or two. And with all that being said, the live inventory tracker shows that we
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have over 5,800 Corvettes on the ground already. So, we've been looking at the Chevy live inventory tracker over the
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last few months to see where the inventory is for new Corvettes on the ground. So, as of Friday, March 7th, the
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Chevrolet.com live inventory tracker was showing 5,781 Corvettes on the ground.
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That was actually a 5.7% decrease from the last time we looked at it, which was February 1st. The other thing that we
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want to keep track of is the remaining 2024 Corvettes on dealer lots. Back on February 1st, that number was 1,357
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Corvettes remaining from 2024. As of March 7th, that number dropped to 1,09 Corvettes. So, that was a 25% decrease
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in the inventory over those 5 weeks there. There's still a,000 cars from 2024 on dealer lots that are waiting for
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new homes. You can get great deals on these cars. Great price discounts are available. And you know, one of the great things about the live inventory
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tracker is that if you've got an idea of the color you want or the model, you can actually go in and select some of that
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stuff and then it'll show you those available models, which then you can search by distance or price of the car
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as well. We break down the number of colors still remaining for 2024s and all 14 colors are still available there. If
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there's something specific you're looking for and you really want it, you can use the live inventory tracker to go find it. Come on everybody, buy a Corvette. I
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feel like they're like lost puppies or lost cats. You know, we have some beauties out there and they need good
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homes. Go buy a Corvette. We're not talking about the island of Misfit Toys or anything. These are great looking cars. They deserve a good home.
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Absolutely right. Also, Keith, this is another big story. The UAW at Bowling Green assembly plant is kind of bracing
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because they're looking at a potential loss of workers because GM is planning to slow down production on Corvette.
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What's the backstory on that? Again, this is the word that we got back in January that the plant would be reconfigured to improve the production
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of widebody Corvettes over at the current Stingray. We got confirmation with four weeks of shutdowns we just
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went over. But now, thanks to our friends over at the Mid Engine Corvette forum, we also got a memo from the local UAW management to its workers at Bowling
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Green that discusses the upcoming plan to derate production. That's what they call it, derate, which we assume means a
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slowing of the rate of Corvettes produced each hour on the assembly line. The UAW discusses the potential layoffs
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in this memo. They think that approximately 66 senior employees could be lost when these announcements comes
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most likely in midappril. We are really hoping for a positive outcome that would allow prioritization of the widebody
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production without having to lose any valuable members of the team, but we're slowing production and I think what's going to happen is there's some
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consolidation of jobs on that line as well. Mhm. We're keeping our ears to the ground and seeing what else may happen here. But
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again, it's just kind of a fluid situation that we're keeping an eye on. Okay, that sounds good. Our last story in the news section, Keith, there is a
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class action lawsuit against GM for shuttering 8-speed automatic transmissions and that survived the
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motion to dismiss. Tell me a little bit more about that. Absolutely. So, going back to the C7 days, there's been several issues that
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have come from this 8-speed automatic transmission that was not only produced for the Corvette, but I think it went
10:41
into like 13 total GM cars. Okay. This was judge David Lawson and he made a
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ruling in the Cole Olic versus General Motor suit which is all about the hydromatic 8L90 and the AL45
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transmissions. The plaintiffs alleged that the transmissions have two defects. Automatic transmission fluid that lacks
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robustness to moisture that leads to shutter problems and an insufficient valve body architecture that can purge
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trapped air and that leads to harsh shifts. So you got the shuttering and harsh shifts that have become kind of
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the hallmarks of people that have trouble with these. That's what they really see. And when we say shuttering, like you're driving down the road and
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your gear shifter is just moving back and forth like crazy, but it also deals with like hard stops and some other
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things going on. So, it's not a very good ride. Gotcha. The judge actually ruled that there were adequate facts to suggest the vehicles
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were not fit for ordinary purpose of providing reasonably safe transportation because of these specific transmissions
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and then they turned down the dismissal requested by GM lawyers. There's actually a couple different lawsuits going on over these transmission issues
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and it's believed that those still withstanding as they move forward will eventually be merged into one. Okay.
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As this has actually been going on a long time. I think we were detailing this back in 2019 2020 or so. We just
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continue to post the updates as we get them. So, it's just one of these things that's going to go on and on. It looks like crazy. All right, buddy. It's time for
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our first break. When we come back, it's Corvette racing and Corvette rumors up on deck next here on Corvette Today. We
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And now back to Corvette Today with your host and my husband, Steve Garrett.
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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. We keep you current and up to date on what's happening in the world of
15:38
Corvette. In segment number two, we always cover Corvette racing and Corvette rumors. Keith, let's start off
15:43
with racing first. I hope I pronounced this name right. It's Johor Motorsports Racing, isn't that right?
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It's either Johor or Yohor. I'm not quite certain because this is a racing team out of Malaysia. Yeah. And they
15:55
just announced that they're going to be competing in Asia with two Corvette Z06 GT3RS. And the two brothers, Prince
16:01
Jeffrey Ibraham, I think, and Prince Abu Bakr Ibraham, will be among the drivers
16:06
behind the wheel of these new cars. Their program is still in development. They put out a really cool video
16:11
announcing the acquisition of the two Z06s. And we believe they're actually going to be competing in the Asian Le
16:17
Man series, which is great because now you've got IMSA, which is basically the American Lemon Series. You've got the
16:22
Europeans World Endurance Championship, that's the European Lemon Series, and now we got the Asian Lemon series. So,
16:27
we've got coverage of Z06 Corvettes and all those different series, and we've got some more coming up. So, let's keep
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going. That's pretty cool. We're everywhere, aren't we? This is a little bit easier to
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pronounce. Stellar Motorsports is also going to field two Z06 GT3RS in the GT
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World Challenge Europe Series, aren't they? Correct. Yeah, they're a British racing team. They're taking over two Corvette
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Z06s. Again, these two Corvettes will race in the 2025 GT World Challenge
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Europe Series. The addition of the Corvette means there's 10 manufacturers competing in that series. So it's everybody. Aston Martin, Audi, BMW,
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Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes, AMG, and Porsche, just to name a few. The World Challenge Europe Series
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gets underway with a 6-hour Endurance Cup at Circuit. Paul Ricard in France, I believe, and that's April 11th through
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the 13th. We're going to have Z06es all over the globe racing for glory. It's pretty exciting. It's It's hard to
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follow all the teams, but we're going to do our best to capture the highlights. Of course, the world endurance team for
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Bahrain. They just won their class over there. Another win for the Corvette and of course AWA Racing won at Daytona. So,
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we've got a really good momentum going right now with a variety of teams and hopefully we can continue this push especially with Sebring happening coming
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up here. Yeah, absolutely. We're hot right now. That's for sure. Also, this is really cool. Antonio Garcia had donated his
17:43
racing suit to help Spain's flood victims. I thought that was awesome. Yeah. So, we got a call a couple weeks back from our friend Wes Wong. He's a
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former NCM board member and former FBI guy. He's an ambassador of Pratt Miller
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Motorsports and he was telling me about this charity auction featuring this racing suit donated by Antonio. The
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proceeds going to these victims of these floods in Spain. They lost like 230 people in these flash floods. A bunch of
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people, I guess, over there decided to donate some stuff. Garcia's racing suit is part of that collection. I think it
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sold for about $1,000. So, good job to the person who purchased it. And Wes had told me that if that was a US-based fan
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that had purchased it, they could actually pick it up at one of the ISA races in person and actually get a tour of the Prattton Miller car haulers as
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well. Hopefully a Corvette racing fan did pick that up because it's a really cool suit signed by Antonio. Those
18:29
things make great collector items. So, good job to whoever purchased it and best wishes to all those people that were hurt in those floods.
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Man, that's cool. How cool is that? Speaking of Prattton Miller, Keith, they unveiled their livery for Sebring, which
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looks really, really good. Yeah, we're used to the GTD Pro racers wearing that usual yellow and black livery, but for
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this race, they went with a special throwback featuring white with blue and red accents. The design is actually
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reminiscent of Greg Picket's winning C4 Corvette GTO in the 1987 Detroit Grand
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Prix. Be asking yourself, why would they want to resemble a C4 Corvette livery from the late 1980s? And it's because of
19:03
the connections. Pickicket's Racing C4 was built back in the day by a company called ProtoFab. And that's where Gary
19:09
Pratt was working prior to founding Pratt Miller Motorsports. Gotcha. And then former Corvette racing crew
19:14
chief Dan Banks actually finished the complete restoration of that Gary Picket car. It was a number two Corvette racer
19:20
featuring Mobile One as the main sponsor there. And it was driven by Ron Fellows at the 2023 Rolex Monterey Motorsports
19:27
Reunion. So the car has got a new lease on life fully restored by Dan Binks. looks like they just want to do something special and recognizing that,
19:34
of course, being Gary Pratt worked on the car originally back in the day. Ron Fellows is now driving it, it makes
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sense that they wanted to kind of do something special. And of course, it's Mobile One. If you remember last year for Mobile One's 50th anniversary, they
19:45
did a special gold and black livery. So, it's kind of fun to see the cars a little bit different from the yellow and
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black. We did hear also from Antonio Garcia, who's expressing his hope to get that car in victory lane, so they make sure they get some great photos of it as
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the drivers are holding up their trophies. That's cool. That's very cool. We have only one rumor story, Keith. Spy photos
20:03
captured the 2026 test cars, and we think we saw the new interior, didn't we?
20:08
Yeah, we've had a good time with this story over the last few days. So, first, our spy photographers caught up with 5C8
20:14
Corvette Zora prototypes up in the upper peninsula of Michigan where they were doing some winter testing. We know they're Zoras. They've got that special
20:20
radiator that's mounted vertically on the front radiator driver side of the cars. That's only part of the cooling
20:26
loop for the front electric motor there. Pretty certain that those are there. But then as the cars were driving, our spy
20:31
photographer got a side shot through the window. And you could definitely see camouflage hiding that center console.
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And then another spy picture actually showed part of that console and especially the screen there. And it's
20:43
different from what we have now. So we definitely now have confirmation that they are doing an interior refresh for
20:50
2026 Corvettes. But the news got even better. We got photos from Justin at Horsepower Obsessed and Rick Ki showing
20:57
different parts of the interior that are going to be redesigned. So, we have a redesigned center console that now has a
21:03
grab handle where the Great Wall of Buttons used to be. The cup holders, they won't have a door that closes over
21:08
them, but they'll actually have you can do like two-tone leather inserts. I'm
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thinking like black with red or natural with black, some sort of two-toning that interior of the cups. But then there's
21:19
also supposedly little LED lights in the bottom to illuminate them as well. So I think that's a pretty cool picture. And
21:24
you know, you put your drink in there and it glows in the dark. I think too that's pretty cool. We did find out through Kanti's photos that the HVAC
21:31
controls for the Great Wall of buttons are being moved to under the center infotainment screen. And then we
21:36
believe, we don't know this for certain, but we believe that the personalization controls for each the driver and the
21:42
passenger are being moved over to the doors. That's not confirmed yet, but we only saw the main controls for HVAC and
21:49
not the driver's heated seats. That looks all to be over on the doors. Okay. And then finally, looks like we got a
21:55
replacement color for the two-tone tension twilight blue interior. Oh, and it's a new purplish blue interior,
22:00
almost indigo or cobalt. We'll have that photo up on Corvette Blogger for you. And of course, if you're watching the YouTube version of this podcast, you'll
22:07
be able to see it there as well. Check it out. That's awesome. All right, buddy. Let's take our final break. When we come back, it's the fun side of
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NCS has a place for you. Check us out at ncs.org. When you want to buy a Corvette or any
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repair, Hendrickk Chevrolet has you covered. Visit chevusa.com or call 91384-1550.
24:37
Hi, I'm Mark Falter, host of the Retirement Income Hour podcast and Corvette enthusiast. I know when I
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bought my Z06, I was thinking two things. One, these cars are incredible.
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And two, man, are they expensive? Owning a Corvette isn't just about driving fast. It's about living life in the fast
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lane. But are your finances keeping up? On my podcast, I make wealth management as smooth as your car on the open road.
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and let's shift your finances into overdrive. I'll see you on the open road financially and literally investment
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advisory services offered through Mid-American Wealth Advisory Group, an SEC registered investment advisory firm.
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You're enjoying the only current podcast on Corvettes, Corvette Today.
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Thanks once again for listening and watching Corvette Today, the show that talks about everything Corvette.
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26:04
I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me is my pal Keith Cornet from Corvette Blogger. Don't forget if you want a
26:09
deeper dive into any of the stories that we cover, you can always go to corvette blogger.com. In this final segment, we
26:15
always cover the fun side, the lighter side of Corvette. Keith, we got a couple stories from the National Corvette
26:21
Museum. It was just announced on Thursday that the NCM has found a new CEO. Yes. His name is David Hill, and he's
26:27
not to be confused with the Dave Hill that was the former chief engineer during the C4C5 days. They're different guys, but both are connected by their
26:34
enthusiasm for Corvettes. We're told that David Hill is a hands-on Corvette owner. He's restored multiple classics,
26:39
including a 1971 Stingray. Wow. And his personal favorite is the 1967 Corvette, which he calls a beautiful car
26:45
in so many ways. Hill has previously served in several CEO and leadership roles in education, energy,
26:51
manufacturing, and technology jobs. He comes from Oklahoma, where he was recognized as one of the most admired
26:56
CEOs in Oklahoma by the Journal Record, the leading business publication. He actually begins his job this Monday. So,
27:04
welcome him to the Corvette Nation and we look forward to meeting him in person at the NCM Bash in April. Can't wait. That's awesome. And also at
27:10
the National Corvette Museum, our buddy and friend of the show, Ken Lingenfelter, has joined the board there
27:15
at the NCM. Yeah, you know, it's an important role. The board members, they oversee operations, set the long-term goals for
27:21
the nonprofit organization. So, it's really great to have somebody with the leadership ability of Ken Lingenfelder.
27:26
Of course, he comes from Lingfelder Performance Engineering, which he's been running, started by his cousin, I think John Lingfelder back in the day. Mhm.
27:33
Ken comes from the business world, has all kinds of experience there, and just loves Corvettes like nobody else. So,
27:38
he's been involved with Corvettes and GM most of his life. His dad was actually the manager of the Fiser body plant, and I think Ken's been in Corvette fans
27:45
since his teenager days. His appointment to the board is welcome news by Corvette fans. Hopefully, we'll see him at the NCM bash as well, which is most likely a
27:52
given since they do have a major board meeting always during that time as well. Welcome, Ken. And welcome David Hill to NCM.
27:57
Yeah, Ken Lingfelter was a perfect appointment for the National Corvette Museum board. Also, Keith, we had a
28:03
story back at the end of January. Corvette today number 250 was the legend of the Corvette SS. Jan Hyde from the
28:10
Registry of Corvette race cars did that show with me at the end of January. And that car actually sold for $7.7 million.
28:18
Yeah. This car was also known by its GM name, Project XP64. Groundbreaking race
28:24
car, purpose-built race car. Tubular frame with a magnesium body. And then Zora added a factory source 283 with a
28:30
ramjet fuel injection and a four-speed manual transmission. Other features of the car included a quick change rear
28:35
differential, independent front suspension, and a vacuum assisted drum brakes for stopping power. Now, the car
28:41
made its racing debut at the 1957 12 hours of Sebring, and it lasted just 23 laps before being retired over multiple
28:48
issues. One of the things that we always heard was that the magnesium body held in the heat of the car. And Zora would
28:54
later say that it was literally cooking his driver, John Fitch, in the car. It was said that that was one of the real
29:00
inspirations that Zora had for wanting to go mid-enine because his driver was getting cooked in this magnesium body
29:06
car. You move the engine behind the driver and then you don't have that issue. Again, a historic car. It was
29:11
donated in the '60s, I believe, to the Indianapolis 500 Museum where it's been ever since. And then the museum just
29:17
decided to get rid of a few cars that were no longer really connected to racing at Indianapolis with the 1957
29:23
Corvette SS being one of those. This is the highest selling Corvette we've ever witnessed at a public auction. Amazing.
29:29
$7.7 million. Yeah, check out that story. It's Corvette today number 250. It was the
29:34
week of January 27th. It's an amazing story for sure. Also, Bloomington Gold
29:39
has announced a new location and it's pretty close to Kansas City. Yeah, moving around again. They're going to move to the Worldwide Technology
29:46
Raceway, which is just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri, which is the birthplace of Corvettes from 54 to 81. Bloomington
29:53
Gold will be held in Madison, Illinois. It's scheduled for Thursday, June 5th through Saturday, June 7th. Of course,
29:59
they do all the Survivor Gold and Benchmark judging. You'll see the gold collection and then any seminars that
30:04
going on. But now, because it's at a racetrack, the Worldwide Technology Raceway is a 1.25 mile oval track, so
30:10
there's going to be some driving stuff going on. And of course, they have an on-site carding facility as well. I think people will be calling out each
30:16
other for some racing there. For registration and ticket information, visit bloomingtonold.com and hope to see
30:21
you there. Absolutely right. As a matter of fact, I'm going to be doing a seminar on Corvette today at this Bloomington Gold
30:27
show in St. Louis. So, make sure you put that on your calendar. Our final story, Keith, Corvette engineers took the ZR1
30:33
to the Tale of the Dragon. That was cool. Yeah, what a great way to end this podcast episode. Tail of the Dragon, of
30:39
course, is that famous stretch of US 129 that sits on the North Carolina Tennessee state lines. That stretch of
30:46
mountain road has 318 curves over 11 miles. So, we can obviously see why it'd be fun to drive the new ZR1. Yeah, the
30:52
engineers actually had several ZR1s in the group, ranging from split window coups with high wings to convertibles as
30:58
well and a whole bunch of colors. Knowing that they were on a tail of dragon, we went to 129phos.com. We
31:03
purchased 11 photos. You can do that. You can you purchase other people's photos, you know, if they were on the track.
31:08
That's funny. We grabbed those photos for our readers at Corvette Blogger and they've been very popular. It was a good post for us.
31:14
And again, if you watch the YouTube version of this podcast, you can see them there as well. We'll have them up there. That's for sure.
31:21
You are too funny, buddy. That's awesome. Well, Keith, thanks for being back on Corvette today, buddy. We will
31:27
see you in two weeks. All right. Sounds great. Everybody out there, get those Corvettes out. If you see another guy driving his Corvette, throw up that
31:33
hand and wave at him because that's what we do. Thanks again for listening and watching Corvette Today. And be sure to tell your
31:39
family, friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette Today Show. And thanks to our sponsors,
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aolari.com. Mark Valter with the Retirement Income Hour podcast and Hendrickk Chevrolet in Kansas City at
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Chevyusa.com. Thanks for checking out Corvette Today on podcast and YouTube. If you'd like to
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Garrett has two Rs and two T's. That's Steve Garrett DJ@gmail.com.
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DJ. Thanks again for listening and watching Corvette today. [Music]