The end of an era: The St. Louis Corvette assembly plant makes its LAST Corvette!

Dateline: 7.31.15 After 27 years, 7 months and 3 days of building Corvettes, the final Corvette rolled off the St. Louis assembly line. The plant was a throwback to the days before Alfred P. Sloan and started building cars in 1920. Photos of the St. Louis factory can be seen online and in Mike Mueller’s book, “The Corvette Factories,” and can be most kindly described as “old school.”

The St. Louis plant was scheduled for renovation in the late ‘70s but to do so the facility would have to be closed for a year, so it was decided to relocate the Corvette assembly to Bowling Green. With the C4 in full development it all worked out for the best.

Quality Control on Corvettes had long been an issue, so the move to Bowling Green was a fresh start. The Last St. Louis Corvette was mighty plain; Beige exterior with Camel interior and an automatic. But it did have the optional removable glass roof panels and aluminum wheels. The only thing marking the car as “special” is a plate on the inside of the right front fender that says, “The Last St. Louis Corvette.”

The car has been sold twice along with the first Bowling Green Corvette as “book-ends” at the Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas Auction for charity in 2010 for $300,000 and again in 2011 at the Scottsdale event for $50,000. When sold in 2011 the car had 4 miles on the odometer! – Scott