Shortly after the news hit the wire that a sinkhole had opened in the floor of the National Corvette Museum, the folks from the museum were quick to announce which cars had been damaged by the geological disaster. Eight Corvettes had plunged through the floor of the Bowling Green museum and only a few of them were visible in the photos and videos while the rest were buried in the rubble. In those videos and images (similar to the one above), we could see the 1962 Corvette, the 2009 ZR1 Blue Devil, the Ruby Red 40th anniversary Corvette and a small part of the 1993 ZR1 Spyder. Under all of that dirt and debris is the 1,000,000th Corvette ever built, the 1,500,000th Corvette ever built, a custom 1984 Pace Car and a C6 Mallett Hammer Corvette. Diehard Corvette fans and those folks who had been to the museum recently had an idea of what those lost cars looked like, but for the rest of us – it was hard to visualize what exactly had been lost.
Fortunately, the good people at the National Corvette Museum have issued up a collection of images showing the 8 Corvettes that were damaged in the sinkhole incident. Seeing these cars in all of their glory amidst the various museum displays is bittersweet when you consider that the image above shows the current status of all 8 of these historic American sports cars. Below are the 8 damaged Corvettes in 7 images as the Ruby Red 40th anniversary car and 1962 Corvette were in a lift display.
First, the Chevrolet Corvettes that we can see in the post-sinkhole image.
1962 Corvette with the 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Edition
2009 Corvette ZR-1 Blue Devil Concept
1993 Corvette ZR-1 Spyder Concept
Now the Chevrolet Corvettes that are likely the most severely damaged considering that they are buried under so much debris, dirt and a few other cars.
The 1,000,000th Corvette
The 1,500,000th Corvette
1984 PPG Pace Car Edition
2001 Mallett Hammer Edition Corvette Z06
These cars are all damaged – some obviously much worse than others – but I believe that all of these cars can and will be repaired. If you have watched any of the modern TV programs that detail full restoration processes of old beat up cars, you should know that pretty much anything can be fixed unless a car burns and literally turns into a puddle. Any wrecked car can be damaged with enough work so there is a very good chance that all of these cars will once again appear in show quality on the floor of the National Corvette Museum – but it might be a while. They should be able to fix all of these Corvettes, but it won’t be easy nor will it be a quick fix.
Check out either of the links below for more information on the sinkhole damage from the National Corvette Museum including video of the first few cars being swallowed up.
2009 1.5 Millionth Corvette, 1984 PPG Corvette First to Fall at National Corvette Museum Tragedy
Sinkhole Under the National Corvette Museum Swallows 8 Super Rare Chevrolet Corvettes