Multiple events on the books for 2026 at Corvette museum
Published 8:21 am Monday, January 5, 2026
The National Corvette Museum is revving up for a busy year as new construction, exhibits and returning fan-favorite events are all on the books for 2026.
“Every year at the National Corvette Museum is a big year, but 2026 will certainly be work for the museum history books,” Museum communications head Ryan Eichler told the Daily News.
October this year saw the museum turn dirt on a new, standalone facility that will provide increased space for the museum’s ever-growing collections of Corvette cars and artifacts.
The 66,000 square-foot facility represents the largest addition to the museum since 2009. Eichler said NCM is currently in possession of 125 cars, but the 115,000 square-foot museum can only hold between 40 and 50 on display at a time.
“A big part of our mission, is making sure that when we have these cars, that we put them on display, that we educate people about them,” he said. “If they’re stored in these small rooms and facilities all around the city of Bowling Green, that’s not as easy as if we have them all at the same facility on our Corvette campus.”
Aside from the Corvettes themselves, the museum maintains around 50,000 different artifacts that tie into the history of the Corvette. Eichler used as an example a pilot’s license for Zora Arkus-Duntov, the man credited with making the Corvette a true sports car.
Construction on the facility is expected to wrap up by fall 2026. Nothing in the current museum will be disturbed or closed off due to construction. After cars and artifacts are moved in, the site will open to the public in 2027. Among the cars that will be housed in the facility is a 1967 Stingray that was the personal Corvette of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong.
The museum will also launch a new exhibit in March 2026. Called “Driven to Preserve,” it will focus on the work done by the museum to collect and preserve Corvettes and its efforts to educate the public about the sports car’s history.
Eichler said this exhibit was chosen to highlight the maintenance and preservation work NCM does while tying into the collections expansion.
“We want to make sure that we want that we can tell that story in advance of the building opening, just to give people a little bit of a preview of this is what you’ll see in the building,” he said. “We have so many talented collections and preservation staff members that we’re able to actually to undergo some of these preservations and restorations ourselves.”
The exhibit will open March 12 and will run through early 2027.
For the first time since 2017 the museum will recognize select Corvette owners with the R8C Reunion, happening June 25-27.
“R8C” refers to an option code that Corvette buyers can select when ordering their cars. The option allows for “museum delivery” for the car, where buyers receive a personal tour of NCM and other memorabilia.
Eichler said more than 20,000 buyers have chosen the R8C option since it was introduced in 1995. Eichler said the museum went on a hiatus from the reunion to make way for other events, but many R8C buyers expressed interest in it returning.
“To be able to bring everybody back together that’s participating in that program is really, really exciting for us,” Eichler said.
For more information about NCM events in 2026, visit https://www.corvettemuseum.org/events/#calendar-events.
About Jack Dobbs
Jack covers city government for the Daily News. Originally from Simpson County, he attended Western Kentucky University and graduated in 2022 with a degree in journalism.
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