The National Corvette Museum Makes Lemonade – Skydome Re-Opens September 3, 2015

Published on August 25, 2015August 26, 2015 by Scott

Bowling Green, Kentucky- 568 days after the ground opened and swallowed eight Corvettes.

1-LifeHandsLemons Dateline: 8-25-15 – The National Corvette Museum made a major announcement today. On September 3, 2015 the museum will have their Grand Re-Opening of the Skydome at 8:45am CT. If you can’t be there, worry not because the event will be shown via the museum’s webcams and will be on YouTube! But here’s the cool part, not only will the 1992 “One Millionth” Corvette be unveiled, but all eight car will be positioned exactly where they were when the ground opened up on February 12, 2014. The One Millionth Corvette, the 2009 ZR1 Blue Devil and black 1962 Corvette will be fully restored and the remaining five cars will be displayed, as they were when recovered. Continue reading “

The National Corvette Museum Makes Lemonade – Skydome Re-Opens September 3, 2015″ →

1961 Chevrolet Corvette Special – Dave MacDonald and Jim Simpson

Published on May 26, 2015May 27, 2015 by Scott

The First Independent Purpose-Built Corvette Race Car

The Corvette Racing Team has proven that the Corvette is more than a match for any sports car on the planet. But in the early days, racing a production Corvette would only get you so far. To get to the next level, “purpose-built” race cars were the order of the day. Tube frames (aka “bird cages”) with a thin fiberglass or aluminum body were super lightweight and the low power-to-weight ratio made for a race car that was a handful.

Dave MacDonald was one of the young lions of Southern California sports car racing. He was a natural and quickly earned the nickname, “Master of the Oversteer.” Dave and his racing partner Jim Simpson started racing in 1960 and in their first year won 3 out of 15 races and never finished lower than 4th. In his second year Dave racked up 15 wins and three 2nd place finishes in 24 races and was on his way to being a dominant force. But like all racers, Dave and Jim wanted to move up into something faster. It was Carroll Shelby who suggested the guys get a Max Balchowsky chassis and build a purpose-built car. (Be sure to check out the video of this car. Click the “Continue reading” link)
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Car Club USA: Corvette Homecoming – Video

Published on April 28, 2015April 28, 2015 by Scott

Here’s What Corvettes Mean To People

CorvetteHomecoming-600

The other day Joe Pruitt, the Event Coordinator/Owner of the National Corvette Homecoming event contacted me to tell me about their new event video by Efran Films that covered the National Corvette Homecoming 2014 event. This is a very touching video that captures what Corvettes mean to people. As we know, they’re not just “car” they’re something else. Actually, the people in the video say it perfectly. This video has heart! Enjoy! – Scott

www.corvettehomecoming.com
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Dave MacDonald Inducted Into National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame

Published on September 27, 2014March 18, 2015 by Scott

Corvette Racing Legend, Dave MacDonald Inducted Into National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame

Dateline: 9-27-14 Auto racing legend Dave MacDonald was inducted into The National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame on August 28, 2014, in Bowling Green, Kentucky. MacDonald’s induction took place 50 years after the extremely talented young driver was tragically killed in his rookie race at the 1964 Indy 500 that also claimed the life of driver Eddie Sachs. After the race, an investigation determined that there was, “No driver error.”

MacDonald learned his driving skills in Southern California behind the wheel of several championship-winning first generation Corvettes. A gentle, quiet family man off the track, MacDonald was known as “The Master of Oversteer” and a fierce competitor. His driving skills were such that they attracted the attention of two other legends in auto racing of that time, Corvette Chief Engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov and Carroll Shelby. MacDonald drove prototype test cars for Duntov and was eventually hired by Shelby to drive Cobras professionally.

His induction into The National Corvette Museum’s Hall of Fame was well deserved and more than a little overdue. Regardless, Dave MacDonald now has a prominent and permanent place in Corvette history.

I have written extensively about the life and times of Dave MacDonald and have had the pleasure of getting to know the MacDonald family. I have Dave MacDonald’s younger brother Doug to thank. Many years ago I created a piece of line art for VETTE Magazine as a column filler “spot art” illustration. Later I included the illustration as an art print on my IllustratedCorvetteSeries.com website and mistakenly titled the print, “Dave MacDonald’s 1961 Corvette Racer.”

The 2014 National Corvette Museum's Hall of Fame inductees included: Race Car Driver Dave MacDonald, Corvette Engineer and Race Car Driver John Heinricy, and Automotive Journalist & Author, Jerry Burton.

The 2014 National Corvette Museum’s Hall of Fame inductees included, left-to-right: Automotive Journalist and Author Jerry Burton, Corvette Engineer and Race Car Driver John Heinricy, and Race Car Driver Dave MacDonald.

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Book Review: Corvette Sixty Years – by Randy Leffingwell

Published on July 5, 2012April 10, 2020 by Scott

Dateline: 7.5.12

A Most Excellent Addition To Your Corvette Library

I’ve been collecting car magazines and car books since the mid-’60s. My library has gotten larger than I ever imagined. There’s one book that I accidentally bought three times. I have four different versions of essentially the same book authored by Randy Leffingwell and published by Motorbooks. All four versions are very nice books, loaded with excellent images and well written prose by Leffingwell. But each time I bought the book online, I thought I was getting a different book because the covers and sizes are all different.

So, when I saw that Motorbooks was publishing “Corvette Sixty Years,” I was holding out in hopes of a totally new book and not a shuffled around version of the previous “Corvette Fifty Years” with some updated C5 and C6 material. I was NOT disappointed! Leffingwell and MBI have delivered the goods! The book is, for me, a visual delight. You see, when you have as many books and magazines as I have, you’ve probably seem nearly all of the old vintage photos showing the design and development work on the Corvette. At least, that’s what I thought!

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Corvette Timeline Tales: Car Window Sticker Requirement Passed into Law, July 7, 1958

Published on July 8, 2011July 8, 2011 by Scott

Dateline: 7.8.11

Happy Birthday to an Essential Part of Your Corvette’s History!

To see the larger version of this classic 1958 Corvette MSRP window sticker, click the image.

Fifty three years ago, on July 7, 1958 a federal law was passed requiring car makers to put window stickers on all new cars. New car window stickers have been around for so long, I thought that they’d been around since the beginning. Actually, I never really thought, “Gee, I wonder when window stickers began?”

Of course, back in ‘58 no one probably ever thought that the factory window sticker would one day be an important part of the documentation of cars. Of course, it’s a pretty good guess that Continue reading “Corvette Timeline Tales: Car Window Sticker Requirement Passed into Law, July 7, 1958” →

The Corvette Factories by Mike Mueller, A Review

Published on March 23, 2010April 10, 2020 by Scott

The Corvette Factories: Building America’s Sports Car by Mike Mueller, A Book Review

By K. Scott Teeters

Mike Mueller Gives the Tour and Shows Us How Corvettes Are Built

Until Chevrolet’s Bowling Green Assembly plant started offering the Corvette Museum Delivery option (RPO-R8C) most Corvette fans probably never thought they could actually see how Corvettes are built. What’s the assembly line like? What are the conditions inside the building? For most of us, you place your order for what you want on your Vette and it arrives. We all know that Corvettes aren’t hatched, they are made on an assembly lines, but the important part is taking delivery and driving! Continue reading “The Corvette Factories by Mike Mueller, A Review” →