Corvette Spy Photo Source: Not only did he take photos - HE TOOK A TEST DRIVE!

[Perian]

Link: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...702240360/1148

Shutterbug took 'Vette for joyride - Eric Morath / The Detroit News

A Romulus loading dock worker not only took spy photos of a top-secret Chevrolet Corvette -- he took the super high-performance sports car for a test drive, according to a police report.

The employee drove the prototype car, valued at $1 million, around a parking lot on Monday, and used a camera phone to take some 23 photos of the vehicle, the report states.

The incident took place at the Central States Trucking Co.'s facility near Detroit Metropolitan Airport the day before the vehicle was shipped to Germany

Several photos showing the Corvette's exterior and engine began appearing Thursday on auto enthusiast Web sites. The police report specifically said the pictures were sent to fast-autos.net.

Pictures were removed from that site at Central States Trucking's request, but remained on other sites, such as www.jalopnik.com.

The car was identified as a prototype of the 2009 Corvette SS, a 600-plus horsepower supercar dubbed the "Blue Devil," after General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner's alma mater, Duke University.

The police report said the loading dock worker was fired and civil action may be pending. He had worked for Central States Trucking since June.

A source close to the situation, who asked not to be identified, said it is odd that such a highly sensitive vehicle was packed in such an unsecured fashion, to the point it could be driven, rather than completely crated.

[Perian]

Note to Jim Dunne: You've met your match!

[ByTheLake]

Call me suspiciouos, but this whole story could be an intentional corporate 'leak'.

[kenman923]

That photo is too awesome. Thanks for sharing it.

[saturnsteve]

Balls, man, pure balls, that's all I have to say.

[PontiacBixler]

well, it's not like Ford or Dodge are going to be able to supe up their super cars in time for when the Corvette SS come out. Plus GM has this knack for showing their cards way too early.... I agree, I smell a conspiracy here.

[E. Haskell]

Originally Posted by saturnsteve

Balls, man, pure balls, that's all I have to say.

Yep, if true, he did what many of us say we would do.

[Lewie]

Originally Posted by ByTheLake

Call me suspiciouos, but this whole story could be an intentional corporate 'leak'.

especially since they haven't shown a picture of the guy, or given his name...it just all seems like a fake story.

[HoosierRon]

I have a hard time believing that GM would say "Here you go, transport company, here are the keys to a $1,000,000.00 car. Make sure it gets to the Ren Cen by next Tuesday." They are not that stupid.

[minnfang]

"The incident took place at the Central States Trucking Co.'s facility near Detroit Metropolitan Airport the day before the vehicle was shipped to Germany."

If this is true, sounds like the car is headed to the "Ring" for final chassis tuning.

[fastball]

For something as highly classified as this, why would GM outsource the shipping? You would think GM would handle this internally. When the President flies somewhere, they don't UPS his motorcade to that city. It's loaded on AF1 by the Secret Service themselves. GM should have something like that for a car of that caliber.

I could see them using Central Trucking company for a Malibu or a Cobalt. But not a one million dollar prototype of a very high performance car.

[HoeyHimself]

How can you convict a guy for doing that?! I mean seriously, cut your loses GM and take comfort in knowing that you indulged a guys life long dream. He will have a story to tell his children and his grandchildren about the time he drove a prototype super-vette and got in a little trouble. But jail time..thats just ridiculous.

[HoosierRon]

From another thread:

What's In The Box?

Autocar Staff
23 Febuary 2007
www.autocar.co.uk

It's not every day that a 1.8-tonne, car-sized wooden crate arrives at Vauxhall's Luton headquarters via air freight from Melbourne, Australia, but one day this week, that's exactly what happened. You're looking at a picture of that crate; there are more pictures like it in our gallery.

Right now, we can't tell you what was in the air-freighted container; Vauxhall has sworn us to secrecy until Monday morning at 8.00am, when all will be revealed.

Consider this, though. Melbourne is home to Holden, General Motors Aussie business arm, from whom Vauxhall had been waiting for a replacement for its 400bhp Monardo VXR since that car was discontinued last year.

They manage to box up a Vauxhall, but we are to believe that GM just drove the Corvette SS up to the shipping docks and said "here you go."

[Dizzer]

I would have done the same thing, only far worse. I would have taken it out onto I-94.

This story is 14m 59s into it's life.

[IROCNROL1]

I feel better knowing he at least got to drive it before getting fired.