A 95-year-old WWII Army veteran was pushed to the head of the line to get his 2022 Corvette Stingray after COVID-19 delayed release of...
A 95-year-old WWII Army veteran was pushed to the head of the line to get his 2022 Corvette Stingray after COVID-19 delayed release of the new model for more than a year.
Bobbie Carso received the 2022 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray at the National Corvette Museum in Nashville on October 1.
The Missouri native, who recently moved Atlanta, signed up for the car's waiting list last year, as the model's popularity and COVID-19-related supply issues kept pushing back the car's arrival.
GM had been dealing with an ongoing chip shortage, which Motorious reports is expected to last into at least the early part of 2022.
'They shut the plant down because of COVID, and then they had a problem getting chips for the car,' said Carson, who plans to use the car as a daily driver.
However, Carson unwittingly was able to mitigate that problem, one which the majority of car buyers and Stingray-seekers have repeatedly encountered, with the help of some industrious friends.
Carson, pictured, received the Stingray despite being forced to endure a yearlong wait due to the car's popularity as well as supply issues caused by the pandemic
Bobbie Carson, 95, a longtime fan of the American sports car who had been excited to get behind the wheel of a 2022 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, received the 42nd car on October 1
Carson was active in his local Corvette owners club back in Missouri, who knew he was having difficulty procuring the new Corvette, so they decided to pitch in to see what they could do.
Ed Morse Chevrolet general manager David Bean told Fox News Autos: 'His circle of friends got together and reached out to us.
'He's really well liked in the community and we were excited to be a part of such a deserving effort.'
Bean reached out to GM, telling them about the delay to their 95-year-old customer, and the car manufacturer secured Carson a build slot for September 6 - just when the 2022 models were to hit the market.
Carson is currently en-route in the new Stingray from Tennessee, where he picked the car up, back to his home in Georgia.
Carson, who saw front-line action in the European theater of WWII, said he was 'honored' by the gesture.
Carson opted for the 'arctic white' 3LT model with 'adrenaline red' interior at the National Corvette Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, according to Fox News.
'I think it's the greatest car I've ever driven,' an ecstatic Carson told local NBC affiliate WKNY while in the driver's seat of his brand new Stingray.
The eight cylinder car boasts 490 to 495 hp with costs starting at about $60,900.
The 95-year-old said he was a longtime fan of the Corvette, having owned seven since purchasing his first back in 1985.
'I was going to get an '84, and then they found after it came out, it was a real fast car and everything but it was too stiff, and they corrected that in the '85 model and it just happened that I was there when they arrived,' he said.
He said he hardly ever used his previous models, however, and instead left them for his wife Jeanne to use as he traveled in his company car while working in the the process engineering industry, according to Fox News.
The 95-year-old said he was a longtime fan of the Corvette, having owned seven since purchasing his first back in 1985
Carson is currently en route in the new Stingray from Tennessee, where he picked the car up, back to his home in Georgia
Carson said Jeanne recently passed away after 76 years of marriage.
In 1944, Carson took his first overseas journey via a troop ship to Marseille, France, where he served as an Army infantryman in the 42nd Rainbow Division at just 18 years old.
'We were crowded into that ship like sardines, and we were escorted over there by six or seven destroyers protecting us from German submarines,' he recalls, adding that he was put on a train and sent to the notorious the Battle of the Bulge.
'We were just out of high school and were all athletes in good shape, went through a rugged training course, and then we went straight into battle … can't imagine it,' he said.
Everyone involved were eventually a secure Carson a build slot for September 6 - just when the 2022 models (pictured) were to hit the market
No comments