[VIDEO] C5 Corvette with 773,338 Original Miles Donated to the Corvette Museum

Not many people can say they have driven two Corvettes with more than a million miles on the odometer.

But Mark Blackwell of Jacksonville, Fla., has that unique honor.

Prior to buying a red 2000 Corvette coupe in 1999, Blackwell was driving a Corvette with 342,000 miles on it.

That one sounds like a low-mileage cream puff compared to his 2000, which Blackwell has just donated to the National Corvette Museum after amassing a whopping 773,338 miles behind the wheel over the past 18 years!

“If any car deserves to be in a museum, it’s this one,” Blackwell says, “for the miles it’s gone and the things it’s done for me.”

Including saving his life one night on an interstate between Daytona and Jacksonville.

Mark explains: “It was very late at night, 2 or 3 in the morning, and the bumper off a semi had fallen into the lane of traffic I was in on the interstate, and I saw it late because it was very dark. I had to pull the car so far to the left quickly down into the median. It blew out two tires but went around it, got around the bumper. Had to obviously get the tires replaced and the car towed in that night. But any other car, there was no way in the world that I would not have hit that bumper.”

His C5 has been “a fabulous car, no complaints here,” he said. Watch this video, and you’ll be amazed at the condition of the Corvette.

Applause greeted the car recently as Mark pulled it into the museum, where it will be on display to show visitors just how great Corvettes are.

“If you do the math, that’s over 100 miles a day on this car,” appreciative Museum Curator Derek Moore says, noting that the Corvette is still running on its original engine.

“About 20,000 miles ago, at 750,000 miles, is when it needed its original head gaskets replaced,” Moore says.

He says the museum is always looking for other unique stories from Corvette owners.

“We’re looking if you have any items out there that have incredible stories about Corvette history,” he said. “We’d love to see them here.”

If you’d like to help the museum preserve Corvette history, Moore encourages you to contact him at [email protected] or 270-777-4516.

Source:
National Corvette Museum

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