This morning, on my friend Tim's suggestion, I travelled around 70 miles north of Nashville to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I have to say that the idea was truly inspired and I am very greatful that serial Corvette-owning Tim mentioned how close it was to Nashville.
Beat-up Camrys get priority parking. Yesss!
Inside the museum is a great collection of cars each with a brilliant explanation of each car's history and what's under the 'hood'.
Many of the cars are on loan from their owners or donated by Corvette lovers. Exhibits change regularly.
The museum is a non-profit making venture, run and supported by enthusiasts. I don't think there can be a better way to run something like this. It was $10 to get in, which I think was worth it.
Most Corvettes are V8 - but someone sneaked a V12 into this one.
Sad to see so many with the bonnets up - they can't be very reliable!
The styling of many American cars really doesn't float my boat but many Corvettes from the 70s and 80s are so trashily outrageous that they are brilliant.
Most of my car friends' criticism levelled at Corvettes is how they are slow, poor handling and badly engineered. However here's the chassis of a relatively recent one, which is pretty well thought out. The engine is made of Aluminium and is a long way back to keep the weight between the axles rather than making it nose heavy, the gearbox is under the boot to help even out the weight distribution. Fuel tanks are 'saddled' over the transmission tunnel to keep them low and , the occupants sit between the main load bearing components of the chassis rather than on top of them and the list goes on. It's not like what I might call a sports car (I own a Mazda MX-5), but it is something uniquely American.
Corvettes feature double wishbones all round, not like the live-axle and cart springs that people expect. True enough it does use leaf springs, but they are transverse, which is good enough for the fastest vehicle on the planet - Mercedes Sprinter.
The museum is near the new plant in Bowling Green that GM built to make the Corvette a few years ago. Previously they were made in a shed in Flint, Michigan which was recently knocked down. You can buy a brick from the shed for $25. Proceeds go to making the museum better.
Tim, tell them to just put the cheque in the post... (c:
No comments:
Post a Comment