"A sinkhole reportedly opened up inside the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY at around 5:44AM local time, swallowing eight vintage Corvettes that were on display. The sinkhole is reportedly about 40 feet wide and at least 25 feet deep. No one has been hurt."


Corvette Museum Sinkhole

List of cars:

1993 ZR-1 Spyder on loan from General Motors4
2009 ZR1 "Blue Devil" on loan from General Motors
1962 Black Corvette
1984 PPG Pace Car
1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette
1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette
2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette
2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette

Yikes!

Got an email from the vette forum this morning about this. Sad news for vette folks.

If my name was George, I would be checking for cracks in the floor. That is a crazy story!

Isn't that whole area a sink hole?

I've been in Mammoth Caves.

The devil is a vette fan

Damn . That absolutely sucks

Although, the cars that were swallowed up are from the (arguably) darkest days of the Corvette. So maybe that's saying something...

'62 was my favorite year.

I read where 2015 model is supposed to be the last. They will build that model until @ 2020. Low margins.

I much prefer the sandbox version of this thread....

More boobs.

So mid 80's and early 90's is vintage now? At 45 that makes me an antique?

Ditto on the Boobs!

Shame about the '62. As for the rest of them, the devil can keep them...

Mid 70's to late 80's were (arguably) darkest days of the Corvette. A 1993 ZR!
is a lot of bang for the buck today. 4 cam aluminum engine designed by Lotus with
a ZF 6speed. 180 mph out the door..

So in the photo??? why the hell wouldnt you get the rest of them OUT OF THE BUILDING?

But that sucks. What are the odds ?

The cars on loan from GM were a big deal, the 62' also. the 84' pace car..oh well, the 1 and 1.5 millionth Vette not that big o deal...the museum will keep them as...museum pieces with a little more history, the 93' and the Hammer not so much, oh well.



The dark days of the Vetter were from 74' - 82' None of these were in that group...of course very few car from that era are worthy of being in the museum



No that was the 54' that was supposed to be the last year for the Vette



The 93' ZR1 was the car that broke open the HP wars.



Let's see a sink hole just swallowed up the middle of the floor and 8 cars?

This area of the museum is the area that is the big dome. it's round and a lot of the cars are in the circle around the perimeter of the wall, the cars that fell are in the middle on the floor that is lower that those in the picture. They are probably fairly secure until the area can be stabilized.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IukDWhf7U9I

Forget those vettes, I want a drone!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbQF8_ZcwQk

Well, I guess in MY mind, those were the dark days. 84-93 were my LEAST favorite.

I guess we were both watching Route 66 as kids.

To me, the 90 to 95 ZR1's were far better looking than
any Vette 15 years previous and many years beyond.
And they were pretty quick too.

Personal opinion, certainly.. But I am somewhat biased.


Click to view attachment

The C4 was in production from 84'-96' They were a big improvement over the "plastic dinosaurs" that were made from 74'-82' (no MY for 1983).

They made a huge swing at the fences with the C5, knocked it out of the park with the C6, the C7 is just incredible.

I was never a big Vette fan until I test drove a 2001 C5...I bought one a week later and sold my 928S4. Got a Z06 in 06'. It's fast.

BTW: it looks like they will be able to restore most of the cars, which GM will assist on. a couple weeks to stabilize the sink and they will start getting them out.

Museum says by August you won't ever be able to tell what happened.

Here is a sinkhole that occurred in May of 1981, Winter Park, Fla.
A repair shop on Fairbank ave. German Car Service lost 5 Porsches to the sinkhole, and a camper.
All but 2 Porsches were lifted out, the devil kept those !
Click to view attachment

Another from the Fairbank ave. Sinkhole, notice the '79 928 perched in the debris field.Click to view attachment

Easy does it, the '74 911 targa sustained more damage during extraction, but it was put back into service.
The sinkhole was rededicated as a large pond after this disaster.
Nature works in mysterious ways !
MartyClick to view attachment

I read last night that GM has pledged to restore all of the Corvettes lost in the sinkhole.



I admire them for stepping up like that.

In sinkhole prone areas, they should consider suspending priceless items on display from the support structure of the building!