Whether it's a Z06, Grand Sport, and other models, Corvette is an awesome car. I've only been in one once or twice, but it's jarring and dynamic. It sure is when it's finished, but what about when it's a few nuts and volts, still to be welded into medal and made into a space frame, the skeleton of the car? When it does get the skin and doors and roof, but no engine and interior? When it does have the interior with the seats and instrument panels, but no engine? When it does have the engine, but no hasn't gone through the necessary steps? When it has gone through it, but it hasn't gotten shipped yet to dealerships? When it has gone to dealerships, but hasn't gotten a tag yet? When it has gotten a tag, but hasn't been bought yet? How is it in all of those steps? Unfinished. Until some consumer buys it, it is unfinished. And, in that part of the building car process, the assembly part, we saw many, and I mean many, corvettes made.
We drove a few miles and I read the beginning parts of The Innocents Abroad. It was a book Mark Twain wrote as he was traveling around Europe and the middle east on a boat, The Quaker City. Some parts were written to a newspaper Twain had a deal with, and some in book form. I haven't even read the first chapter yet but I have read the introduction, note on the text, and preface. Our car came into a huge complex, with big flat large buildings with blue trim along the metal sides of them. We came into a large parking lot, and saw signs saying if you weren't driving a GM car you had to go to another place, very far away. Annoyed, we parked in a messed up poorly maintained part right by the road. All other parts were well maintained. It was really annoying. I mean, just because we didn't have GM cars.
It was also pouring. Earlier we had seen a sign saying no video cameras, cameras, or cell phones, (or other electronic devices) purses or bags. We literally had nothing but our clothes. Dad and I had two Chevrolet hats on. They were white with the chev sign on it. We walked under a walkway and came into an area where their were doors and a sign: Corvette Assembly Plant. We walked in to the plant. We came into a little lobby, stuffed up really, with many sophisticated looking people with blazers, dresses, and such like that. We walked in farther, seeing a tour room with restrooms and awards and a gift shop, and we saw a sign telling us to get tickets in a guys office. A 50 or so year old was seated at a desk, and kiosk saying tickets on it. We got tickets, and went into the tour room, seeing a video going through the whole process of making the corvette. We also saw a safety video, with many rules:
1. Only close toed shoes
2. No children 7 or under
3. Stay on the green walkway; watch for cars and such coming by
4. No video tapes or cameras or cell phone cameras or electronic devices, for confidentiality reasons
5. No purses or bags
We had close toed shoes, Rebecca's 9 I'm 12 , we'll be sure to stay on green, we have none of the things on #4, and we have no purses or bags. A young guy who had blonde hair, short and clean, with a blue shirt and khaki pants, who was pretty handsome told us his name was Kurt (Kurt Woods) and he went over some of the rules, saying not to touch anything unless told to. He took us out into the lobby and showed us a kind of color wheel with many different colors in a circle. He said these were the 2011 colors for the corvette, and that the new were black and a dark blue. He asked us which color was the most favorite among the consumers. I stupidly said yellow, which was in fact the least favorite. I said so because on the video they kept showing the yellow, repeatedly, so my logic was if they made so many of them and showed consumers buying them, that it probably was a popular color. Turned out it was black. An old man answered so. Another guy said red, which was in second place. We then walked into the real plant part, where their is no place for normal people, and into the dark and dangerous and industrial world of engineers.
It was crazy in there, full of tools and very crowded. Behind us at one point we saw the space frame on an assembly line, and we also saw the people putting on doors, and using drills to make them to stay. As we moved along, I kept asking Kurt questions, and my family and I gawked at all the awesome tech. Robots pushed down the roofs, and also people took the seats in on a small crane, and then installed it. It was crazy with all the sounds of metal and car parts sounding, and the green and red lights flashing, and the tractors and corvettes going past us. It was a really cool factory, and it was really fun to look at all the machinery of modern man, the crates, the robots, the computers, everything. I can't describe it.
Kurt was nice. He led us through, making comments and letting us answer questions, and he showed us when they were putting in the double motor which makes some corvettes go fast. We saw all the parts of making it, and saw them put on tires, move car. Put on tires. Move car. These people must get bored of doing this. After about an hour of walking through, Kurt informed us we were about to get to where a corvette is born, when they crank it up, turning the key for the first time. He said the guy there sometimes let's people turn it (well all the time) and if you stand closer up to the front he'll probably pick you. We stopped and as I saw a car in place, painted and all, I knew this was where it's born. I got closer to the front. Rebecca did too. A man came over, looked at us both, and said to Rebecca, "Hi Sweetie, want to turn the ignition?" She said sure and went under the yellow rope. "It's okay," Kurt said. "He always picks the girls."
She got in the sweet red car with black trim, eased into the chair, and actually turned the ignition on for the first time for this car as it came off the assembly line. She even got a paper (Birth Certificate) that said so. Sigh. The bad parts of growing up. They all ways pick the younger or the girl. Sigh. Oh well. I'm glad she enjoyed it.
The guy drove it out, and then we watched as it did a number of tests, including experiencing a really rough road and testing it's wellness on that level, and going through a water test where gallons and gallons of water is sprayed on it from all sides, checking for leaks. Then, the car gets on a truck, plane, or boat, depending on who the buyer is. Some cars, specially ordered by a movie star or something, go in a truck that has it's own air conditioning. Talk about riding in style. What we do for our cars...
Well, the great tour ended and we told Kurt he did a great job and said goodbye. Still raining, though, and we quickly got out of that parking lot and went to the Corvette Museum, only a little ways away. It was big and of nice architecture, and inside was even better, with a huge ceiling lobby, with a large gift shop and ticket booth at the far end, a cafe on our left, restrooms all along our side, and many nice corvettes, really slick blue ones and fiery red. They were all cool. While Dad talked on the phone and got tickets(it happened over a length of time) we went into the gift shop. There were cool shirts and hats, and books about corvettes, and Chevrolet books, about Chevrolet, of course. Rebecca started sorting little hand sized cars by color, making a line of orange and then looking for orange, going around on the circular table with two floors, looking. I helped her out. Then we did dark green. Then light blue. After that mustard yellow. Next red, silver, white, black. We stopped. We sorted all the many cars. Mom even took a picture of it.
By and by we entered the museum. It told about Chevrolet guys wanting to make a good muscle car, and how a guy recommended a name Corvette after a British naval ship he saw. Then we saw actual early corvettes, along with '50s and '60's versions. We saw the long hard 70's version, and the newer ones, along with race trophies from corvette winners and actual race cars, corvettes of course. No Toyotas or Nissans or Hondas. (Well, I've never seen a Honda race car.) We saw all kinds of cool cars, and at the end came in a kind of dome room with a large red column going out. We saw faces of people who were inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame, and saw corvettes from every different time, every different model. The corvette museum had a lot of cool cars, and I'm glad we went.
We went to home, walked the dogs while Mom and Dad were in the car, and drove to Ruby Tuesdays and had a pretty good meal. Then we went back home, and Dad eventually went to the post office and did some things of that nature. Rebecca and I worked on a music video of Chucky Cheese as a spoof, saying Yucky Pizzas, where a kid can be bored. It was fun. I plan to make it one of these days.
Sleep came. The night surrounded me. I had a dream of Sherlock Holmes solving a mystery on Star Trek's Star Ship Enterprise. It was a weird dream. Goodbye for now.
Corvette (the name) came from a British boat. Who would've known?,
Andrew.
No comments:
Post a Comment