The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY experienced a nasty surprise just before 6AM this morning when a sinkhole approximately 40 feet wide and 30 feet deep opened up and swallowed eight rare and prestigious American sports cars. When the ground opened, luckily, the museum was still closed for the night, and nobody was injured, but the list of Corvettes lost is certainly disheartening. The sinkhole set off an alarm within the museum, and the local fire department was notified. Upon arrival, they found a large hole in the floor of the Sky Dome “hall of fame” section of the museum, with a number of special cars resting subterranean.
While some of the cars appear salvageable, certainly a few will be reduced to no more than scrap. The damaged cars include two cars currently on loan from General Motors; a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder, and a 2009 ZR1 “Blue Devil”, as well as six vehicles owned by the museum itself; a 1962 Black Corvette, a 1984 PPG Pace Car, the 1 Millionth Corvette, the 1.5 Millionth Corvette, a Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Car, and a Mallett Hammer C5 Z06. Some of these cars, as you can tell, are one of a kind, and can never be replaced.
1993 Chevrolet Corvette 40th Anniversary, colour Ruby Red Which was one of the 6,749 in the production line of this special edition were made.
1993 ZR-1 Spyder Was on loan from the museum Of GM at the time of the sinkhole tragedy.The car featured number of unique features including;hood,front quarter panel vents,lowered side glass and a lower windshield.In the background is a 1962 Tuxedo Black Corvette and one of a kind 1984 PPG Pace Car.
The 1.5 Millionth Corvette,year 2009 make l,suffered some of the worst damage in the sinkhole.
•1993 ZR-1 Spyder (on loan)
•2009 ZR1 “Blue Devil” prototype (on loan)
•1962 Corvette
•1984 PPG Pace Car
•1992 1 millionth Corvette
•1993 40th Anniversary Corvette
•2001 “Mallett Hammer” Z06
•2009 1.5 millionth Corvette.
On March 3, 2014, the 2009 Blue Devil was the first car recovered and despite significant damage was started and driven out of the Sky dome. The 1.5 millionth Corvette and Mallet Corvette were the last cars pulled from the sinkhole, on April 3 and April 9, respectively – after workers were initially unable to find them amid the collapsed earth.