After taking a mid-season break, Motor Trend’s newest property Top Gear America is back to wrap up its rookie campaign! After an uninspiring seventh episode that saw the hosts driving… heavy equipment, they rebounded with an episode Ocho that easily stakes its claim as the best outing yet for Dax Shepard’s version of the wildly popular motoring show.
You’re never too old to drive a Corvette.
That might be the best way to sum up Vern Eden, an 87-year-old resident of Valleyford, Washington who just picked up a brand new 2021 Corvette Stingray.
“I like fast cars,” he explains.
But Vern’s Torch Red beauty is no garage queen.
He’s already used his new mid-engine sports car to pick up tractor parts!
“It’s a driving car,” the long-time farmer explains. “Not one to put in the shop and look at. I used it to get tractor parts. The guy came out and said, ‘Nice parts car.'”
Before becoming one of the few people of any age in the country to drive a C8 Corvette, Eden led quite an interesting life.
When he was just 15, he and his brother drove a 1940 Chevy to Mexico and back, camping out in their car along the way. “Never had a breakdown or even a flat tire,” Vern says.
That trip proved to be a harbinger of Eden’s life as he drove a truck for 44 years, including 40 for URM. In addition, when he and his wife would finish their work on the family farm each fall, they would take off five weeks to explore the world. He says they have visited 65 countries, including 15 trips each to China and Cambodia. “Cambodia – it’s still kind of wild there,” he said of his favorite destination. “And you can rent a motorcycle for $5 a day.”
He says the best way to see the world is to rent a car. “It’s fun! You can stop when you want, see what you want. I drove 6,500 miles in Europe. You can cover quite a few countries.”
Now, though, he’ll be spending a lot of time on American roads behind the wheel of his new Corvette. Asked why he waited so long to get his first one, Vern explains: “Well, they finally got it right on this one. I didn’t like the way they were balanced before – heavy on the front end.”
Vern had to wait about 18 months to pick up his car, which he ordered from Chipman & Taylor Chevrolet in Pullman. “It’s a small dealership with a good crew,” he says, noting that he changed his mind from blue to red because that’s “a Corvette color.”
He’s impressed so far with the performance of his new Stingray, calling it “fabulous.”
“It responds to the throttle and has quick steering,” he says.
As for any thoughts on confirming the 0 to 60 acceleration time of 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 194 mph, Vern just grins and says: “Oh, I plan on it. I just have to find a suitable place.”
You can see more pictures of Vern with his new 2021 Corvette at www.spokesman.com.
Source:
spokesman.com
Related:
A 90-Year-Old Veteran Takes Delivery of His New 2021 Corvette Z51 Coupe
[VIDEO] Young Owner Loves His C4 Corvette, Calls It The ‘Best Buy I’ve Ever Made’
[RIDES] Steve Stone and His 1963 Corvette Have Traveled 582,000 Miles Together
This week will be very special for our friend Lance Miller of Carlisle Events and the Chip Miller Amyloidosis Foundation as the 60th Anniversary Cunningham C8 Corvette will officially debut alongside the original Le Mans-winning 1960 Corvette on Thursday at the Amelia Island Concours d’ Elegance in northeast Florida.
The all-new special edition C8 Corvette pays tribute to the three 1960 Corvettes campaigned by gentleman racer Briggs Cunningham at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The No.3 Corvette would win its class and finish 8th overall. Sixty years in the making, the new Cunningham Corvette will be hand-built with just 60 examples set to be created. No. 33 has been earmarked for the Chip Miller Amyloidosis Foundation for their annual fundraiser with the car slated to be given away on October 1st.
![[PICS] The NBA's Jordan Clarkson Shoots and Scores a Customized C8 Corvette Convertible](https://www.corvetteblogger.com/images/content/2021/051721_7b.jpg)
I first saw pics of this custom C8 Corvette over the weekend and finally traced it back to Champion Motoring on Instagram. The customized Corvette belongs to NBA player Jordan Clarkson who currently plays for the Utah Jazz. When I saw this was a professional basketball player’s car, I immediately looked up his bio and he is listed as 6’4″, so kudos to the Corvette team once again for engineering a sports car for the bigger fellas.
When it comes to this 1963 Corvette convertible on the market, the owner apparently is letting the car do all the talking.
This C2 Sting Ray is being offered for sale on eBay for two more days, and so far the reserve hasn’t been met, despite 25 bids forcing the price to $30,712.
Good enough for America, good enough for the whole world.
That might be the way General Motors is looking at its new eighth-generation Corvette soon to be roaring on the roads of Australia.
![[SPIED] Round-Up of C8 Corvette Sightings from Colorado](https://www.corvetteblogger.com/images/content/2021/051521_10b.jpg)
Through social media posts, we learned that a C8 Corvette engineering team was working last week in the high altitudes of Colorado with their base set up in Golden. Over the weekend I dove into the Colorado Car Spotters Page on Facebook and found a few more sightings of the heavily camouflaged C8 Corvette Z06 including a quick 3-second video of a drive-by.
While there isn’t really anything new here to report, the fact that an engineering team is driving the Corvette prototypes IS the news, and so we offer these for you.
![[PODCAST] Dive into the Latest Corvette News with CorvetteBlogger on the Corvette Today Podcast](https://www.corvetteblogger.com/images/content/2021/051721_1b.jpg)
Our latest contribution to the CORVETTE TODAY Podcast is now live as CorvetteBlogger joins host Steve Garrett for a deep dive into the latest Corvette news, rumors, and more.
Prior to the arrival of the C8 Corvette, I would have told you that there is no reason to pay more than sticker for a new Corvette as there are plenty of dealers, including most of the top volume sellers, who will gladly sell you a new Corvettes at MSRP. We figured that initial demand would be high during the roll-out and then pricing would fall back to normal by the end of the first model year production.
Criswell Chevrolet’s Mike Furman delivers new Corvettes to his customers who come from all across the country to work with the nation’s top individual Corvette seller.
It was another busy week for the Chevrolet sales profession who delivered new Corvettes to his customers. Mike receives gifts from a long-distance customer and also gets a shoutout from Mr. October for his upcoming 5000th Corvette delivery. As always, another great collection of throwback and vintage photos also await, so let Mike know which is your favorite when you finally reach the end of the page.
Visit Mike’s facebook page for even more photos and videos of his new Corvette deliveries: CorvetteFurman.
