Photo: National Corvette Museum
Wednesday, February 12th, was a very black day for Corvette enthusiasts. At around 5:44 in the morning, National Corvette Museum personnel were notified by their security company right after a 45 feet wide, 60 feet long and 30 feet deep sinkhole swallowed eight Vettes, damaging them in the process.
After all "Sinkhole Corvettes" were recovered from underneath the rubble, the NCH decided to display those cars as is. That decision paid a lot of dividend, fueling a nearly 60 percent jump in visitor traffic from February to June. Although it's a painful display for most gearheads, those mangled Vettes boosted interest in the museum. Security camera footage showing the Skydome floor’s collapse amassed 8.3 million views on YouTube, for example.
In recent weeks there was much debate coming from the museum's higher-ups and fans of the breed regarding what lies ahead for those ultra rare, priceless Chevy Corvettes. And it's our pleasure to announce that the NCH will restore three of those cars to their pre-sinkhole state, while the other five will remain in their present state "to preserve the historical significance of the cars."
“There has been an outpouring of messages from enthusiasts the world over, asking us not to restore all of the cars,” explains Wendell Strode, executive director for the National Corvette Museum. “For Corvette enthusiasts, the damage to the cars is part of their history, and part narrative of the National Corvette Museum. Restoring them all would negate the significance of what happened.” Oh well, if fans really want that, then we salute the museum's decision to preserve those five historical Vettes in their rubble-laden glory.
GM will provide almost $250,000 in support to the museum. Chevrolet will take care with restoring the 2009 Corvette ZR1 'Blue Devil' prototype, the 1-millionth Corvette produced (a white 1992 convertible), but will also fund the restoration of a 1962 Vette. Although a nice lady provided a replacement 1993 40th Anniversary Corvette, the rest of the damaged cars won't be fixed anytime soon. These are as follows: 1993 ZR-1 Spyder, 1984 PPG Pace Car, 2001 Mallet Hammer Z06 and 2009 1.5-millionth Corvette.
“Our goal was to help the National Corvette Museum recover from a terrible natural disaster by restoring all eight cars,” added Mark Reuss, General Motors 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.” A restoration shop hasn't been determined yet, nor restoration start and projected completion dates.
In recent weeks there was much debate coming from the museum's higher-ups and fans of the breed regarding what lies ahead for those ultra rare, priceless Chevy Corvettes. And it's our pleasure to announce that the NCH will restore three of those cars to their pre-sinkhole state, while the other five will remain in their present state "to preserve the historical significance of the cars."
“There has been an outpouring of messages from enthusiasts the world over, asking us not to restore all of the cars,” explains Wendell Strode, executive director for the National Corvette Museum. “For Corvette enthusiasts, the damage to the cars is part of their history, and part narrative of the National Corvette Museum. Restoring them all would negate the significance of what happened.” Oh well, if fans really want that, then we salute the museum's decision to preserve those five historical Vettes in their rubble-laden glory.
GM will provide almost $250,000 in support to the museum. Chevrolet will take care with restoring the 2009 Corvette ZR1 'Blue Devil' prototype, the 1-millionth Corvette produced (a white 1992 convertible), but will also fund the restoration of a 1962 Vette. Although a nice lady provided a replacement 1993 40th Anniversary Corvette, the rest of the damaged cars won't be fixed anytime soon. These are as follows: 1993 ZR-1 Spyder, 1984 PPG Pace Car, 2001 Mallet Hammer Z06 and 2009 1.5-millionth Corvette.
“Our goal was to help the National Corvette Museum recover from a terrible natural disaster by restoring all eight cars,” added Mark Reuss, General Motors 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.” A restoration shop hasn't been determined yet, nor restoration start and projected completion dates.
Google News