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Corvette Sinkhole: Museum Finally Recovers All Eight Cars

The last of eight Corvettes that fell into a museum sinkhole has finally been recovered. In February, a sinkhole formed under the National Corvette Museum, swallowing eight classic Corvettes, includin...
Corvette Sinkhole: Museum Finally Recovers All Eight Cars
Written by Val Powell
  • The last of eight Corvettes that fell into a museum sinkhole has finally been recovered.

    In February, a sinkhole formed under the National Corvette Museum, swallowing eight classic Corvettes, including a 1962 black Corvette, 1984 PPG pace car, 1992, white Corvette, 1993 ruby red Corvette, 1993 ZR1 Spyder, 2001 Mallet Hammer Z06, 2009 white Corvette, and a 2009 ZR1 also known as the “Blue Devil.”

    The sinkhole was about 30 feet deep and 40 feet wide.

    Workers have been hard at work in retrieving the classic cars, but they are also extra careful in doing so to prevent adding further damage to the classic Corvettes. The first to be recovered from the sinkhole was the “Blue Devil,” which came out pretty much intact.

    The last to be recovered was the 2001 Mallet Hammer Z06 that was said to look like a piece of tin foil, according to Kevin Helmintoller, the man who donated the car to the museum. Helmintoller, and his wife, donated the Mallet Hammer just a few months before the museum collapsed. “I expected bad, but it’s 100 times worse,” he told the museum authorities.

    The Mallet Hammer was found upside down at the bottom of the sinkhole. According to CEO of Scott, Murphy and Daniel Construction, Mike Murphy, the last car to be recovered looked the worst among the eight cars. “It took a lot of punishment from a lot of big rocks,” he said.

    After the sinkhole incident, executives from General Motors decided that they will restore all the eight classic Corvettes. However, there may not be enough pieces left of the Mallet Hammer for it to be restored properly.

    The museum’s Executive director, Wendell Strode, said that he will be having a meeting with the construction team, specialists, engineers, and the big players to talk about rebuilding the museum.

    All eight cars that were swallowed by the sinkhole will be on display at the museum until August before being shipped to Michigan for repairs.

    Cars rescued from the sinkhole

    Image via Corvette Museum, Twitter

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