National Corvette Museum restoring a piece of history to its original glory
Summer Votaw is a Preservation Shop Intern at the National Corvette Museum. Only 20 years old, and still studying at Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College, she’s been working hard for over a month preparing the body of the car to be repainted. It’s an opportunity she is not taking for granted.
March 24, 2025 - Tommy Modeszto WNKY TV news
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The National Corvette Museum is home to many special Corvettes, each with its own unique history.
However, there is only one Corvette that has the honor of being the first donated to and on display at the National Corvette Museum. Now, that special car is undergoing some much-needed work to restore it to how it looked coming off the assembly line in 1953. And while the car’s beauty is enough alone, it tells a history that dates back all the way to the Corvette’s birth.
“These cars, there were only 300 of them built in Flint, Michigan. That’s the only year the Corvette was built in Flint, Michigan. They left after that and went to St. Louis. But this car here has not only the history of being number 262 of the 300 built but also the history of being the very first car donated and exhibited in the National Corvette Museum,” said National Corvette Museum’s vehicle collections supervisor Dan Garrett.
With the high prestige of the car comes the high honor of working on the car itself. Very few get the opportunity to work on a car of this caliber, but even fewer get a chance to work on it so early into their career.
Summer Votaw is a Preservation Shop Intern at the National Corvette Museum. Only 20 years old, and still studying at Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College, she’s been working hard for over a month preparing the body of the car to be repainted. It’s an opportunity she is not taking for granted.
“It means a lot to me, especially for me to be this young and still be in school for my profession to be able to get the experience on something, something of this class of car. It’s been a really great eye opening experience to me, especially with all the old fiberglass work I’ve been able to do and body work on that,” Votaw said.
While the car has so much history behind the wheel it means a lot not only to the museum but to the whole south-central Kentucky community. Without the cars donation by its original owner Ray Quinlan, the National Corvette Museum and Bowling Green may not have become the must visit destination for Corvette lovers from around the globe.
“It had a big role in getting the museum. It said the increased board just wanted to do a library and archive. And with Mr. Quinlan’s donation, they decided to build a museum. So without this car, we may not have a museum here,” Garrett added.
The car still has much work to do, as the car still needs to be repainted, its original seats need to be restored and many other high labor tasks. The car though is still on track to be finished by June and will be on display once again for public viewing.
