Boy! 6:30am comes just as early here in Flint as it does at home in Atlanta. Just to make sure everyone got up on time (whether they were in the Motorama or not), Larry kicked off the siren in our Motorama Monte Carlo pace vehicle. I'm sure the people in the Holiday Inn and the people in the Marriott next door were delighted to hear the siren at 6:30:
The plan was to meet in the parking lot to load luggage into one of the support vehicles, then a drivers' meeting at 6:45a
Memo to Holiday Inn, Flint: If you have fifty unique and otherwise special Corvettes in your parking lot and a lot of detailing-happy owners cleaning their cars at 6am (or so) you might want to interrupt the sprinkler schedule for that morning so we don't do all the work and THEN HAVE THE #$%^@^ SPRINKLERS START UP FIFTEEN MINUTES BEFORE THE HISTORIC MOTORAMA LEAVES YOUR LOT FOREVER!!!!!
Oh, well. We rolled-out at 7am sharp..
..to the plant where Corvette was first built in 1953. This was our first "parade-format" event - but this one was a bit different because the order of the cars is reversed (2002, 2001 down to 1953 and then the 2003 Anniversary edition). The reason for this is that the cars were driven to the top of the original building at the Flint plant (now the Truck and Bus plant) and arranged back-to-front in ranks so that the '53 and '2003 were at the front after everyone else has backed in (if that makes sense). Here's the mid-year row (you know I'm partial to the mid-years; the earler cars are to the right out of this shot):
OK, OK, here's the front row:
And, as advertised, here are the 2003 and 1953 side-by-side:
Y'think this plant doesn't know who the "enemy" is? This is the first sign we saw on our rooftop:
I had time to photograph a few more Motorama couples:
Jim & Phyllis Wendorf ('77)
Jim & Linda Pruitt ('60)
Henry Younger ('02), the chap who drove every single one of the 300 1953 Corvettes off the line when they were completed, Al Hill ('53) and Kurt Meier ('54)
What followed was an emotional ceremony for sure. Corvette returning to its birthplace after fifty years -- and accompanied by every model year thereafter.
The current Flint GM plant manager, Mike Dulaney..
..spoke eloquently about what seeing these cars here meant to him and his 3,500 employees.
Then the UAW local president, Mark Hawkins..
..spoke (also eloquently) about the pride that his brothers and sisters in the UAW derive from their work at GM while Dave McClellan, Dave Hill and others looked on.
Rick Baldick, Corvette Brand Manager,..
..spoke briefly followed by Dave Hill, Corvette Chief Engineer..
..and Larry Hayes, representing the National Corvette Museum:
"Are we having fun yet?!?"
The whole brief set of speeches were well done and inspirational. We're so proud to be part of this event!
Here's a trivia question: Which of the 50th Motorama participants are likely to be available for the 100th?
Stumped? Well, here they are:
These young ladies, left to right, are Mary, daughter of Tom Ferrara ('80) and Kara, granddaughter of Bill Wolfram ('74) in Bill's 1974 Corvette. In addition to being the youngest participants in the Motorama, they're just eleven days apart in age (8 years old). They're both delightful "car kids".
Memo to the National Corvette Museum: When you're planning the 100th Corvette Motorama be sure to remember to invite these (then) 58-year old Corvette enthusiasts to participate!
After the (now requisite) photo-shoot, we all caravanned to the GM Tech Center in Warren, MI where they had prepared a parking lot for us (with spaces marked by model year) so the cars could be displayed for the Tech Center employees in a huge semi-circle.
We were there for two hours (hot? I mean to tell you..) talking about our cars to the several hundred GM employees who joined us. Hot dogs, chips and pop -- what's more American than that!
Gael remained cheery and whimsical with her Mickey Mitt even though the temp and humidity were both well into the 90s.
It's hard to surprise your average Corvette enthusiast. But this did it:
What? Never seen a C5 limo....? I'd seen pictures of this on the internet and I thought it was a photoshopped. Wrong! It exists!
At 12:30 we caravanned (loosely) to the Design Center where we once more were arrayed sequentially between the Design Center and the lake in front.
Beautiful spot (but, no surprise, pretty darned hot). Out in front of the Design Center were a handful of one-off design models including the original Mako Shark:
We were invited into the "dome" for snacks and cold drinks (very welcome!)...
..and then the obligatory photo-op, this time with a elevated platform and lots of waving.
Dave Gregorino ('67) organized a stadium-type wave that went down the line several times. Dying to see THOSE pictures.
Then it was off to the Holiday Inn Express in Warren to crash for a couple of hours before our evening event. We queued up in order at 5:45p and off we went to visit our hosts at Les Stanford Chevrolet in Dearborn, MI:
Our hosts prepared heavy hors d'ouveres and soft drinks for us. Great! And it was great to see the cars in yet another setting.
Our heartfelt thanks to Les Stanford Chevrolet for their hospitality!
And, here's Les Stanford Chevrolet's Pirate Racing Team rig that is going to accompany us all the way to Bowling Green. The rig travels with technicians who are prepared to offer first aid to any of our Corvettes that have mechanical difficulties. So far we've had an exhaust manifold leak, a failed brake caliper and a frozen ignition switch to add "fun" to the trip for some of us.
Footnote: Remember the nifty 12" x 18" gold plaques that Ed Duprey of Great Lakes Trophies and Engraving made for Motorama participants (who wanted one)? After the Saturday show at the Sloan Museum, a number of Motorama folks saw the plaques that about ten of us had and wanted one themselves. Ed obliged by working his shop on Sunday and today -- and delivered another fifteen+ plaques to the happy owners while at Les Stanford Chevrolet. Truly above-and-beyond support for the Motorama (the rest will be delivered in Bowling Green next weekend). Thanks again, Ed. Here is Bob Hardt ('01) and Ed:
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