NATIONAL CORVETTE MUSEUM BASH Corvette owners rejoice in their cars, and in each other’s company, at Bowling Green TEXT BY: DAVID GREEN / PHOTOS COURTESY OF: NATIONAL CORVETTE MUSEUM
t’s chilly, overcast and occasionally raining on Thursday, April 26, in the rolling green hills of south central Kentucky. But nothing dampens the enthusiasm of the thousands of folks on hand at the National Corvette Museum for the annual Michelin NCM Bash. The Bash, a three-day extravaganza, is a celebration of everything about the Corvette. Corvette is many things but primarily the original — and, some maintain - the only American sports car. NCM, which opened in 1994, operates as a nonprofit and is supported by a network of members and numerous Corvette clubs. It is about a quarter-mile southeast of the GM Bowling Green Assembly Plant, which opened in 1981 and is where all Corvettes are built. Each year the Bash features the official rollout of the coming year’s edition of the iconic machine. This year, the 2019 ZR1 and Stingray models were on display. Two 40 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018
new exterior colors, Elkhart Lake Blue and Shadow Gray, were revealed. Since there was no 1983 model, that makes the 2019 Vette the 66th edition. But for all Corvette’s magical and enduring appeal, for all its performance capabilities, for all its gee-whiz aura, many Bash attendees insist that the car is only part of the magic and mystique of the car. “It’s the people,” says one Vette owner, Dave Heineman, a 70-year-old retired electrical contractor from south-central Illinois. “The Corvette brings us together. We make friends all over the country.” Teresa Hart, a lifetime member of the museum and a volunteer worker who moved to Bowling Green from California, echoes that sentiment. “We all say you buy the Corvette for the car, but you stay with it because of the people,” she says. “You get a family.”