E. Pierce Marshall, Jr. of Dallas, TX is a self-proclaimed Corvette Junky as well as a proud Lifetime member of the National Corvette Museum. Having grown up with a father who also had a great love for America’s Sports Car, Pierce currently owns a total of 11 Corvettes. A supporter of the museum since its opening in 1994, Pierce has been purchasing our Corvette Raffle tickets for several years, often 15 at a time! This dedication finally paid off in November of 2011 when his winning ticket #181 was drawn in our raffle for a Build-Your-Own 2012 ZR1 Corvette. Pierce knew as soon as he won that he wanted to order a 2012 Centennial Edition ZR1, which is exactly what he did.In addition to his many Corvette Raffle ticket purchases, Pierce also became a One Acre Club member, writing a check on the day that he picked up his new ZR1. After seeing the progress that the NCM Motorsports Park project has made over the last year since his initial donation, Pierce recently decided to up the ante and become our very FIRST and only FIVE Acre Club member! We spoke with him recently about his generous contribution:
What is your “Corvette story”?
My father was a huge Corvette fan since he bought his first one in 1958, and he passed that passion (some might call it an obsession) on to me. He had taken me to Powell High Performance Driving School numerous times from the time I was 21 and all we drove were Corvettes. When I got out of law school in 1995, I finally had a chance to own one - I decided to build a replica of one I had seen on the cover of Car & Driver back in 1992: it had a Lingenfelter 383 and the Larry Shinoda body kit and I spent the next 3 years while in school drooling over the prospect of having one, one day. Needless to say, I’m great at buying them and not selling them!
What made you decide to join the One Acre Club and then the Five Acre Club?
I have been a huge fan of the Museum ever since, by complete happenstance, I was driving back to law school in September of 1994 on I-65 at 9:30pm and saw the spot lights during the Grand Opening event. It was open 24 hours all that weekend if I recall correctly. I somehow convinced my wife to let me pull in to check it out, despite how late it was. I was on Cloud 9! Unfortunately by the time I was done at midnight I had to drive 2 hours to find an available hotel room!
I first learned to drive Corvettes on the track at Mosport in Canada at John Powell’s driving school in 1988 and was blown away by what they could do right off of the showroom floor. By far, they are the best sports car available for the money. I am a Lifetime Member of the Museum and Corvette’s racing heritage is vital to its brand and pedigree – to have a track connected to the Museum was a project that I was extremely happy to see coming to fruition.
How do you plan to use the Motorsports Park?
I have a very heavily modified, track-dedicated 2007 Z06 Corvette, and I definitely want to bring that to the track one day to try it out!
Do you own a Corvette or multiples?
I have a small collection:
- 1961 Silver restored 283/315HP “Fuelie” with the Big Brake option
- 1961 Red 283/315HP “Fuelie” that my father owned new for just 2 years and then sold in 1963. He never stopped talking about how much he regretted selling that car for the rest of his life. I tracked it down and purchased it last year from the guy that had owned it since 1975; I am having it restored to the way my father had it 50 years ago.
- 1967 original Black/Black Coupe with a 427/435HP engine and 41,000 original miles- 98 point Bloomington Gold
- 1995 Admiral Blue with Z07 brake/suspension package, a Lingenfelter 383 and a Larry Shinoda Rick Mears Body Kit
- 2007 White Ron Fellows Edition Z06, #48
- 2007 Blue track Z06 for road racing (865HP and is normally aspirated)
- 2011 Blue Z06 Carbon Edition (Stock) Took Museum Delivery
- 2011 Blue Z06 Carbon Edition, which has a 1,200HP twin turbo C5R engine
- 2012 Centennial Edition ZR1- Took Museum Delivery, which I won in the January 2012 NCM raffle
- 2012 Centennial Edition ZR1-modified with 820HP
- 2013 Convertible 427 with the 60th Anniversary package
