What goes down must come up.
After several Corvettes were tragically swallowed by the Earth earlier this year, Chevrolet has released one of them with a clean bill of health.
The 2009 Corvette ZR1, nicknamed ‘Blue Devil,’ is currently being showcased at the 2014 SEMA Show, and is the first of eight to be repaired and rehabilitated by the American automaker.
The victims, including a 1962 black ‘Vette, a 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06, a 1993 ZR1 Spyder, a one-of-one 1983 Corvette and the ‘Blue Devil,’ fell into a sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky last February. The aperture measured 40 feet wide, 60 feet long, and 30 feet deep.
The ‘Blue Devil’ was lucky, as it was able to drive out of the museum under its own power. It did suffer significant wounds though, like cracked ground effects, a broken rocker panel, splintered windshield, bent control arms, fractured doors, and busted oil lines. The restoration took six weeks.
Chevrolet used the blue ‘Vette to showcase the all-new ZR1 back in January 2008, and was on loan to the National Corvette Museum when the ground fell away.
“After that unprecedented event, the ZR1 was the first car to be lifted out of the sinkhole,” said Chevy executive Jim Campbell. “It was great to recover it, bring it back to Chevrolet and begin the restoration of this significant Corvette.”
Two other cars, ‘the 1-millionth Corvette’ and the black 1962, are scheduled to be refurbished next, while the remaining five will remain in their current condition “to preserve their historical significance.”
Watch the cave in below, with the recovered blue ZR1 in the top right corner.
