Corvettes Sink

[lostcreekranch]

Quote from email from the NCM;

We received a call at 5:44am from our security company alerting us of our motion detectors going off in our Skydome area of the Museum. Upon arrival it was discovered that a sinkhole had collapsed within the Museum. No one was in or around the Museum at the time. The Bowling Green Fire Department arrived on the scene and secured the area. The Fire Department has estimated the size of the hole is 40 feet across and 25-30 feet deep.

It is with heavy hearts that we report that eight Corvettes were affected by this incident. Those cars include:

1993 ZR-1 Spyder on loan from General Motors
2009 ZR1 “Blue Devil” on loan from General Motors

The other six vehicles were owned by the National Corvette Museum including:

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

None of the cars affected were on loan from individuals. The Skydome exhibit area of the Museum is a separate structure connected to the main Museum. A structural engineer is now on-site to assess the existing damage and stability of the surrounding areas. The Museum is closed to the public for the day to allow us to carefully assess the situation. We will keep everyone informed as we know more.

With the 20th Anniversary celebration, Grand Opening of the NCM Motorsports Park, and the National Corvette Caravan coming August 27-30, we’ve got a lot to be excited about in 2014, and look forward to getting the Skydome repaired and reopened very soon.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Vids of security cameras and Drone Helicopter going into the hole.

Sinkhole - YouTube

 

[ruffdog]

interesting.....

 

[dave1949]

Vids of security cameras and Drone Helicopter going into the hole.

Sinkhole - YouTube

Thanks. It looks like the sinkhole/cavern extends on underneath the floor.

You would think they would test for that before building over it. Kentucky has a lot caves.

 

[jerrybob]

They could just put a rail around the hole and make the sinkhole one of the exhibits. Would draw lots of visitors and increase attendance.

 

[dave1949]

They could just put a rail around the hole and make the sinkhole one of the exhibits. Would draw lots of visitors and increase attendance.

That is only ~35 miles from Mammoth Cave--which has 400 miles of known passageways. New entrance maybe? :laughing:

 

[lostcreekranch]

Excerpt from NCM Update email this morning;

Timeline Set for Sinkhole Repair and Car Recovery
During a press conference today on Corvette Boulevard, Mike Murphy with Scott, Murphy & Daniel construction provided an update and timeline on the work to be done.

Highlights of the press conference include:

- This is very common for this area, what's not common is for a sinkhole to swallow eight Corvettes.
- It is repairable. The building foundation and structure is in good condition.
- They will be securing the sinkhole and surrounding areas to ensure that even if we have sinkholes on the property in the future it will not affect the Museum.
- It will take 2-3 weeks to stabilize and secure the area (red spire, walls of the sinkhole) then the process of vehicle recovery will begin.
- They will be making sure the sinkhole is safe and that no further damage will occur before starting vehicle recovery.
- It will take 4-6 days to retrieve the vehicles
- After that, they will replace earth and the floor system
- They have a good plan and it takes action tomorrow with no problems foreseen

"We are confident that it will be done in time for the Museum's 20th Anniversary Celebration in August. You won't even know that this has happened," said Wendell Strode, Museum Executive Director

 

[lostcreekranch]

Excerpt from NCM email this morning;

Chevrolet to Oversee Restoration of Historic Corvettes
To help the National Corvette Museum recover from the massive sink hole, Chevrolet will be overseeing restoration of the Corvettes damaged. The process will be managed by General Motors Design in Warren, Mich.

“The vehicles at the National Corvette Museum are some of the most significant in automotive history,” said Mark Reuss, executive vice president of General Motors Global Product Development. “There can only be one 1-millionth Corvette ever built. We want to ensure as many of the damaged cars are restored as possible so fans from around the world can enjoy them.”

The restoration will be overseen by Ed Welburn, vice president of GM Global Design.

When the cars are recovered, they will be shipped to the Mechanical Assembly facility, a small specialty shop within GM Design, where the best restoration approach will be determined. Mechanical Assembly has been part of GM Design since the 1930s, and today maintains and restores many of the vehicles in the GM Heritage Collection and GM’s historic concept cars.

 

[Western]

Seeing the Black one in the "hole" is just wrong! I will need "therapy"

 

[caver]

Replace the earth and floor....hahahaha that's a good one. Back in my caving exploring days we would find shoe soles in the stream passages from a long gone shoe factory that threw their waste in sinkholes.