H
ere is some good news for Corvette fans.
If you live in the South or travel there
to avoid harsh winters, Carlisle Events
added the Winter AutoFest to their
schedule. Many Corvette activities are
embedded into this show’s schedule. It
takes place at the Sun ’n Fun Expo Campus in Lakeland,
Florida. It is a perfect place to park your Corvette and enjoy
the many activities the show has to offer. This is the same
company that presents the highly successful Corvettes
at Carlisle show in Pennsylvania. The friendly and
well-trained staff works hard to make your visit pleasant
and enjoyable. Here is a little background about this unique
company and how they expanded to Florida.
It began when Chip Miller and Bill Miller became friends
in the early ’70s. The thing about their friendship is they
shared the same last name, but were not related. Their busi-
ness relationship grew over the years because they shared
a passion for classic cars. They held their first automotive
event at the Carlisle Fairgrounds (Pennsylvania) in 1974,
and it was a rousing success. They began adding shows to
their schedule and experienced rapid growth.This 1976 Corvette is shown entering the Lake-
land Winter AutoFest entrance as it passes by
a vintage World War II C-47 cargo plane. The
plane serves as a gate guardian for the Sun ’n
Fun Expo Campus at the Lakeland airport.GM stylist and NCM Hall of Fame inductee Randy Wittine
designed the paint scheme on this 1998 Indianapolis Pace Car.
Fred Richards was awarded an NCRS Performance Verification
award for his pace car.Only 199 Corvettes were ordered in 1963 with the Z06 per-
formance option. This Sebring Silver example owned by
Ted Freund is one of them and was awarded Top Flight
certification.VETTEWEB.COM 37