31st ANNUAL CORVETTE EXPO March 28-29, 2008 Sevierville Events Center -- Sevierville, TN The Murphy's and Clopton's met new members Tom & Mary Kitchens in Andrews, NC and then cruised through the Smoky Mountains to Sevierville, TN. Allan and Maryanne Hudson had already arrived at the hotel after drving up from Florida. Allan Hudson is a collector, car restorer, buyer and seller of cars and car parts, and owns several Corvettes - old and new. We really had a wonderful time attending the show and socializing with Corvette friends. As usual, the guys were interested in the Expo itself as the ladies proceeded to find the shops and outlet malls. We arrived at the Expo Thursday afternoon and viewed the set-up of the interior and exterior display, sales, and sway meet areas. Two annual Corvette Expo shows (spring & fall) were held in Knoxville, TN for many years but the show outgrew the space available resulting in their move to the new Sevierville Events Center for the 2007 Fall Corvette Expo Show. The Sevierville Events Center is still under construction but appears to be a great venue for this spring and fall event. The SE Center has a large indoor facility and plently of sectioned parking areas to accommodate different types of outdoor displays. The indoor faciltiy housed some of the more expensive cars ready for Saturday's auction and about one-half of the swap-meet vendors. Outside spaces were designated for car sales, a tent for the live auction, a large area for car parts and accessories, a Corvette Corral, and several areas for spectator parking. On the down-side: food was too expensive, the Corvette Corral was not too small, and the Corvette Expo might quickly outgrow this facility. ************************ JR & Barbara Murphy Sold their 2003 AE Convertible I (Gene) left the hotel a short time after JR and Allan and as I arrived at the Events Center Friday morning, I met Curtis (from Alabama) in the parking lot. Curtis stopped me to ask some general questions about C5's because he was interested in purchasing a Torch Red C5. Curtis already owns several mid-year Corvettes, buys and sells Corvettes, but he had not yet owned a C5. We talked for about 30 minutes and then proceeded inside to the display area. A few hours later we visited the food court for lunch and Curtis came up and introduced himself to JR Murphy and Allan Hudson. Curtis talked about his search for a Torch Red C5 when JR mentioned that his 2003 Torch Red AE Convertible was for sale. To make a long story shorter --- two pictures below identify the exchange of materials from JR's Corvette to Curtis' truck as the Corvette keys were given to the new owner. JR and Barbara were driving today (30th) to a meeting location west of Atlanta to return the truck and complete the sale. JR and Barbara are now in a search for another Corvette -- the wheeling & dealing continues!!!!      ************************ Sevierville Events Center                 ************************ A Recovery Project - Selling Price as-is $15,000