Many of our readers will remember Bob McDorman and Bob McDorman Chevrolet. For years, his dealership held page one in Vette Vues Magazine.
For those of you who did not know him, he was a Chevrolet Dealer for just shy of 50 years in Canal Winchester, just outside of the Columbus, Ohio, area. Bob held a Chevrolet show each year at his dealership.
He was perhaps the most dedicated dealer of all time and won numerous business awards. In 1978 and 2007, Bob received the TIME Magazine Quality Dealer Award. In 2004 Bob was given the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Columbus Auto Dealers Association.
In 2005, Bob was the first Chevrolet dealer to build a Corvette-only showroom.
He was inducted into the Bloomington Gold Great Hall in 2010 and, in 2012, the National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame. Both honors are well deserved for a man that played such an important role in the Chevrolet world.
Bob and his wife Alice were also known for their incredible generosity, giving to local charities. Every year, Bob McDorman donated a significant portion of the proceeds from the annual Chevy show to the Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. By 2012, he had given more than $250,000. Bob was also a huge supporter of the Corvette Museum.
Vette Vues Magazine covered his annual event, “Corvettes on the Canal,” since Bob started it in 1974. At one time, this was one of the largest Chevy/Corvette shows in the country.
Bob McDorman has had several Collections.
Over the years, Bob McDorman has had several “collections” with literally hundreds of classic Chevrolets in them. In the 1990s, Bob McDorman began collecting brand-new Corvettes with delivery miles, typically Serial No. 1 pilot cars or special editions. Bob McDorman has amassed some of the most significant and well-known collections of Chevrolets and Corvettes ever assembled. In his collection (later sold in 2010), Bob included at least one of every model year Corvette. He also had prototypes and celebrity vehicles owned by people like Alan Jackson, George Strait, Burt Reynolds, Dolly Parton, John Mellencamp, Johnny Carson, and Mario Andretti. As you can see, Bob McDorman was not only a dealer but was also a huge Chevrolet collector of Chevy cars as well as neon and memorabilia.
Bob McDorman Chevrolet in Canal Winchester was sold in 2011. Because of this, in 2010, Mecum Auction sold about 150 of the cars in his then collection, along with signs and memorabilia.
In July 2014, Bob McDorman opened the Bob McDorman Museum, but he died less than one year later, in May 2015, at the age of 82. The museum closed in December 2016. This last collection of Bob’s recently went to the Mecum Auction in Indy at No Reserve. Forty-one cars went to the May auction.
Bob McDorman’s Collection SOLD at Dana Mecum’s 30th Original Spring Classic. Here are the results:
- 1953 Lot T123 Sold $220,000
- 1993 Corvette 40th Ann Lot T125 Sold 23,000
- 1978 Pace Car Lot T126 Sold 57,500
- 1978 Pace Car Lot T127 Sold $110,000
- 2012 Corvette ZR1 Lot T129 Sold $77,500
- 1986 Pace Car Lot T131 Sold $45,000
- 2013 60th Ann Lot T132 Sold $68,000
- 1963 Split Window Lot T133 Sold $105,000
- 2003 50th Ann Lot T140 Sold $30,000
- 2012 Grand Sport Centennial Edition Lot T140.1 Sold for $55,000
- 1972 LT1 Coupe Lot T144 Sold $39,000
- 1986 Pace Car Lot T145 Sold $21,000
- 1996 Collector Edition Lot T146 Sold $25,000
- 1954 Corvette Roadster Lot T149 Sold $75,000
- 1988 35th Ann Lot T150 Sold $24,000
- 1990 Corvette Convertible Lot T150.1 Sold for $16,500
- 1962 Corvette Convertible Lot T151 Sold for $82,500
- 2013 ZO6 60th Ann Lot T152 Sold $70,000
- 1982 Collector Edi Lot T154 Sold $33,000
