Final Decision Made on National Corvette Museum Sinkhole Cars
The National Corvette Museum
At last, a plan has been set in motion for the National Corvette Museum sinkhole cars, concerning their restoration. In total, eight Corvettes were affected by the sinkhole that opened in the Corvette Museum back in February of this year, but only three will be restored.
A view of the sinkhole
The three National Corvette Museum sinkhole cars to be restored include the 2009 Corvette ZR1 prototype (Blue Devil) which was announced in July, the 1-millionth Corvette ever produced (a white 1992 convertible), and a 1962 Corvette. Chevrolet will restore the first two and will fund the restoration of the third, which the museum will oversee, though a restoration shop has not yet been selected.
The 2009 Corvette Blue Devil prototype will be one of three Corvettes restored
GM’s monetary assistance in the tragedy totals $250,000.
“Our goal was to help the National Corvette Museum recover from a terrible natural disaster by restoring all eight cars,” explained Mark Reuss, GM executive vice president, Global Product Development. “However, as the cars were recovered, it became clear that restoration would be impractical because so little was left to repair. And, frankly, there is some historical value in leaving those cars to be viewed as they are.”
The five Corvettes that will remain as they are will still be on display. These Corvettes include the following:
- 1993 ZR-1 Spyder
- 1984 PPG Pace Car
- 1993 40th Anniversary Corvette
- 2001 “Mallett Hammer” Z06
- 2009 1.5-millionth Corvette
The Board of Directors at the museum also recently announced that the sinkhole will be completely filled, after some consideration.
“We really wanted to preserve a portion of the hole so that guests for years to come could see a little bit of what it was like, but after receiving more detailed pricing, the cost outweighs the benefit,” said Museum Executive Director, Wendell Strode. “At the June board meeting, the information available at that time indicated a cost of around $500,000 more to keep the hole, but after incorporating additional safety features and vapor barriers for humidity control, the price tag rose to $1 million more than the cost to put the Skydome back how it was.”
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