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CORVETTE TODAY #267 - Corvette News & Headlines, Late May 2025
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Jul 12, 2025
CORVETTE TODAY #267 - Corvette News & Headlines, Late May 2025 It's the week of Memorial Day and it's time, once again, for our Corvette News & Headlines show! Keith Cornett from Corvette Blogger is back with your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, to cover these headlines and more! 1. The EPA officially rates the C8 ZR1 for fuel economy 2. The National Corvette Museum offers free admission for veterans and active-duty military 3. The National Corvette Museum ranks 2nd in USA Today's Best Car Attraction poll 4. Andy Pilgram joins the NCM Board of Directors
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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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And a shout out to Corvette Forum welcoming Corvette enthusiasts from around the world. All right, my friend,
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it's time to bring you the holiday edition of the Corvette News and Headline Show with my buddy Keith Cornet
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from corvette blogger.com. Keith is with me every other week and together we keep you current and uptodate on what's
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happening with America sports car. Buddy, it is Memorial Day week. I'm fresh back from the Great Falls, Montana
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Corvette Clubs show this weekend. I've never been up to Montana, but boy, what beautiful country it is. They had a
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great show and some good-looking Corvettes. Oh, I can imagine. You know, there's another show up there. I think the Black
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Hills Classic, but it's always been one of those that's been on my bucket list. I think someday we'll just have to pack up our cars and head up that way. Steve,
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that's right. That sounds good. As a matter of fact, buddy, next week our show is about the Black Hills Corvette
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Classic. Barry Conan is going to be on the show and he will talk about that show. That's one of my bucket list items
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as well. Oh, fantastic. Well, I had actually no idea he was coming up, but I'm glad I was able to mention that for you.
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Thank you. That was a great preview for next week's show. Let's start off like we always do, Keith, with a production
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update from the Bowling Green assembly plant. So, we know that the Corvette assembly plant was closed last week. This was
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that final closure that was planned around these changes to the assembly line. Remember, they called these
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project improvements. There was a closure one week in February. They were off two weeks in March and now this
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final week in May is closed. So, no Corvettes really produced last week, although we did see a couple come off
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the line on Monday. Looks like they were just finishing up on those. But we do have the latest VIN counts for you. The Stingray right now, 11,82
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examples have been made. Z06 is at 6535. For the -ay, we have 2363.
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And yes, for the ZR1, we have 13. All right, 13 cars have been completed. So, our
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total vin count for 2025 is 20,713. Okay,
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going into ZR1 production a little bit. You know, they did start on April 28th and before that weekly closure, that
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week before they built about one per day. They didn't build any of them Monday, but Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, they built them. We have heard
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that the plant is actually manually sequencing production of the ZR1s. So these TPWs, especially the early ones,
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they've been changing around just a little bit as they're working in these cars into the production schedule. So we've kind of been watching that. Of
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course, it is a ramp up. We're going to be going slow here probably for the next month or so. And then hopefully we'll start to pick up a little bit and uh
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they can get through all these orders, which I know that they've got planned to do. We do actually have about 8 weeks to
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go, I think, for 2025 production. 2025s run through August 1st. Then the 2026es
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will start that Monday, August 4th. So about 8 weeks of full production. There'll probably be a week off for
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Fourth of July vacation as well. And then of course this closure that just happened. Some interesting stuff happening at the Corvette assembly
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plant. That's great. And speaking of the ZR1, the EPA finally gave us their official fuel economy rating for the ZR1.
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Yeah. Now, we know that you're not buying the ZR1 for it. Fuel economy. We always have to say that because people
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just for whatever reason, they have to chime in saying exactly why they're not buying it. It's not for the fuel
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economy. But you know what? The government rates them all the same. And so we actually go to the government website fuel economy.gov and we've been
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checking on this actually for the last few weeks or so and they did actually just show up. The rating for America's
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newest supercar is 12 MPG city and 18 MPGon highway for a combined 14 miles
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per gallon. To compare that to the Z06, remember they had the Z06 with the carbon fiber aero package. That was
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nearly the same. The only difference was they got 19 MPG on the highway as opposed to 18 MPG on the highway. And
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that's why the ZR1 and the Z06 both share that $3,000 gas guzzler tax. You
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do have to pay to play, but actually it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. And that's I guess why we did see that that $3,000 gas guzzler tax was similar
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for that. I guess we'll take that as a win. Yeah, I think so. It's really not bad. Like you, I was expecting a little bit
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lower rating, but 12 city and 18 highway, that's not too bad. I'll take it. Yeah. Also on Chevrolet.com, the
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Corvette page, the configurator now has a mini configurator. What does the mini configurator do?
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So, if you go to chevrolet.com and then you click on the vehicles and then there's the performance tab there. That's where you get the Corvette page
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and you'll actually see that there's a new section there called explore new 2026 Corvette updates. So, this is the
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page that has some great videos showcasing those new interiors. We've got the videos of the three screen
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layouts, the center console changes. Of course, they relocated the HVAC buttons to underneath the center console screen
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there. But in addition to 2026 interior changes, they also there's a little mini configurator on this updates page allows
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you to see the 10 exterior colors and you can put that new Roswell green on a car or the blade silver on a car. But
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then there's also an interior tab and then you can also look at the new interiors and you can spin them around a
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little bit. So it might give you a little bit better understanding of how the new interiors look. Of course, there's some really cool ones there. We
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got that asymmetric one with the red and the black. And of course, you can go with the competition seats versus the regular GT2 seats there. I do like that
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dark atmosphere, which is that really rich chocolate color. And of course, the Seawolf with the habanero stitching, I
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think, is pretty cool as well. So, you can see all that's on this page. We are still waiting for some key info for
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2026's. Of course, we'll have the order guide, pricing, and then the full build and price configurator update. Now, I'm
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actually thinking that the order guide might come as soon as this week. Pre-orders actually for the 2026s start
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May 29th. These are when dealers can just go ahead and add their pre-orders in. They all go in at 1100. It's just
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basically a chance to load up. So dealers that know that they are doing some orders, you know, they can get an early start on that. Pricing in the
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configurator mostly drop in mid June or so is what we believe. Okay, that sounds good. It looks like I'm going to be playing on the
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configurator again this afternoon. Thanks for that, buddy. It's a mini configurator though, so you won't waste as much time.
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Yeah, you don't know me that well then, do you? Also, we've got some great stories about the
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National Corvette Museum. First, the museum is offering free admission for active duty military and veterans, which
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I thought was awesome. Yeah, the National Corvette Museum is one of the Blue Star Museums again for 2025. This offers free admittance to
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active duty military personnel and up to five members of their family as well. So, really cool there. And then they're
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also offering a general admission ticket to all US military veterans from all branches as well. These programs are
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actually running now and they'll run through September 1st. So bring those military IDs and you get into these
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museums for free. And then also if you do a Google search for the 2025 Blueest
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Star Museum list, you can see all the museums in the USA that are participating in this great program.
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Great for veterans. Get out there. It's a chance to see some really cool museums. If you're active duty, again, you can take your family along with you
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on that. So make the best of those times when you have those family moments when you're off leave there. Fantastic. Also, the museum placed
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second in USA Today's best car attraction poll. I was hoping we get first again, but we got second, which is
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great, too. We did. Actually, this is the second year in a row that we got second from this poll, and it's these cats down in
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Georgia, the Seavoy Automotive Museum. They've taken first place for the second year in a row as well. So, looks like
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we've got a little competition that we need to make up for next year. But, this is an annual contest. It's a reader
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choice poll. readers are asked to rank their 10 best car attractions and they look at different things like the cars,
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actually the shopping, whether there's destinations and lodging and things like that. So, they look at all kinds of stuff to develop this list. Other
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museums that were included include the Revs Institute down in Naples, the AACA
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Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, the Simeone Foundation in Philadelphia, and
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the Peterson Museum in Los Angeles. Yeah, I thought the Peterson would come up first, but hey, that other museum is
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looks like it's doing good. They've got a nice streak there. They're two years in a row. Number one. Absolutely. And I've looked at their
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website before. They do have a nice collection. So, if you're in the Carterville, Georgia area, it'd be a good couple hours to stop in and check
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it out. That's nice. All right, buddy. Time for our first break. When we come back, it's Corvette Racing and Corvette Rumors on
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I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is Keith Cornet from Corvette Blogger. Every other week, we keep you current and up to date on what's happening with
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America's sports car. In segment two, we always cover Corvette racing and Corvette rumors. Keith, tell me about
15:45
the results Corvette racing had at Spa and also Laguna Secika. Yeah, so uh yeah, it was interesting. Uh
15:51
Corvette Racing and TF Sport, we difficult weekend at the six hours of Spa. Both the TF Sport cars finished
15:57
outside the top 10, which means no points, unfortunately. The class leading number 33 Z06 finished 13th place, while
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the number 81 was right behind in 14th place. The good news is that the number 33 TF Sport Corvette still has the
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drivers and teams points lead into Lemons. And then when they go to Lemons, it's a double points race. So, anything
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could really happen there. Lemons actually takes place June 14th and 15th and it's next up on the World Endurance
16:21
Championship schedule. As far as our Corvette racing team in IMSA, they were recently at Laguna Secika for the
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Monterey Sports Car Championship. And the number three Chevrolet Corvette Z06 with Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims
16:33
finished third on the podium, while Tommy Milner and Nikki Caspber in the number four Corvette actually finished
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sixth in class. As far as the other two cars, the DXDT entry with Robert Wicens
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finished 10th in class while the number 13 AWA racer finished in 13th position.
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As for our IMSA team, the two Corvettes from Corvette Racing will be at the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic on
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May 30th and 31st. This is the 100minute sprint car race around the Detroit
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Street Circuit. Actually, this race only features GTP and the GTD Pro classes, so
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should be a lot of fun there. We'll be watching our two yellow Corvettes and seeing how they do in Chevrolet's home race. I guess it's on the home track.
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That's cool. I love those street races. Even in Detroit, that's really cool. Going around the city is really pretty fun. Hey, speaking of Lama, I know AWA
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Racing just announced a new livery for the race coming up in mid June. It looked really, really good.
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It does. It's a bright red livery for the Z06 and then they've got very large Canadian Maple Leaf logos on the car as
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well. Of course, the team is from Canada and they wanted to highlight their Canadian heritage there. It's also got
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some neat other graphics on their regular car. I think it's black with the yellow lines that follow along all the
17:43
lines of the car. They do white lines on this one, but it looks really good. You'll have no problem finding that car
17:49
on the circuit. We think June 14th and 15th is when it all happens. Of course, we got the whole week leading up to it.
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And I believe we have three Corvettes in the race in the summer classic this year. We've got the two from TF Sport
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and then this entry from AWA and IMSA. Can't wait for the Lam race. That's always fun. It's great to watch. Also,
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buddy, speaking of Corvette racing, Andy Pilgrim, who used to race for Corvette Racing, is now on the board of directors
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from the National Corvette Museum. First, we got Ken Lingfelter. Now, we got Andy Pilgrim. Now, the board's
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starting to really look good. Yeah. You know, and of course Andy brings with him all kinds of experience. He was a former Corvette and Cadillac
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racer. He was also a instructor there at the Corvette Museum's Motorsports Park
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there for a while, but his other passion is really for traffic safety and educating teen drivers. So, he's really
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gained some notoriety for that as well. Obviously, as a former driving instructor at the NCM Motorsports Park,
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he brings a certain insight that'll help govern those properties over there. We really hope that he is able to make an
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impact on the board. Of course, we've been a little nervous about some of the things that have been going on up there, but we had some great conversations with
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board members with some of these new members. We feel like they're really getting into bringing in some quality people that can help manage these great
19:00
facilities and operations we have up there. Welcome Andy to the board. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I think the
19:05
board is finding the groove, that's for sure. Well buddy, let's take our final break. When we come back, it's the fun
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Hi, this is Kirk Benyan and you're listening and watching Corvette Today with Steve Garrett.
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Hey, thanks for checking out Corvette Today on podcast and YouTube. It's the only current podcast dedicated to
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colors at half the cost of OEM. So, visit wheelcraft.com or just give them a
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call 833-639-4231. I'm your host Steve Garrett. With me is
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my buddy Keith Cornet from Corvette Blogger. Don't forget if you want a deeper dive into any of the stories that
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Keith and I cover, you can always go to corvette blogger.com. In this final segment, it's the fun side of Corvette.
23:21
Keith, this is really pretty cool. Carbon Revolution, who makes the carbon fiber wheels for the Z06, announced they
23:28
had record revenue results last year. That's pretty cool. You know, Steve, Corvette today even
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offers financial news. That's how wide ranging the Corvette is. That we're talking financial news on a Corvette
23:39
podcast. Damn, we're good, buddy. Yeah, Carbon Revolution, of course, they're an Australian company, but I believe they're on NASDAQ. Anyways, they
23:45
reported annual revenue for 2024 at a record $47 million US. That's up 87%
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from the previous year. Unfortunately, now they did report a loss of $146 million. This is because they're
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investing money into their production capacity and they're really moving towards profitability. The CEO talked
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about how increased orders from Z06 and -ays have been helping and of course they've got the new car, the ZR1's
24:11
coming online and they've got a set of wheels for Lamborghini as well that are coming online for 2025. So, they've got
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some really cool things happening at Carbon Revolution. We're going to keep our eye on them. They're a great company. We had them on Corvette Today.
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It was a great show. If you just search Corvette Today, Carbon Revolution, you'll hear that show. We had a guy from
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Australia and their American rep from Detroit on the show at the same time. It was really cool to hear about their
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process. This was really cool, too, Keith. At Make Theum Indie, a rare Dunto Corvette was sold. How did that come
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out? If you don't know the story about these Dunto turbos, you know, about five years after his retirement from
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Chevrolet, Zora Arcus Dunto started collaborating with American Custom Industries, there's a Ohio company, to
24:53
create a customized turbo C3 Corvette. The goal was to build around 200 of them, but only about 30 of them actually
25:00
were built. And one of those cars was just sold at Mikum's annual Spring Classic in Indianapolis. It was the only
25:05
known Dunto turbo to be finished in red. It had just 15,000 miles on the odometer. Wow.
25:11
But the car only sold for 29,700, which is slightly less than the estimates of up to $40,000 for the car. Again, a
25:18
really cool story. And if you've been to the NCM and you've seen Zora's blue 74
25:23
Corvette there, some of that car actually came from American Custom Industries. It was the founder of
25:28
American Custom Industries that actually gave Zora that custom blue paint job on the 74 car. It was the only Corvette
25:34
that Zora ever personally owned himself. We were just at the NCM. They're doing some preservation work on it, but pretty
25:39
cool to see that. But yeah, this is American Custom Industries and these turbo C3s. The really neat project, I
25:45
actually wrote about this car in my book, Corvette Special Editions. And I know that one of the big troubles they had with it was the turbo units
25:51
generated a lot of heat. And so the hoods on these C3s actually required some additional venting. That was one of
25:57
their solutions there. But cool story and a cool car and man got 1030 Duntoff turbos out there and they're relatively
26:04
inexpensive. That's really cool. Speaking of unique Corvettes, everybody knows we didn't have a 1983 Corvette. In 1984, Corvette
26:12
number one, VIN number 001, finally was found and it got its first wash in years
26:18
and years. Yeah. So, I had no idea that VIN one for the 1984 Corvette was
26:24
actually a prize. It was given away in a contest. The guy that won it actually put it right up for sale. I think it
26:30
only had a little bit over 200 miles when he put it up for sale. And so a man in California is reading this for sale
26:36
at like six in the morning. I guess the newspaper just came out and he bought the car sight unseen and actually the
26:42
story goes on and known to his wife he actually mortgaged their house to be able to buy this car.
26:48
He's owned this car forever. The then 001 Corvette was stored away with only 277 original miles on it. That second
26:55
buyer, the owner had passed away and now his wife is the caretaker. And somehow she hooked up with the guys from WD
27:02
Detailing who are YouTubers that do these first wash videos. We've seen a bunch of them. They're really entertaining. These guys do a really
27:09
good job detailing. I've I've tried to pick up some tips by watching their stuff. This car has got special
27:14
lettering on it. It was a prize, so they wanted to show like VIN 001 and some other stuff. They've got the full VIN up
27:20
on the windshield banner. Just a really cool car. Hopefully, we'll be able to see this car come out again someday.
27:26
It's too cool of a car to be just locked away in a shed somewhere. Hopefully, we'll be able to see this car again. That would be great to see that car. And
27:33
speaking of rare Corvettes, one of three missing manta rays from the C3 era is missing for 50 years. It was found in a
27:40
Florida trailer park. Oh my gosh. Yeah, this is actually another car that was in our book on Corvette Special Editions
27:46
because we talk about Joel Rosen and Baldwin Motion Performance up in New York. So they would build these cars,
27:51
but he was also had some customizations that he did and he loved the Manta Ray, that Chevrolet concept car that was
27:58
done. And he created his own Manta Ray body kits. And from that, they know that
28:03
three cars were built. One of these cars was actually featured in Cars magazine in 1976. It was called Electric Orange.
28:10
The car was painted orange. And after that issue came out, the car just kind of disappeared. And now 50 years later,
28:16
it showed up in a shed down at a Florida trailer park south of Tampa here. Oh my gosh. Some of the people that are
28:22
knowledgeable about the motion performance cars. I believe he bought the car. It's now in project condition,
28:27
but it has all the really cool stuff of the Manor Rays were known for like the louvered windows on the back, the opal
28:33
style front headlights, and then the interior with that push button kind of fluffy from the 70s is what it screams
28:40
there. Really cool video. Jerry Heasley found this and did the video on YouTube. So, if you go to Corvette Blogger,
28:46
search for Jerry Heasley on YouTube, you'll be able to find it. But, man, it'd be great to have this car back in show car condition again because they
28:52
are these throwbacks from the 70s that are just so cool to see. And again, the history of motion performance and Joel
28:58
Rosen behind it. It'd be a cool car to see again for sure. Those manor arrays are awesome looking. I can't wait to see that car once it's
29:04
done. That'll be cool. And buddy, our final story. This is pretty cool. Last week, Vehicle Virgins came out with a
29:10
first look at the new 2026 interior for the C8 Corvette. Yeah. So, we've got a couple of stories
29:16
that came out from this. So, first of all, Vehicle Virgins is a YouTube channel. They were at Kota for the very
29:21
first ride and drive of the Corvette ZR1 that Chevrolet is hosting there. That video is under embargo, but he had an
29:27
opportunity to check out the new 2026 Corvette updates with the interior and the three screen layouts and all that
29:33
stuff. He did that video again just nice. He went through the screens, went through the different looks at the interiors and what's new there. But then
29:40
the second half of this video, he did a lead follow exercise. He was in a 2026 Stingray and he was following the new
29:47
2025 Corvette ZR1 on the track at Kota and the idea was that he was going to
29:53
learn the lines from the professional driver in front of him and then the next day would be his opportunity to drive
29:59
the ZR1. Obviously, he's already driven that. Now, all these reviews are going to come out this Friday at 10:00 a.m.
30:05
Eastern Standard Time. So, Friday, May 30th, 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. You'll be able to catch all the driver
30:12
reviews from Automotive Magazines. So, some good stuff happening there. Do not make any plans for this Friday because
30:19
you are going to be busy. I guarantee that. Yeah, I got that time blocked out coming up this Friday. That's for sure.
30:25
I'm glad you and I aren't doing any recording then, you know, because I plan on being very busy that Friday. You and
30:30
me both, pal. You and me both. Well, buddy, thanks for being back on Corvette today. I hope you have a great holiday
30:36
week this week and I'll see you in two weeks. My pleasure. Again, we think about all the veterans out there that people that
30:42
gave their lives for this country. Memorial Day is all about that. We think about that. We thank you. And we also
30:47
thank those active duty and veterans out there as well. So, we see you on the roads. Keep waving. Thanks again for listening and watching
30:53
Corvette Today. And be sure to tell your family, friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts about the Corvette Today
30:58
Show. And thanks to our sponsors, Wheelcraft. Want to dress up your Corvette with bright chrome or black
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Also, Aerolari wheels. Get $100 off your purchase with the promo code CT111 at
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aerolari.com. Mark Valter with the Retirement Income Hour podcast and Hendrickk Chevrolet in Kansas City at
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31:55
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32:02
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]
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