Sinkhole collapses part of Corvette Museum in Ky

[leddzepp]

I toured it a couple years ago too. There was a nice 61 on display out front when I was there.

[CG]

Yeah I heard about it on another thread here in General that was started early today =)

[Sillyoldman]

Originally Posted by CG

Yeah I heard about it on another thread here in General that was started early today.

They're being moved here where they belong.

[firemanjimtfd]

I know this is not trucks but sad for Corvette owners.


http://www.whas11.com/news/8-cars-sw...245183751.html

[TJ's Chevy]

Satan...if you want cars then start taking the prius rice burners, but leave the chevys ALONE! THAT'S an ORDER! AYE! What a dang shame this happened.

[jpnh]

http://xfinity.comcast.net/video/8-c...e/149527107625

[Eyegore]

I don't get it, why their engineer did not perform seismic testing know their were caverns and alike in the area, sounds like someone is going to get sued.

[67ChevyRedneck]

^ $$$. Designed a Big chain store up in PA years ago. Owner/developer would only pay for coring in building area and random areas in parking lot. Just days before the store was to open a huge hole opened up in the detention pond and another opened up in a new access road to the main road. Some people refuse to pay for geotech investigations at all unless the permit issuing municipality requires it.

[ol_skool_chevy]

As a civil engineer. I have never had the need for seismic testing unless it was a structure that was used Seismic qualification. I would never had used this type of testing unless it was a Earthquake prone area..or it was a Vibration Isolation zone...or there was a past history of underground water caverns

[GOPAPA]

Did any one see a 1983 Vette in the hole? Thats got to be about the rarest of them all beings all I ever heard of was a couple made..

[special-K]

Well,Kentucky has Mammoth Caves National Park and Lost River,as well as limestone deposits/quarries/caverns running from there up to PA,so yeah,there is lots of history of underground water caverns.

I just hope they had excellent insurance coverage or this thing could put the museum in the hole

[463]

New news http://corvettemuseum.blogspot.ca/20...ration-of.html

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by special-K

Well,Kentucky has Mammoth Caves National Park and Lost River,as well as limestone deposits/quarries/caverns running from there up to PA,so yeah,there is lots of history of underground water caverns.

I just hope they had excellent insurance coverage or this thing could put the museum in the hole

he said in the hole... Tim I think that pun was intended....

[special-K]

mmm...could be

[andrewmp6]

As someone from Kentucky sinkholes are common here most never that big tho.Yes the museum is in bowling green same place the corvette plant is.The plant opened when the c4 started and has been the only plant since. If you wanna talk about bad luck Adair county which isn't far from bowling green had a natural gas line explosion about the same time as the sinkhole.

[Slow Build]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

I know they're real, but the pictures look fake!

Originally Posted by tommys72

...doesnt even look real, looks like a seen from a slyvestor stallone movie

That's what I thought when I saw the first pictures. It looked like some sick 1/24th scale diorama.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Article with info on the "lost" cars:

It gives a whole new meaning to the question, “Dude, where’s my car?”: Eight rare Corvettes were swallowed by a sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky., on Wednesday.


It was news that hit the Corvette community like a quarter-mile run in a 1967 stroked-and-bored 427-cubic-inch Vette with four-speed and posi rear end.

As Courier-journal.com wrote: “Butch Hume, president of Louisville’s Falls City Corvette Club, cringed when he heard which cars were involved. ‘I was stunned,’ he said. ‘That just doesn’t happen in Kentucky, and what a terrible place for it to happen.’”

PHOTOS: 5 cars I'd sell my wife and kids for

(Unfortunately, Butch knows cars better than geology. Later in the same story, we find this: “Jason Polk, a professor of geology and geography at Western Kentucky University ... is part of the team investigating the cause and extent of the sinkhole. ... The Bowling Green-area geology lends itself to sinkholes and they are not at all uncommon, Polk said.” Oh.)

Museum employees were also taking it hard. As Executive Director Wendell Strode said: “There were a lot of tears this morning as [employees] were having to deal with what’s in there.”

Of course, those could have been tears of joy, giving thanks that they weren’t in the museum when the ground opened up.

But, as a car guy from way back, I feel their pain. It’s like the pain I feel knowing that I once had the chance to buy a 1966 Vette convertible for $3,000 and my old man said, “It’s too much car and it’s too much money.” He always did have lousy luck in choosing used cars.

Still, before everyone gets carried away, let’s take a closer look at these lost “treasures.” As my colleague David Undercoffler reported:

“The six affected cars the museum owned were a black 1962 Corvette, a 1984 custom pace car from the IndyCar World Series, the 1 millionth Corvette and 1.5 millionth Corvette ever built, a 1993 Ruby Red 40th anniversary Corvette, and a 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette.

“Also damaged were two cars GM had lent the museum: a one-off design concept of a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder -- a model that was never built -- and the original 2009 ZR1 Blue Devil show car.”

Now, if you’re a Corvette person -- or the unlucky owner of one of these valuable hunks of fiberglass -- this was not your best morning.

But seriously, the 1 millionth and the 1.5 millionth Corvettes? A 40th-anniversary Corvette? I mean, I have the 20th- and the 35th-anniversary Playboy editions (just found them the other day, clearing out boxes in the shed; don’t ask!), and they’re interesting, but c’mon, they aren’t the Mona Lisa. (Although if there were money to be made, I’m pretty sure Chevy would make a special “Mona Lisa Edition” Corvette.)

Not only that, if there’s one thing that can be fixed, it’s cars. Especially cars that are worth a lot of money.

So cheer up, Vette fans. No more crying in your Bud Lites. Just like in “The Monuments Men,” all is not lost. A little money, a little fiberglass, some hammering and that 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette will be (almost) as good as new.

And if not, I’m sure someone will make you a good deal on some slightly worse-for-wear Vettes.


http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opini...#ixzz2tIsTQjdE

[BR3W CITY]

The Mallet and Zr-1's are a shame to be damaged....but having been to the museum a few times myself....the rest are, rather plain. The 1 millionth vette is a milestone, but the car itself has no extended value.

Would be cool to leave it as an exhibit...just hook up a couple of vintage c30 wreckers and stage it like the other "Scenes" they have there.

[67ChevyRedneck]

If they can recover them without too much issue, the '62 and '09 ZR1 Blue Devil (very bad ass car) should be relatively easy restores. The rest are going to take some serious $$$.

[jeffg1010]

I saw photos today where they began lifting the cars out. What a shame.

For anyone interested, Chuck Mallett (the builder of the 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06) is a member on here. He's a very cool guy that has a house here in the Lake Norman area. He came out for the C10 Cruise In last year in Mooresville. He has a couple C10's, but on that day he was driving a Pontiac Solstice powered LS7 and a 6 speed. The thing was nasty. I think it was called the Pitbull and he drove it in the Optima Street Car Challenge. Very cool to meet him.