The most exciting thing to happen at the Detroit Auto Show today is President Joe Biden’s visit, which is currently still going on. And the most exciting thing to happen to the President is getting a private tour of the show floor from GM CEO Mary Barra, who then invited him to give the 5.5-liter flat-plane V8 on the new C8 Chevy Corvette Z06 a little gas.
the absolute wonder on this man’s face pic.twitter.com/uhbX0a42KL
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) September 14, 2022
Our good friend Tim Burke caught the whole thing one on of the Detroit Auto Show livestreams and it’s hilarious. Joe Biden, of course, is a well known Corvette enthusiast and was disappointed when he found out the Secret Service wasn’t going to let him drive his personal 1967 Corvette.
Upon arriving on the show floor he’s immediately implored to rev up the C8 and gladly complies.
“I tell you what, tell the head of my Secret Service detail I’m driving home,” Biden jokes. He then takes a moment to marvel at the car and says “That’s something else.”
Later on in the tour around the show President Biden paid a visit to Ford and bragged to Bill Ford, Jr. that his Corvette could go “0-60 mph in 5.3 seconds,” [Editor’s Note: We have yet to confirm this claim. – JT] though he admitted it wasn’t as fast as the Mustang Mach E he was looking at, which in GT form can hit the speed in 3.5 seconds.
“Does it have a launch button?” Biden wondered.