The latest episode of the Science
Channel’s How It’s Made: Dream Cars aired on Friday, October 3. It highlighted
the assembly process of the 2014 Corvette and was filmed at both Tonawanda
Engine in New York and Bowling Green Assembly in Kentucky.
Francois Senecal has directed
multiple episodes of the Science Channel show, and he was kind enough to let us
know how the Corvette stacks up against other vehicles he’s profiled.
Why did you choose to focus on the
Corvette?
The name of the series is, “How
It’s Made: Dream Cars” and if ever there was an American Dream Car, it’s the
Corvette. With the 2014 model representing the 7th generation of the
Corvette, it is one of the most recognizable sports cars manufactured in North
America. It had to be on my list of programs, along with the likes of the
Porsche 911 and the Audi R8.
What were your impressions of the Corvette
and the people who build it?
The 2014 Corvette is simply an
amazing car. The quality of the construction at all levels – engine, body
panels, chassis – is amazing. Even more amazing for me is that I have filmed
the Bugatti Veyron and the Pagani Huayra – two incredible cars with engines
that torque out more than 1000 hp. But the Corvette, for the quality of the
build, the aluminum chassis, power to weight ratio, its 430 to 460 hp engine
and starting price, is the dream car I can afford.
I have worked in a lot of factories
over the years for How It’s Made and I can tell the people who build the 2014
Corvette love the work they do. They are genuinely proud to work on the latest
version of one of North America’s most iconic vehicles.
What was the most interesting piece
of information you learned about the Corvette?
One really impressive moment was
filming the robots that assemble the aluminum chassis. I was greatly impressed
by the chassis manufacturing section, and the engine build in Tonawanda was
awesome too. Although I had seen lots of pictures of the car before getting to
Bowling Green, what surprised me the most was how beautiful it was in person –
both outside and inside.
How were the employees at Tonawanda
and Bowling Green involved in the process of creating the episode?
Everyone from Communications to the
people on the assembly line was generous with their time. It is important for
me not to get in the way of people when we film, but we are also there to do a
job. We want to take the best images to make the best program so the car we are
filming will look as fantastic as it does in real life. It was really a
great group effort and I cannot stop thanking everyone at GM and Corvette
enough for their assistance.
Is there anything else you’d like
FastLane readers to know about the Corvette episode?
I had the opportunity to drive the
Bugatti Veyron for a few hours. It’s priced at $2,000,000 US dollars. I also
drove the Corvette C7 for a few hours. Though the Bugatti is truly out of this
world, the Corvette was truly an impressive drive and I had more pleasure
driving it than the Bugatti. The Corvette is the affordable dream car and there
is no compromise in the quality of either the car or the driving experience.
How It’s Made: Dream Cars can be
seen on the Science Channel. Check your local listings for show times and
dates.
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