I’ve been thinking about writing this post since word of the giant sinkhole opening up inside the National Corvette Museum made headlines around the world.
The staff of the Corvette Museum, led by their unshakable leader Wendell Strode, have really stepped up to confront this natural disaster head-on. We’ve seen the videos of the damaged cars and heard from the experts about the local geology. But now it’s time for the Museum to hear from us, the enthusiasts and Corvette owners who helped make the NCM what it is today.
Despite having insurance which will cover stabilizing the main Spire and repairing the floor inside the Sky Dome, the NCM will have some major out-of-pocket expenses including sinkhole remediation and insurance deductibles.
While news was made about GM’s pledge to help restore the cars that were lost inside the sinkhole, most people we’ve talked with don’t realize that the NCM’s largest expense will be the repair and mitigation of the sinkhole. Estimated costs range from $200,000 all the way to $1,000,000 depending on the depth and complexity to repair.
The Corvette Museum is a member-funded institution owned by you and me and right now they need our help.
There are two ways to help the museum. If you are not a member or your membership has lapsed, click here to Become A Member. If you are already a member of the Museum, click here to Make a Donation. You will see there is a selection for a Sinkhole Fund.
As a Lifetime Member of the National Corvette Museum, I recognize the Museum’s unique place in our hobby is to preserve, protect and promote the Chevrolet Corvette. A natural disaster striking our “Graceland” should serve as a rallying cry to bring us closer together and do the right thing to help in the repair and reopening of the NCM’s Sky Dome.
Chevy’s Truck Month promotion runs March 1 through March 31, offering the same price on 2014 light-duty and heavy-duty Silverados that GM offers to employees of its suppliers.
Chevy’s Truck Month promotion runs March 1 through March 31, offering the same price on 2014 light-duty and heavy-duty Silverados that GM offers to employees of its suppliers.
More approval by a governmental agency came speeding down the straightaway for the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park last week.
After hearing Wendell Strode, executive director of the museum, explain that the museum has “gone above and beyond” with its plans, the City-County Planning Commission gave its OK to a detailed development plan Thursday for the motorsports park.
The park will open during the National Corvette Caravan in late August after construction is completed on the 184-acre site at Grimes Road and Porter Pike, just across I-65 from the museum.
The detailed development plan was approved with six conditions of approval, most of which will have to be completed before the park can be opened, including:
Construction of a left turn lane from Porter Pike into Grimes Road
Reestablishing some portions of a required vegetative buffer along I-65
Extending an earthen berm to reduce noise for neighbors
Recording a plat to consolidate the tracts of land within the park
Approval of a variance for a proposed sign along the interstate
Showing proposed parking with the application for a building permit
Strode is concerned about the requirement for the vegetative buffer, unsuccessfully asking that it be eliminated since “we’re certainly hoping that we can move forward without having to have a motorsports park over there that no one can see from I-65,” he said.
As far as the berm to cut noise for neighboring properties, Strode said he felt like it was never required in the original language in the binding elements, only that the park wouldn’t result in a big hike in noise over that already made by I-65 traffic. A noise study, he said, ultimately showed that the park wouldn’t increase the current noise levels substantially. Excess soil was available, so the berm will be built anyway, he said.
“We feel like we have gone above and beyond,” Strode said, pointing out that a concrete wall and buildings will also help keep noise levels down.
The planning commission eventually passed the detailed development plan with all the conditions in place, but Steve Hunter, executive director, said that amendments might be offered to the existing binding elements later.
It appears that Mecum is off and running for 2014 after a weather induced slow start in Kissimmee. Their Houston event is shaping up to be typical of the high quality consignments that usually characterizes their events with some outstanding Corvettes scheduled to cross the block from Thursday, April 10th through Saturday, April 12th.
As I was reviewing Mecum’s latest on-line catalog, two Corvettes jumped off the page to capture my attention.
Certainly no Corvette enthusiast could ignore the Bunkie Knudsen Corvette, after all it is not only the auction headliner, it is one of the most interesting Corvettes ever made, as well as the personal car for then Chevrolet General manager Bunkie Knudsen. The second Corvette, perhaps not as well known, is the stunning 1967 Corvette coupe once owned by former Marine and Viet Nam veteran, Don McNamara, and put into storage with less than 3K miles on it, has a bullet proof provenance and literally may be the finest 1967 “survivor” in existence.
The McNamara Corvette just might end up being the brightest star among many Corvettes at the Houston event, even considering the tough competition from the Knudsen styling car and a 1966 “big tank” coupe. The fascinating story of McNamara, returning from Viet Nam and winning $5K in Las Vegas during his retirement celebration, then subsequently ordering his dream car is certainly interesting enough on its own, but what happened after that is even more compelling.
Strangely after putting 2996 miles on the Corvette it suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. An unusually private person, when asked what happened to his Corvette, McNamara simply said he no longer owned the car, though rumors persisted that the Corvette was hidden in his single car heated garage. Not until his death in 2011 was the Corvette found by a neighboring couple he befriended later in his life. Only then was it discovered that McNamara secretly put the car in storage where it remained hidden away from family and friends. When the car was discovered it was sheathed in a car cover, and covered with storage blankets and Marine Corp and United States flags, which preserved the car as it appeared over 45 years before. His next door neighbor for 22 years who discovered it had never seen the car before that day.
Don McNamara’s patriotism was his inspiration for ordering the car in Ermine white with a red stinger and interior and to complete the patriotic theme he replaced the black wall tires with white and blue double stripe rubber. McNamara was intensely private, was never married and never even had a credit card or checking account. So finding the Corvette treasure hidden safely in his garage did not seem so out of character by the very few people that knew him. After the first year of ownership, not wanting to pay insurance, registration and license fees, he put the car away. Until the mid 1980’s he only drove it occasionally at night until the mileage approached 3K when he put the Corvette away permanently. The Corvette had only been driven by McNamara, the passenger seat had never been sat in and until discovered the Corvette had never been touched by water, never in rain or washed!
Other than a few personal touches like Edelbrock valve covers and four Corvette decals on the air cleaner the car remains as it was when ordered with the L36 427/390 HP engine, M20 4-speed manual transmission and 3.36 Positraction rear end. In addition tinted glass, telescopic steering wheel, AM/FM radio, side exhaust and bolt-on aluminum wheels were also added pushing the original invoice to $5.504. With the help of his father a dealer was located that would keep the Marine’s dream alive and sell the car just below McNamara’s $5K limit. This beautiful example of the last year of the second generation Corvette will be sold along with the original window sticker, showroom sales brochure, Chevrolet warranty book with Protect-O-Plate, the original keys and fob and a duplicate set of keys; the original owner’s manual and plastic pouch, dealer record book issued by Ray Motor Co., a cashier’s check for a deposit and a receipt for the balance of the purchase price, the original State of Colorado license registration and title issued to McNamara dated May 22, 1967 and the NCRS Shipping Data Report confirming delivery at Ray Motor Company in Lamar, Colorado. Lot S128 will cross the block on Saturday, April 12th.
The featured car of Mecum’s Houston auction is Bunkie Knudsen’s personalized Corvette roadster, styled by GM, copying the modified 1963 Corvette shown at the New York Auto Show that year. As many Corvette enthusiasts know Bunkie Knudsen was the General Manager of Chevrolet from 1961 through 1965 until he was elected executive vice president of GM®. This is one of four second generation Corvettes modified by GM that included the custom exhaust pipes which exited through the body of the Corvette. Last October Mecum offered another styling car which had the same modified exhaust feature and belonged to Harley Earl which was the top seller of the auction and sold for over $1M. Knudsen’s is the third “styling Corvette” offered since the October Chicagoland auction last year, the second was a pink 1963 roadster owned by Mrs. Harley Earl and failed to meet reserve in Mecum’s January event in Kissimmee. But unlike the other two Corvettes, this one has been impeccably restored by noted Corvette restored Werner Meier .
The car was finished in Knudsen’s favorite custom color, Crimson Firefrost metallic lacquer and accented with a full-length white stripe and white soft top (the car also retains a matching hard top). This combination was also carried through in the modified interior, where a unique custom shift console assembly was flanked by 1964-type seats upholstered with white naugahyde and maroon accent stripes. In addition slotted stainless steel floor grille plates replaced the stock floor mats which was common GM styling cars of the era. A custom twin-spoke steering wheel featured two types of wood on the rim and 1964 instrumentation was used in the color-matching dash. The interior was later upgraded with changes to the instrumentation and the addition of 1967 seat belts. The car was equipped with power brakes and windows as well.
The 327 fuel injected engine and engine bay was also modified, substituting chrome plating and crinkle-finish black paint in place of the cast aluminum surfaces on the small block engine. The engine bay had to be modified to accommodate the special exhaust system which required trimming the heater box for clearance and relocating the battery to the area behind the passenger seat.
After Knudsen finished with the car it was returned to stock appearance and passed through several owners who allowed it to fall into disrepair before being rediscovered by Corvette collector Wally Abela in a garage being used as part of a scaffold. After buying the car Abela consulted Corvette expert and restorer Werner Meier who was able to trace its ownership and confirm its important heritage.
In 1984 Abela turned his Corvette over to Meier for a full restoration. The unusually complex restoration took four years to complete and required eight different machine and fabrication facilities to complete the complicated exhaust system. But when Meier finished the exquisite Corvette was invited to the Meadowbrook and Hilton Head concours events and has been shown numerous times in the Bloomington Gold Special Collection. From its opening in 1994 until 2001 the National Corvette Museum had the car on permanent display. In 2003 the car was sold and has resided in several collections until finding its way to Mecum’s Houston event. Knudsen’s personal, unique Corvette, Lot S119, will also cross the block on Saturday, April 12th.
Rick Tavel writes about automobiles with an emphasis on Corvettes and the hobby in general. You can see his website at revenantrt.blogspot.com
Over the past few weeks, you’ve been reading all about the sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum. But here’s a story that goes further and explains WHY there is a National Corvette Museum in the first place.
When it comes to Corvettes, people do fanatical things.
Take Todd Baggett of Southbury, Connecticut for example.
As he grew up in Detroit in the 1960s and ’70s, Todd listened to his father, Jack F. Baggett, tell stories about the new 1964 Corvette Sting Ray convertible that he had raced his friends with.
By that time, Jack had already sold the car, but Todd loved to hear the stories about it. Since he was just a kid, he had always looked at the owner’s manual and service books and the welcome letter from GM – “always thinking ONE DAY!!” Todd told us in an e-mail to CorvetteBlogger.
Click to see the entire letter
As the years rolled by, Todd became obsessed with finding that special Sting Ray, even sneaking the original bill of sale out of his dad’s office one day back in 1996 so he could try to track it down and surprise him with it on his birthday.
Unfortunately, Todd didn’t find the car that year. Or the next, or the next. In fact, he came up empty until just a few weeks ago when someone sent him an e-mail and told him he knew the car had been owned by a family in the Atlanta area for several years and best of all, it was available for sale at an estate sale.
“I had posted the VIN on a Corvette registry site seven or eight years ago looking for any information on the car,” Todd told us. “Then out of the blue I received an e-mail on Saturday, January 25 from a gentleman stating he saw my post and had looked at the car as it was for sale in Virginia, and did I have any information on the car. I replied with a simple: my dad was the original owner and asking more about the sale. He sent me the link to the car.”
After viewing it and knowing the car was not the original color and had a hardtop on it, Todd was skeptical.
“But for some reason I called the seller on that Sunday,” he said. “After the seller told me his life story about his first Corvette being a ’64 327/365 convertible and how he sold it when getting married (like my dad).I asked about the VIN and when he said 40867s106339 I could have died.. I told him then about my dad being the original owner, etc.”
The seller, a fellow named Bill Myers, “an extremely nice, Southern car collector,” was shocked when he heard the story about his search.
“I could tell he was skeptical of my story so I told him I would e-mail a copy of the bill of sale,” Todd says. “I received a call back shortly from him – yep it was the car. Still needing more certainty I asked if I could have a friend who I know in Richmond, VA come take a look at it for me.”
The story turned even crazier then. Todd says he told the seller that his friend Wayne, a car guy like himself, would call and come look the car for me.
“The seller asked me Wayne who?” Todd says. “I said Wayne Orrell. His reply, the lawyer? Yes, I replied . Stunned he informed me that he knew Wayne and had sold him his house the year before. WOW! From then on it was 48 hours of chaos.”
Having found the car, though, Todd began to worry about spending so much money for a car when he had kids who would be going to college soon.
“I was wondering whether I should just be happy it’s OK and just leave it,” Baggett said. “I didn’t sleep that Sunday night.”
By the next morning, he had convinced himself not to buy the car, a decision his supportive wife urged him to think on until lunch before making it his final choice.
Needing to sell his own 2007 atomic orange Corvette to afford the Sting Ray, Todd received “a true answer to a prayer” when he managed to sell his Corvette to someone who knew a co-worker that very Monday morning.
The emotions about the car run deep for Todd, who revels in the fact that he’s sitting in the very seat where his dad sat nearly half a century earlier.
Sadly, Jack didn’t live to see the car again, but Todd was able to take his mom, Dores, for the first ride after the car was delivered on Feb. 1.
“I’ll never let it go,” Todd proclaims. “You could offer me a billion dollars and I’ll never let it go.”
And that, my friends, explains exactly why there is a National Corvette Museum in the first place.
Here is a video showing the arrival of the 1964 Corvette at Todd Baggett’s home in Connecticut:
A special thanks to Monte and Mike for putting us in touch with Todd.
While many, if not most, concept cars over the years were little more than a pretty face mocked up to generate interest at car shows, Chrysler tended to build concept cars that were fully capable of driving off show platforms and into customers’ garages – and many of them eventually did just that.
While many, if not most, concept cars over the years were little more than a pretty face mocked up to generate interest at car shows, Chrysler tended to build concept cars that were fully capable of driving off show platforms and into customers’ garages – and many of them eventually did just that.
