[VIDEO] NCM Debuts New Skywall Video Display for 70th Anniversary Exhibit

The National Corvette Museum is using the legendary American sports car’s 70th anniversary as a time for everyone across the country to connect with the car.

Nearly 300 people gathered in the refurbished Skydome Thursday night to introduce the museum’s new “An American Love Affair” exhibit set in front of a new $800,000 nearly-360-degree video wall.

“When we started talking about what we could do to celebrate the 70th anniversary of this amazing car, we wanted to not just tell the history but pull something together that would resonate with everyone,” said Sharon Brawner, the museum’s president and CEO. “We realized that this car has permeated popular culture in movies, TV shows, songs and toys for years.

“It’s a great opportunity for everyone to connect with the Corvette.”

Thursday night’s celebration, held on the eve of the Corvette’s 70th birthday, showed off a collection of some five dozen Corvettes from the past, including a restored 1953 all the way to the forthcoming 2024 E-Ray.

Bob Bubnis, the museum’s curator and exhibits manager, contacted members of the National Corvette Restorers Society to pull together the collection that includes three of the 300 models produced the first year in 1953 as well as examples showing how the Corvette would go on to evolve over the next seven decades.

“It was important to tell the best story we could,” Bubnis told the Bowling Green Daily News. “We wanted to take our guests on a trip through time, so we enlisted the help of the National Corvette Restorers Society. They like to restore these cars to look like they did the day they were built.”

Indeed, a ’53 at the exhibit’s entrance – on loan from Bill and Amy Mulder of St. Louis – is a winner of the prestigious Duntov Award for Corvettes that have been restored to “as manufactured” condition.

“The museum got in touch with me and asked me to bring it,” explained Bill Mulder, who owns four other Corvettes from the 1950s and 1960s and attended Thursday’s celebration. “This is a phenomenal exhibit. We had only been here to drop the car off, but we’ll definitely be back.”

His wife said they were happy to loan the car to the museum. “She deserves to be shared and not just stored in a garage,” Ann said. “She gets to be appreciated by others.”

Kai Spande, recently retired as plant manager at the General Motors Corvette Assembly Plant and now chairman of the museum’s board of directors, said he hopes the Mulders’ car and others are appreciated at a museum that has undergone several additions and renovations since Brawner took over as CEO in 2021.

“With the recent renovations to the Skydome, we’re trying to bring new technology to the museum and keep younger generations interested in coming here,” Spande said. “Each gala we have opening new exhibits has great attendance. I give Sharon a lot of the credit for bringing new ideas and a new perspective to the museum. One of our goals is for this to be a cherished community asset.”

Just like the 70-year-old Corvette it honors.

Source:
bgdailynews.com

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