Watch the first C8 Corvette delivery at the National Corvette Museum

VIN #00026, a Torch Red, Z51-equipped 2020 Corvette, is officially the first of Bowling Green’s mid-engine marvels to rumble out of the National Corvette Museum (NCM) and straight into customer hands. Through a (disconcertingly) narrow door, too, which might be why neither of its new owners, Glenn and Andrea Johnson, piloted their new steed out of the museum into the light of day. Dr. Sean Preston, president and CEO of the National Corvette Museum, did the honors instead, but not before a bit of fanfare.

Kai Spande, manager of the Bowling Green Assembly Plant, officially presented the keys to Andrea, standing beside her husband, the Board Chairman of the NCM, in the main lobby of the NCM. Specifically, at the corner of Victory Lane and Corvette Boulevard, because who doesn’t want to take delivery of their shiny new ’Vette under those auspicious signs? Spande has worked at the Corvette plant for nearly five years now, and shared his memory of his first brush with the mid-engine sports car with the assembled crowd. “The first meeting I had, they told me, ‘hey, there’s this little project that’s coming up …’ Turns out it was everything about [the C8], which has meant almost a billion dollars of investment and countless hours of effort from everybody in the plant. And now we have the fruits of our labor.”

All the crossed-flag fuzzy feelings were happening—and would continue for the happy couple, who planned an immediate shakedown return trip to Port Neches, Texas. More power to them, we say.

Are you roadtripping to Bowling Green for your C8? Post your big moment in the Hagerty Forums.