![Corvettes rescued from sinkhole in Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit National Corvette Museum opens sinkhole exhibit 10 years later](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/chevrolet-corvette_100934817_l.webp.webp)
Corvettes rescued from sinkhole in Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit
![Corvettes rescued from sinkhole in Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit Corvettes rescued from sinkhole in Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/chevrolet-corvette_100934818_l.jpg)
Corvettes rescued from sinkhole in Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit
- Exhibition shows five Corvettes rescued from a sinkhole that opened 10 years ago
- The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, sits atop a vast cave system
- The 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 on display remains in its mangled state
On a quiet morning well before the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, opened for business, the earth opened up and swallowed eight vintage Corvettes. A decade later, the museum opened a three-month temporary exhibit called “Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined.”
The exhibition, which runs until September 15, pays tribute to the recovery of Mallett Z06 2001 Hammerthe one millionth and 1.5 millionth Corvette ever built, the ZR-1 Spyder, a 2009 ZR1 “Blue Devil”, as well as other artifacts consumed by the 40-foot wide, 60-foot deep hole that opened up in the conical shape Skydome Hall of Fame.
“From the restoration of damaged Corvettes to the decade of progress that has touched every corner of the Museum, Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined highlights our commitment to preserving Corvette history while embracing progress,” said Robert Maxhimer, Director of Curatorial Affairs and Education, in a statement.
![Corvettes rescued from sinkhole in Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit Corvettes rescued from sinkhole in Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/chevrolet-corvette_100934818_l.jpg)
Corvettes rescued from sinkhole in Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit
The recovery and sinkhole process made worldwide news from February 12, 2014 until 2016, when the recovery and restoration process became a permanent part of a museum that opened in 1994 in the porous lands of southern Kentucky.
Located across the street from GM Corvette Assembly Plant In Bowling Green, the National Corvette Museum sits atop a karst region, situated about 30 miles from Mammoth Cave National ParkThe longest known cave system in the world. Bowling Green is Kentucky for mining country, where caverns and underground springs run like veins beneath the ground, and where sediments constantly move into recesses in the earth, causing sinkholes. Five days after the Corvette sinkhole opened, an even larger one opened 15 miles away.
I witnessed the sinkhole firsthand while covering it for the Chicago Tribune. It opened around 5 a.m., thankfully before staff or visitors had reached the most popular part of the 115,000-square-foot museum. The Skydome, with its red spindle jutting through the 100-foot glass ceiling, housed 22 of the rarest and some of the most expensive Corvettes, as well as a Hall of Fame honoring such luminaries as Zora Arkus-Duntovthe father of the first Corvette that debuted in 1953.
Since filled and solidified, and with the Skydome restored to original condition, the new exhibit displays the five Vettes listed above, nearly dust-free from storage. The Mallett, which was the last Vette extracted from the sinkhole, is still in its mangled sinkhole condition. The exhibit includes an observation deck to view the sinkhole, as well as the stone that hammered the Mallett Hammer Corvette.
![Corvettes rescued from sinkhole in Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit Corvettes rescued from sinkhole in Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit](https://thegurumedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/chevrolet-corvette_100934820_l.jpg)
Corvettes rescued from sinkhole in Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit
There was something reverent about visiting the Skydome and interviewing the engineers responsible for the excavation and the curator tasked with tracking the changes, just as Corvette has done in its 70-year existence. C8 Corvette which was launched in 2020 transformed the American supercar into a mid-engined monster. The 2024 Corvette E-Ray electrified the icon with AWD hybrid power. A full battery electric Corvette is expected to debut later this year.
In the meantime, the Museum hopes that this limited-edition exhibition will generate an increase in attendance.