The 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette is Out of the Sinkhole - But It’s Not Pretty (Video)

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After removing the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Blue Devil Prototype from the National Corvette Museum sinkhole this morning, the crew spent the afternoon successfully lifting the 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Edition Chevrolet Corvette out of the hole as well – although the damage to this classic Corvette is far too bad for it to drive away from the scene.

After the crew tasked with removing the 8 damaged sports cars from the sinkhole under the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green Kentucky spent the morning lifting the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Blue Devil so successfully that it was able to drive away, the team headed back into the hole after a quick lunch. The second task would be to hook up and extract the Ruby Red 1993 Chevrolet Corvette 40th Anniversary Edition which ended up right next to the 2009 Blue Devil on top of the huge pile of debris. The Ruby Red ’93 was on top of the pile but it was upside down so we didn’t know just how bad the damage would be and now that it is up on solid ground – we can see that the damage is extensive.

As was the case with the 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Blue Devil, the crew was able to lift the 1993 Ruby Red Corvette 40th Anniversary by the wheels, but unlike the Blue Devil – the team lifted the Ruby Red Corvette by just two wheels so that they could carefully set it down on its side…and then on its wheels. The video below from the National Corvette Museum shows the extraction process and while we don’t get a very good look at the Ruby Red 93 from the front, we can clearly see in the early stages of the video that the damage is extensive. The rear glass is gone and there is quite a bit of damage to the upper side of the back end and to the greenhouse. There is also a great deal of damage to the hood, although we don’t get much of a look at that in the video.

As the cameraman (or woman) moves around the Ruby Red 1993 Corvette, we can see that the front end portion of the car is clearly crooked with a ton of dirt packed into the front end and around the front suspension. We can also see that the front wheels are cocked two different directions, but the rest of the undercarriage appears to be in very good shape. The video ends as the car is lowered down over the reinforced portion of the Museum’s Skydome floor so we don’t get to see the aftermath in the video, but the National Corvette Museum also provided the image above that shows just how severe the damage is to the 40th Anniversary Corvette. It’s bad – real bad – and it wasn’t one of the cars buried under dirt, parts of the building and other cars. As much as the Blue Devil starting up and driving away made me feel a little better about the whole situation – seeing this 1993 40th Anniversary Edition in such poor repair really drives home the scope of the damages. Now that it is out, it will be carefully moved to the new sinkhole display alongside the 2009 Blue Devil until August 3rd…when it will be shipped to Michigan for a full restoration.

The extraction team will begin the process of removing the black 1962 Corvette from the sinkhole. That process is expected to take significantly longer than the Blue Devil or the Ruby Red ’93 due to the 10,000 pound slab of concrete that is resting against the front end of the classic Corvette. The team will need to remove both the concrete slab and the 1962 Corvette at the same time to avoid having the concrete swing into the ’62 and cause more damage – or from dropping down into the hole and making an even bigger headache for the team.

We will continue to cover the extraction process from the National Corvette Museum through each step of the process – bringing you any news as it becomes available.

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