Ron Fellows Honored with First Signature Corvette Ever

Last Saturday at the Canadian International Auto Show, Ron Fellows made asurprise appearance to introduce the Ron Fellows ALMS GT1 Champion Corvette Z06 (that would be zed-oh-six north of the 49th) and sign some autographs for his loyal Canadian fans. This special Corvette Z06 is the first signed special edition in Corvette’s 54-year history. It’s also the first Arctic White Z06 ever offered, and only 399 are planned for production.

Fellows hand-signed each special-edition Corvette himself as it came off the production line. All Fellows Edition Corvettes come in Arctic White paint accented with racing-style fender stripes in Monterey Red Metallic stripes with Machine Silver borders and Fellows’ autograph in a contrasting Victory Red shade, along with the callouts of the championship years when he was at the wheel. There is also a maple leaf logo motif incorporated with the graphics, a nod to Fellows’ Canadian heritage. Indeed, even the red-over-white color scheme of the car’s paint and graphics represents Canada’s national livery.

Ed Peper, Chevrolet general manager said, “Ron Fellows is a part of Chevrolet’s racing heritage, and he has been instrumental in the remarkable success of the Corvette Racing team in the American Le Mans Series. The special signature-series Z06 model that bears his name will forever link him to one of the greatest eras in factory racing, which has produced six consecutive ALMS GT1 manufacturers’ championships and counting.”

Mechanically, the Fellows Corvettes are the same as the standard street-going Z06, developed in conjunction with Ron Fellows’ C6.R Corvette that races at  Le Mans, in the American Le Mans Series, and dominates the GT1 Class.

The visit to Toronto also coincided with the announcement that Fellows is trading his full-time seat in the C6.R Corvette for a limited role, competing in only the major endurance races (Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta) and his home track event Grand Prix of Mosport just outside of Toronto. He will also act as an Ambassador for Corvette Racing and play a greater role in development and driver training.

Some people get streets named after them, and if you donate enough dough, ahospital or maybe a library or some other edifice, but for a driver to have a car named after him must be very special, and Fellows agrees wholeheartedly, “Especially being a Corvette,” Fellows said. Good point. “It’s very cool, seeing the car - the first three - at the plant a couple of weeks ago, was very cool. I spent some time with the people at the plant, they were very excited - they were as excited as I was!”

Fellows was at the plant to sign each Fellows Z06 personally. “I hand signed all of them, and numbered them. it was the therapy for the first week without the sling,” Fellows joked about his recuperation period after surgery to his right shoulder a month or so ago.

The big question all Canadians wanted to know is just how many of the new Fellows Z06s will make it north of the border. When asked how many of the 399 were destined for Canada, Fellows chimed in with, “there’s going to be at least one here.” The Mississauga native has claimed the #001 for himself, and the first Canadian buyer was also on hand at the show to meet Fellows in person and get a couple more autographs. In all, 31 additional Fellows ‘Vettes will be going to Canada (for a total of 33), the remaining cars slated for the U.S. Are there really 366 ex-pat Canadians living in the U.S. would would want to pay premium pricing for a special edition Corvette Z06? Yes, there probably are, but in reality this is a collector car that will be sought after by American enthusiasts alike.