The Corvette Museum is Filling in the Giant Sinkhole

Aug. 31, 2014 5:59 PM ET by Jay Traugott / 65 Comments

And three very special Corvettes will also be fully restored.

The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky has had a rather unusual exhibit since last February. Aside from the many rare and iconic Corvettes on display, there's also that 60-foot-long, 45-foot-wide, 30-foot-deep sinkhole. It swallowed eight historic Corvettes and, for a time, the sinkhole itself became a popular attraction to museum goers. There was a plan to preserve at least part of the sinkhole. However, museum board members have just decided otherwise. The reason is due to the added costs of safety features.

In order to keep at least part of the hole, workers would have to install 35-foot-tall retaining walls and inserted beams to prevent future cracking. The total costs would have reached $1 million, double the amount of earlier estimates. Another concern was ongoing maintenance costs. The bottom line was that it wasn't practical. However, GM has just announced that it's putting up $250,000 to restore three of the damaged Corvettes. They include the 2009 Corvette ZR1 Blue Devil prototype, the 1-millionth Corvette produced (a white 1992 convertible), and a 1962 black Corvette. The remaining five Corvettes were too badly damaged to be restored, but they'll remain on display – dented and crushed and all.

The Corvette Museum is Filling in the Giant Sinkhole

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The Corvette Museum is Filling in the Giant Sinkhole

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