Month: September 2012

Mecum Auctions will offer roughly 165 Corvettes for sale this week as part
of their 2nd annual Dallas auction. The event kicks off Wednesday, September
5th and runs through Saturday, September 8th. The venerable Velocity crew will
have 18 hours of live auction coverage from the event. According to the Mecum
website over 900 total cars are currently consigned and Corvettes make up
almost 20% of the docket. Our list of Dallas favorites resides just beyond the
Read More button below.

As usual the Corvette selections are diverse. All 6 genres of Corvette production
are represented and, as expected, they range from original to restored, and
stock to modified. Wednesday evening cars from the Hallbrook
Collection will be traversing Mecum’s red carpet. The collection is
made up of all makes and models and includes over 30 low mile, unrestored Corvettes.
Most of the Hallbrook Corvettes have less than 5,000 miles on the clock.

Here’s how the Mecum Dallas consignments sort out by generation:

Like Mecum’s Indianapolis Auction in May, there are so many top notch
rides that our standard preview format just isn’t enough. Instead, we’ve
listed all of our favorites below. Simply click on the Lot Number to be transported
straight to the car description on Mecum’s website.

The Mecum Dallas event has grown immensely from its debut in 2011. The 2nd
annual sale begins this Wednesday, September 5th and runs through Saturday,
September 8th.

Velocity’s 18 stellar hours of live coverage breaks down like this (all
times central):

• Wednesday 6-9 pm
• Thursday and Friday 3-9 pm
• Saturday 1-7 pm

You can also watch the entire event live on Mecum’s
website.

Source:
Mecum Auction

Related:
1961 Corvette Gulf Oil Race Car a No-Sale at Mecum’s 2012 Kissimmee Auction
Mecum to Auction 1957 Smokey Yunick Corvette Racer at Indy Spring Classic
Take One Giant Leap with Neil Armstrong’s 1967 Corvette

 

The future of sports car racing in North America just got a bit more interesting with Wednesday’s announcement that NASCAR’s Grand-AM Series and the American Le Mans Series would merge into one entity beginning in 2014. Also included in the merger is Road Atlanta and the racing lease on Sebring International Raceway.

Grand-AM founder Jim France and ALMS founder Don Panoz made the announcement Wednesday morning in Daytona Beach. Joining them was Scott Atherton, ALMS President and Ed Bennett, Grand-Am President.

There are a lot of details still to be worked out including the make up of the classes, schedules and how to combine the best elements of each series. The consensus is that there will be a 12 race season, starting with the 24 Hours of Daytona in January.

For Corvette Racing fans, one of the key issues is whether or not the new entity will be able to maintain its relationship with the ACO, the governing body for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The current agreement is only through 2013. The ACO regulates the technical aspects of the cars that race in any of the Le Mans classes and provides invitations for teams who win at Sebring or Petit Le Mans, as well as for teams that win the Championship in their class.

Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan has called Le Mans the cornerstone of the factory-backed program. He was quoted by Racer.com prior to this morning’s official announcement:

“We’re in the position of being very happy with the way things were going, for the most part. The classification of GT racing in the American Le Mans Series, I think it’s the best GT racing that this country has ever seen.

“From whatever this new organization looks like, in 2014, they need to pay close attention to how close that is, and don’t fix something that’s not broken. I can tell you for 2013, we’re solid. That’s not an issue. What form it will take and what it will look like in 2014, is open to conjecture, and we have to wait on how this organization comes together, what it looks like, and obviously make our decisions based on that.

“Any prudent businessman would take cause and wait to see. Maybe we’ll have some answers after Wednesday, although I highly doubt it. I’m not certain how much of 2014 is sorted between the two of them, I’m not sure yet.’

“It’ll be a challenging time for us, and for all our decision-making, on how we’ll look as we go forward. We’re in the American Le Mans Series now because, for our needs, it’s a much better fit. The association with the ACO, ability to compete on a global stage at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, that’s been the cornerstone of the program. Chevrolet is a global brand. Corvette is the tip of that spear. Now we have to see how that may change.

“If it changes, we have to take a look at where we are to meet all our marketing objectives. We have always gone forward with all options on the table. We evaluate where we are during and at the conclusion of each year.”

ALMS President and CEO Scott Atherton, who will be President of the new organization, seemed to calm those fears at Wednesday’s press conference:

“From our very first meeting, from when Jim [France] and I sat down in February, he made the comment that he thought it was an important priority to retain the relationship with the ACO and to retain the link to Le Mans,” Atherton said.

“I think we’ll all admit that it’s easier said that done, but our vision and plan is to retain that relationship. Don had that idea many, many years ago. There are 15 years of equity established in that relationship. We’re up to the task.”

An official statement from Mark Reuss, President of GM North America said “This is an exciting moment in sports car racing. This merger combines the best attributes of GRAND-AM Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series to create a singularly focused series. Congratulations to Jim France and Dr. Don Panoz on having the passion for sports car racing and the vision to take it to the next level. The joining of these two series will provide a foundation for Chevrolet to develop technologies and race cars with tremendous relevancy to the production vehicles we sell today and in the future.”

As far as driver reactions, Oliver Gavin tweeted “First 2 races in 2014 will be Daytona 24hrs, then 12hrs Sebring!! Amazing races to start season!!”

This new racing series has the potential to take sports car racing in North America to new heights. We can only hope that the exceptional racing we’ve seen in GT is maintained as well as the links to Le Mans. It’s going to take a good amount of time for all this to come together and I wouldn’t be surprised not to hear anything concrete prior to 2013.

You can watch the Grand-AM/ALMS merger announcement in its entirety at www.alms.com.

For more on the Grand-AM/ALMS merger, check out the excellent reporting by John Dagy at speedtv.com.

Source:
speedtv.com
Racer.com

Related:
Corvettes Finish Second and Sixth in Baltimore ALMS
Corvette Racing Wins GT Pole for Baltimore Street Race
Corvette Racing at Baltimore: Racin’ in the Streets

 

Our friends at Jalopnik have really proved themselves to be the go-to website when it comes to breaking news on the next generation 2014 C7 Corvette. They created the first renders of the C7 last November and since then, all the spy photos and leaked supplier videos have pretty much confirmed that the new Corvette will look like Jalopnik said it would.

Last month, Trinity Animation used the Jalopnik renderings as well as other corroborating evidence to create an animated video of the C7 Corvette and now Jalopnik is sharing Trinity’s latest rendering of the C7 Corvette in stunning black. As the headline suggest, yes, this photo will make you fall in love with the 2014 Chevy Corvette.

What’s interesting is that when Jalopnik released their renderings last year, that car was supposed to represent the ZR1-equivient of the C7, while the base body was described as less-busy. Trinity’s new rendering represents what that base model or perhaps the version that may be the Grand Sport-equivalent will look like.

It’s believed that when the C7 Corvette becomes available in 2013 as a 2014 model, production will be staggered so that the Convertible base model will arrive 6-8 months after the base coupe model. The Grand Sport version or the Z06 version may make its debut as a 2015 model. So showing a representation of the base C7 Corvette is important as it will most likely resemble the first actual 2014 C7 Corvettes produced.

Regardless, many of the enthusiasts that we have talked to about the C7 Corvette have come to embrace the new design as represented by Jalopnik and Trinity and with renderings like these, we believe that many more will follow.

If you love this new C7 Corvette rendering as much as we do, click here to download the super-sized 1600×900 version from Jalopnik and stick it on your desktop.

Source:
Trinity Animation via Jalopnik

Related:
[VIDEO] 2014 C7 Corvette Digitally Animated
Fehan: Work is Progressing on the Corvette C7.R
[VIDEO] C7 Corvette Front Bumper Video Leaks Online

 

A lifelong love of Chevrolet and Corvettes has put a Pennsylvania man in the record books.

Charlie Mallon’s mom says he could tell a Corvette from other cars by the time he was 3 years old. Fittingly, she gets the credit for helping him get started with his record-setting collection of Chevrolet memorabilia that now numbers more than 2,200 (and is continually growing).

And it is official. Back in May, the Guinness Book of World Records officially certified Mallon’s collection as the largest collection of Chevrolet memorabilia in the world after making him jump through all sorts of hoops.

“Some guys play golf,” Mallon quips. “I do this. Everyone collects something. I’m sure other people have more than I do, and I’m certain that someday the record will be broken.”

But Mallon’s love for Chevrolets, particularly Corvettes, will likely go on his entire life.

After all, he can point to a treasured photo that shows him in a Corvette pedal car when he was just 2 years old, and by the time he was an “old man” of 10, he was picking up the basics of auto mechanics by osmosis through his job at a local gas station, where he swept floors and cleaned windows to get a chance to ogle the Corvettes that came through.

“The style is the biggest thing,” Mallon says, explaining his love of the car. “I like the shape and look of the Corvette. Lots of cars go fast, but the Corvette is different because it handles so well. There’s a mystique to it, and it’s a blast to drive.”

He should know. After 12 years of owning a classic C2 model, his pride and joy now is a 2005 LeMans Blue Corvette.

His mom inadvertently started his collection of memorabilia when he was 14 and she gave him four toy Corvettes that he proudly displayed on his bookcase.

Since then, the collection has grown and grown through the years. When he got married in 1988, he had 133 model cars. He should have known it was a match made in heaven (or perhaps Bowling Green, Ky.) when his wife Gina gave him a wooden display case for his cars as a wedding gift.

As he made trips across the nation for his work – he’s an auto industry consultant who helps dealerships improve customer service – he would bring home gifts for the entire family, including “little cars for me,” he said.

The collection had climbed to 754 cars by the late 1990s, when he was in his 40s, and by last year it had roared past 2,000.

Then it hit Mallon. Maybe his collection was even special enough for Guinness so he convinced them to create a new category for him: largest collection of Chevrolet memorabilia. A CPA counted the items, each had to be unique, and certified the total as an amazing 2,181.

“It was an awesome display,” says Dan Ahearn, the Chevrolet zone manager. “Chevrolet has a huge following, and the loyalty of Corvette fans is huge. There are a lot of diehard Chevrolet enthusiasts out there, and I’ve seen a number of displays but none to the degree of Charlie’s. He started at a young age and stayed at it.”

Most of the cars are miniatures, ranging in size from an inch to two feet, and some of his favorites are displayed in three cases in the basement of his home, which he lovingly calls his Corvette Hall of Fame. The collection also includes Corvette coffee mugs, shot glasses, hats, clothing, posters, signs, video games, a flag, a clock, a snow globe paperweight, and well, you get the idea.

When you’re one of the world’s most beloved cars, people like to put you on just about anything.

And when they do, Charlie Mallon will be there to collect it.

Source:
Philly.com
Photo Credits: Elise Wrabetz / Philly.com

Related:
Corvette Memorabilia Collector Goes for Guinness World Record
NCM Auctioning Unique Zora Collectible Hot Wheel Corvette
Corvette Dreams: Step2′s Corvette Z06 Children’s Bedroom Furniture Set