Chevrolet has announced it will spearhead the repair and restoration efforts on the eight classic Corvettes damaged earlier this week when they were swallowed by a huge sinkhole that opened under the floor of the National Corvette Museum. The rejuvenation process on these vehicles, which included a rare 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and the first 1993 Corvette ZR-1 (aka the "Blue Devil), that were both on loan from GM as well the 1-Millionth and 1.5-Millionth Corvettes and a 1993 40th Anniversary Edition convertible – will be carried out at the General Motors Design Center in Warren, Michigan.
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Retrieval of the damaged Corvettes can’t begin for another two to three weeks until the area around the sinkhole is fully stabilized. Once extricated, they’ll be shipped to the Mechanical Assembly facility, a dedicated specialty shop within GM Design that currently maintains and restores many GM Heritage Collection vehicles as well as the automaker’s historic concept cars. The restorations will be carried out under the personal supervision of Ed Welburn, vice president of GM Global Design.
"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. "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."
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As noted in our original story, save for the Skydome pavilion, the rest of the National Corvette Museum remains open. Geologic assessments have confirmed the Skydome’s foundation elements are intact and the floor is repairable. Although he offered no specific time window for it to reopen, Wendell Strode, Museum Executive Director noted: "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."
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