[VIDEO] Clive the Corvette Returns to the USA for a 3,900-Mile Road Trip

Jan 9, 2026

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[VIDEO] Clive the Corvette Returns to the USA for a 3,900-Mile Road Trip

After surviving the sands of the Sahara and the frozen silence of the Arctic, Clive the Corvette had already lived a life most cars could only dream of. But when the odometer finally ticked past the distance between Earth and the moon, 240,000 miles, his owner David knew the milestone warranted something extraordinary—something worthy of Corvette’s long, storied connection to NASA’s earliest explorers.

There was only one destination that made sense: the Kennedy Space Center.

With help from General Motors, Clive was shipped to Georgia in March 2025 to begin a journey that felt more like a pilgrimage. The adventure opened with a surreal moment: a private photo shoot in the Rocket Garden, where Clive posed beside a 1967 Corvette that once belonged to the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong. The symbolism was impossible to ignore—one Corvette that had reached the moon in spirit, another that had reached it in miles.

Clive with the 1967 Neil Armstrong Corvette

As if the universe wanted to add its own exclamation point, a SpaceX rocket launch lit up the Florida sky during the visit. Clive had come to honor space history, and space history showed up to greet him.

Before heading north, the family squeezed in a sun-soaked vacation through the Florida Keys, the Everglades, and the Gulf Coast. But soon it was time to point Clive toward Kentucky for book signings at the National Corvette Museum —another fitting stop for a car whose life has become a story worth telling again and again.

A quick detour to the Kentucky Horse Trails wrapped up the first leg of the trip before Clive was tucked safely away at the NCM, entrusted to volunteer Mike Buchanan while his owner flew home to England.

Two months later, the journey resumed. This time, videographer Mark Peters joined the adventure, and Clive emerged from the museum after a “spa visit” left him looking cleaner than he had in years thanks to Mike, Rod, Keller, and Mac.

The reunion began with heat—95 degrees of it—as Clive chased a C8 around the NCM Motorsports Park. Despite the punishment, the LS engine didn’t burn a drop of oil. It was a reminder of why Clive had survived deserts, ice fields, and now racetracks without complaint.

From Kentucky, the road wound toward the Tail of the Dragon, that legendary ribbon of asphalt beloved by Corvette and other sports car drivers. Then the route climbed the Appalachian range northward, eventually branching off toward Watkins Glen for the IMSA Six Hours—courtesy of Yokohama Tires, whose V105s had already carried Clive across North Africa.

Surrounded by fellow Corvette owners, cheering on C8s screaming around the circuit, the trip felt like a celebration of the entire Corvette community.

With temperatures pushing 100 degrees, Niagara Falls offered the perfect excuse to get drenched. Crossing into Canada was surprisingly easy, and Vermont—”what a beautiful state”—became an unexpected highlight before the final sprint to New Jersey.

There, Clive was handed over to the shipping agent for the long journey back to England.

More than two months later, Clive rolled off the ship in perfect health. No mechanical issues. No oil used. Just one unfortunate dent in the driver’s footwell from a gopher turtle who wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time.

The only encounter with law enforcement came courtesy of a curious Virginia state trooper who had never seen a UK-plated Corvette before. He was friendly, fascinated, and politely asked not to be filmed.

Do you know why I pulled you over, Clive?

For Clive’s owner, this wasn’t just another road trip. It was a celebration of miles, memories, and the magic of a car that has become both companion and character. The journey will live on in the fifth chapter in the Clive the Corvette children’s book series, with Clive to the Moon planned for 2026.

And the adventure isn’t over. Clive’s owner David says a bold new road trip is already forming for 2027—one that promises to push Clive even further into legend.

If you’re wondering how a UK writer ever ended up traveling around the globe in a Chevy sports car, including Europe and North Africa, David fell in love with the C6 Corvette while on a visit to America and became obsessed with the idea of buying one in the States and taking a road trip across the West before shipping the car back to England. Once in England, the car began its transformation into the weekend racer seen in the very first video.