BOWLING GREEN, KY, January 10, 2023 – The National Corvette Museum is pleased to announce its entire 2023 exhibit and event line-up. 2023 features the openings of two full-scale exhibits – Custom CARisma: The Legendary Creations of Carl Casper and Corvette’s 70th Anniversary – along with several Corvette events and celebrations.
March 10 – Custom CARisma: The Legendary Creations of Carl Casper
Carl Casper is a car designer and engineer, a racer, a movie car builder, an antique carriage collector and restorer, author, artist, sculptor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. As a car show producer, his record is peerless. For 55 years, from 1963 to 2017, Carl Casper produced, co-produced, or teamed up to produce over 1,000 car shows all over the country. Carl’s spectacular career and some of his most famous cars will be on display in the Custom CARisma: The Legendary Creations of Carl Casper exhibit at the National Corvette Museum beginning on March 10, 2023. Cars on exhibit will include The Batman Returns BatmobileTM*, Turbo Shark Corvette, Popcorn Wagon, Young American Dragster, 51 Merc “Knight Cruiser”, Paddy Wagon, 32 Renegade Deuce and the Cosmic Invader.
According to Carl Casper, “It is a tremendous honor to be able to exhibit a variety of my custom car creations at the National Corvette Museum. Hopefully, this exhibit will encourage, educate, and inspire all attendees, especially today’s youth. May that spark enthusiastically motivate them to create new and innovative positive ideas, discoveries and inventions that will meet and far exceed all of our many future challenges. Throughout my life I have admired, owned and enjoyed many of the C1 – C8 Corvettes. I have always revered all of the remarkable engineers, designers, stylists and entire team of America’s greatest sports car. Being a small part of the incredible National Corvette Museum is an exceptional privilege I will always treasure.”
April 27 – 29 – 26th Annual Michelin NCM Bash
Every year, the National Corvette Museum starts off its event season with the Michelin NCM Bash, an event where Corvette fans get to have an in-depth experience learning about the latest and greatest with the Corvette. Returning activities include a seminar and classroom sessions by GM certified Corvette Technician Paul Koerner with additional seminars presented by Mobil 1 and GM. Guests will enjoy guided road tours, a newly expanded car show, auctions, and more.
April 28 – The McMichael Family Education Gallery Opening
The National Corvette Museum will be opening its fully reimagined, 2,500-square-foot dedicated education gallery on April 28. This new space will allow the NCM to provide a state-of-the-art educational experience geared directly to the next generation of Corvette enthusiasts, engineers, designers, and more.
“This state-of-the-art education gallery will serve as a space to engage families, students, and kids of all ages with standards-based STREAM education, group tours, school field trips, and curriculum-based learning opportunities,” said Brian Baker, Director of Collections & Education for the NCM.
One special feature of the new education gallery is a space called Studio X. When Bill Mitchell became the second head of GM Styling in 1959, he needed a way to step out of the shadow of the legendary Harley Earl. Mitchell found a small room in the basement of the GM Technical Center – a simple, 15’ x 42’ cinderblock room with keys for only one sculptor, a designer, one studio engineer, and Mitchell. This small room – which generated the XP-87 Stingray Racer Special – began a series of private studios known as “Studio X” that continues to this day. The Mako Shark, the Manta Ray, and dozens more of the greatest Corvettes were born in these studios. The spirit of this legendary studio will be captured in a small garage within the new gallery. It will be used to inspire students of all ages, displaying design and engineering prototypes and serving as a small projection theater to share stories of innovation.
May 1 – 31 – Military Appreciation Month including the Vets ‘n Vettes Event (May 11th – 13th)
The National Corvette Museum has a long history of celebrating our military veterans, and the month of May is National Military Appreciation Month in the United States. All active and retired duty military will receive free admission to the museum with military ID. Vets ‘n Vettes, presented by Mobil 1, will take place May 11th – 13th. Since 2008, the NCM has been hosting this event, offering veterans, servicemen and women, and those who support them, a comfortable place to meet and share stories and experiences while enjoying road tours and other Corvette-related activities.
June 30 – Corvette’s 70thAnniversary Exhibit Opening/National Corvette Day
To celebrate Corvette’s 70th Anniversary, the National Corvette Museum is putting together an amazing collection of Corvettes. Visitors will be able to see beautiful examples of each of Corvette’s eight generations held to the highest standards of originality. In this exhibit, visitors will be able to walk through time to see these exceptional cars the way they were when they were new and ready for adventure.
August 31 – September 2 – The National Corvette Museum’s 29th Anniversary Celebration
Every year, the National Corvette Museum celebrates the anniversary of its grand opening in 1994 with a participant-focused event. This year, the NCM is celebrating its 29th Anniversary with a look back at the museum’s history and a look forward toward the future. Registered participants can enjoy 3 days of activities in and around the museum including access to interesting and unique road tours, special video presentations, Hall of Fame round table, and more.
September 2 – Corvette Hall of Fame Silver Anniversary Induction Ceremony
On September 2nd, the National Corvette Museum will celebrate the silver anniversary of the Corvette Hall of Fame with the official, formal induction of the members-elect. The Corvette Hall of Fame was established by the NCM in 1998 to confer official recognition upon the most influential individuals in the history of the Corvette and honor their achievements. Each year, a leader is inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame from one of three categories: GM-Chevrolet, Racing and Enthusiast.
According to Sharon Brawner, President and CEO of the National Corvette Museum, “Our team has been hard at work to deliver an incredible year of exhibits, events, and programs for our museum guests and members. From the incredible custom creations of Carl Casper to the grand opening of our highly anticipated education gallery to the celebration of the Corvette’s 70th Anniversary, we know that 2023 will be a year to remember at the National Corvette Museum with something for everyone.” To schedule a visit to the National Corvette Museum, visit www.corvettemuseum.org.
*BATMAN, the BATMOBILE and all related elements are copyrights and trademarks of DC COMICS along with the copyright symbol & DC COMICS.
About The National Corvette Museum: Since 1953, the Corvette has been America’s Sports Car. The National Corvette Museum is a 501 (c) 3, not-for-profit foundation, serving as an educational and research institution with the mission of celebrating the Corvette’s invention and preserving the legendary automobile’s past, present, and future. For more information visit corvettemuseum.org or call 270-781-7973.
