Historic Sinkhole ’Vette Rises to Former Glory

General Motors Co. has fully restored a historic 1992 Corvette the one-millionth 'Vette produced by the company and will return it to permanent display at the Corvette museum in Bowling Green, Ky.

The white convertible was one of eight models that fell into a 45-ft wide/60-ft long sinkhole in early 2014 while on display at the Kentucky facility.

The restoration for the one-millionth Vette was done at GM's Tech Center in Warren, Mich. The project involved about 30 craftspeople and technicians from GM Design's mechanical assembly group, with help from GM Service Operations and fabrication shops. The crew spent four months and 1,200 man-hours on the job.

Among the parts replaced were the hood, front fascia and the lower panels between the front wheels and doors. The replacement parts came from a Corvette of the same vintage and color.

The restoration also included recovering the signatures of hundreds of workers who signed various components during the assembly of the 1992 model. Only three signed components couldn't be saved. In two cases the autographs were scanned and transferred onto replacement parts. The other signature was too obscured by the damage, so the employee was found and signed the restored car.

GM already has restored one of the other sinkhole-damaged Corvettes, a 2009 ZR1 prototype known as the Blue Devil, and is in the process of refurbishing a historically significant 1962 model.

The other five Corvettes will be left as is and become part of a new "sinkhole" exhibit at the museum. They include a 1984 PPG pace car, 1993 ruby red 40th anniversary model, 1993 ZR-1 Spyder, 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette and 1.5-millionth Corvette built in 2009.