“The 1962 Black Corvette is planned to be retrieved…” on today,… “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.”
You can also watch on http://www.ustream.tv/channel/national-corvette-museum.
DONATE TO THE NATIONAL CORVETTE MUSEUM!!!
Thanks for reading
Tim
Slated for rescue today.
1962 Corvette One of the most beautiful corvettes of all time. Classic lines, sexy look, simply Co http://t.co/492sskfjnu
What do you get when you mix a national museum, a collection of collectable cars, and a series of interconnected subterranean caves? A massive sinkhole, that’s what. Yesterday morning curators at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky …
The removal of the first car is anticipated to take an hour, after which the ZR1 will be loaded onto a flatbed truck inside the Skydome and unloaded in the museum’s Exhibit Hall. After the first car, the museum-owned 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary…
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
RT @corvettemuseum: The first #corvette being lifted out of the #sinkhole – 2009 ZR1 Blue Devil. http://t.co/u7NmVWgE7w
RT @joeimel: See gallery of photos from the removal of the 2009 ZR1 Blue Devil from a sinkhole at the #NCM http://t.co/91dGv5VZKS http://t.…
Here are your Auto Factoids for the first week of March 2014.
3/4/1902 – American Automobile Association was formed. We call ‘Triple A” and most of us think about it as an insurance or travel agency with roadside assistance and it is that for sure. It was formed by nine motor clubs in a response to a lack of roads and highways suitable for automobiles. The group in part included the Chicago Automobile Club, Automobile Club of America, Automobile Club of New Jersey, and others. They began producing maps 1905 and hotel guides in 1917. The association branched out to include other programs such as teh Racing Board in 1902 to officiate the Vanderbilt Cup International Automobile Race in long island. This board alwo sanctioned the Indianapolis 500 and give the awards for national racing championships in 1905, 1916, 1920-1941 and 1946-1955.
3/5/1971 – Rolls-Royce get a bail-out loan from the Brittish Goverment
’71 Silver Shadow
Same day in 1952 Willis introduces the Aero-Ace. These came with the Hurricane 6 or the Lightning 6
Areo Ace
3/7/1929 – GM buys Opel
Opel was a Germany car company that produced it’s first cars were produced in 1899. Before that they were in the sowing machine and bicycle business. Opel designed and manufactured vehicles are also sold under the Buick brand in the United States, Canada, Mexico and China and the Vauxhall brand in the United Kingdom.
3/8/1969 – Pontiac give the world the iconic Trans Am
The Trans Am was a package for the Firebird. Although there were a total of 87,000 plus Firebirds and Trans Am produced for the year, there are some rare Trans Am’s put together:
114 Trans Am’s carried the L-74 RAM AIR III V8 between the fenders with the Turbo-Hydramatic
520 Trans Ams had the same L-74 and RAM set up only with the synchromesh transmission
There only 8 Trans Ams convertibles made and they all had the L-74s. If that’s not rare enough, try this: 4 of those had manual transmissions and 4 had the Hydramatic.
Likewise you count the number of Trans-Ams that were equipped with L-67 RAM AIR IV and the Turbo-Hydramatic in single digits – 9. There were 46 more that had the the synchromesh trans.
So begins the narrator for “Against All Odds,” a documentary of the 1971 Trans Am 2.5 Challenge season about the BRE Datsun team, conveniently sponsored by Datsun. (“The small car experts!” avarious Datsun ads exclaim throughout the film. “Over 900 …
RT @tomjensen100: Wow, a 1969 Firebird Trans Am goes for $135k. #barrettjackson @foxsports http://t.co/tjn9MLmbsR
You have probably heard by now that eight Corvettes were eaten up by a sinkhole which opened up in the Skydome room of the National Corvette Museum on February 12. The cars will eventually be restored by GM at the automaker’s Heritage Collection in …
Here are your Auto Factoids for this week in automotive history.
A very light week, but a couple of biggies.
First up is the debut of AMC’s AMX that happened back in 1968 on Feb 24th. Born to be muscle and destined to be a classic from the start.
They were sharp-looking and a curb weight of only about 3,000 lbs they weren’t heavy weights. Impressive engine configurations of 290, 383, 360, and 390 with nothing but a 4 barrel carb (and one twin 4 barrel) you got horse power from 225 (the 290) to 420 (390 with twin 4 barrel carbs). Impressive! Sadly only a two-year run.
1969 Hurst version…NICE!!!
Had to dig for this one. Found it on http://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org. Back in 1905 a Cadillac was the first car to cross the Andes (the mountain range not Andes, New York) that happened on Feb 25th, but I don’t know why, nor does anyone else seem to know. I can tell you the Andes are in South American and average about 14,000 feet in altitude. The ’05 (that’s 1905 not 2005) Caddy was, well let’s say “airy”. That ‘brave’ (pronounced ‘Crazy’) soul was Jose Piquero. But wait, some sources say it wasn’t a Caddy at all, but a Oldsmobile.
So I would imagine either in either ride the trip was a tad bit chilly.
1905 Olds
1905 Caddy
Less we forget that Ralph Nader has a birthday this month, you can celebrate that (anyone? Bueller, Bueller…) if you absolutely can’t find another reason to have an adult beverage. That day was Feb 27 back in 1934. I wonder if he fell out of a car seat when he was young?
1962 Lakewood
As luck would have it Mother Nature tends to even the playing field, so a few years later Mario Andretti was born in February on the 28 back in 1940 in Montona, Italy.
There is always something leaking out of any automotive project. Oil, gas, power steering fluid or transmission fluid dripping out of something is a common event. The mess associated with is a pain to clean up.
Here is one way I help keep the mess to a minimum.
Yup that’s a turkey baster and a cat litter box contain with the top cut off.
You can use the turkey baster to extract the oil or other fluid and deposit into the litter.
In this case I’ve taken the oil tank for my DT 175 and let it drain into the litter.
here is the link for the live camera overlooking the hole in the floor of the Corvette museum.
