GM Restoring One Millionth Corvette Damaged in NCM Sinkhole
It’s been nearly 16 months since a 60-foot wide and 30-foot deep sinkhole in the National Corvette Museum’s Skydome led to eight historic Corvettes being swallowed up. The freak incident ended up being great publicity for NCM (where they’re currently building a virtual reality room that recreates “the sinkhole experience”), but it definitely did some serious damage to its Vette victims.
Now, technicians and craftspeople at the General Motors Design Center have begun restoring the most notable vehicle damaged by the sinkhole: a white 1992 Corvette convertible that holds the distinction of being the one millionth Corvette made.
The restoration crew is part of GM’s Mechanical Assembly group, which is more accustomed to building prototypes and concepts than it is restoring heavily damaged vehicles. The restoration will prove challenging, because according to GM, “the workers are trying to preserve the original appearance of a production vehicle.”
GM already restored a 2009 Corvette ZR1 prototype named “Blue Devil” after it was recovered from the sinkhole, but its injuries were comparatively minor. In addition to Blue Devil and the one millionth Corvette, GM has pledged to also restore a rare 1962 Corvette that was swallowed by the sinkhole.
The other five Corvettes will be displayed in their current condition, as part of a future sinkhole-themed display at the museum. They include a 1993 Spyder (which was there on loan), a 1984 PPG Pace Car, a 1993 40th Anniversary Corvette, a 2001 “Mallett Hammer” Z06, and the 1.5 millionth Corvette ever made, a 2009 model.
You can see more pictures of the restoration process below:
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