Bowling Green VIP Tour Trip - 04/26
The trip log continues:
On Wednesday the group was up for breakfast at the motel and then head over to the museum for their 8:30 sign in then and van ride over to the plant. With the addition of the three that drove down in the morning, Barry Rector, John Philips, and Gary Smith, there was 15 for the tour. When there is a VIP tour they split the group up in to smaller groups so we had three guides for the morning. Of course there are no cameras or phones allowed at the plant, therefore no pictures.. but the fifteen attendees can attest that "It Did Happen". All of them fully agreed that the $50 for the VIP tour of plant and then the museum tour was more than worth it. The plant tour was much more in depth than the public one, where each group could stop and get information from their guide and fully understand how a Corvette is constructed. The guide with Charlie's group was Stacey, who had also done Charlie's Museum delivery last fall, and he is a fountain of information about both the plant and museum. He also told the group about the new paint shop which will allow for three different colors to be painted instead of the single color now done before a change over. Currently a batch of either 10 or 20 orders of the same color are done in sequence before switching to another color. The amount of planning and merging of parts for each specific vehicle is amazing, with very few mistakes being made. Part of the reason for the extended shut down this summer is due to the location of the new paint shop and rearranging of how the Corvettes will be assembled. This will allow for issues that have been found to be corrected for even better initial quality to be done. For that matter plans for a return trip after the plant reconfiguration are already being made for next year to see how things will be done then.
Once back to the museum most had a quick lunch before getting a really good tour of the museum. Displays were fully described with a lot of back ground behind each one, again fully worth the $50 fee. One of the new exhibits is of C4 Grand Sports which included Hoosier Corvette Club member Mike Bell's replica. If you ever want your Corvette really detailed get it somehow in a display at the NCM, as you would never know Mike does autocross and drives the GS regularly on the street. As the tour continued of course there was discussion of the sinkhole and the fact that attendance has increased by 100 thousand for the year. At the end of the tour it ended in the museum store where many purchased items for themselves and their wives. At that point the group split up for the return to Indy as some were staying overnight, some took I-65 home while Bill & Jack, Jerry & Ray, and Bud & Eileen headed back on the Tuesday route. While headed north the call came out for a food stop as Bud & Eileen had missed taking a lunch break so a stop at a DQ was in order. From there another quick stop and we were back in Indy just after dark and behind the first storms of Wednesday evening. A great trip with wonderful weather and a fun group of Corvette Indy members. Be sure to sign up for next year's trip once it is announced.
Day 1 Bowling Green VIP Trip
On Wednesday the group was up for breakfast at the motel and then head over to the museum for their 8:30 sign in then and van ride over to the plant. With the addition of the three that drove down in the morning, Barry Rector, John Philips, and Gary Smith, there was 15 for the tour. When there is a VIP tour they split the group up in to smaller groups so we had three guides for the morning. Of course there are no cameras or phones allowed at the plant, therefore no pictures.. but the fifteen attendees can attest that "It Did Happen". All of them fully agreed that the $50 for the VIP tour of plant and then the museum tour was more than worth it. The plant tour was much more in depth than the public one, where each group could stop and get information from their guide and fully understand how a Corvette is constructed. The guide with Charlie's group was Stacey, who had also done Charlie's Museum delivery last fall, and he is a fountain of information about both the plant and museum. He also told the group about the new paint shop which will allow for three different colors to be painted instead of the single color now done before a change over. Currently a batch of either 10 or 20 orders of the same color are done in sequence before switching to another color. The amount of planning and merging of parts for each specific vehicle is amazing, with very few mistakes being made. Part of the reason for the extended shut down this summer is due to the location of the new paint shop and rearranging of how the Corvettes will be assembled. This will allow for issues that have been found to be corrected for even better initial quality to be done. For that matter plans for a return trip after the plant reconfiguration are already being made for next year to see how things will be done then.
Once back to the museum most had a quick lunch before getting a really good tour of the museum. Displays were fully described with a lot of back ground behind each one, again fully worth the $50 fee. One of the new exhibits is of C4 Grand Sports which included Hoosier Corvette Club member Mike Bell's replica. If you ever want your Corvette really detailed get it somehow in a display at the NCM, as you would never know Mike does autocross and drives the GS regularly on the street. As the tour continued of course there was discussion of the sinkhole and the fact that attendance has increased by 100 thousand for the year. At the end of the tour it ended in the museum store where many purchased items for themselves and their wives. At that point the group split up for the return to Indy as some were staying overnight, some took I-65 home while Bill & Jack, Jerry & Ray, and Bud & Eileen headed back on the Tuesday route. While headed north the call came out for a food stop as Bud & Eileen had missed taking a lunch break so a stop at a DQ was in order. From there another quick stop and we were back in Indy just after dark and behind the first storms of Wednesday evening. A great trip with wonderful weather and a fun group of Corvette Indy members. Be sure to sign up for next year's trip once it is announced.
Day 1 Bowling Green VIP Trip
