10 years ago, on February 12, 2014 to be precise, occurred one of the most bizarre, sad and unusual events in automotive history: the collapse of the floor of part of the National Corvette Museum located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, an hour north of Nashville, Tennessee.
Fortunately, the sinkhole disaster occurred early in the morning, before the museum opened to the public. But the huge hole swallowed up eight vintage cars, some of them irreplaceable.
This year, to mark the decade passed since the event, the museum has opened a new temporary exhibit called “Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole reimagined”.
From now until September 15, the exhibit pays tribute to the recovery of the 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06, the millionth and 1.5 millionth Corvettes ever made, the ZR-1 Spyder, a 2009 ZR1 "Blue Devil" and other cars and artifacts that were swallowed up by the 40-ft-wide, 60-ft-deep hole that opened up in the part of the museum known as the Skydome.
Some of the cars have been restored, and the exhibition aims to preserve the history of Corvettes and the event, but also to focus on progress.
Why a sinkhole?
As for what caused the sinkhole, Robert Duffer of Motor Authority explained that the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky sits atop karst ground, which has bedrock that can dissolve and lead to sinkholes and other such features. In fact, the museum sits about 30 miles from Mammoth Cave National Park, the world's longest known cave system.
The collapse made headlines around the world. Yours truly had visited the museum in 2012, and it was peculiar to see some of the pieces admired and photographed just a few months earlier reduced to rubble.
If you're making a detour to the area, a visit is a must, especially as you'll have the opportunity to see some unique Corvettes, among them those destroyed during the event.
