Almost exactly one year ago, the National Corvette Museum gained an unfortunate kind of fame when a sinkhole swallowed 8 Corvettes.
Repairs are still underway, but the sinkhole has officially been filled, according to a recent update from the museum.
The hole in the museum’s Skydome display area was filled with “micro piles” of material, and beams were installed to support the new concrete floor.
Other work still needs to be done to get the Skydome ready for visitors, but the museum says things are proceeding on schedule for a planned July reopening.
As for the cars, General Motors has already completed restoration of the lightly-damaged 2009 Corvette ZR1 prototype known as the “Blue Devil.”
It will also restore the 1 millionth Corvette (a white 1992 convertible), and fund restoration of a 1962 ‘Vette that will be supervised by the museum.
The other five cars were apparently too far gone to be restored, but they’ll be displayed in their current crushed condition as a reminder of this unusual event.
While almost losing eight collectible Corvettes to Satan himself might seem like a downer, the sinkhole actually turned out to be a public-relations boon for the museum.
Attendance skyrocketed last summer as people flocked to the museum – located near the Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky – to see the cavernous maw.
Museum officials even considered keeping the hole open permanently, but that was deemed too expensive. The wrecked cars on display will probably provide enough schadenfreude appeal.
Hopefully the new floor will be sturdier. Five permanently-trashed Corvettes is enough.
