The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky suffered major sinkhole damage yesterday. Now the fate of several important Corvettes, and perhaps the museum itself, hangs in the balance.
No one was hurt in the cave-in, which occurred overnight in the “Skydome” section of the museum. Eight Corvettes were sucked into the hole, including two on loan from GM: a ’93 ZR-1 convertible and an ’09 ZR1 hardtop. The remaining six are owned by the museum: a black ’62, the ’84 PPG Pace Car, the 1 Millionth Corvette (a white ’92 convertible), a ruby red ’93 40th Anniversary Edition, an ’01 Mallet Z06, and the 1.5 Millionth Corvette (a white ’09 convertible). Video from the site is pretty grim. The video below, taken from an aerial drone with a camera attached, is a fairly complete survey of the devastation:
The black ’62 and the ’09 ZR1 landed near the top of the pile, bruised but hopefully still intact. The ’93 40th Anniversary looks pretty trashed though, as does the 1 Millionth Corvette. Both have tumbled end over end at least once, with the 1 Millionth landing behind the slab on which the ’62 precariously lies. What looks like the ’84 Pace Car is almost completely buried, and the 1.5 Millionth Corvette appears to have been squished underneath the slab on which the ’09 ZR1 sits. The Mallet Z06 is nowhere to be seen.
From a historical perspective, the loss of the 1 Millionth and 1.5 Millionth Corvettes is the worst part of the accident. Both represent irreplaceable milestones in Corvette history, as does the ’84 Pace Car to a lesser extent. Time will tell if they can be resurrected, but for now the museum faces bigger worries. The Bowling Green Fire Department estimates the hole to be about forty feet across and up to thirty feet deep, based on the drone video. The Museum has stated that the Skydome is a separate unit from the other facilities, and that hopefully the structural damage can be contained. However, the nature of the disaster raises troubling questions about the viability of the rest of the Museum.
Bowling Green is only about ten miles away from Mammoth Cave National Park. Much of Kentucky lies in what is known as a karst region: an area where easily eroded limestone forms the bedrock. Acidic water and other weathering create natural caverns below the soil, which range widely in size. Some of them have formed tourist attractions like Mammoth Cave, but many others are undiscovered booby traps for human development. Once they collapse in, they are difficult to work around. The Museum’s sinkhole formed from the collapse of one of these caverns. Depending on the engineering report, the integrity of the entire site may be called into question. In any case, there will be tough times ahead for one of America’s best known auto museums.
Looks like there is another car that could go down at any minute, as there is not much supporting it. Ouch. This is hard to watch.
From what I understand, all of the other cars in the Skydome (including the one and only 1983 Corvette) were moved out of it. They are now parked in the hallways of the rest of the museum, which may be one reason it is closed.
It’ll buff out.
;-)
This is proof positive that Jesus drives a 911.
Targa, ‘natch.
The Jesus I know drives an S-10.
My dad didn’t believe me when I told him I once saw an S-15 Durango. :(
Not so much. Back in 1981 at Winter Park Florida a sink hole took out a German car repair shop along with five Porsches and Datsun pickup. All but two of the Porsches were recovered.
Yeah, but in 1984 Jesus got burned by Crossfire Injection one too many times and jumped ship. Clearly He hath been planning His wrath for a while now.
No, no, no. Jesus drives a Honda. It’s not widely known though because he never spoke of his own Accord.
Looks pretty, pretty bad!
What do they do in these situations, try and fill it in? Or just declare the site a loss since more shifting can occur later?
Makes me wonder what they do with those giant ones that appear in the middle of cities.
I would flood the hole with water. Wash out all the soil. See how far the cave extends. Dig it out further to solid rock. Relocate the rest of the Corvettes into the cave. Change the name to Corvette Caves and double the admission price.
yes, the man cave, filled with corvettes!
You fill it in with Great Stuff. It works wonders and it expands so you don’t need as much as it would look like. It also gets in all the cracks.
Wouldn’t it make sense to move the other cars? The weight of them might cause further collapses.
This is SO SAD.
I believe they already have moved the other cars in the Skydome, starting with the one-and-only 1983 Corvette.
Agreed. Regardless of your brand preference, it is sad to see automotive history get damaged like this.
In a million years we’ll be extinct and the iron in my HEMIS along with all of our carbon footprints will begin the cycle of being subducted and becoming one with Earth again.
All the satellites will re-enter the atmosphere and burn.
All the problems we’ve had will be no more.
Nuclear weapons will become inert and melt underground due to subduction.
The problem with undergraduate geology programs is the emphasis on local geography. I was speaking with an Ontario geologist who called into our helpdesk. I made the comment that I found sedimentary strata like the Canadian Western Sedimentary Basin and fossil rich Alberta Cretaceous beds like the Hell Creek Formation much more interesting than Ontario’s Canadian Shield.
He was rather taken aback that an IT guy even knew what a craton was, so he and I spent the next 10 minutes discussing what we found geologically interesting in our neck of the woods. Killed my handle time for the call, but it opened my mind as to what can be interesting elsewhere in the world.
Yeah, but I bet it really helped your % talk time.
We cant get that done any sooner?
Wow, man. I stood in that room with my wife in mid July 2013. She’s more broken up than I am – strong Corvette love with that one.
Glad I visited when I did, although I’m more of a Mustang fan, visiting the Corvette Museum is something I’ve always wanted to do.
So the sinkhole only opened up right under the Corvettes and not anything else? Weight?
Act of God
He drives a 3000 GT.
Oh did he trade his Fury?
http://www.joesherlock.com/39Ply4.html
Of course, there’s a couple of places where the Bible states that Jesus and his disciples were all of one Accord.
Someone may have proposed a turbo 4 for the C8.
I smell opportunity: The Hair Club for Men could sponsor the restoration of the cars, Viagra could rebuild the floor, Match.com could “build a new foundation”…
Unfortunately these companies all have exclusive agreements with Porsche.
Too soon!
But still kind of funny.
These would get high bids on Copart! Just kidding; it’s sad to see a bunch of amazing Corvettes get destroyed.
You joke, but I know quite a few people who would be drooling to have a chance to bid on these.
Come Barret Jackson time, all that really matters is the VIN plates and decent paperwork – especially for stuff like the millionth ‘vette.
I’m happy you took light of it. The only reason I said I was joking was because I feared a lot of people would be offended by what I said.
Or in other words, given the insurance the place probably has, the cars won’t even make it to Barrett-Jackson; they’ll be fully restored from the VIN plates and whatever else is salvageable and the museum will carry on.
GM’s design staff has already agreed to oversee the restoration of the cars. As much as I love to hate GM, they really stepped up to the plate by doing that.
It looks as if the 1993 40th Anniversary Corvette has a working dome light (in the B-pillar), as if to say “I’m still alive!”
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I’m getting better.
Large Man with Dead Body: No you’re not, you’ll be stone dead in a moment.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071853/quotes
“Bring out yer ‘Vettes??!!” ;-)
Nice.
its cars, not people, people.
Soylent Green is people!!
Folks would presumably be upset if the Mona Lisa or Declaration of Independence fell into a muddy sinkhole, even though they are inanimate objects – nothing more than pigment on a page.
That would be OK, right?
There’s a difference between the Mona Lisa and let’s say the 1 millionth velvet fat Elvis painting. The original Mona Lisa can’t be exactly reproduced whereas a quick trip to Tijuana will get you another fat Elvis and you won’t be able to tell the difference. In other words, something mass produced vs. an original.
Ocean’s 14?
Looks like the work of Ferris Bueller.
I think we me finally find Hoffa…
New TTAC feature: Sinkhole Classics
Now only if this happened at the Chrysler 200 plant…
Rumor has it that Fiasler officials were recently seen outside the Belvidere Assembly Plant, home to the slow-selling Dart, taking jackhammers to the building foundation.
I think Sergio Marchionne would prefer a few of his excess Fiat factories in Italy could develop a few geological sink holes so that he could shut them down permanently and they would stop being financial sink holes.
“From a historical perspective, the loss of the 1 Millionth and 1.5 Millionth Corvettes is the worst part of the accident. Both represent irreplaceable milestones in Corvette history”
I’m saddened by the needless destruction, but isn’t this a bit hyperbolic? Is there that much difference between these cars and the 1,000,001st and 1,500,001st models made? It’s the fact that the Vette hit these milestones that’s significant, not the specific cars.
I was thinking the same thing.
Agree. I’m more worried about the ’62.
Same here.
It looks like it might have been protected from the worst of it because it had the steel frame of the lift around it. At any rate its going to be one of the easiest to extract. The cars that went down the hole first on the other hand, those appear to be buried under dirt and slabs of cement flooring.
The Blue Devil looks OK–I recall reading about the carbon-fiber roof, and the occasional treatments required (I think).
Be interesting to see what the folks in Warren (MI) can do with these Humpty-Dumptys.
(By that, I mean no disrespect! It would be tragic to lose a stable of Mustangs, a garage full of classic Mopars, classic AMCs, Honda S600s (or S2000s), Acura NSXs or Toyota Supras, as well as these!! Any loss of classic cars is a shame, so c’mon, B&B, let’s try not to smack about this, OK?)
Yeah, I hear you, I’m not a Corvette guy so to me the later models are just low mileage used cars. But I won’t knock someone else’s interest in them.
Maybe they should spread the collection out a bit further. One moderate sized sink hole nailed quite a few key cars.
And re do the floors with some re-bar in them.
Slab on grade, or what was slab on grade does not necessarily require rebar. Often. welded wire fabric – mesh- is used. Construction is more cost conscious than even car building….
What about the nearby factory? I wonder what steps can be taken to monitor any building for a sink hole.
Whoever designed the building should be yelled at a lot. Looks like they just poured a slab, tiled it, threw up a dome, and called it a day. I wonder if they even bothered with a ground survey.
A ground survey had to have been done, but might not have detected a problem. The hole is 30 feet deep, and the cause of the sinkhole probably wasn’t in evidence when the building was constructed. Limestone is notoriously vulnerable to later water infiltration, and due to its poor weight bearing characteristics, the collapse often comes suddenly.
That’s right. The Museum isn’t old but it’s been there long enough for this sinkhole to happen. Ground surveys and even drilling might not have been able to detect this. Its a very bad situation, but its a good thing it happened when the Museum was closed, and no one was hurt.
I saw this on Facebook with the caption ” Chevy really runs deep”.
+1
If they can make an airplane look like new that was shot down then sitting at the bottom of a lake for 70 years, I think they can spruce up a car that fell 30 feet into a pit. It doesn’t have to drive. It just has to look good. The whole sinkhole thing just adds to the level of interest.
Agreed! These cars should be easily craned out of the pit and restored to mint condition, not original, but at least mint.
Reminds me of what happened in February 2003 when the roof of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum, housed in a roundhouse built in 1884, collapsed under the weight of a record-breaking snowfall. Many priceless railroad artifacts were severely damaged and it’s taken over 10 years to re-restore many of them.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-02-14/news/bs-md-roundhouse-backstory15-20130214_1_courtney-b-wilson-historic-locomotives-ephraim-francis-baldwin
R/T has the full casualty list with pictures:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/go/news/cars-of-national-corvette-museum-sinkhole
I was a bit surprised to see the plain looking 4-post lift out on the display floor.
If the Museum extends its hand, it will receive more donations than it knows what to do with, to fix the cars and the building.
This country has its priorities, and Corvettes are one of them.
Some top-drawer restorers and GM engineers are licking their chops to work on this project.
We’ll be reading about the restoration efforts for years – for the cars and the Museum.
Looks like the GM Engineers really wanted to get there first
http://media.chevrolet.com/content/media/us/en/chevrolet/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2014/Feb/0213-corvettes.html
“To help the National Corvette Museum recover from the massive sinkhole that opened under the facility this week, Chevrolet will oversee restoration of the Corvettes damaged. General Motors Design in Warren, Mich., will lead the project.”
Cover them with dirt; call it a time capsule.
.
.
When they pull the cars out, at least they’re in a good position to get replacement parts. Perhaps they can use steel or concrete piers drilled down until they hit more solid rock, and get it reopened quickly. I don’t think this will be a situation where concrete trucks just back up and start dumping. If the hole connects to Mammoth Cave, which is the longest cave system in the world, that would be futile. I laughed about stopping there last month because I’ve driven by it a hundred times and haven’t stopped yet. It is another one of those places where I am more apt to visit after I move out of state.
Have no fears. Chevy has just committed to doing whatever it takes to restore all 8 cars, not just the ones that looked lightly damaged:
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1090347_chevrolet-to-ensure-sinkhole-damaged-corvettes-are-properly-restored
————————
This is the car Gods way of bitch slapping GMC for closing down Holden ! Suck it up USA !
Sounds like a comment by a Westboro Baptiz Church troll, to me.
Think they are going to be able to rescue the leisure suits and gold chains that went in too? Besides auto restoration has been like owning a boat …… “a hole in [the water] in which you pour money”
OUCH ~
This is terrible .
Glad to hear GM is standing up to make it right .
-Nate
Sad. Same thing happened at a Toyota Landcruiser museum a few years back. They just drove them right out of the hole.
Time for another GM bailout plan.
Cue the Boy King, announcing a $20 billion “Building a Solid Foundation” initiative.
“These vital examples of American automotive history must be preserved. I also hear the new Silverado isn’t selling nearly as well as I’d hoped.”
Proof that sky-ghost wants us to drive Porsche…..
Drop a 4″ thick slab of clear acrylic over the hole and call it the Post-Apocalypse exhibit.
I wish i liked corvettes, id like to be upset too.
Better rope that off before distraught, middle-aged divorced men with toupees start throwing themselves in.
Too soon?