By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
From 1960 to 1964, a TV show called “Route 66,” starring Martin Milner and George Maharis, told the story of two young men who were in search of America on the famed Mother Road.
The series featured guest performances by several budding actors, including Robert Redford, Alan Alda and Robert Duvall. It also featured a car, a Corvette convertible that was light blue in color. That color was chosen because it filmed better than others in black and white.
From 4:30 to 6 p.m. Friday in downtown Joplin, there’s a good chance you will see a Corvette convertible on Route 66 like the one featured in the series.
More than 150 Corvettes will caravan from the Holiday Inn Convention Center to Main Street in downtown Joplin, where they will be displayed between Fourth and Seventh streets. That stretch of Main Street was a segment of the original Route 66.
“This is going to be a big block party for the city of Joplin,” said Bruce Layman, the organizer of the event that’s now in its second year. “Everyone is welcome, and everything is free to the public.
“We have 127 cars registered, so far. We expect 150 to 200 cars for the event. The oldest one is a 1958 model. We will have something from every year.”
Participants are coming to “Vettes in the Midwest: Kicking It on Route 66” from as far away as Venice, Fla., Layman said. Sixty cars are coming from Iowa alone.
After the block party on Main Street, the Corvettes will roll on old Route 66 to the Route 66 Drive-In at Carthage. Participants will watch a movie and then take a cruise around the square in Carthage.
On Saturday, another Corvette show will be staged from 1 to 3 p.m. inside the Holiday Inn Convention Center. After the show, the cars will travel old Route 66 through Galena and Baxter Springs in Kansas, and wind up at the Coleman Theatre in Miami, Okla. They’ll take Interstate 44 back to Joplin for a banquet Saturday night at the Holiday Inn.
“We have planned a wild weekend for them that is all centered on Route 66,” Layman said.
The event will raise funds for Children’s Haven, KOZJ public television and the 4-State Vettes Club. Details: www.vettesinthemidwest.com.
Auspicious beginning
The prototype of the Corvette debuted as part of General Motors’ Motorama exhibit at the 1953 New York Auto Show. The car was named by Myron Scott, founder of the All-American Soap Box Derby and an assistant advertising manager for Chevrolet.
After seeing the car at the auto show, thousands of potential buyers wanted to know when they could buy one. Just six months later, they could. The 1953 Corvette, virtually identical to the Motorama prototype, went into production on June 30, 1953, in Flint, Mich.
Source: www.edmunds.com
