Museum Delivery Day
Z06 Picked Up at the National Corvette Museum
The moment Ray had been planning for months: picking up his brand-new 2003 Z06 at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
April 23, 2003. 7:45 AM CST. Ray arrived at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky to take delivery of his brand-new 2003 Corvette Z06.
The Museum Delivery program allows Corvette buyers to pick up their new car directly from the museum — a special experience that includes a tour of the Corvette Assembly Plant and the museum itself. Gary Cockriel, Guest Services Manager at the museum, had confirmed the delivery date weeks earlier.
The car: a 2003 Corvette Z06 in Electron Blue. The Z06 was the performance variant of the C5 Corvette — 405 horsepower from a 5.7-liter LS6 V8, 0-60 in under 4 seconds, a top speed of 171 mph. One of the finest sports cars in the world, at any price.
The plan: drive it to all 50 states in a single continuous road trip, arriving back at this same museum on June 26 as part of the 1,000-Corvette convoy marking the Corvette's 50th anniversary.
The Corvette Assembly Plant tour showed Ray exactly where his car had been built — the same plant that had been producing Corvettes since 1981. Then the museum: 50 years of Corvette history, from the first 1953 model to the 2003 50th Anniversary Edition.
Two days later, the road trip would begin.
Photos from the Day
The Day's Route
National Corvette Museum — Delivery
The Museum Delivery program — Ray took delivery of his 2003 Z06 at 7:45 AM CST. The car had been built on April 14 and shipped to Bowling Green for the museum delivery.
Corvette Assembly Plant Tour
A tour of the Corvette Assembly Plant in Bowling Green — the only Corvette assembly plant in the world, producing every Corvette since 1981. Ray saw exactly where his car had been built.
National Corvette Museum Tour
A tour of the National Corvette Museum — 50 years of Corvette history, from the first 1953 model to the 2003 50th Anniversary Edition. The museum that would be both the starting and ending point of the ALL50 road trip.
The 2003 Corvette Z06
The 2003 Z06 was the pinnacle of the C5 Corvette generation — 405 horsepower, 400 lb-ft of torque, a curb weight of just 3,118 pounds. It was the fastest production Corvette ever built at the time, capable of lapping the Nürburgring in under 8 minutes.
Ray had ordered the car from Bob Stall Chevrolet in La Mesa, California in March 2003, specifically for the ALL50 road trip. The museum delivery in Bowling Green was the culmination of months of planning.