Month: April 2012

At the NCM Bash at the Corvette Museum today, Team Corvette members Tadge Juechter and Harlan Charles gave a brief walk around tour of the 2013 Corvette. It was during that presentation that Harlan said their pricing had been approved and that the 2013 427 Convertible Corvette would have a starting MSRP of $75,925

Harlan continued and stated that if you wanted a fully loaded 60th Anniversary 427 convertible with the blue interior, the carbon fiber ground effects which is the CFZ package and the leather wrapped interior, the price would just over $90,000.

That puts it in the Z06 price range which is what most people expected.

The 427 Convertible represents the seventh model in the Corvette lineup. They will be available in all 10 Corvette colors and can be ordered with a varity of wheel packages and other options.

Tadge says the 427 Convertible is a very exciting way to send the C6 off with a bang in its last year, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Corvette. In fact, he said that they are so exicited about the new cars that production has been moved up and Bowling Green Assembly will begin building 2013′s next week and will ship the new cars starting in June instead of after the annual July shutdown.

During the Q & A session at the walk-around, an owner asked Tadge if 2013 would be the last year of a Corvette with a 427 engine. The response was classic Juechter, “I would buy one, just to make sure.” he deadpanned.

Look for complete pricing of the 2013 Corvette coming soon.

Related:
MSRP for 2013 427 Convertible Edition Corvette to Start at $75,925
Corvette Museum Bash Notes – Day 1
Callaway Shows Off the 25th Anniversary RPO B2K Corvette
[PICS] First Look at 2013 Corvette Night Race Blue and 60th Anniversary ZR1
[VIDEO] GM Corvette Seminar at the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring

 

Sure we already seen pictures of the new blue color available for 2013 Corvettes, but to actually see the new Night Race Blue sparkle under the beautiful Bowling Green sunshine was a whole new experience. We are officially in love with the new color and while it will take some time for people to experience the color in person for themselves, hopefully these photos will give you an idea of how it really looks.

You’ll notice in the pics that they parked a 2013 427 Convertible in Supersonic Blue next to the new Night Race Blue Corvette so that will give you a great comparison of the two colors.

Once interesting tidbit about the new color is that we first heard about the new blue late last year and was told the color would be called “Berlin Blue”. When the 2013 Corvette information was released by GM earlier this year, the new color was officially called “Night Race Blue”.

If you look at the last photo of the build sheet, you will see the color is listed “GXH – Berlin Blue”. The build sheet does list this Corvette as an export to Canada, but its been our experience that North American Corvettes all use the same color names. We’ll try to catch up with Corvette Exterior Engineer Kirk Bennion and ask him about that.

Related:
Corvette Museum Bash Notes – Day 1
Callaway Shows Off the 25th Anniversary RPO B2K Corvette
[PICS] First Look at 2013 Corvette Night Race Blue and 60th Anniversary ZR1
[VIDEO] GM Corvette Seminar at the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring

 

Thursday officially kicked off the 2012 NCM Bash at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. The crowds were good and with many different activities to attend, it was tough to cover it all. But we tried and so after the jump, take a look at what went on at the Corvette Museum on Day 1 of the NCM Bash.

The day started with fantastic weather and ended with fantastic weather. There was a brief rain shower during the afternoon, but it passed quickly.

The morning started with us taking a walk through the Corvette exhibits to see what has changed since our last visit. One of the first new Corvettes we came across was the actual Velocity Yellow ZR1 that ran the Nurburgring in 7:19.63.

Inside the rotunda, we found a pair of C4 Grand Sports on the main dias while opposite was a Callaway Grand Sport and a C2 Grand Sport. That C2 Grand Sport made us stop in our tracks. I later tweeted a picture of the Corvette and said “I think I’m in love!”

Inside the exhibit hall was a group of 15 Callaway Corvettes in a variety of C4, C5 and C6 generations. Our favorite Callaway Corvette of all time was also in the house, the Callaway Sledgehammer which achived a top speed of 254.76 mph in a top speed run in 1988.

Several seminars were planned for the day. Paul Koerner provided an Ask the Expert seminar for people who were having issues with their Corvettes. Paul is one of the most knowledgeable automotive techs I have ever met and is very serious about his craft. He will be set up in the Museum’s Club Room and will try to answer any techincal questions you have.

Also going on was the Corvette’s Exterior Engineer Kirk Bennion who was working in the Conference Center. Kirk and his guys were applying a variety of stripes and graphics to three different Corvettes. The set included a full length racing stripe on a Red C6, a new set of hash marks on a Supersonic Blue Grand Sport and the ghost Jake graphic went on the hood of an Inferno Orange Grand Sport Convertible.

Callaway’s Chris Chessnoe took over the Chevrolet Theater to bring us a recap on all the great Callaway projects over the years and ended with a great overview of their new RPO B2K 25th Anniversary Grand Sport Callaways.

Later in the day, Lee Willard of Michelin dropped in and gave a talk on the lastest news and products from the tire manufacturer. He later stopped by and signed the wheel of that same Inferno Orange Grand Sport.

Corvette engineer Tom Hill held a seminar called Factory Corvette Care Tips that was also held in the Conference Center. Hill used the 2013 427 Convertible Corvette with the 60th Anniversary Package as his demonstrator and attendees got a bevy of great tips for maintaining their Corvette’s appearance.

The last seminar of the day was held by NCM director Wendell Strode and Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan and Dan Binks. They brought us up to to date on the latest news regarding the planned NCM Motorsports Park. The project is really moving forward and Strode believes the ground breaking on the $20 million project will happen at the 2013 NCM Bash with the opening of the track coming in 2014. Very exciting stuff!

While we were busy attending the events at the Museum, there were several off-campus activites going on as well. Two tours left the Museum in the morning with one group cruising to the Makers Mark distillery while another group drove up to Cave City for the Winery lunch tour.

The day closed with us joining 60 or so enthusiasts from the Corvette Forum for a dinner at a local restaurant. Its so funny to talk with guys and girls you know on the forum by their creen names and to put the faces together was a lot of fun.

Here are some photos we captured of the day’s events. Stay tuned to CorvetteBlogger and watch our Twitter feed and Facebook page as we are uploading photos and comments throughout the day.

Related:
Callaway Shows Off the 25th Anniversary RPO B2K Corvette
[PICS] First Look at 2013 Corvette Night Race Blue and 60th Anniversary ZR1
[VIDEO] GM Corvette Seminar at the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring

 

Earlier this year, Callaway announced the building of a special run of 25 Corvette Grand Sports for the 25th Anniversary of RPO B2K, the first turbo-charged Corvettes offered by the factory. Although today’s RPO B2K has traded in the turbos for a supercharger, the end result is equally awesome.

The 25 B2K Anniversary Corvettes were all built on Thursday April 5th and the first example was shown off at a special Callaway Dealers event this previous Monday at the National Corvette Museum.

The RPO B2K Anniversary Corvettes are all Cyber Gray Grand Sports made up of both coupes and convertibles. The newest Callaway’s are mostly 4LT interior trim and are offered in both six-speed and automatics. The interior features ebony colored seats with a Callaway steering wheel, door sills and floor mats. There are a three B2Ks that were built with the 3LT and one had an override for Black headlights.

Each of the Callaway B2K Corvettes receives the trademark Callaway hood and we especially like the look of the exposed Carbon Fiber on the rear spoiler and splitters. The RPO B2k Corvette features an LS3 with a Callaway SC620 supercharger wwhich makes an estimated 620 hp. That’s nearly the same power as the Corvette ZR1!

The popular B2K option package first appeared in 1987. The Corvettes were built in Bowling Green and then shipped to Callaway’s facility where the L98 engine received a pair of intercooled turbos as well as the other necessary engineering. Once completed, the cars were shipped to the customer’s local Chevy dealer.

The B2K Corvettes were first RPOs that Chevy assigned to a third party company and during its five year run (1987-91), 510 RPO B2K Corvettes were built.

Although no MSRP was provided, we did hear that the B2K 25th Anniversary Callaways will sell for an additional $50,000 over the Grand Sports’s MSRP. With a Grand Sport convertible in 4LT trim level, that means pricing is in the Corvette ZR1 range as well.

Interested parties can contact Callaway Cars to find out which of the 30 Callaway dealers will have the new anniversary car.

The very first of the new Cyber Gray B2K Corvettes joins a special collection of Callaways now on dispay at the National Corvette Museum. Stay tuned as we’ll be showing off that collection in the coming days as well.

Click here to watch a video of the introduction of the new Callaway special anniversary edition at the Callaway dealer meeting held at the NCM earlier this week.

Source:
Callaway Cars

Related:
Callaway Announces the Return of RPO B2K with Special 25th Anniversary Edition
1991 Callaway Corvette Speedster For Sale in Arizona
New Callaway Corvette Package Stands up and Delivers 580 hp

 

Add another chapter to the amazing life story of Patrick Rummerfield.

Rummerfield is known around the world as the only fully recovered quadriplegic in history, having come back from a 1970’s car wreck that had left him paralyzed from the neck down.

Last Wednesday, the long-time Corvette fan spent a day installing hoods at the Corvette Assembly Plant in Bowling Green, Ky.

Ironically, his inspirational story began while he was daydreaming about racing Corvettes and playing basketball, “when my left big toe moved,” he said.

That little breakthrough began 17 years of physical therapy that has brought him back to a fully functional person who has inspired countless others with his recovery.

“You never know what tomorrow is going to bring but if you don’t try, and if you don’t stay strong, and try to keep your body as physically fit and keep pushing it to move, you know, you’ll never achieve your goal,” Rummerfield said.

His story impressed the workers at the Corvette facility, including Plant Manager Dave Tatman. “Patrick’s awesome,” he said. “I’d hire him in a minute. He has actually been doing a very, very good job.”

Ironically, Rummerfield’s accident occurred while he was behind the wheel of a Corvette.

“In 1974 I was involved in a high speed car accident,” he recalls. “We hit the ditch at 130 miles per hour and I broke my neck in four places.”

Doctors said he wouldn’t survive the crash, much less walk again, but he’s overcome those tremendous odds to live a full life. Among his accomplishments are running a marathon, driving a race car, and carrying the torch for the Olympics.

A highly sought after motivational speaker, Rummerfield was asked to speak to workers at the Corvette plant.

“His story is such that there was no room in his life for anything less than success,” Tatman said.

After his speech, he insisted that he couldn’t leave without helping build his favorite car.

“I love sports cars, but not just any sports cars,” he said. “I love the U.S.-made Corvette and to me, it doesn’t get any better than this.”

Rummerfield works at the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury, and you can find out more about his life at rummerfield.com.

Source:
WKRN

Related:
[VIDEO] Corvette Assembly Plant Reveals Future Plans
[VIDEO] Larry the Cable Guy Visits the Corvette Assembly Plant
[VIDEO] Corvette Assembly Plant Celebrates 30th Anniversary