BY BRIAN BRENNANIn the Interim
t’s literally days before
the big reveal of the 2020
Corvette. A handful of
invited guests will (or have
by the time you read this)
have driven up to the old El Toro Lighter
Than Air Base (helicopter station) gate
on Warner Ave. From there we will walk
through the enormous doors that mark
Hangar 2. Held away from prying eyes,
the evening event should be very exciting
even if there will be no driving of the
new mid-engine, but there will be lots
of looking.
In the interim, enough is enough. I
have seen, read and watched every video
on planet earth over the past few years
regarding the breakthrough mid-engine
Corvette. And, lest there be any doubt, this
new Corvette will be ground breaking in
many areas. The public will immediately
go crazy and for a short period—let’s call
it the “honeymoon”—will be infatuated,
as always, then life and reality will set in.
As soon as some of the cars get into the
hands of real people and, of course, us
magazine types all the good, bad and ugly
will be exposed and then the real Corvette
will emerge.
This has forced me to sit down and catch
my breath and realize I still have a week to
go before I get to get all giggly about the
new Corvette. It has caused me to think
back on other milestones in the history of
the Corvette.
Clearly, the day the Corvette was intro-
duced will always hold the place of honor
but the introduction of the Sting Ray
(spelled as two words, which is the proper
way Sting Ray should always be used!)
shook the automotive world to its founda-
tion. But there have been others.
I, personally, had the good fortune to be
present in late November 1982 at Riverside
Raceway when the 1983-turned-
Corvette was introduced. I was fortunate
to drive an ’83 that would become an ’before being released to the public.
But what about other milestones? The
250,000th Corvette was a 1969 convertible
in Riverside Gold with a black interior and
powered by a small-block and four-speed. It
was built on the 19th of November in 1969
in the St. Louis, Missouri, plant.
The 500,000th Corvette was a 1977 L
coupe in Classic White with red interior and
a four-speed. It was built on the 15th day of
March in 1977, also the St. Louis plant.
The 750,000th Corvette was a 1984
coupe, again white with red interior and
the 4+3 four-speed manual trans. It was
built on the 26th day of October in 1982 in
the then new, and current, Bowling Green,
Kentucky, plant.
For the record, there were 265,
convertibles and 734,054 coupes pro-
duced allowing Corvette to arrive at its
1,000,000th offspring. The 1-millionth
Corvette is arguably the most famous of
all the milestone Corvettes. It has lead an
interesting and a one-of-a-kind life. It was
the summer of the 40th anniversary of the
Corvette. Come July 2nd at the Bowling
Green plant, a 1992 white convertible
with black canvas top, red leather interior
and LT1 power became a truly significant
milestone car. (This was also the time that
Corvette Chief Engineer Dave McLellan
would wrap up his 33-year career; only the
second man in Corvette’s “lifetime” to haveMilestones and such
held the position.) The 1-millionth would
begin experiencing the glamorous life as
a permanent collector car being ushered
on tours and then spend the remainder of
its life at the National Corvette Museum
(nearby from the very assembly line it
rolled off). Then the unexpected happened,
but more on that later.
While the other milestone Corvettes
are privately owned, the closest any of
us would come to owning the 1-millionth
would be the 999,999th Corvette ... exactly
the same in every way. It was raffled off at
$5 a ticket or 5 for $20. It was in September
of 1993 the car was awarded to its win-
ner. You could buy the tickets by sending
a check to the NCM or by purchasing the
tickets directly from the traveling display
of the 1-millionth Corvette, which was
on display along with a ’53 Corvette.
Remember, this was the summer of the
Corvette’s 40th anniversary.
Remember when I said we would get
back to the unexpected? Well, the unex-
pected happened on Wednesday, February
12, 2014, when a sinkhole claimed a num-
ber of collectible Corvettes. It was March
3, 2014, when the 2009 Blue Devil ZR1 was
the first Corvette to be recovered from the
sinkhole calamity at the NCM. The Mallett
Corvette and 1.5-millionth Corvette were
the last cars pulled from the sinkhole on
April 3rd and 9th, respectively. Other than
those mentioned previously, the 45-by-
feet wide and 30-foot deep sinkhole took a
1993 ZR-1 Spyder, 1962 Corvette, 1984 PPG
Pace Car, 1992 1-millionth Corvette and a
40th Anniversary model. Yep, our 1-mil-
lionth Corvette was literally swallowed up
by Mother Nature!
There’s another story to be told about
the restoration process of our 1,000,000th
Corvette. We all should realize how special
our Corvettes are and among them there
are those that stand out. Here’s hoping
the 2,000,000th Corvette is everything it
should be and we hope it will be. VETTE4 VETTE 19.