Watch First Corvettes Lifted From Sinkhole At National Corvette Museum

Image Courtesy National Corvette Museum
Image Courtesy National Corvette Museum

It’s been a long few weeks but earlier today, the first Corvette was carefully lifted from the sinkhole that swallowed it at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The first car retrieved was a 2009 ZR1 Blue Devil that doesn’t look too bad from the video as it’s lifted ever so slowly from the hole by a huge crane that was set up on the site. The floor has been reinforced and is under constant monitoring to be sure it’s safe for the construction equipment as well as the people on site to manage retrieval of the Corvettes.

The gorgeous ZR1 is then shown in a second video where she cranks up and runs! It takes a few tries and you can practically feel everyone holding their breath as the engine doesn’t immediately turn over, but it does start up to the cheers of the assembled workers.

They even drive her cautiously out of the building, right up until it clears the spot where it started and reveals what looks like a rather large oil leak trailing from the car. That has them quickly turning off the engine right where the car stands.

The second car pulled from the sinkhole didn’t survive the initial fall quite as well. A very banged up ruby red 1993 40th Corvette was lifted from the sinkhole and it’s enough to make you cry when you see how rough it looks.

These first two vehicles and the rest of their damaged brethren will be on display at the museum in their current state before heading off to the GM Heritage Collection in Warren, Michigan. There all eight of the Corvettes will be carefully restored to their former glory.

Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.