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[VIDEO] Behind the Scenes of the Corvette Recovery Operation at the National Corvette Museum

[VIDEO] Behind the Scenes of the Corvette Recovery Operation at the National Corvette Museum

During the recovery efforts this week at the National Corvette Museum, GM sent down a film crew to document the excavation of the first three Corvettes from Sky Dome sinkhole. Here is their video featuring our NCM friends Wendell Strode, Adam Boca and Chevy Communications guru Monte Doran.

Bowling Green, KY: March 2014: Generations of car fans worldwide are relieved to know that the iconic, irreplaceable vehicles damaged in the National Corvette Museum sinkhole are in the process of being retrieved. Five of the eight cars have been removed from the cavernous sinkhole.

The crews have been working six days a week since the sinkhole incident that swallowed eight Corvettes in the National Corvette Museum’s Skydome exhibit area. On Saturday, March 1, the crews rigged up the ZR1 and did a few test lifts.

Two of the eight cars that fell into the sinkhole are completely buried, and the process of stabilizing the walls and getting every car out could take four to six weeks.

On Monday morning, March 3, nearly three weeks after the February 12 collapse, workers in a cage were lowered to hook straps around the cars to hoist them from the sinkhole – which is approximately 40 feet wide and 60 feet deep.

Related:
[VIDEO] Rescue of the 1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole
[VIDEO] Corvette Museum Rescues the 1992 One Millionth Corvette from Sinkhole
[VIDEO] 1962 Corvette Roadster Pulled from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole
[VIDEO] 2009 Corvette ZR1 Blue Devil Recovered from Corvette Museum Sinkhole
[VIDEO] Corvette Museum Recovers the 1993 40th Anniversary Corvette from Sinkhole
[VIDEO] The First of Eight Corvettes is Rescued from the Corvette Museum’s Sinkhole
A Sinkhole Under the National Corvette Museum Opens and Swallows 8 Corvettes

 

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[PIC] Throwback Thursday: Early Corvette Sales Lot

[PIC] Throwback Thursday: Early Corvette Sales Lot

It’s time for Throwback Thursday where we feature vintage photos of Corvettes. Today’s vintage picture features a parking lot full of early Corvettes while a bowtie wearing salesman waits for his next customer.

Interesting is the Shell gas station across the street. The sign on their shop has the S in Shell hidden behind a power pole, so yes, you can call these “Corvettes from Hell”.

The other takeaway from this picture is the bowtie wearing Corvette sales guy. Kind of reminds us of another bowtie wearing Corvette sales guy from Kerbeck Corvette. Dave Salvatore, we’re talking about you!

Click here to see a larger version of this vintage Corvette sales lot.

Source:
Corvettes @ Pinterest.com

Related:
[PIC] Throwback Thursday: NCCC Visits the Corvette Assembly Plant in St. Louis
Corvette Auction Preview: The Real McCoy Heading to Mecum Kissimmee
[PIC] Throwback Thursday: 1959 Corvette Stingray Racer with the 1956 Corvette SS
[PIC] Throwback Thursday: One Man’s Trashed Corvette is Another Man’s Treasure

 

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[VIDEO] Watch the Rescue of the 1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole

[VIDEO] Watch the Rescue of the 1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole

Construction workers surprised us yesterday by going after two more Corvettes. In addition to the 1992 1 Millionth Corvette that was pulled from the sinkhole inside the National Corvette Museum’s Sky Dome, workers also were able to snag the 1984 PPG Corvette Pace Car (or at least most of it).

After the white 1,000,000th Corvette was pulled out, the construction team used the cranes to lift a large piece of concrete from the cavern. Under that slab was the 1984 Corvette.

The C4 Pace Car is by far in the worst shape of the five Corvettes removed from the sinkhole. When the car fell into the hole, another slab of concrete came down on the back-end of the car like a guillotine, severing the rear from the rest of the body. That part of the PPG Corvette is still in the sinkhole.

The Corvette was lifted by straps on its front axle and was brought over to the landing zone where it was examined and photographed, and then it was moved into the Corvette Museum to be displayed with the other four Corvettes previously rescued.

Here are some photos of the 1984 Corvette PPG rescue:

1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car Rescued from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole 1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car Rescued from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole 1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car Rescued from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole
1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car Rescued from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole 1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car Rescued from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole 1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car Rescued from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole
1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car Rescued from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole 1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car Rescued from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole 1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car Rescued from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole
1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car Rescued from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole 1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car Rescued from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole 1984 Corvette PPG Pace Car Rescued from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole

The 1984 PPG Corvette Pace Car will probably be one of the hardest Corvettes to restore as it had many customized components not found in regular production Corvettes.

The Corvette saw track time back in the day by pacing some of the world’s biggest auto races including the PPG Indy Car World Series. The Corvette was one of the original exhibits on display when the the NCM first opened its doors in 1994.

Here’s video from the Corvette Museum showing the extraction of the PPG Pace Car:

Source:
Corvette Museum
Photo Credits: National Corvette Museum

Related:
[VIDEO] Corvette Museum Rescues the 1992 One Millionth Corvette from Sinkhole
[VIDEO] 1962 Corvette Roadster Pulled from the Corvette Museum Sinkhole
[VIDEO] 2009 Corvette ZR1 Blue Devil Recovered from Corvette Museum Sinkhole
[VIDEO] Corvette Museum Recovers the 1993 40th Anniversary Corvette from Sky Dome Sinkhole
[VIDEO] The First of Eight Corvettes is Rescued from the Corvette Museum’s Sinkhole
A Sinkhole Under the National Corvette Museum Opens and Swallows 8 Corvettes

 

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[VIDEO] 4×4 C3 Corvette Dares to be Different

[VIDEO] 4x4 C3 Corvette Dares to be Different

The lifted 4 x 4 Corvette: It’s the perfect antithesis to everything America’s sports car has represented since 1953. They’re existence twists your mind like an episode of ABC’s Lost or the first time you heard Mike Tyson talk. We hadn’t seen one of these brutes turn up online for a while until this yellow C3 showed up at Crusin’ the Coast on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Chevrolet built 46,558 Corvettes for the 1976 model year. Of those, 3,389 were painted Bright Yellow. 0 were 4 wheel drive.

The crew over at autoevolution bring us the yellow beast you see below. The C3 was for sale for $8000 when they stumbled upon it. We’re not sure what’s under the hood nor what type of chassis it’s riding on, but we can see side pipes, some meaty tires, a late C3 rear fascia, and a yellow and black interior. Got luggage? No problem, just strap your stuff to the carrier hanging off the back of the car. Looking at the walk around video, this one appears to be relatively well done. When you consider the $8000 asking price it may not actually be too out of line. Hagerty’s price guide shows that the average price for a base L48 Corvette is $8,394. Then consider what it would take dollar-wise to build such a beast and you can very quickly surpass $8,000 in costs.

The last 2 4×4 Corvettes we saw were for sale on Craigslist. One was a white 1980 in Michigan and the other was a black 1978 in Texas. Even Corvettes at Carlisle was considering including some at a future event at one point last year.

We know these unique Corvettes aren’t for everyone (just check out some of the comments we’re going to get both below and on our Facebook page), but admit it – you know you want to drive this thing! We do.

Maybe we should do 4×4 Fridays instead of Midyear Mondays?

Source:
Autoevolution.com

Related:
Corvettes on Craigslist: Custom 1980 Corvette 4×4
Corvettes on Craigslist: 1978 4×4 Corvette
Corvettes at Carlisle is Looking for 4×4 Corvettes

 

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[VIDEO] The First of Eight Corvettes is Rescued from the Corvette Museum’s Sinkhole

[VIDEO] The First of Eight Corvettes is Rescued from the Corvette Museum's Sinkhole

This morning at the National Corvette Museum, construction workers successfully lifted the first of the eight fallen Corvettes from the massive sinkhole that opened inside the Sky Dome last month. The first Corvette to make it back to street level was the 2009 Corvette ZR1 Blue Devil which had landed upright on top of the pile.

Utilizing a number of straps, workers secured the Blue Devil Corvette to one of two cranes inside the building and lifted the car out of the sinkhole around 11:30 am Monday morning. The NCM set up a live video stream on ustream and between that and the live webcams inside the Sky Dome, we had a first row seat to watch the recovery.

After the Corvette touched down on the concrete floor, the Blue Devil’s supercharged LS9 roared to life and was driven outside under its own power. A remarkable moment to say the least.

We’ll have some higher quality video coming soon but in the meantime, check out these two clips the NCM uploaded to their YouTube channel:

Now that the first Corvette is out of the sinkhole, workers will turn their attention to the black 1962 Corvette that’s resting upright against a 5-ton slab of concrete. That extraction will require the simultaneous lifting of the car and the concrete slab.

You can follow all the action at the NCM on the Sky Dome webcams as well as the live Ustream video once the extraction process is underway.

The First of Eight Corvettes is Rescued from the Corvette Museum's Sinkhole

The First of Eight Corvettes is Rescued from the Corvette Museum's Sinkhole

Source:
National Corvette Museum

Related:
[VIDEO] Corvette Museum Shares Week 2 of Sky Dome Work
Corvette Museum to Start Removing Corvettes from Sinkhole Next Week
Donate Now to the National Corvette Museum
A Sinkhole Under the National Corvette Museum Opens and Swallows 8 Corvettes