Watch the video, you’ll see a good close up of the first three cars and seem them on display “as is”.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Five of eight Corvettes pulled from museum sinkhole; photos show heavy …
Ok…Here is the latest graphic updating the rescued Corvettes from the sinkhole.
Three more to go!!!
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“Sad” is the only way to describe this once beautiful machine. I’ve seen this beauties many times during my visits to the museum (except the Blue Devil) that were or are in the sinkhole.
PPG Pace Car
This was a very unique vehicle. As you can see it was crushed with a slap of concrete. I think I read where one of the workers said it was “karate chopped”.
PPG Pace Car
Of all the damaged Vettes this one might just be the most impressive if they can restore it!!!!
Thanks for reading
Tim
4 More Corvettes still to be rescued.
1,000,000 Corvette was pulled from the sinkhole at the Corvette Museum today.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
http://corvettemuseum.blogspot.com/2014/03/millionth-corvette-unexpectedly-saved.html
“Initially there was no intention to bring the Millionth out, but as we got in there and saw more this morning we did feel like this might be our best chance,” said Danny Daniel, President of Scott, Murphy and Daniel Construction.
Danny indicated that they pulled the car by one wheel from where it was lodged and it swung free into the cavern. They were then able to lift the car and place it to rest, upside down on the bottom of the sinkhole. Finally, the Corvette was hooked up by its two tires for final lifting out of the sinkhole, much like the process to retrieve the 1993 40th Anniversary.
“Went like a champ, we were tickled to death,” added Daniel.
“The Millionth Corvette has been through a lot, but the damage at first glance seems to be less extensive than what it could have been, especially given the precarious spot the car landed,” said Bob Hellmann, Facilities and Displays Manager at the Museum. “The undercarriage and frame look to be in good condition and everything is repairable.”
The Millionth Corvette was built at 2:00pm on July 2, 1992 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Just like the first 1953 Corvettes, it bears a white exterior, red interior and is a convertible. The car was donated to the Corvette Museum by General Motors. In a press release from 1991, Jim Perkins, General Manager for Chevrolet at the time, said “We’ve been looking for a way to support the goals of the museum, which are to enshrine a great car and the great people who made it an American institution.” This donation came two years before the museum that exists today had opened its doors.
She looks a little rough to me.
I have to take a minute to give job well done to the crew working the rescue. Lots of people appreciate their efforts. I having pulled a RV from a 100 ravine with a tow truck, it’s nerve racking job….these guys are pros.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Looking forward to crossing out more in next few weeks.
NCM:
Today the construction and engineering team extracts the 1962. After that there will be additional work done to stabilize the red spire, the walls of the sinkhole and the area immediately around the walls. This will take approximately 3 weeks.
After this has been completed, the construction firm employees will begin removing the dirt, concrete, rebar, Stinger lift, safety barriers and everything else until the remaining 5 cars have been extracted. The timeline for this is approximately an additional 3 weeks.
Thanks for your patience during Operation Corvette +!
https://www.facebook.com/notes/national-corvette-museum/march-4-2014-update-from-museum-executive-director-wendell-strode/10152032860386705
The car looks in good shape considering where it’s been hanging out lately!!!
Check out the video:
Thanks for reading.
Tim
1962 Vette Rescued!!
Corvette Museum Media Alert
National Corvette Museum Retrieves First Corvette From Sinkhole
2009 “Blue Devil” ZR1 Emerges Nearly Unscathed
ZR-1 is out and started right up!!!
Crowds of construction personnel, media, Museum visitors and staff cheered as the first Corvette, the 2009 “Blue Devil” ZR1 emerged from the depths of the sinkhole this morning at approximately 10:35am CT. The process was streamed live on two of the Museum’s web cams with thousands of viewers tuning in all over the world.
“It’s wonderful… just seven more to go,” said Mike Murphy, construction manager for the project.
Even more cheers erupted when the car cranked up after only a few tries, and even drove about 20 feet to the doorway of the Skydome.
“That’s a GM product for you. They take a licking and keep on ticking!” added Murphy.
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. This past Saturday, the crews rigged up the ZR1 and did a few test lifts. John Spencer, Manufacturing Integration Manager at the GM Corvette Assembly Plant, helped consult the team on the best points to strap up the car. “With Mike, worker safety is number one. There are no compromises,” said Spencer.
“I was worried about the wheels,” said Murphy. “This morning we took so long because we wanted to add some secondary straps in case the wheels pulled. It was just a little more insurance.”
Murphy added that with this project, nothing is set in stone on how to do it. “It’s been a huge relief. It went better than expected,” he said.
After the elation of the first car being rescued and even cranking up, the Museum staff were excited to put the car back on display in the Museum’s Exhibit Hall. “It’s incredible to have the car back on display again. It’s what we’ve been hoping for,” said Bob Hellmann, Facilities and Displays Manager. “Now we just want to get the next seven, restore the cars, and get them all back on display.”
The Museum plans on displaying the cars as they are recovered, now through August 3. In addition, this Spring they plan to create a special display with information on the sinkhole incident, sinkholes and karst background details, videos, photos and more.
After taking a lunch break, the crew will resume the car retrieval process – with the 1993 “Ruby Red” 40th Anniversary Corvette slated for recovery Monday afternoon. The 1962 Black Corvette is planned to be retrieved on Tuesday, but will be much trickier as a five ton slab of concrete is partially resting on the front of the car. Two cranes will be used to simultaneously lift the car and the concrete.
Links to photos, videos and press releases are available on the Museum’s website at www.corvettemuseum.org. For the latest updates visit the Museum’s Facebook Fan page at www.facebook.com/corvettemuseum.
Thanks for reading
Tim
Thought I toss out some details on the Dual Twin Bridgestone 175 that I am about to begin the restoration.
Bridgestone was a Japanese tire maker and desired to move in to manufacturing first bicycles and then motorcycles after World War II to compensate for the sagging tire market. So in 1946 Soichiro Ishibashi began production of bicycles and then looked to motorized them. So they partnered up with Fuji Seimitsu Kogyo (is now Fuji Precision Engineering Co., a subsidiary of Nissan) to produce clip on motors for bicycles. By the mid 1950’s they were developing and producing motorcycles and eventually separated from Fuji Seimitsu Kogyo and moving to their own plant. Bridgestone even had a racing department which, in part led to their development of the Dual Twin.
The 175 Dual Twin did well in racing and on the street, as did the other Bridgestone models. This lead to the exports to the U.K., other Asian countries and eventually to the U.S. by Rockford Motors in Rockford Illinois.
So what is the 175 Dual Twin?
It was the first motorcycle equipped with a dual rotary disc valves for fuel induction. It had (has) aluminum alloy cylinders, kick-start; dual transmission 4-speed rotary shift gear allowing the bike to be shifted to to a 5-speed gear while running or when stationary with the “sport shift lever’, large brakes hubs and totally enclosed carburetor for protection against water and dirt. It has a max speed of 80 miles per hours and can get to a ¼ mile from a standing start in 18 seconds (this is without the racing tune…oh yes…they were race-able!!).
So let me stop right here for a minute. I had no idea what a rotary valve was, ok let me be very honest I’ve never worked on a motorcycle before, lawn mowers – yes, motorcycles – nope. I have worked on bicycles and car engines, so how hard can it be? (Famous last words, usually spoken very early in the planning stages of such projects.)
So what is a rotary valve? It is where the intake opening is controlled by the spinning of a disc that has cutouts that allow air/fuel mixture in and then closes the opening. The discs attach to the crankshaft. The crankshaft disc is a close-clearance fit in the crankcase and there is a cutout which lines up with an inlet passage in the crankcase wall at the proper time. Here are a couple of images:
Intake Valve Disc
This a dual disc valve set up (a newer Suzuki Rg500 engine)
I have more coming up on the Bridgestone Project so stay tuned.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
