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This is a trip I've been wanting to take since I had my white car. I really wanted to go down and see the museum, but only if I could do the assembly plant tour. It didn't used to be that hard, but thanks to a UAW strike, Covid, a tornado, another UAW strike, and all the secrecy around the C8 and its various spawn, GM has had the plant closed to tours.

They finally opened up a block, so I decided to make a short trip down. Unfortunately, there are no photos allowed in the plant, so I don't have anything to show from it. I can tell you it was amazing. It's not some sanitized corporate production like the Ford Rouge truck plant tour is. This is a fully operational factory, where you're effectively a barely welcome guest. You need to watch out for automated robots, and guys driving tugs full of parts at crazy speeds. It's absolutely fascinating to see how they orchestrate all those thousands of parts to come together at just the right times to birth a fully working car off the line every couple minutes. If you ever get a chance to see a modern car plant, do it.

I was at least able to get some pictures outside.



My car was born here, went to Nevada, then LA, then KC. It visited Detroit last year, and now it's back to the mothership for a brief visit.

My plant tour also included a pass to the museum. There was also a car show going on. I won't bore you guys with a ton of photos. All I'll say is the gross tackiness I associate with Corvettes was on full display.

The museum was cool. There was the usual historic stuff, and a really nice focus on racing.



This was parked up in the lot. ZR1X. The added aero on the back of this thing really helps break up that big square dump truck ass it has.



This was really cool. It's a fully 3D printed C8 frame. They used it for the initial setup of the assembly line process and early robot calibration. It's held together with sheet metal screws instead of welds.



There was also an older 3D printed C7 Z06 wind tunnel model. I was nerding out over this shit. It had a sticker on it dated May 2012. It wasn't shown to the public until the 2015 Detroit Auto Show.



I don't know how many of you guys know, but in 2014 a 30 foot deep sinkhole opened up under the big display dome at the museum. It ate 8 cars. They eventually restored 7 of them. This one had too much unique stuff on it, so they decided it was too far gone. But they kept it for their display.



There's a hatch in the floor where you can see down into what's left of the sinkhole. 30 feet is a long way.



Check out the sinkhole photos here even if you don't care much for the cars themselves. It's nuts. https://www.corvettemuseum.org/sinkhole/

i'm glad I didn't drive down just for the museum. I got through it in about an hour and a half. I probably should have spent a little more time on some of the historical motorsport displays. Oh well.

Nice

Since I had an afternoon to kill, and there's a 3.2 mile road course right across the street, I did exactly what I should do. I went and put in a few laps.





I've made no secret of the fact I'm falling out of love with my car. There's nowhere good to drive it at home, and I'm really wondering if I should keep it. I think this moved the needle in a very positive way.

When I got there, I was chatting with one of the instructors while they decided how to set up the group ahead of me. One of them, a real nice guy named Gary, told me he had a strong suspicion that I wanted to go a little faster then the octogenarian in the convertible C8, and asked if I wouldn't mind waiting. They weren't very busy, so there was a good chance we could go out by ourselves.

While I was waiting, I watched from the roof of the main building. Neither group seemed to be going very fast at all. Besides the old guy in his own car, it was a 2 or 3 younger people driving C8s provided by the track.

I needn't have worried. Gary was good to me. He was leading in a white C8 Stingray. He said I kept up well.



There were places where I obviously could have done better. But this was my first time driving the car truly aggressively, and I also have to drive it 8 hours home. It impressed the hell out of me though. Grip for days, tons of confidence in the carbon ceramics, and it barely even got to 210* even after 15 minutes with the AC on full blast and 94* ambient temps. Quite a few journalists say the C7 GS was the sweet spot for Corvettes prior to C8. It had more grip and braking than the Stingray, it didn't overheat like the Z06, and it didn't try to kill you like the ZR1.





I shouldn't have been surprised though. This car has seen some shit I'll tell that story soon.

Wow that's awesome. Also at that last picture

Jealous

I’ve been to 2 assembly plants, the GM plant in KC, and the Ford plant in Flat Rock. It’s truly insane how they orchestrate everything to build vehicles like they do. It’s even crazier at those plants where they are building multiple models on the same line. How they keep it all straight blows my mind.

The other thing you mention that I don’t think people really grasp about the auto industry, is just how far they are planning ahead, as you saw with that 3D printed model from 2012. It’s always about 3-4 years ahead. Like 2028 model year stuff is nearing final stages of development already. I’ve quoted parts recently for platforms that aren’t supposed to start production until 2029!

I've been to a few plants over the years. They are definitely awesome.

Freaking amazing!!!


Coop

I would have spent all day in there if they would let me.

I wish we could have seen the frame assembly section. I'm guessing there's too much risk of arc flashes or something.

in for the story on that last pic

I remember following the sinkhole updates live. That was nuts. Also - I friggin love your car from the outside.

That sink hole was crazy.


Coop

alienviking wrote: ↑Mon Aug 18, 2025 7:55 pm I remember following the sinkhole updates live. That was nuts. Also - I friggin love your car from the outside.

It's even better in person!