American Icon (Part 2)

 If you read part 1 of American Icon, have you figured out who, or what, is the American Icon?  I gave you some hints. I started off with a picture of my 66.  There were other hints as well. Like the flag video when they passed by it on the highway. Maybe the comment about eight generations of Styling, Engineering, Technology and Muscle.   

I'm talking about the Corvette.  Bowling Green is where Corvettes are born. We were fortunate enough to get to tour the Corvette Assembly plant.

Stingray

ZO6

The corvette is now in its eighth generation with the C8.  This car is radically different from other corvettes because of the redesign placement of the engine and advancements in handling.  GM closed the assembly plant to tours back in 2024, but recently have opened it back up for limited visits. I'm of course a car guy, so a trip like this is right up my alley.  I wasn't too sure how much my co-pilot would enjoy it.  

The assembly plant was right down the street from the hotel we stayed at.  The building covers 1.7 million square feet and sits on 212 acres.  It's a massive display of people, robots and AGVs all working in unison.  They currently produce the Stingray, E-Ray, ZR1, Z06 and soon the ZR1x.  They produce between 100–150 cars a day on a two shift operation.  It's amazing how these different models can all be produced at the same time, running down the same assembly line one after another in random order.

If you want to take a tour, you have to do some planning in advance.  For starters, the tours only happen periodically so you need to see when they are available.  You must purchase tickets in advance.  The ticket will also let you enter the Corvette museum, which is right down the street. No cameras, phones, electronic devices or purses are allowed inside the building.  The tour takes about 90 minutes.

At the end of line inspection area where they start the cars and drive them over to other quality checkpoints, the sound of the beast awakening from the engine through the exhaust pipes is enough to make you jump.  One of the GM assembly workers working at that station came over to our tour group and ask “Who wants to start a corvette”  I never saw so many volunteers for anything in my life, all the guys standing there frantically waving their hands “Me, Me, pick me”.  My luck of course is like when I go and buy a lottery ticket. NOPE! Sorry, not the winner!  The guy that got to do it came back and said, “I think I just bought a car”.

It was totally worth the time.  It was also nice to see some smiling faces and the occasional wave from the GM assembly workers.  You could see that they took pride in their job.

My co-pilot also gave it a thumbs up.  She said “Wouldn't it be cool when somebody asked you what do you do all day, your response was I build Corvettes”  Cool yes, but I prefer my standard answer these days since retirement mode has fully engaged Rob what do you do all day?  “Whatever I want”.

The new corvette has passed from the ranks of American muscle car to American supercar.

We finish the tour and head down the street to the National Corvette museum.

National Corvette Museum

Sky dome at the museum

They refer to newly built Corvettes as newborns.  You can even take delivery of your new baby at the corvette Museum if you pay an additional fee.  By the way, Delivery not covered by insurance.😜

New parent parking spots

Several newborns waiting on their adopted parent to come and take them home, Honey, Maybe we should consider adoption!!

Newborns all wrapped in swaddling fresh from the delivery room

C1 where it all began

The very first emblem design

So I found this bit of information very interesting.  This was the first design for the corvette emblem.  Notice the American flag.  Unfortunately, the American flag code of 1942 would prevent Chevrolet from using it on their cars, and they had to make a last minute change when the car was debut in 1953.  There were only 300 cars built in 1953 there is an estimated 225 of those vehicles still in existence.  I don't know about you, I wish they would have been able to keep the logo like above.  The car is exclusively built in the USA, but unfortunately only about 41% of the parts today are manufactured in the USA . 

So this is what happens when your wife doesn't like riding in the car! Sorry, time for a new wife!!

Still my favorite generation of Corvette, the C2

Schwinn even got in on the Corvette action and produced the Corvette bicycle from 1954-1964.

The 67 427 tripower

  

The 63 split window coupe split windows, only produced for one year, they could have used backup cameras!!

Early design concepts even back in 64 they thought about putting the motor in the rear, I'm glad some of these designs remained on the drawing board and not production!

Front clip of the XP-819

Another mid-engine design prototype from back in the 60s, hard to believe it took them till 2020 to put a mid-engine design into production.

A design study to see how aerodynamic they could make the vette

The 2009 Corvette concept Car "Sideswipe" thumbs up on this one!

Who wants a 1983 Corvette?  This is the only one that exist!

Story behind the 83

Tragedy struck in 2014 when a sinkhole in the skydome devoured 8 vehicles.  They have a few of those cars still at the museum today. 

Ouch!

Survivor pulled from the hole and started right up, then drove out of the building!

For a car person or Corvette enthusiasts, this is a must-see, you can easily spend 2–3 hours in the museum.  There is even a gift shop to pick up some Corvette swag. 

So we've watched the Corvette being built and got a history lesson from the museum, the only thing left to do is DRIVE one!  Here's me getting excited again!! 

My co-pilot and me getting ready to take out that little Red Corvette and let her eat!

So this was at NCM Motorsports Park. For a fee (not necessarily a small one) you can take one of these C8's out on a 3.2 mile road course and truly experience an American Icon for yourself.  This is when you can get excited and maybe a little nervous at the same time.

I'm not a professional driver, but I will follow one around the track in a lead follow format.  I'm not allowed to pass him (Not that I could have if I wanted to).  My co-pilot gets to come along, but since there's no back seat in a corvette, she's not allowed to do any backseat driving.

Obviously, this was the highlight of the trip. I would have probably preferred a big oval track where I could have let the little red vette stretch her legs.  It was still exciting.  I got to say as much as I love my 66 this thing is in a totally different league.

At the end of our laps when we were getting out of the Car, my co-pilot asked the professional driver (ED) where the OH SH**T handle was!  He laughed and said in 2025 that didn't have one, but they did put one back in the 2026 interior design.

The C8 has an onboard PDR Performance Data Recorder.  Just like the ride at Six Flags, they are going to take your picture so they can make some more money from you after you get off the ride.

The last video is from the PDR, a little snippet of me actually driving the car!