New York Daily News – by STEPHEN REX BROWN
A massive sinkhole swallowed eight Corvettes Tuesday morning on display in a Kentucky museum dedicated to the stylish sports cars.
The gaping hole in the ground is 40 feet across and roughly 30 feet deep, according to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.
Photos from the scene showed the iconic rides piled into the vast pit.
“We had several employees were in tears back there,” said Wendell Strode, the executive director of the museum. “They’re here every day, they work with (the Corvettes), they take care of them.”
Motion detectors in the museum sounded alarms in the Skydome display area when the ground shifted at 5:44 a.m., according to a press release.
No one was injured in the domed exhibit space that is separate from the central museum.
![A sinkhole in the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky. swallowed eight Corvettes Tuesday morning.](https://i0.wp.com/assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1611200.1392222972!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/corvette13n-1-web.jpg?w=960)
NATIONAL CORVETTE MUSEUM
A sinkhole in the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky. swallowed eight Corvettes Tuesday morning.
It was closed for the day while a structural engineer assesses the damage, according to a release.
Two Corvettes — a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and a 2009 ZR1 Blue Devil — were on loan from General Motors and lost in the sinkhole.
The six other cars now in the dirt are:
– 1962 Black Corvette
– 1984 PPG Pace Car
– 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette
![The National Corvette Museum is in Bowling Green, Ky. — the only city where the iconic General Motors cars are built.](https://i0.wp.com/assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1611198.1392222971!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/corvette-gm-bright-spot.jpg?w=960)
MARK HUMPHREY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The National Corvette Museum is in Bowling Green, Ky. — the only city where the iconic General Motors cars are built.
– 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette
– 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette
– 2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette
Strode wouldn’t put a price tag on the total value of the cars. The latter six Corvettes had been donated by car collectors who will undoubtedly be devastated by the news.
“There’s a story behind every single one of them,” said the crestfallen museum director. “I’m going to have to make a phone call and tell them we lost their babies.”
General Motors’ iconic Corvette is only built in Bowling Green, Ky.
The release noted staff now has a lot more work to do in preparation for the 2014 Corvette Caravan that will mark the 20th anniversary of the museum.
ahahahahaha
sorry
Iv always though car people are queer. Im really laughing at the fact that a tear was shed over a(many) car(s).
Great story.
It wasnt a sink hole though. It was a group of mid-life crises-ers planning the heist of the decade. Like the movie The Italian Job.
Nottoobitter– Please tell us your theory of how this Corvette heist was to be achieved (like the Italian Job). I will admit that this does not appear to be the result of a sink hole.
I have no theory other than who ever built the building sucked at construction.
I think we can safely blame this one on chinese concrete. Sure they make more of it for cheaper but it only last 1 day after the warranty.
My Fellow Patriots:
In the ancient annals of time,.. this would have been considered an, “omen” for sure.
It’s no co-incidence that the once great GM, which some feel produced the only true American sports car (what about the Shelby Cobra?, Mustang?, AMC Pacer?,.. Opppsss,.. hahaha,.. just kidding about the Pacer…) just crashed into a giant hole in the earth,… just like GM has,… just like the once great might of Amercian Industrial Power has.
Although this article states,.. “they are lost”,.. No,.. the’re not. There is one hell of a repair bill waiting to be incurred,.. but as long as they didn’t burn up,.. or get crushed,… they are all repairable (of course the cost of the repairs may exceed the notional value of these cars,.. but nonetheless,.. repairable all the same)
Yes my fellow Americans,… the ancient augurs would have viewed this event in the most darkest light of what is about to occur,.. and given what we clearly know about this current criminal gov’t, and our financial desperations,.. I would agree, as it is clear that is what is about to happen.
JD – US Marines – I’m not a particulary religious or superstitious person,.. but even I marvel at the clear, ominous interrepretation of such events.
That’s actually Chinese digging from China stealing Corvettes.
LOL Big Dan.
Perhaps the owners arranged this catastrophe as the means to cash-in their insurance policies? Surely there was steel-reinforced supports in the floor (but don’t see any in the picture).
that fits.
Gm goes to china and so goes the museum.
When is there ever going to be a sinkhole to swallow up Congress or the White House? That’s what I’m waiting for.
Ha! Saw your re about congress in Mars Attacks! Seems like that stuff only happens to the rest of us. When I saw a parking garage destroyed I immediately thought Frank Lowy was back for more insurance money! Then I saw the cars and realized it’s not even worth his time
Me too NC. Me too.