'Vettes stream into Tennessee, Kentucky for 50th anniversary

By Karin Miller ~ The Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tom Meadows isn't kidding when he says his two children, both in their 30s, are too young to inherit his all-original 1966 Corvette.

"It's in my will that if something happens to me before they come of age -- which I believe is at least 40 -- she goes to the National Corvette Museum until they're old enough to treat her right," said Meadows of Salisbury, Md., on Thursday as he stood beside the pristine convertible with only 8,800 miles on it.

The couple are among thousands of Corvette enthusiasts streaming into Nashville and Bowling Green, Ky., this weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the sleek sports car that first rolled off the Chevrolet assembly line on June 30, 1953, in Flint, Mich.

Although Corvettes now are built in Bowling Green -- a college town about 60 miles to the north where the Corvette museum is also located -- the city has no venue big enough to handle all the car lovers expected to attend the celebration.

Instead, they'll be at the Tennessee Titans' Coliseum in Nashville for parades, vintage and new car displays, seminars and concerts by The Temptations and ZZ Top.

Several thousand Corvette enthusiasts from across the country are meeting at the museum Friday morning to caravan down, and others will head back up to Bowling Green for birthday cake to celebrate the actual anniversary Monday.

Dave Brisco drove his 1956 "cascade green -- and don't you even think turquoise" 'Vette down from Cincinnati for display behind the Coliseum.

"It's a car that was made to be driven," he said, acknowledging with a grin that he has taken it to 120 mph. "There's no luxury to it. No power-steering or brakes. It's pretty much a muscle car."

The car would have sold for $3,100 new and he paid much more when he bought it six years ago, but he won't say how much or discuss selling it now.

"It's priceless," he said. "It's always been my dream car."

A new Corvette sells for around $50,000. The average buyer is a 49-year old white man earning more than $125,000 a year with five or more vehicles.

But the cars are being purchased by an increasing number of female and younger owners, and a club for "future Corvette owners" who are too young to drive now exists.

Rick Baldick, Chevrolet's marketing director who spent a year planning the celebration, calls the Corvette "America's perfect icon."

"Rock 'n' Roll and the Corvette started at the same time and people said neither would last. But they're both going strong," he said with a laugh as took a break from last-minute preparations. He said more than 13,000 tickets had been sold and he expects at least 3,000 more to be purchased during the weekend.

Roger and Marcia Metzger of Spring Hill, Tenn., picked up pre-ordered tickets for themselves and friends driving in from out-of-state Thursday afternoon, but they looked somewhat out of place in their Chevy Trailblazer.

"It's being restored," Metzger said wistfully of his '64 model. "This is hers."

He said he originally planned to buy a Corvette when he graduated from high school.

"But I came along and the money he had saved up went for an engagement ring," Marcia Metzger said. "It took him 20 years to get his Corvette."

Meadows said he had lusted for a Corvette since he was 10 and saw one of the first models drive by in 1953. He has owned as many as six and now has four, but he said he will never sell the '66, which is on display outside the Coliseum.

"It's great to be paying tribute to the 'Vette and the 50 years it's been in existence. It's the first true American-built sports car."

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On the Net:

Nashville celebration: www.corvette50th.com

National Corvette Museum: www.nationalcorvettecaravan.com