Corvettes at Carlisle 2021: C8s, Callaway, Grand Sports, a ’67 Special, and More at the Greatest Corvette Show of the Year!

Imagine every Corvette you have ever seen, or read about in one place. That will give you a sense of what Corvettes at Carlisle 2021 was like.

I got a fever, and the only prescription is more Corvette. OK, I know that is not exactly the line Christopher Walken said in his famous SNL sketch. However, if it describes you, then you really needed to be at the Corvettes at Carlisle 2021 event. We reported a couple of weeks ago that this is a Corvette show that is not to be missed, and it certainly lived up to the hype. This show is so chock-full of Corvette awesomeness that it is almost impossible to choose select highlights. It is like going to the beach and trying to pick your favorite grain of sand. It is a tough job, but someone has to do it.

If you are familiar with the Corvettes at Carlisle event, then you already know that this is a lot more than just a car show. There are vendors, autocross and exhaust contests, new product displays, memorabilia, sweepstakes, and Corvettes for sale. And of course, there are the cars themselves. New Corvettes, old Corvettes, garage queens, race cars, custom builds, restomods, and everything in between. Now to dig through some of the many highlights from the show.

What Is This C8 Shortage I Keep Hearing About?

It seems that everyday we hear another story about how difficult it is to buy a new Corvette. We see large dealer markups and many private sellers are asking for well over sticker price for used examples. However, if you were at Corvettes at Carlisle 2021 you would think they are giving away free C8s at the DMV. Ciocca Corvette of Atlantic City brought nearly a dozen new Corvettes to display. Tuners had modified C8s on display as well. There were dozens of C8 Corvettes in the parking lots that were driven by attendees of the show. If you like the new Corvette, this was the place to be.

C8 Changes

For the 2022 model year, Chevy is making some changes to our favorite sportscar. There are a handful of new colors that will be available next year. Amplify Orange, Caffeine, and Hypersonic Gray are the new paint colors, and they were all on display. All of them looked great on the car, but I was surprised at how much I liked the Caffeine color in person.

Also, for 2022 there will be a new IMSA GTLM Championship Edition Corvette. These special cars were also on hand for everyone to get a closer look at. The Accelerate Yellow No. 3 edition and Hypersonic Gray No. 4 edition were under a tent and open to the public for anyone to climb inside. That was a nice touch, as often at shows like this special cars are behind velvet ropes, but the access here was refreshing.

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Callaway Corvettes

Callaway Corvettes are just cool right? And you almost never see one out in the wild. Of course, here at Carlisle there were about a half dozen of them. And out of those was a very special 1991 Callaway Twin Turbo Speedster. How special? Only 10 Twin Turbo Series One Speedsters were ever produced. This one was number 4 of 10 and was commissioned by movie director James Cameron for his future wife actress Linda Hamilton. This car has only 4,300 miles on it and is powered by a twin-turbo V8 making 450 horsepower and 613 pound-feet of torque. Just another hidden gem at Carlisle.

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A ’67 Special

It is tough to take a step without bumping into a special Corvette at Corvettes at Carlisle. What you see here is a 1967 Corvette but not a run of the mill example. This car has a GM Performance Ram Jet 502 engine under the hood. The car has been on the cover of magazines and featured in TV shows. The glovebox has been autographed Corvette engineers, and designers. It has also been signed by TV hosts and Astronauts. You would expect such a special car to live a pampered life being trailered to shows and rarely leaving the safety of the garage. Well, not this car. This Corvette is driven everywhere. The car currently has over half a MILLION miles on it.

Grand Sport Display

Do you like the 1996 Grand Sport? Well, here are all of them. OK, there were 1,000 made and clearly all of them were not at Carlisle, but when have you seen more in the same place at the same time? These special cars came with the high-performance 330 horsepower LT4 which made about 10 percent more power than the base Corvette. It was quite a sight to see all the beauties lined up on the show field.

Corvettes Bring Us Together

A Corvette club is like family. Buying a Corvette of any vintage gets you into that family. Going to shows like Carlisle is an opportunity for people to get together and talk about their favorite topic. In this day and age with human interaction being quickly replaced by social media and text messages, it is refreshing to get outside and do things together in person. This father and son duo did just that and drove to Corvettes at Carlisle 2021 together. It is nice to see cars bringing people together.

Cunningham C8 Corvette Contest

In 1960 Cunningham Corvette number 3 won its class at Le Mans. The first win for Corvette at the famous 24-hour race. This anniversary car was built to commemorate that event. This car has a Lingenfelter tuned engine that cranks out over 600 horsepower. That is more than double the output of the Le Mans winning racer. The car also has an aerokit, tuned suspension, and forged HRE wheels. The best part is the car is being raffled off and proceeds go to the Chip Miller Amyloidosis Foundation. A great car for a great cause.

A Bit of Whimsy

The whole point of owning a Corvette is to have fun. Some cars are serious racers, but other are much more lighthearted. For example, this lovely T. Rex edition Corvette. There were custom T. Rex touches everywhere. Seats, floormats, trunk, doors, and almost anywhere else you looked. And these were not low budget stickers either. Someone put in the time and effort to make this a quality T. Rex build. The car was a hit with the young and the young at heart.

Build Your Own

There were so many Corvette parts for sale that you could probably build a car from scratch if you wanted to. Bumpers, hoods, tires, fenders, radios, engines and so on. Can’t fine a part you need? Just keep walking and it is likely that the next vendor will have it.

A Salute to Our Men and Women in Blue

Thank you to all who protect and serve. This year the Chip’s Choice Display was a salute to those in law enforcement. All cars on display here are owned by current or former officers. That includes this 2001 Corvette Z06 owned by Vincent Siraco of the NYPD. Thank you all and enjoy those Corvettes in good health!

And More

This is just a small sampling of what cars were on the grounds for everyone to enjoy. There were just rows and rows of Corvettes.  It was like a real-life interactive version of Google. Instead of typing into a browser “1957 Corvette with trailer hitch” you just keep walking and eventually you will see one in person. It is uncanny.

And these are just the stationary cars. During the event there was a rolling exhaust contest, and an autocross competition. There were vendors installing aftermarket parts. There were autograph sessions, and informational lectures. Oh, and plenty of food to enjoy. There was something for everyone. If you could not make it this year mark your calendar for August 25 – 27, 2022. That will mark the 40th anniversary of Corvettes at Carlisle! Do not miss it.

Photos: Joe Kucinski

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