This year’s Barrett Jackson auction saw a mixed variety of ultra high level celebrity auctioned vehicles. Steven Tyler, Floyd Mayweather, Burt Reynolds and Dale Earnhardt just to name a few; all raising money for various charities.

Corvette saw some impressive sales over the weekend.  Below is a brief list of Corvettes that were sold.

• 1963 CHEVROLET CORVETTE 327/360 SPLIT-WINDOW “FUELIE” Sold for $385,000.00
• 1964 CHEVROLET CORVETTE LT1 Sold for $330,000
• 1953 CHEVROLET CORVETTE 235/150 CONVERTIBLE sold for $275,000
• 1962 CHEVROLET CORVETTE CUSTOM CONVERTIBLE Sold for $264,000
• 1962 CHEVROLET CORVETTE CUSTOM CONVERTIBLE Sold for $258,500
• 1963 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 BIG TANK COUPE “MICKEY THOMPSON’S” sold for $247,000
• 1958 CHEVROLET CORVETTE CUSTOM CONVERTIBLE “EYE CANDY” Sold for $225,500

For a complete listing of Corvette sales at the 2017 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction, please click here: 2017 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Corvette Sales

*Photos above courtesy of Barrett-Jackson Auction Company

Here’s a quick summary of highlights from the weekend:

One lucky bidder acquired Mickey Thompson’s Personal 1963 Tanker Corvette ZO6 this weekend at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.  This Corvette is one of the most famous 1963 ZO6 Corvette Tankers to ever leave the St. Louis plant.  Otherwise know as a De Facto COPO!

This Corvette was personally owned and driven (with undeniable proof) by the world’s fastest man – MICKEY THOMPSON.

Z06 Tankers are rare indeed with only 63 ever created, but none were street driven by a more famous celebrity!  This white Tanker now makes five that Mickey Thompson owned.

Acquiring a 1963 36 Gallon Big Tank was indeed limited to only a handful of factory and/or private racers. Well, at least the first 15.  But can you imagine being the lucky devil who was able to get more than one.  Perhaps he was known as Mickey Thompson!!!  More than lucky, Mickey was connected. So well connected that he actually somehow [...]

In recent years, NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Rusty Wallace has been a regular at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Collector-Car Auction and Saturday night he was there to sell a special 1978 Corvette he customized.

The gleaming black Corvette featured a 450-horsepower Chevrolet engine built and dyno-tuned by Doug Yates, who runs Roush-Yates Engines, the company that builds the powerplants for Ford teams in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Wallace and Yates are next-door neighbors, and Wallace said the engine was “the star of the car.”

On stage at Barrett-Jackson, Wallace said, “It’s got a ton of power, it runs beautifully, it’s a fantastic car. … I’m really proud of this hot rod. I’ve personally had this car over 180 miles per hour and still going. So, it’s fast, I will tell you that.”

Another NASCAR connection: The car was modified by RK Motors, the Charlotte shop and retailer owned by Rob Kauffman, the former [...]

The year Corvette production shifted from St. Louis, Missouri to Bowling Green, Kentucky was 1981. The proud men and women working at Bowling Green have been producing America’s greatest sports car ever since, and they’ll continue to do so in the years to come. However, the assembly line has remained relatively unchanged since the introduction of the C5-gen Corvette.

There’s no denying the plant is long overdue an upgrade, and that upgrade is expected to be made at the end of the 2017 model year. General Motors earmarked $290 million for Bowling Green for new assembly technologies in 2016. This money comes atop two earlier investments: $439 million for retooling and a new paint shop, plus $44 million for the build center.

Citing insider information, our friends at Corvette Blogger are adamant that an “official announcement from the plant is coming soon.” The closure is expected to come at the end of June, after the [...]