Dan Gale & Zora Arkus-Duntov’s Dream Comes True, After a TON of Work
Dateline: 9.2.15 – There are many car museums in the world but nothing like the National Corvette Museum. Located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, just a quarter-mile from where Corvettes are built, customers can not only tour the assembly plant, they can take in Corvette history at the museum. Starting in 2001, Corvette customers could take delivery of their new car at the museum (option RPO R8C) and get the full royal treatment. The museum was the dream of the late Dan Gale and Zora Arkus-Duntov. In 1986 the Library, Archives, and Museum Committee was formed and Gale was one of the charter members. Duntov wanted a place to store the artifacts of Corvette history.
Obviously, a lot of money needed to be raised and in 1991 Gale was elected as president of the NCM’s board of directors and headed up the “Capital Campaign” that helped raise the millions of dollars needed to build the museum. On June 5, 1992, with Duntov wearing his yellow polo helmet and behind the controls of a bulldozer wearing a large cardboard cutout of a Corvette on the sides, construction was started. Zora said, “Piece of cake!” Two years, 2 months and 28 days later, The National Corvette Museum officially opened and the Corvette’s godfather, Zora Arkus-Duntov was there. The four-day event attracted over 120,000 fans and over 5,000 Corvettes from all over the nation! – Scott
