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Financially it makes sense to ship it, mileage, wear and tear, hotels etc…Also
I didn’t want to road trip it without Xpel, so that is another reason. But he main reason was that I couldn’t get the body color high wing at the factory, so Ciocca had to do it at their shop. I vowed many years ago never to visit NJ/NY again, so that sealed the deal.
If i was to do the NCM delivery late this Summer, is driving it home to Wa. State sound like a good plan?
I really think I would enjoy it and I know about the engine break-in and some of the new "bugs" that can happen.
I am going to be buying a 2LT and I'm thinking this would be a good time, take a few days (or more) and drive it home.
I have driven the Northern route across the Dakotas and Montana and I think I would enjoy it.
If anyone has done this, I'd like to hear about it. It's going to be Me ,My "Vette and the open road.
I'm not packing much and I'll be flying one way into Nashville with a shuttle or easy rental to Bowling Green.
It is a car, it needs to be driven and it will probably be cheaper than shipping it home on a tractor/trailer.
Am I crazy?
My bride and I did the cross-country tour to southern Utah in September’22. Be sure to ask Shane about Auto Armor (PPF & ceramic). We enjoyed checking that one on the list!
Three of the Corvettes I have bought over the years have left on long trips as soon as we rolled off the dealer's lot. First was a near 6,000 mile trip. Second was more than 4,000 and the third a mere 2200.
They're just cars. Drive'em..... enjoy'em..... just take it a little easy for the first 500 miles.....
We flew one way into Nashville, partied an Honkeytonk row and stayed downtown. Next morning, drove to the museum, toured the factory and drove home to Florida. Stayed over one night on the way. It was a great way to have a mini but memorable vacation.
Museum to Los Angeles area trip planned. I'm a hotel parking lot worrier also. Even with my C6 to Pahrump, Ron Fellows, and parked the car where I could see it. Read of a snowbird making the Northern state to Florida drive. Pulled off the interstate in Atlanta for gasoline, shot, and carjacked at the filling station. I remember one morning at a hotel near the Denver airport. In the parking lot was a new Escalante sitting on cinder blocks. I'll certainly be picking place to stay, with caution.
NCM to Oklahoma City, about 750 miles in a day and a half. We overnighted in Bowling Green at the Sync Hotel right across the street from the plant. They have garages that you can secure for $30 per night. We went North through Paducah Kentucky and down to Springfield for the night. Great drive on very smooth Kentucky roads. There was very light traffic so we could enjoy the view. The wifey and I had a great time driving back home in our new baby. Save the Wave!
Thank you members for the great comments, everyone I talk to seems to agree with the "drive it home" plan.
It is a very exciting event and I'll even have a few stops on the road to see friends and family.
I have a pretty good plan in the works and as far as hotels, there may only be a few actual hotel "overnight stops" where I will be showering and sleeping more than a few hours.
I am spending a lot of time looking at the map and checking out details of my route(s) and this is going to be a road trip like I have never done before..
There will be a couple overnight stops at friends and family locations but mainly driving and trying to "get it home" in a sensible and safe manner.
I am sure there is a lot of additional planning steps, I have only begun this amazing journey.
Thank you all for the advice, tips and suggestions.
Someday this year you will see me walking on Corvette Blvd.
A road trip makes perfect sense... We are planning a similar trip. Ours is coming up in about 3 weeks. Our route to Washington is a bit more convoluted. Home is western Washington (Maple Valley)... We snowbird in Arizona, where we are now.
Our 2023 ELB 2LT non-51 is scheduled to be built a week from today, 4-17-23. We just booked our museum delivery for 9 am 5-3-23.
So our travels will ping-pong from BG, back to AZ, AZ to Palm Desert, CA, back to AZ, AZ to WA. Then WA to Whistler Canada then home to WA the end of May. What's that? 4000 miles in the first month.
Our plans are to have front PPF done in Bowling Green before we hit the road, plus add a Novi-stretch bra... We should have quite a bug collection by the end...
I am interested in getting PPF and ceramic done there if it is possible, what is a good contact?
I want the brush guards installed on it as well as I am putting it directly on the road and we are going for it.
The trip back I will be clicking off many miles, this car will need some protection.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
C4 of Year Winner (performance mods) 2019
Originally Posted by coshuck
Our plans are to have front PPF done in Bowling Green before we hit the road, plus add a Novi-stretch bra... We should have quite a bug collection by the end...
If you're doing PPF, you really don't need the Novi-stretch.
Originally Posted by Jettcity1
I am interested in getting PPF and ceramic done there if it is possible, what is a good contact?
I want the brush guards installed on it as well as I am putting it directly on the road and we are going for it.
The trip back I will be clicking off many miles, this car will need some protection.
There are four PPF packages available through NCM. If you're doing museum delivery, you get a 1-year NCM membership, which will get you 10% off list price. The work is done by AutoArmor, which does a great job. If you get with Shane at the museum and give him a liability release, Rudy at AutoArmor can pick the car up before your delivery date and do everything ahead of time. For the radiator guards, you can also buy those through the museum and for a small fee they will install them during PDI. I did all of this, and I was very please with the install of everything.
Back to JettCity1
Ronald Renner, retired Captain of Bowling Green Fire Department, started an airport shuttle service. I got his contact from another thread on the Forum. He has also expanded into PPF and Ceramic Coatings. STEK and 3-M certified and distributor/installer.
His contact info on FB @luxridesbg. or email rrenner10@me.com
So we are booked for his shuttle service from Nashville to NCM, the possibility of PPF and Ceramic coating came up in talking to him.
In addition there is a complimentary apartment he just completed for clients with ceramic coating or PPF or both. He will send pictures of apartment if you contact him...
He has a 'Get you on the Road ASAP' PPF package which is a hybrid PPF and Novi-Stretch bra. He can also do anything up to full car PPF and coatings if you have 1-2 days.
I thought the Novi-Stretch didn't look horrible for a temporary solution to long drives. It let me DIY the front radiator guards when I eventually get home to the Pacific NW.
Also thought the Novi-Stretch could be used for other trips even with PPF on the front to simply clean up after a buggy trip.
Two thoughts. First, NCM Auto Armor did a flawless job with paint correction, XPEL film and ceramic on my car. You cannot go wrong trusting Rudy and Tito at Auto Armor (nomorenix.com).
Second, my advice is to get the bra too. During our journey from BG to Utah, we picked up a blemish or two on the film. I NOW have a bra for freeway trips.
We drove from NCM to Kirkland two years ago. Other than parts of Nebraska and Missouri, we avoided interstates completely. All secondary highways and backroads. A little bit longer and a lot more fun. Very easy to plan with Google Maps. Plenty of wide open roads and good food.
Would suggest buying a front end bra at NCM and have them install it. Some clear Track Armour Track Armour tape behind the wheels will also give you peace of mind for the drive.
FWIW. I'd just be worried about running into one those thunderstorms in the plain states with the mungo sized hail. That would truly suck to get about halfway home only to see the beautiful new baby pounded into a moon scape by a hailstorm.
We did the NCM delivery in Sept 2021 and drove home to western WA.
While at the NCM we put on Trak Wrap and the novastretch bra. The goal was to get the car home and then have my local installer do the PPF (cost was ~$1,500 for a full front clip, A pillars, and windshield header, doors and rocker panels, etc). Although the novastretch bra had a lot of bugs on it, the car was pristine when we got it home. Enjoyed a nice drive, had the PPF installed and added the grill guards to the front and side radiators myself.
04-08-2023, 08:49 PM
