The National Corvette Museum has finalized plans for repair of the museum’s Skydome building, and the eight Corvettes affected by sinkhole collapse in February of this year.
“We really wanted to preserve a portion of the hole so that guests for years to come could see a little bit of what it was like, but after receiving more detailed pricing, the cost outweighs the benefit,” Museum Executive Director Wendell Strode said.
“At the June board meeting, the information available at that time indicated a cost of around $500,000 more to keep the hole, but after incorporating additional safety features and vapor barriers for humidity control, the price tag rose to $1 million more than the cost to put the Skydome back how it was,” Strode added.
According to a statement by the museum, keeping even a portion of the sinkhole would require 35 foot retaining walls to be built inside of the sinkhole, additional micro piling, visible steel beams running through the hole, and soil nailing.
Three of the Corvettes, which were damaged when they were swallowed up by the sinkhole, will be restored by Chevrolet and the National Corvette Museum.
Chevrolet will restore the 2009 Corvette ZR1 prototype, known as the Blue Devil, and the 1-millionth Corvette produced – a white 1992 convertible.
The restoration of the 1962 Corvette will be funded by Chevrolet, and will be handled by the National Corvette Museum.
A restoration shop has not yet been determined.
“The remaining five cars were determined to be too badly damaged to warrant restoration. They will remain in their as-recovered state to preserve the historical significance of the cars and what happened on February 12, 2014. They will become part of a future display at the Museum,” National Corvette Museum said in a press release.
Source: National Corvette Museum
