THE EVENT:
The premium event for Australian Corvette owners and fans is the Annual Corvette Nationals. For this outstanding event, Corvettes travel from all over the country to meet over an extended weekend to admire and discuss each other’s cars and talk about all things Corvette.
More than anything else, the Nationals provide a spark that brings together a big group of like-minded people to enjoy their cars and each other’s company. Many great, long lasting friendships have been made over the forty-plus years of Corvette Nationals.
Many of the best Corvettes in the country travel to the Nationals to be judged in the Show ‘n’ Shine event and to take part in the Corvette Cruise that forms a part of the Nationals.
But it’s not all about the cars. There are plenty of social events as well. A Meet & Greet takes place on the first night, and on the other nights there’s a Presentations Night and a Nationals Dinner Party. There’s also a Lunch involved with the Cruise event.
HISTORY:
The first Corvette Nationals took place over 40 years ago. The event took place over the Easter long weekend, 4th to 7th April, 1980 at the Highway Inn in Sunshine, a suburb of Melbourne.
Back in 1980, Sunshine was on the outskirts of Melbourne and seemed like a good place for the Corvettes to meet. The Highway Inn had the traditional courtyard shape, surrounded by all the rooms with parking provided outside the rooms, keeping all the cars together and relatively secure. The Highway Inn had a suitable function room for the festivities and close by was a Woolworths Carpark suitable for holding motorkhana type events.
Since 1980, there has been a Corvette Nationals, or the equivalent, held every year – until 2020. The sequence was broken by the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic which forced a cancellation of the 2020 South Australian Nationals. The continuation of the pandemic also put paid to the Canberra Nationals twice in both 2021 and 2022.
The Nationals finally returned in March 2023 when the Victorian Clubs held the Ballarat ‘Gold Rush’ Nationals. It was four years since the Nationals was last held and the event ended up being a sell-out.
This event was historic for two reasons.
- This was the first time the Nationals was held outside the Easter weekend.
- This was the first time the Nationals were officially sponsored by GM, with their Australian sales arm, GMSV, stepping in as the major sponsor.
Annual Rotation of the Corvette Nationals
* Six different states (or territories) are involved in hosting the Nationals. The rotational order, over the next seven years, is shown below –
2024: NO NATIONALS*
2025: NEW SOUTH WALES
2026: QUEENSLAND
2027: SOUTH AUSTRALIA
2028: CANBERRA (ACT)
2029: WESTERN AUSTRALIA
2030: VICTORIA
One Response
This is not the voice of all the corvette clubs, as your slogan suggests