Biden shows off 1967 Corvette at Newport car show: All the times his convertible landed him in hot water

Biden's 1967 Corvette was displayed at Fort Adams during the Audrain Concours, where Leno joined the former president and his grandson Robert “Hunter” Biden. Biden has long described the car as a wedding present from his father. During a 2022 appearance with Leno, he recalled arriving at his father's Chevrolet dealership before his wedding and being surprised with the car. “My dad says, ‘This is my wedding gift.’” Biden told the Newport crowd that he has now kept the Corvette for about 60 years and driven it approximately 200,000 miles.

The classic sports car created an awkward contrast with one of Biden's signature policy priorities while he was president: accelerating America's transition toward electric vehicles. During an Earth Day speech in Seattle in April 2022, Biden described himself as an “automobile buff” before joking about his own car, “I have a ’68 Corvette that does nothing but pollute the air.” Biden, apparently misstating the model year of his 1967 car, quickly added, “But I don't drive it very much.” He then joked about discovering that Ford's electric F-150 was “faster than my Corvette” and said that once he was out of office, “if they had the first electric Corvette, I want to buy it.”

The car resurfaced in controversy during Biden's August 2023 visit to Maui following the devastating Lahaina wildfires. Speaking to residents affected by the disaster, Biden recalled a fire at his Delaware home while attempting to relate his family's experience to those who had suffered losses. He began by explicitly cautioning, “I don't want to compare difficulties.” But one line quickly attracted attention: “I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette, and my cat.” Biden immediately added, “But all kidding aside,” and praised the firefighters who responded to his home. Still, mentioning his Corvette while addressing a community devastated by a deadly wildfire prompted criticism and became another unlikely moment in the car's political history.

Perhaps no episode tied the Corvette more closely to presidential controversy than the discovery of classified documents at Biden's Wilmington, Delaware, home. In January 2023, a reporter confronted Biden about classified material discovered in his garage and specifically mentioned its proximity to the Corvette. Biden responded: “My Corvette is in a locked garage.” He continued, “So, it's not like they're sitting out in the street.” When the reporter asked whether the material had therefore been in a locked garage, Biden replied, “Yes, as well as my Corvette.”

For all the political baggage the car has accumulated, Biden has continued publicly embracing it. His automotive friendship with Jay Leno stretches back years. Biden previously took the Corvette onto a private track for 'Jay Leno's Garage,' where he told the story of receiving it from his father. In another appearance, he raced the Sting Ray at a Secret Service training facility, reportedly reaching 118 mph. That made Sunday's Newport appearance something of a full-circle moment. Leno was once again beside Biden and the same Goodwood Green Corvette, nearly 60 years after it entered Biden's life and after an improbable series of cameos in his political career.