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Late last week, my bride Gael told me that she was kidnapping me on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (Jan 10-12) and that the destination would be withheld. She's done this sort of thing before so I always go along. I've never been disappointed!
We hopped into the black C5 and hit the road on Tuesday afternoon at 2pm and my instructions were to take I-75 N from Atlanta. We have excellent friends whose home is near Knoxville. That was my best destination guess.
In Chattanooga I was directed to take I-24 toward Nashville -- that course correction eliminated visiting our friends. Hmmm...
So I guessed she was taking me to concert of some kind in Nashville; she'd done that before.
But in Nashville she directed me to take I-65N. Now I have it! We're going to Bowling Green!
Yes, she said, our friends Buzz and Jackie Nielsen were taking NCM delivery of their Yellow Z06 and we were going along to help celebrate. Kewl!
We checked into the University Plaza Holiday Inn in Bowling Green and turned in. Before nodding off I checked and the Nielsen's weren't registered yet; that's odd.. In the morning we got a call telling us to be at the plant at 1:30pm for the plant tour that's part of Museum Delivery. No Buzz and Jackie?!?
At the Corvette Plant Tour entrance, there was an envelope stuck on the door with my name on it. Inside was a letter from Gael (who was standing right there).
Seems she'd conspired with Becky @ Bruce Glueck Chevrolet in Jasper FL and we were there for a VIP tour, all right -- but for a walk-along with my C6! It's Gael's 40th wedding anniversary gift to me; to think I married her when she was only three years old.....can I pick 'em or what?
We were met by Stuart Cook, a Plant Tour intern. He said the regular VIP tour guy, Kevin Tarrence was finishing up with another client and he'd be taking us to our car. Our car! OUR C6!
Stuart walked us to where the car was on the line; it was just coming down from having the rear clip, rear fenders and interior installed. Neatly situated between a Veocity Red Coupe and a Machine Silver convertible was our C6: Machine Silver with red interior, A6 automatic with paddle shifter! Somehow Gael came up with the exact combination and options I would have ordered myself; maybe I talk C6s in my sleep?
We were able to walk along with the car through the plant until it closed on Wednesday at 4pm. The car was just entering an area where we couldn't go.
This morning (Thursday) we returned at 6:15AM (ugh!) to be sure to catch the car exactly where we left it. There it was and we walked it the rest of the way. Today Kevin was with us and he's a veritable font of Corvette lore. A very unrushed walk along with the car. In C5 days, "First Start" was when the car is started for the first time and driven off the line; if you were lucky, you could be the one to start it -- and you received a nifty birth certificate.
When they reconfigured the line for the C6, the former "First Start" position is now really "second start" as they crank the car up a bit earlier on the line. No customer gets to be the person that really starts the car for the first time. But, thanks to Kevin, I got to be that guy, too! Get in, sit down, push the button. Roar!
And I got to be the "official" First Start dude too, and as an extra treat, they let me drive it off the line!!! So I was the first person to ever start the car and the first to drive it under its own power. Awesome!!!!! (can y'tell I'm excited?)
Tour participants aren't allowed cameras in the plant, but Kevin used the plant's own camera to take a few of us and our new ride:
                  
The cars go into "quality hold" for a couple of weeks to be sure they don't ship a car with a later-discovered defect. It was hard to walk away from that beauty, I can tell you.
When we were done, we were able to visit for a time with Wil Cooksey, the Corvette Plant Manager (the best job in General Motors)! Wil and his wife Liz and their kids were neighbors of ours (five houses down the street) in the 80s. Great to see him especially under these circumstances!
But wait; there's more!
The rest of the surprise is that Gael opted for NCM Museum Delivery (RPO #R8C). What this means is that instead of the car being shipped to the dealer for delivery, it's shipped "across the street" to the National Corvette Museum for delivery.
We'll be returning to Bowling Green on February 3rd to actually get the car and drive it home. The NCM makes quite a fuss about all this and it is sure to be memorable; though this is our ninth Corvette, we've never before had Museum Delivery. This promises to be great fun; even more so since a bunch of our friends are coming along for the excitement!
You'll be able to watch the delivery on this NCM webcam around mid-day on Feb 3rd. Just look for the Machine Silver Coupe with red interior and an out-of-shape bearded guy with the widest grin you've ever seen...
Wanna see the next chapter? Click HERE...
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