Ok, this was a surprising trip. My dad, after being on a list to buy a 2020 Corvette for over a year had his chance to pickup his convertible from the National Corvette Museum (NCM) at a “Museum delivery”. For those uninitiated to the Corvette brethren (as I was prior to this trip ) I’ll give an explanation of what this is. The Corvette manufacturing plant is less than a half mile from the NCM. For a fee (about a $1,000 donation to the museum) you can pickup your new Corvette from the museum and drive it home or have a freight carrier pick it up after you are done driving around Bowling Green. As part of this program you also get a credit to drive a current production Corvette a few laps around the NCM race track which is located right down the road from the museum. Additionally you get a tour guide to take you through the museum. I had no idea the following that existed for the Corvette before I went to the museum. The museum has lots of history and many fine examples of Corvettes from the past with additional space for traveling exhibits. The standard procedure is to arrive in the morning, see the museum, and drive out in your new car.
Day 1 – NCM Track
The museum is a great experience but what was even better was taking (4) laps around the NCM track in a new Vette. If you do not go to the Museum for a pickup you can buy the track experience for something like $300. WELL WORTH IT! There was no real safety briefing other than instructions to follow the pace car. I picked a covid free grey Vette as I assumed the other colors got more use. From my limited experience driving super cars I can say this thing makes you feel like a super hero. I took a passenger with me who enjoyed the ride so much he gave up his lunch not long after the ride was over! I did get a little squirrely and the car with is magic sauce stabilization when in “Track Mode” kept me glued to the track. The Vette has multiple drive modes to select from and felt a lot like sitting in a cockpit.
Day 2 – Museum visit and vehicle delivery
Following our tour my dad took his new car for a drive around the local area to see the factory. Typically with a museum delivery you also get tour of the production plant but due to Covid-19 they have suspended tours of the factory. Either way, after driving the car around a few miles we were heading back to the NCM to drop off the car for a car hauler to deliver to Florida when I noticed the car would not go into reverse. The car has selectors for the transmission similar to rocker switches for a window that select the gear. I was thinking that I was improperly selecting the gear when I looked up on the display and saw it flash a message saying the car needed transmission repair. Really? Less than 20 miles on the car and it needs a transmission work and WON’T go into reverse? Yup, that happened. So after a conversation with our tour guide from the museum it turns out the next course of action is to (on your merit) deliver the car to a dealer for repair. As the NCM is not GM, they are not able to provide any substantial help. They were courteous and made phone calls but unfortunately unable to provide real assistance. So I hopped in the car and drove it down the highway to the local Chevy dealer for repair. There were (3) other new Vettes in various stages of having their transmissions replaced. 16 miles on the meter in the Vette and back to the airport to catch a ride home in the trusty RV-10. My dad was rather happy I convinced him to have a car hauler take the car to Florida PRIOR to this debacle. Needless to say the mid engine Corvette is a piece of art. They are absolutely stunning in person and I expect to see them flooding the streets when the plant can produce them in quantities to keep pace with demand. They were slated to product 20,000 2020 examples.
I would suggest that anyone within range of Bowling Green plan a trip to see the museum and schedule the track experience as well. This was a fantastic and highly enjoyable venture that left me grinning ear to ear when I got to park their car, sans a little rubber from the tires in the pit parking.
NCM Motorsports Complex HQ.
Some of the Vettes used for the track experience.
Standing in front of Covid-19 free grey.
A few of the cars in the museum.
Cars recovered from the sinkhole the museum experienced in February 2014.
Dodge Viper! Woohoo a blast from the past. 400 hp of untamed power waiting to swap the backend for the front end at the next corner.
Travelling exhibit space. Ed “Big Daddy” Roth material on display.
The old man laying eyes on his car for the first time. Red with “old man tan” interior.
A few other cars waiting for new transmissions. Maybe thats a new transmission in the box?
Another car waiting for a transmission.
Old man’s car sitting in line at dealer.
