Monday, May 7, 2012

Can't pick a favorite at the KCCA Corvette Show at Superior Chevrolet

All together now: Craig’s favorite vehicle is the … Chevrolet Corvette. Yes, I do love them. Small, two-seat Chevy sports cars stuffed with some of the most powerful V8 engines on the planet—what’s not to like. If I had won that record Power Ball a few weeks ago, I’d own five or ten of them right now.

But I didn’t win, so I don’t own any. That’s why I have to get my fix of Corvettes from other places. And in the Kansas City area, there was no better place to feed that need than Superior Chevrolet, where they hosted the annual Kansas City Corvette Association (KCCA) show. And as usual, a fine field of fancy fiberglass graced the main lot.

In some ways, the strong car count was a bit of a surprise. Sunday was not a particularly nice day. It rained hard in the morning, causing flooding in some parts of the Metro. The rain continued on and off throughout the day, and when it wasn’t raining it was so humid that you had to concentrate on breathing. Combine that with the fact that Superior’s showroom is undergoing a major remodel, and the prospect of attending this show wasn’t entirely appealing.

I think the weather may have had an impact on the older Vettes in the crowd. But the few that were there were pretty nice. There was a black/silver over red ’57 with factory fuel injection sitting there that probably should have had stations around it. That thing was gorgeous. Perfect. Nicer than they ever thought of making it when new.

I also really took a liking to a Mosport Green ’66 roadster with a 427-c.i/425-hp big block, side pipes, aluminum wheels, and a vinyl-covered hardtop. It also had factory air conditioning, which seemed pretty important on a humid day like that. I’m glad I wasn’t a judge, because I’m already having a hard time choosing a best of show winner.

And then another green one; this a Fathom Green 1969 coupe with a 390-hp 427 big block, rally wheels, and red line tires. In fact, every time I turned around, there was another very nice Corvette to look at.

The majority of the show consisted of late-model Corvettes, from say, 1997-to-present. Now don’t get me wrong, I would love to have one. But when you get them all in a big group like this, they all sort of look pretty similar.

They do have a bunch of special editions, though. From the ultimate ZR1 to the racy GT1, the classy Ron Fellows edition to a handful of commemorative versions, Corvettes really lend themselves to performance and appearance enhancements.

Having this at Superior is pretty cool anyway, because some of the cars they have sitting there for sale are as neat or better than the ones in the show. Superior is owned by NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick, and that performance vibe is alive and well at his dealership. They had some really exotic supercharged conversions from noted Corvette tuner Callaway, and they not only included Corvettes, but also Camaros and Silverado trucks.

There was also a new, yellow Camaro ZL1 sitting there. I hope no one gets murdered near it, because the cops are going to find my DNA all over the crime scene from my uncontrollable drooling.

Slideshow below.

2 comments:

  1. Yep, tough call. Gonna hafta vote for the yellow 65 Coupe based on the photos, with the yellow 66 roadster coming in a close second. Just mnsho of course. Thanx for the photos - cant believe you or the nice cars braved the weather though - you know when your area is on the Weather Channel, that it aint good!

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  2. what a rain storm !!!! Weather forcasters missed the timing on this one. Lots of nice Vettes present despite the lousy weather is a testament to their owners....

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