National Corvette Museum

About the Museum

America's Sports Car... an exciting legend produced only in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Since 1953 the Corvette has been America's Sports Car. The National Corvette Museum was established as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit foundation with a mission of celebrating the invention of the Corvette; preserving its past, present and future; and educating the public about Corvettes. The Museum features over 80 Corvettes in periodic settings, including mint classics, one-of-a-kind prototypes and modern-day wonders of engineering and design. Test your knowledge at interactive trivia kiosks, and don't miss the chance to try a Corvette on for size in our lobby where we have the latest Corvette models waiting for you. Displays continually rotate so no two visits are the same. Round out your visit with a souvenir from the Corvette Store, grab a bite to eat in the Corvette Cafe, and race over to the NCM Motorsports Park to spectate or take a lap!

Home of the Corvette

Bowling Green at the end of the '80s was a community with ambitions. Surrounded by fields of wheat, corn and burley tobacco, the South-Central Kentucky town of less than 50,000 was enjoying greater prosperity and a new-found notoriety since GM opened the Corvette plant in 1981, but it was hungry for more. When the city leaders caught wind of the proposed Corvette museum, they pushed hard to bring home what they believed would be an economic watershed for the town and the region.

A task force was organized and led by Dennis Griffin of the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce. "I can't tell you how much time and effort we put into it," comments Griffin. The group, which included local banker and later executive director of the museum Wendell Strode, traveled to Cypress Gardens, Florida, in January of 1990 to present a package to the NCRS Foundation Board. What they promised eventually took shape as: a land donation of 32.9 acres close to the plant and visible from the interstate; complete infrastructure provided at no cost to the Foundation; and, a 4.3 million tax-free bond issue to help with the financing. The Board accepted. At the same meeting, they reviewed proposals by architectural design firm Neumann, Smith & Associates and Exhibit Works, a museum display company. Both would eventually be hired. This was the genesis of the museum.

The NCM and the CCA

We are proud to have the NCM as a sponsor, and we, as a club, do what we can to support the Museum and its mission. Many members of the Corvette Club of America are members or lifetime members of the National Corvette Museum and visit on a regular basis to get track time and avail themselves of the unique experience you get while at the Museum: the historical displays, the products, the location near the Corvette manufacturing plant, and above all - the people. The Corvette Club of America also holds a club-level membership in the NCM and is proud to be a One Acre Member having donated an acre to the new NCM Motorsports Park.

Terry Popkin is the Corvette Club of America's NCM Ambassador. You can e-mail (ncmambassadorvette-club.org) him questions about visiting the museum or purchasing Corvette raffle tickets.

To help plan your visit, check out www.visitbgky.com for other things to do and see in Bowling Green, KY.