It’s not every day that a car encounters a sinkhole and survives to tell the tale—unless it’s a Chevrolet Corvette. This past February, a sinkhole developed beneath the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, engulfing eight Corvettes on display before stopping its expansion. Now, Chevrolet is proud to announce that the first sinkhole victim has been restored to its former glory and is on its way back to the museum for display once again.
“After that unprecedented event, the ZR1 was the first car to be lifted out of the sinkhole,” said Jim Campbell, US vice president of performance vehicles and motorsports. “It was great to recover it, bring it back to Chevrolet, and begin the restoration of this significant Corvette.”
The first sinkhole Corvette restored is a 2009 ZR1, nicknamed the “Blue Devil,” and was also the first car pulled out of the sinkhole. Despite falling nearly 30 feet, the Corvette wasn’t fazed and drove out of the museum on its own power. The damage to the car took six weeks to repair and included cracked carbon-fiber ground effects, bent rear control arms on the driver’s side, and cracked oil lines leading to the supercharged LS9 engine.
Two more Corvettes will be restored next year, while five others will remain in their as-recovered state. If you are looking for your own Chevy sports car, make sure you stop in to Stalker Chevrolet today!