Most liked posts in thread: Mother Earth is eating Corvettes!

Steve · Apr 5, 2014

They're getting to the buried ones. Check out the latest pics over at Jalopnik. Yikes!

Look At These Stunning Photos From The Corvette Museum Sinkhole

Steve · Apr 10, 2014

Removal of this last and most buried of the 'Vettes is painful to watch.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWJSDwUUlqk"]2001 Z06 Mallett Hammer Recovery - YouTube[/ame]

Nathan · Apr 10, 2014

Yeah, it aint pretty.

agranger · Apr 15, 2014

I heard an interview with a couple who had donated their favorite 'vette to the museum. It got there and they had it in storage for 6-8 months. It was put on display and 2 weeks later, the sinkhole ate it. The couple never even had the chance to go and see their car on display!

Steve · Apr 23, 2014

Lifted from a short article elsewhere:

The original plan was for GM to restore all eight Chevy Corvettes, but the damage on some of the cars is extensive. That combined with a request from enthusiasts to keep the cars in their current state is making GM and the museum consider leaving some of the cars alone, and simply keeping them as a special display. They are even considering keeping a section of the sinkhole unfixed, to include it in the display.

Currently, the National Corvette Museum has all of the damaged cars on display and will keep them there throughout the summer, but the future of the cars is unknown. When asked what GMâ€™s plans are, GM spokesman Monte Doran said, â€œThatâ€™s something that we need to discuss further with the museum.â€

A team from GM will be brought in to assess the cars and evaluate the easiest way to fix them. Similarly, the museum has already brought in a team of architects and geologists to study the sinkhole and devise a plan to fix the floor.
Click to expand...

Spa2k · Apr 25, 2014

The National Corvette Museum won't be restoring all of the Great 8 Corvettes that were swallowed by Mother Earth. First, attendance is way up at the museum since the sinkhole event, so it only makes sense that the facility take advantage of all those admission dollars. Second, museum staff will be meeting with GM officials next month to decide which cars will be restored and which ones will continue to be displayed in their current condition. A couple of the Vettes obviously are beyond restoration and would have to be almost totally recreated from new parts, and those crushed cars have more value to the museum if left as-is. After all, who doesn't love to see a really good car accident? :wink:

Nathan · Apr 25, 2014

I'm glad they are not going to restore all of them.

vetsvette · Apr 25, 2014

I'm a lifetime member of the museum. I did the caravan for the 5th anniversary of the museum and the one for the 50 year anniversary of Corvette. Haven't been back since. I need to remedy that.

vetsvette · Apr 25, 2014

Always wanted to do the museum delivery option.

Steve · Sep 2, 2014

They've decided to fill the hole. If you want to see it, visit sooner than later.

Corvette Museum Fill Sinkhole, Three Damaged Corvettes To Be Restored (motorauthority.com)

Antony Ingram | Sep 2, 2014

For car fans, it wasn't an easy sight to see: Several of the world's rarest Corvettes, resting in a crumpled heap at the bottom of a large sinkhole under the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Now, the future is looking brighter for three of those Corvettes, which General Motors Company [NYSE:GM] has vowed to restore.

Chevrolet will restore the 2009 Corvette ZR1 prototype known as 'Blue Devil', and the 1-millionth Corvette. It will also provide funds for restoration of the 1962 Corvette damaged in the sinkhole, which the museum itself will oversee. Five other vehicles damaged by the sudden geological feature will not be repaired, as "restoration would be impractical" according to GM product chief and Corvette fan Mark Reuss. Instead, the remaining cars will be put on display in their damaged state for visitors of the museum. GM will provide nearly $250,000 in total to help the museum recover from the disaster.

The hole itself was to remain a feature initiallyâ€”visits jumped by 60 percent following the incidentâ€”but that is no longer the case. Museum executive director Wendell Strode says the cost of preserving part of the hole, which has become a tourist attraction since its Corvette-swallowing incident, could run to $1 million more than restoring the Skydome section of the museum to its pre-disaster state.

The five vehicles not receiving restoration include a 1984 PPG Pace Car Corvette, 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette, 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette, the 1,500,000th Corvette (built in 2009), and a 1993 Corvette ZR1 Spyder, on loan from GM. Of the eight, the Mallett Hammer Z06 was the last to be rescued and in the sorriest state, its mangled wreckage barely recognizable as a Corvette. Now, at least, a handful of the cars will be restored to their former gloryâ€”though those wishing to visit the hole that consumed them should probably do so in the near future. The museum celebrated its 20th anniversary at the weekend.
Click to expand...

vetsvette · Sep 2, 2014

Wow. 20th Anniversary. Didn't realize it had been that long. The first museum event I was involved with was in '99, the 5th Anniversary Caravan which consisted of over 10,000 Vettes. The last one I participated in was in '03, the 50th Anniversary of Corvette and was even bigger. I need to dust off my old '96 C4 and get involved again. Just like with the Mini, you meet a lot of nice people at these events.

rkw · Jun 15, 2015

Chevrolet's press release: Sinkhole-Swallowed 1 Millionth Corvette Restoration Underway

WARREN, Mich. â€“ Craftspeople and technicians at the General Motors Design Center are painstakingly restoring the historic 1 millionth Chevrolet Corvette damaged nearly 16 months ago when a sinkhole opened beneath the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky.

The restoration crew is part of GMâ€™s Mechanical Assembly group at the Design Center, which typically spends its time building prototype and concept vehicles. The white 1992 Corvette is a challenge because rather than build an all-new vehicle from the ground up, the workers are trying to preserve the original appearance of a production vehicle.

It is the second of three sinkhole-damaged Corvettes that Chevrolet has pledged to restore. The first, a 2009 Corvette ZR1 prototype known as the Blue Devil, was only lightly damaged and was returned to its original condition last fall. The National Corvette Museum will oversee the restoration of the third car, a 1962 Corvette.

Five other Corvettes swallowed by the sinkhole will remain in their as-recovered state to preserve the historical significance of the cars. They will become part of a future sinkhole-themed display at the museum.

Sinkhole summary

On Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014, at 5:44 a.m., National Corvette Museum personnel were notified by their security company about the burglar alarm going off in the Skydome area of the museum. Upon arrival at the museum, a sinkhole measuring about 45-by-60 feet wide and 30-foot deep was discovered.

Security camera footage showing the Skydome floorâ€™s collapse has been viewed more than 8.5 million times on YouTube.

Eight historic Corvettes â€“ two on loan from GM and six owned by the museum â€“ were swallowed that day:

1993 ZR-1 Spyder (on loan)
2009 ZR1 â€œBlue Devilâ€ prototype (on loan)
1962 Corvette
1984 PPG Pace Car
1992 1 millionth Corvette
1993 40th Anniversary Corvette
2001 â€œMallett Hammerâ€ Z06
2009 1.5 millionth Corvette
On March 3, 2014, the 2009 Blue Devil was the first car recovered and despite significant damage was started and driven out of the Skydome. The 1.5 millionth Corvette and Mallet Corvette were the last cars pulled from the sinkhole, on April 3 and April 9, respectively â€“ after workers were initially unable to find them amid the collapsed earth.
Click to expand...

Steve · Feb 18, 2016

Corvette Museumâ€™s Sinkhole Exhibit Now Open (autoguide.com)

By Jason Siu | Feb 18, 2016

The National Corvette Museum has opened its Corvette Cave In! Skydome Sinkhole Experience.

More than two years have passed since a massive sinkhole opened up inside the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and now visitors can check out the Corvette Cave In! exhibit. The new exhibit features the renovated Skydome with all eight Corvettes that were swallowed up by the sinkhole. While the museum originally wanted to preserve the sinkhole, it determined that it wouldnâ€™t be feasible, leading them to do the next best thing.

A line on the floor now outlines where the sinkhole was and a second line marks where the cave still resides. The museum added a 48-inch manhole that allows visitors to take a look into a glass window to see the floor of the sinkhole, which is more than 30 feet down.

The exhibit, which is open to the public and is included with regular museum admission, is divided into multiple sections: The Day, Media Coverage, Pop Culture, Cars Affected, The Recovery, Karst Landscapes, What It Took to Fix the Sinkhole and The Grand Finale that combines photos, videos, informational text and interactive experiences that visitors of all ages can enjoy. There is even a crane game that visitors can play to remove boulders, debris and Corvettes from the sinkhole.

â€œProbably two days after the sinkhole happened, after we realized it could be fixed and once we saw more and more visitors starting to trickle in from the interstate, we shifted our attitude. We embraced the situation,â€ said Katie Frassinelli, marketing and communications manager for the Museum. â€œHonestly, it paid off big for us. Our attendance had leveled out around 150,000 in 2013, but in 2014 it skyrocketed to our highest number ever â€“ over 250,000 visitors. Even last year we had 220,000 visitorsâ€¦ which if you remove our Corvette caravan event attendance from 2014 (a once-every-five-years blowout event), then 2015 was actually higher.â€
Click to expand...

BruceK · Feb 19, 2016

I suppose we are supposed to look at this latest development in the mode of 'making lemonade out of lemons', but I watched a news story about this entire new major interactive section of the Corvette museum and the execution of it was way, way over the top. Note that is branded as a "sinkhole experience" rather than just a simple exhibit.

The over the top approach is kinda fitting though for the intended audience of Corvette fans.

Forums

Most liked posts in thread: Mother Earth is eating Corvettes!

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Nathan Founder

agranger MINI of the Month June 2009
Supporting Member

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Spa2k Well-Known Member

Nathan Founder

vetsvette MINI Alliance Ambassador

vetsvette MINI Alliance Ambassador

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

vetsvette MINI Alliance Ambassador

rkw Well-Known Member

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

BruceK Active Member

Useful Searches

Most liked posts in thread: Mother Earth is eating Corvettes!

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Nathan Founder

agranger MINI of the Month June 2009 Supporting Member

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Spa2k Well-Known Member

Nathan Founder

vetsvette MINI Alliance Ambassador

vetsvette MINI Alliance Ambassador

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

vetsvette MINI Alliance Ambassador

rkw Well-Known Member

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

BruceK Active Member

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

agranger MINI of the Month June 2009
Supporting Member

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator