While on vacation last week, I visited the Corvette Museum and within there was a section devoted to the sinkhole that happened inside this same museum.

Despite the fact that eight cars from the Corvette Museum collection were damaged in that sinkhole in Kentucky, there is a silver lining in it all. I was so impressed by the older cars and concept cars at the Museum and found out many fell into the sinkhole. Some of the cars that fell into the sinkhole were:

This 1962 Corvette’s owner David Donoho purchased this car brand-new. He donated the car to the NCM for the ultimate safe-keeping … sad. Thankfully GM will restore it.

This 1984 PPG Corvette was a collaboration between Chevy and PPG that served as a pace car for the Indy Car World Series.

July 2, 1992, Chevrolet built its one-millionth Corvette. If the people in this picture only knew what was in this car’s future.

Corvette #1.5 million rolled off the assembly line on May 28, 2009. The same about the ’92 above could be said for this ’09.

On loan from GM, the 1993 Corvette ZR-1 Spyder features a chopped windshield and side glass to heighten the car’s slingshot-themed design.

This is the 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette donated by hardcore NCM members Kevin and Linda Helmintoller. They donated this car to be a training vehicle at the new Motorsports Park.

This 2009 Corvette ZR1 Blue Devil was the first-ever C6 ZR1. It was born a 2008 Corvette Z06.

Donated to the NCM by Hill and Karen Clark, this 1993 40th Anniversary Corvette (pictured on the lift) was Karen’s surprise to Hill on his 50th birthday.

Sinkhole disaster gives us the opportunity to see how much Chevrolet/GM is committed to Corvette

Chevrolet has decided to extend a helping hand to the National Corvette Museum by overseeing the restoration of the eight Corvettes wounded in the sinkhole disaster. Specifically, General Motors Design out of Warren, Michigan will “lead the project” according to the press release below.

The National Corvette Museum is not only independently owned, but also supported solely by financial support derived from Corvette fans like you, so think of this as Chevrolet/GM personally helping you out as well. Go Chevy!

Find out more about the nuts and bolts of the restoration in the press release noted below:

"DETROIT – 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.“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 when the Museum reopens.”

Ed Welburn, vice president of GM Global Design, will oversee the restoration.

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.

The National Corvette Museum is independently owned, and supported solely by charitable donations from enthusiasts. It is currently accepting donations on its website to assist in refurbishing the facility. Donations are tax-deductible.

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 140 countries and selling more than 4.9 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature spirited performance, expressive design, and high quality. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com."

I saw some of the cars that was on displayed before and after the sinkhole event. Some were so bad that they could not be restored and are on display to reminder of the event. Also watching them fill the sinkhole was very interesting as well as they filled the cave below them and repaved over the hole to display new cars and cars that had been destroyed sadly. You will see the blue devil in the first picture below and the 1962 vet that was restored. You will see a few that was not restored in the picture below. Those made me very sad that a nice car was destroyed and could not be restored.