Corvettes at Carlisle 2013
Andy Bolig
Corvettes at Carlisle, the world’s most popular all-Corvette-themed event, frequently highlights unique and very special cars, always honors its founder Chip Miller and annually welcomes some of the top names within the hobby.
The 2013 event, August 23-25 at the Carlisle PA Fairgrounds, continues the tradition and this time around, the unique cars are even more unique, the Miller tribute is even more special and the guest list is supersized.
With a three-day event that’s so popular it historically hosts four days of action, Corvettes at Carlisle is putting a heaving emphasis on the 50th anniversary of the 1963 production line of cars. As was the case ten years ago when, as part of his final Corvettes at Carlisle, Chip Miller showcased 53 1953 Corvettes, his son and event manager Lance Miller will do him ten better this year with a 63 ?63s display. Along with this particular ?63 display, the 2013 Chip’s Choice display will also feature some of the best 1963 Corvettes.
One particular car that is coming to Chip’s Choice is very special as it’s a one-of-a-kind Corvette. This car, a Corvette Rodine concept, was built for the Paris Auto Show and since its birth until at least 2008, was on display at the Pininfarina Museum in Italy. At that point, the car was sold at the famed Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale (Arizona) auto auction. What really makes this car special is that it is the ONLY steel-bodied Corvette ever created. In addition, the car is based on the ’63 Corvette chassis and has a 327cid/360-hp V8 under the hood.
Joining this car at Carlisle will be the Asteroid Corvette. This ’63 was delivered straight to the King of Custom cars George Barris of Barris Kustoms. The new C2 Corvette was already a fresh redesign from Chevrolet and Barris made a radical transformation and redesigned the car with an extended nose cone that had headlights positioned behind the bladed grille and custom headers exiting behind the front wheels. He also removed the split window, filled in the rear tail panel and opened up the rear wheel wells to accommodate big wheels. The paint job was out of this world and was painted in a heavy metallic copper finish that would blind you in the sunlight.
New to the event this year will be a showcase of the brand new 2014 Corvette Stingray. With Corvette Engineers onsite, enthusiasts will be able to get their first up-close look at the car, plus talk directly with the designers of this machine. There will also be walk around sessions focused specifically on the C7 and it will be one of the pack leading cars as part of the always-popular Downtown Carlisle Corvette Parade and Street Party.
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