By Don Sergent
Bowling Green Daily News
For a septuagenarian, America’s sports car is looking good.
The Corvette and many of its devoted fans partied last week like it was 1953, the year General Motors introduced the iconic sports car that has been manufactured in Bowling Green since 1981.
Nearly 300 people crowded into the Skydome of the National Corvette Museum, which used the birthday bash to kick off its new “An American Love Affair” exhibit that celebrates the car’s seven decades.
Photo by Grace Ramey/Bowling Green Daily News
Held the evening before the 70th anniversary of the day the first Corvette rolled off the assembly line in Flint, Mich., the celebration showcased a collection of some five dozen vintage Corvettes that trace the evolution of the sports car from that 1953 model to the brand-new hybrid E-Ray that goes into production later this year.
The theme – accentuated in the eight-minute video displayed on the new $800,000 “Skywall” wrap-around video screen in the museum’s Skydome – throughout the exhibit is on how the Corvette has tied in with popular culture through those seven decades.
“When we started talking about what we could do to celebrate the 70th anniversary of this amazing car, we wanted to not just tell the history but pull something together that would resonate with everyone,” said Sharon Brawner, the museum’s president and CEO. “We realized that this car has permeated popular culture in movies, TV shows, songs and toys for years.
“It’s a great opportunity for everyone to connect with the Corvette.”
The anniversary celebration was also an opportunity for the museum’s leaders to connect with Corvette lovers across the country as the new exhibit was taking shape.
Bob Bubnis, the museum’s curator and exhibits manager, explained that he reached out to members of the National Corvette Restorers Society to pull together a collection that includes three of the 300 1953 models along with cars from each of the seven decades that illustrate the evolution of the Corvette.
Included are the one-and-only 1983 Corvette, the trend-setting 1963 split-window model and examples of the new eighth generation mid-engine car.
“It was important to tell the best story we could,” Bubnis said. “We wanted to take our guests on a trip through time, so we enlisted the help of the National Corvette Restorers Society.
“They like to restore these cars to look like they did the day they were built.”
That was apparent in the 1953 Corvette on display at the entrance to the exhibit. On loan from Bill and Amy Mulder of St. Louis, the white convertible with red interior has won the prestigious Duntov Award that goes to Corvettes restored to “as manufactured” quality.
“The museum got in touch with me and asked me to bring it,” explained Bill Mulder, who owns four other Corvettes from the 1950s and 1960s and attended Thursday’s celebration. “This is a phenomenal exhibit.
“We had only been here to drop the car off, but we’ll definitely be back.”
Amy Mulder said she and her husband were happy to loan the car for the 70th anniversary exhibit.
“She deserves to be shared and not just stored in a garage,” she said. “She gets to be appreciated by others.”
Kai Spande, recently retired as plant manager at the General Motors Corvette Assembly Plant and now chairman of the museum’s board of directors, said he hopes the Mulders’ car and others are appreciated at a museum that has undergone a number of additions and renovations since Brawner took over as CEO in 2021.
“With the recent renovations to the Skydome, we’re trying to bring new technology to the museum and keep younger generations interested in coming here,” Spande said. “Each gala we have opening new exhibits has great attendance.
“I give Sharon a lot of the credit for bringing new ideas and a new perspective to the museum. One of our goals is for this to be a cherished community asset.”
Toward that goal, Brawner said the museum offered 70-cent admission (normally $18) for Warren County residents for the kickoff of the “Love Affair” exhibit.
Brawner said the exhibit celebrating the Corvette’s 70th anniversary will continue for at least a year.
