'Vette history

Published 6:35 pm Monday, November 24, 2008

The grounds of the National Corvette Museum this weekend will be filled with Corvettes gathered from across the country to celebrate the founding of the museum.

But cars won't be all that people can enjoy at the 12th anniversary Corvette Celebration.

The National Corvette Museum is open for tours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Food vendors will be at the site during the event. Live music will be provided by the Jackie Fox band on the museum grounds from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

A 2007 red Corvette will also be given away during the event.

&#8220We'll be drawing for that at (noon) on Sunday and they don't have to be present to win,” said Bobbie Jo Lee, marketing and communications manager for the National Corvette Museum.

Tickets for the raffle are $10 each and can be bought at the event or by calling the museum at (800) 538-3883.

&#8220It's a great weekend,” Lee said. &#8220We hope the folks around here will … come out to the event and help us celebrate.”

Admission to the event, which includes admission to the museum, is $8 for adults, $4,50 for children 6 to 16, $20 for a family and free for children 5 and under.

Wendell Strode, executive director of the museum, thinks a crowd will enjoy the event.

&#8220They'll certainly get to see some beautiful Corvettes,” he said. And &#8220they will get to meet celebrities in the Corvette world - the former chief engineer David Hill … David McClellan (who was engineer before him) and the current chief engineer, who has also moved up to chief engineer of all GM performance cars, Tom Wallace.”

The National Corvette Museum was founded on Labor Day weekend, 1994.

It now has 22,000 members &#8220and a lot don't even own Corvettes,” Strode said, &#8220they just want to support the museum.”

Last year, people from all 50 states and the District of Columbia came to tour the National Corvette Museum.

Fifty countries were represented.

From January through June of this year, people from 36 countries came to visit.

About 140,000 people visit the museum every year.

&#8220A lot of people don't grasp the appeal that this car has worldwide and the visitors it brings to Bowling Green,” Strode said.

Why do they come from so far to see 'Vettes?

&#8220One of the kind of unique things with the Corvette is that ever since it was designed and shown in New York in 1952, and beginning with production in '53, the styling of the Corvette has always been distinctive, appealing,” Strode said. &#8220It's always had the sporty look. You look at a Corvette and automatically know it's a Corvette. And a lot of folks' appeal with the Corvette is the sporty part, the performance part.”

For many Corvette owners, there's a lifestyle associated with their car, Strode said.

Many make regular treks to the Corvette plant here, to the museum and to Corvette shows, and they make friends in the Corvette world.

&#8220So, it's the people side that ultimately is the main difference with regard to the whole lifestyle,” Strode said. &#8220That's what we try to see ourselves here. We're in the people business and it just happens to be in the Corvette people business.”

- For more information about the National Corvette Museum, check out http://www.corvettemuseum.com.