Every year, the New Zealand Corvette Nationals are held in a different town, similar to what most car clubs do. For 2025, that meant Masterton, and we were invited to attend, naturally bringing along our own 2002 C5 Corvette that we bought in Los Angles in 2023, drove 12,000km across the USA, and then shipped to New Zealand.
With almost 100 Corvettes in attendance, one of the organisers, Jane Martindale, says that this was a typical number of cars for the event. The standout for the GMSV Corvette Nationals 2025 was the 40 ‘first time attending’ such an event – which is really exciting say the organisers, as the Nationals have been occurring for decades, and some of the foundational attendees are either unable to attend, or have passed away.
The weekend was run in a typical fashion; drinks and dinner on Friday night, show ‘n shine and judging on Saturday morning, an event on Saturday afternoon and then dinner and prize-giving in the evening. Sunday would see a run to Martinborough for the Corvettes, and then people would go their own way home.
Lots of pre-publicity was done by the organisers, so there were many locals milling about Copthorne Hotel on the Saturday morning, the central base for the event. Cars were perfectly lined up for both the public viewing and judging; every different model of Corvette was set up with like models. The hotel grounds were packed with members of the public by midday.
The ‘Mothers Show and Shine’ on the Saturday morning was a fantastic community event – public were welcomed to come and vote for their favourite car, with any donated koha gifted back to the local Solway Primary School. School volunteers helped to manage the crowd – handing out voting forms, directing them to the voting box and fundraising raffle (of a Limited Edition diecast C8 model) and collecting donations/koha.
In the afternoon, all cars did a casual 20-minute drive to Matahiwi Estate Winery, and the grapes were a Pinot variety. Attendees will be sent a bottle of Rosé mid-year, once the wine is made from the grapes harvested and pressed on the day.
Sunday saw a convoy to Brackenridge Country Retreat, just out of Martinborough. A sumptuous lunch was followed by the prizegiving awards (Public Choice and attendees votes of ‘best in class’). The convoy route took the picturesque route through the South Wairarapa – Homebush/Gladstone/Longbush/Hinakura.
2025 NEW ZEALAND CORVETTE NATIONALS – OWNER PROFILES
C1, 1958: Owner Jack Gillman, Christchurch
Jack has owned his C1 for around 20 years, and this is his first-ever Corvette. Why a C1? “I love the classic lines,” says Jack, “and the 1958s are the only one with chrome louvres on the bonnet, and that’s another feature I love.” The 1958 model Corvette was also the first one with twin headlights, another thing that Jack was looking for. He goes on to say from 1959, GM started to remove chrome from the car; for example, the ‘shark’s teeth’ grille used much finer chrome teeth. Jack wants more chrome, not less.
He bought his C1 from a guy in Auckland, who owned 5 Corvettes. The owner had a stroke, and couldn’t drive a manual Corvette anymore, let alone one with no power steering and unboosted 4-wheel drum brakes.
His Corvette has done 160,000 miles, and when you realise the car is 67 years old, that is very low mileage – just 2,400 miles per year.
Reliability-wise, Jack’s C1 has given him little trouble over 20 years of ownership; he’s done the usual maintenance and rebuilt the gearbox. The frost plugs jumped out once, but they are sorted now.
One huge improvement he made to his C1 is to replace the cross-ply tyres with Coken radials, that look like cross plys. “It tracked so badly on the cross plys, the car just wanted to follow every line on the road. I needed a massage after every drive with those tyres on.” With radial tyres, he now takes the car around Ruapuna track on club days.
After 20 years of driving it every 3 or 4 weeks, is Jack tired of it? “Absoutely not. I love driving this car, and even the boy racers love it. They ride up right behind it to try and read the badges, they just don’t know what it is.”
C2, 1966: Owner Dave Looce
Dave owns a big-block 427 Roadster that he purchased when the car had done just 26,000 miles – it’s now sitting on a low 33,000 miles.
It was imported by a young New Zealand woman who bought the car while studying at Princeton University, in New Jersey. Her and her boyfriend of the day had heard there was a market in New Zealand for cars for racing. So they borrowed money from their friends and bought the car at a few months old, and drove it across the USA.
They then shipped it home, but didn’t realise there was a covenant that you had to own the car for two years in before you could sell it. “The car actually broke down, so they took it to Bruce Elders’ house for repair,” says Dave. “They had heard there was work in the USA so they left the car with Bruce and it sat outside for two years, with grass growing up around the car, and it was covered in bird droppings.”
They eventually sold to Bruce in 1969 but in the end, he got bad arthritis and Dave bought it from him. “I’d known Bruce for 30 years and it took a long time for him to trust me enough to sell it to me.” Bruce could no longer change gear in the manual Corvette, so it had to go. Dave had a 1963 C2 Corvette Roadster that he had owned for 33 years, but once he convinced Bruce to sell him this C2, he had a buyer all ready to go.
Whoever ordered it new added only two options – the biggest possible motor (7 litres) and a teak steering wheel. It’s a strange combination but that’s America for you. That means the car has hubcaps, no power steering and is painted in white – a rare colour for a C2 Corvette. It was the least desirable colour of the C2 Corvette.
The woman who imported the car is still alive, and Dave is still in touch with her now and then. Whenever Dave takes the C2 to an event like this one, he sends her photos of ‘her’ car.
It still has it original paint, which is polished down to the primer in places. “This car tells a story,” says Dave. “It’s original and hasn’t been smashed. It has the biggest and highest horsepower engine available for that year, and has no power accessories fitted.” The brakes are not boosted but are disc brakes, at least.
Problems with the car? “When it came out, petrol was about 10 cents a gallon. It’s an alcoholic, and loves to drink gas.”
C3, 1969: Owner Graham McDonald
Incredibly, Graham bought his 427 Tripower C3 from the original owner in Oregon. Graham is a member of the National Corvette Restorers Society (NCRS) and they knew he was looking for one, and put him in touch with the owner.
The original owner was a soldier who came back from Vietnam, had lots of money saved, and bought the C3 new in 1970. The car was sitting in a dealer’s lot, and it was the most expensive of the Corvettes. Graham has now owned the 427 for 20 years, and before that owned a 1963 split window Corvette.
Other than having the bonnet repainted, the car is totally original and unmolested, unmodified. The ‘Tripower’ part of it is the three 2-barrel carburettors. Under normal conditions, the car runs on the centre pair. If the driver floors the gas pedal, at 4,500rpm the rear pair then kick in and at 5,500rpm the front pair then start working. What does it feel like when that last pair open up, and all six carbs are working? “It’s like two rockets going off,” says Graham.
While the car was supposed to have 435hp when new, Graham had his car checked on the dyno, and it’s putting out 450hp at the rear wheels. That’s a phenomenal amount of power, and one that needs some respect when driving. “It can be a handful in the wet,” Graham tells me. You can tell it’s a tripower car, since the rev counter goes up to 7,000rpm. For an overhead-valve motor, that’s extremely high.
With power like that, you’d need good brakes. It feels strange that this car, with its 7-litre V8 and so much horsepower doesn’t even have a brake booster. “That’s how you can tell a fake Tripower,” says Graham, “none of the high-power Corvettes of this era had boosted brakes.” The year 1969 was the last year of the tripower Corvettes.
He’s had no problems with the car at all, other than the desire to run it on 100 octane fuel, and the fact that it drinks so much fuel.
C4 ZR1, 1993: Owner Kevin Davis, Dunedin
Kevin has owned his C4 ZR1 for 14 years, and still loves it. He bought the car in Invercargill, and has driven it all over New Zealand. “This car is no garage queen”, says Kevin. It gets driven at least every month, and he once took it to Ashburton to check it out for a quarter-mile drag, and managed to reach 140mp/h in the standing 400 metres. Unfortunately, no one told him that after the quarter mile, the road turned to gravel. It could have ended badly, but he learnt quickly about the hazard. “I did need a change of underwear that day” he adds. “I hit that gravel and I think I met Jesus. At that speed, it was crazy.”
Like others, this is not his first Corvette, having previously owned two C3 models. Why the C4? “I didn’t know the ZR1 model of the C4 existed,” he says, “but once I read all about them, I was hooked and had to have one.” The ZR1 had an all-new, all -alloy 5.7-litre engine, with heads developed by Lotus (then owned by General Motors). It’s a 32-valve motor, so 4 valves per cylinder, and is double overhead cam.
For an American motor of its day it was incredibly advanced, and the car was dubbed ‘King of the hill’ for its outstanding performance, beating its competition such as the Porsche 911. The C4 ZR1 could acclerate to 100km/h in 4.6 seconds and in 1993, that was outstanding. Power output is 405hp (302kW) and torque is listed at 522Nm.
Other than the motor, the ZR1 also had adjustable suspension and other gadgets such as tyre pressure monitoring – pretty advanced for a car designed forty years ago. He does have an issue with getting the right tyres in New Zealand, so has to import them from the USA. They are 17”, but 275s on the front, and 315s on the rear.
To date, Kevin’s ZR1 has done 131,000km and other than regular servicing, has had few issues. That’s surprising since Kevin’s car is factory at 405hp, but with extractors and other mods, now outputs 450hp.
C5 1998, Richard Brace
Richard bought his C5 3 years ago, and drives it whenever he can. Unlike every other person I spoke to, this is his first Corvette. “I’ve owned hot rods and always liked the Corvette, but felt they were out of my league. Three years ago I was in the USA, and found a C3 Corvette for sale for $1,500 and I was extremely tempted. But the compliance process scared me, I just didn’t know enough about it to take the gamble. Also, I wanted a turn-key car, and not another project.”
Luckily, a friend of Richard’s was selling the 1998 C5. The thing that caught his eye was the colour – Nappa Blue. It’s rare in the C5, and it looks stunning; Richard says in 1998, just 26 C5s were painted in Nappa Blue.
His C5 looks particularly good due to the genuine magnesium alloy wheels fitted to the car. Those wheels themselves are collectable, with few C5 Corvettes being optioned with them.
After three years of ownership, he’s had no issues with the car other than replacing a ball joint. He is very happy with the cheap cost of Corvette parts, and will bring them in directly from the USA if needed.
Mainly, Richard loves driving his Corvette; after a string of hot rods, the C5 is in another league. Like other Corvette owners with the LS motor, he’s stunned by just how economical the Corvette can be.
C6, 2012: Owner John Lord, Wellington
What drew me to John’s C6 were two things; the amazing exterior colour, and then the interior colour. The car is painted in the rare Atomic Orange colour, and the interior is tan, so not black. It’s a rare combo for a C6 Corvette.
John has owned the car for six years, and was desperate to buy an Atomic Orange C6, with good reason. “In 2007, I was privileged to be in Bowling Green, Kentucky, at the Corvette Museum, when Harlen Charles, Chevrolet’s Corvette Product Marketing Manager, drove the very first Atomic Orange C6 straight out of the factory from the assembly line and across the road to the museum,” says John. “It was sitting outside the museum in the brilliant sunshine, and I thought ‘Oh my God, that’s the most beautiful car I’ve ever seen and I’ll never be able to afford one.’ But six years ago all that changed.”
John was going to Auckland to look at “yet another” C3 Corvette to add to his collection, and spotted the C6 that had just been imported. The car had literally been pushed out of a shipping container and was covered in grime, in the TradeMe photos.”
As soon as John saw the car, even filthy, that was it. But the dealer didn’t realise the rarity of the colour and put it down as Metallic Bronze. That dealer rang John later and said he’d made a mistake, when he realised the actual colour. “Twelve months later I called in to see the dealer, and he told me he could have sold the car ten times over for a lot more cash – this is while he had his hands around my neck.”
The colour was a limited run so is much in demand. “Rare as hen’s teeth,” says John.
After his C3, driving the C6 was a huge difference – not just in features, but also driveability. “It’s so economical,” John adds. “And reliable – that LS motor is a great all-round engine.”
He took his C6 for a trip around the South Island with his daughter, and was stunned by just how much the boot can hold – for such a car. There is 634 litres of space available behind the seats. That’s outstanding for a sports car and puts to shame many sedans and SUVs.
John has done a few simple mods to his car, like a stainless steel exhaust system (“the car was too quiet for me”), and he replaced the headlights with C7-style LED units that look excellent. He’s also fitted some huge chrome alloy wheels on the car, and they look stunning. He’s happy with the car now, and has no plans to do any other mods.
C7, 2016: Owners Dave & Brenda Emms, Christchurch
This couple have owned their supercharged LT4 C7 Corvette for just under a year. They still own a C6 Corvette that they’ve had for 7 years. They bought the C7 from Hamilton, and love it, according to Dave. “It’s a beautiful car, so much more modern than our C6.” Another bonus of their C7 is that it’s done just 7,000km. But it’s still not a garage queen and the pair often drive it over to the west coast.
It’s great on long road trip, says Dave, although he says the Michelin tyres do sing quite a bit. He’s put some sound deadening in the boot area to quieten it down, and says that has helped a lot. The boot is also one of the reasons that Brenda prefers the C7 over the already large boot of the C6; “It’s got huge boot space,” she says, “and many other ladies I know are jealous of just how much we can fit in there.”
WIth a huge supercharged V8, you would think this car would be a handful in the wet, and it can be, says Dave. “The rear tyres are wide, so I tread very carefully in wet weather. But driving it with some respect to the 485kW (650 horse-power) it has, helps keep it on the road.”
C8, 2023: Owner Doug Renner, Tirau
Like Jack with his C1, Doug Renner bought his C8 second-hand from a guy in Auckland (but not the same guy). The car had done just 2,300km, but the owner wanted the Z06 model. Doug had seen the C8 when they were publically launched at Americana, and was blown away that they were something totally different, with the engine in the rear.
This is Doug’s third Corvette; he’s also owned a red C7 with a manual gearbox, and a C5 Z06 – also with a manual gearbox. He laments that the C8s are all automatic, but appreciates the improvements in acceleration. “The manuals are too slow on the drag strip,” he says, ”where you can really get the power down with the C8, using launch control.”
He’s “100% happy” with his C8, although the tyre noise through the Michelin Pilot Sport tyres can get weary on coarse-chip seal. His C8 has now done 10,000km, so at least he’s using it a lot more than the original owner.
Would he upgrade to the C8 Z06? “It’s around twice the price. I just can’t justify it – and I value my driver’s license too much,” he says.
2025 CORVETTE NATIONALS – PHOTO GALLERY
