retired GM Global Vice President
of Design, was the guest speaker. Ed
shared how his passion for Corvettes
began at a young age and how he
involved the Global Design team in
generating ideas for the seventh-gener-
ation Corvette. Kirk Bennion (Corvette
Exterior Design Manager) and his team’s
C7 drawings in Detroit were selected for
the final C7 design.
The next morning, the NCRS met
at the Bakers of Milford restaurant.
After breakfast the Corvettes were lined
up in the parking lot for the 3.6-mile
drive to the Milford Proving Grounds.
Fortunately, a police escort was arranged
and almost 50 Corvettes rumbled
down a busy two-lane highway to the
entrance. All of the cars were directed
to park in the visitor lot in front of
Building 104. We met in the lobby for a
security briefing from our security host,
James Krumback. Two designated photo
areas were arranged and the rest of the
property was off limit for photos. We
were guided by two black SUVs, one in
front and one in back as we streamed
out of the parking lot for our tour. It
took about three hours and we received
a detailed booklet to show us the key
points of this expansive facility. We had
two photo opportunities, one on the
banked ride and handling 3.8-mile oval
and the second on the 4.5-mile oval
track. This is the same track that Jay
Leno drove the ZR1 prototype on and
exceeded 200 mph. After our tour we
exited and drove back to Bakers to end
the event.
The NCRS Motor City Regional was
well organized and provided Corvette
enthusiasts with an opportunity to be
with other owners. They were able to
get their car judged, visit a great car col-
lection, visit the GM Heritage Center
and drive around the mysterious and
magical Milford Proving Grounds. For a
Corvette junkie, it doesn’t get much bet-
ter than that. We strongly advise attend-
ing next year’s event. VETTE
Hal Ehretsman received a Top Flight
award for his pristine ’77 L48 coupe.
It is a Survivor with 7,900 original
miles. Hal is working with the GM
Heritage Center to determine if this
is the 500,000th Corvette built.The 1961 Mako Shark was a show car
designed when Bill Mitchell was Vice
President of GM Styling. A ’61 Corvette
was used to build this car and it has many
styling features that were introduced on
the 1963 Sting Ray production car.This experiential mid-engine Corvette
was originally fitted with a four-rotor
Wankel engine. When the engine fell out
of favor with GM, a small-block V-8 was
installed. It was renamed the 1973 Chev-
rolet Aerovette. Of course, it never went
into production, but is still stunning.Kirk Bennion (left), Corvette Exte-
rior Design Manager, and David Hill,
retired Corvette Chief Engineer,
stand in front of the Stingray racer.
They were on hand to answer ques-
tions from the NCRS visitors.This 2009 Corvette Stingray Concept
design was used as a basis for the Side-
swipe character in the Transformer
movie Revenge of the Fallen. Many of
the C7’s body lines can be seen in this
Corvette concept.Kirk Bennion kept
the attention of the
NCRS visitors with
his detailed presenta-
tion on GM design phi-
losophies. Kirk also
answered many ques-
tions from the audience
after he finished with
his remarks.22 VETTE 19.0 4
[LIFESTYLE]