The 2009 1.5 Millionth Corvette is now out of the sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.
The milestone car becomes the seventh Corvette to be retrieved from the 50-foot sinkhole that swallowed eight cars on display February 12.
The 1.5 Millionth had not been seen since the collapse, and excavation and metal detectors had been unsuccessful in locating it. Crews found signs of the car during the retrieval process of the Spyder earlier this week.
Initial attempts to pull the car free were to no avail as a large rock appeared to be wedging the rear of the car in the dirt. “Originally, we thought we had to remove the boulder itself to free the vehicle,” Zach Massey, Project Manager with Scott, Murphy and Daniel Construction said in a news release. “But we were able to free the 1.5 without addressing the boulder as it turned out it was not directly resting on the car, which was a great advantage to us.”
The 1.5 Millionth built in Bowling Green in 2009, is a white convertible with red interior. It was patterned after the first 300 Corvettes built in 1953 in Flint, Michigan.The final Corvette to be removed is the 2001 Mallett Hammer Z-06, which so far, has not been seen. Crews are probing and excavating the area for any signs of the car.
All the "sinkhole Corvettes" will be on display in the museum's exhibit hall through August 3 when they will be moved to the restored Skydome. The cars will remain on display there through the museum's 20th anniversary celebration in late August. After that, the Corvettes will head to Michigan for restoration.