[PICS] Corvette Expo Celebrates its 45th Birthday with America’s Favorite Sports Car

Mar 23, 2022

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[PICS] Corvette Expo Celebrates its 45th Birthday with America's Favorite Sports Car

Photo Credits: Steve Burns

We spent last weekend in scenic Pigeon Forge, Tennessee at the annual Corvette Expo event. The huge event celebrated its 45th anniversary this year while we made our inaugural visit. Hundreds of Corvettes from all around the US and Canada descended on the Smoky Mountains to revel with America’s Favorite Sports Car.

The event took place at the LaConte Center just off the main Parkway in Pigeon Forge on March 18th and 19th. Corvette Expo features many separate activities both indoors and outdoors across the campus. Outside there’s a Park and Show area for those wanting to just show up and show off their rides. We were quite surprised to see so many special edition Corvettes within the crowd of attendees. Some of the more notable cars included a 2009 GT1 Edition, a 2011 Carbon Edition, a Hertz ZHZ, and even a NASCAR Daytona pace car among others. We even spied 2017 Z06 VIN 001. Elsewhere outside, several Corvettes sought new owners in the for sale area while vendors sold their latest wares nearby. Al Knoch performed convertible top installs throughout the weekend and treasures waited to be discovered while wandering the rows of the swap meet.

Randall Blevins’ red 1969 convertible greeted guests as they arrived inside the exhibition hall. Randall showed the same car at the very first Corvette Expo back in 1977 and still owns it to this day. Not too many people can say they’ve taken the same car to the same show 45 years apart!

This year’s feature club, Mad Vettes, was just off to the left of Randall’s red ride in the Diamond Judging section. The club display featured some of the wildest modded Corvettes we’ve ever seen. Elsewhere in the Corvette section. there was a great mix of all Corvette generations ranging from an oddly handsome brown C1 to a pair of 2018 Carbon 65 special editions parked side-by-side. One owner showed off his 250,000 mile 1967 coupe. Some of our other favorite indoor Corvettes included a stunning black on red 1963 fuelie coupe and mean-looking orange Callaway C8. Chevelles and various hot rods were located across from the Corvettes and to attendees’ right as they entered the main hall. The guest marques provided a nice diversity of non-Corvettes.

On Saturday, a yellow and blue C8 had a set of Lambo doors installed while 2-3 people deep crowds looked on.

The back half and perimeter of the exhibit hall contained even more vendors, additional swap meet spaces, and a couple of small dealer displays. The NCRS Southeast Chapter occupied one back corner for their annual chapter judging meet. A half-dozen or so cars went through the NCRS wringer while interested owners and Corvette Expo attendees looked on.

Friday’s weather was cool and cloudy, but that didn’t deter Corvettes fans as a record 506 Corvettes stuffed the Park and Show area outside in the parking lot. Later, 363 of those Corvettes set off to cruise the world-famous Tail of the Dragon which is located a little over an hour away. The renowned sinuous road is well known for its 318 turns over just 11 miles. We hit the Dragon on Saturday in our hot rod rental Ford Flex. While certainly not a Corvette, the old Flex handled the Dragon about as good as one would expect from a bloated midsize SUV. We’ll definitely return there one day in a much more fun vehicle. Saturday started off cool and windy, but the sun soon came out and warmed things up quickly. We didn’t catch a formal car count for Saturday but have to assume that Saturday’s Park and Show was equal to or greater than Friday’s.

This was our first trip to the Corvette Expo and it did not disappoint. We’ll certainly be back again. The Smoky Mountains are the perfect backdrop for rows and rows of Corvettes. The LaConte Center grounds are clean and spacious and provide a great venue for a large car show. We were especially fond of the bright indoor lighting which really bounced off the perfectly detailed cars parked below. The show has a little something for everyone: parts vendors, a swap meet, show cars, and a driving event. If you’re in the area in mid-March, be sure to make some time to check out a future event.

Now, enjoy our gallery from the 2022 Corvette Expo below.