Eight Corvettes swallowed by massive sink hole at National Corvette Museum

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Lousiville Courier-Journal

Feb. 12, 2014 10:10 AM
Written by Mark Boxley
The Courier-Journal

A 40-foot sink hole at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green swallowed eight of the sports cars on display inside the the facility’s iconic Sky Dome Wednesday morning, said executive director Wendell Strode.

Some time before 5:30 a.m. the sink hole started to form, authorities believe and by 5:39 a.m. power in the museum was lost and police were called, he said.

When they got to the museum, emergency personnel discovered a 40-foot sink hole between 25 and 30 feet deep, Strode said. “It’s pretty significant,” he said.
....

Reporter Mark Boxley can be reached at [phone] or on Twitter at @Boxleyland.

Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20140212/NEWS01/302120036/Massive-sink-hole-swallows-eight-cars-National-Corvette-Museum

---

I love the first comment to the Courier-Journal article:

Wayne Franklin · Top Commenter · University of Maryland, College Park

Damn you Obama!

Reply · 1 · · 34 minutes ago

The museum's executive director is a master of understatement:

Collapse at National Corvette Museum sends cars into sinkhole

"This is going to be an interesting situation,"{Museum Executive Director Wendell Strode} said.

Currently, plans are for the museum to be open, but the dome room will be closed.

— See more in today’s Daily News. Follow city editor Robyn L. Minor on Twitter at twitter.com/bowserminor or visit bgdailynews.com.

Here is a list of the vehicles that were swept into the hole as the floor collapsed:
*1993 ZR-1 Spyder on loan from General Motors

*2009 ZR1 “Blue Devil” on loan from General Motors

*1962 Black Corvette, owned by museum

*1984 PPG Pace Car, owned by museum

*1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette, owned by museum

*1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette, owned by musem

*2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette, owned by museum

*2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette, owned by musem

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. "Hope the materialist owners of these gas guzzling monsters had lots of insurance"

Last edited Wed Feb 12, 2014, 12:19 PM - Edit history (1)

You know that Joe Biden owns a '67, right?

Joe Biden’s Corvette bummer

a) The cars were, for the most part, owned by the museum.
b) Cars on display in a museum don't burn a lot of gasoline.
c) If we're going to go after every preserved item that was hazardous to the environment when it was in operation, we might as well scrap this while we have the chance:

Buy one; scrap one free:

Someone take my keyboard away, please:

Steam locomotive efficiency? Ha. Make me laugh. I refer you to this post: (Disclaimer: I know this guy.)

Steam & Excursion > LNG/Propane or Kerosene to Power Steam Locomotive

Date: 03/21/12 17:20
Re: Too much heat?
Author: wcamp1472

OK, Crew....

What-on-Earth were you thinking?

Basic locomotive REALITY: 95% of usable heat energy goes up the stack as unused! The energy released in the firebox is measurable in multiplying the (sampled) BTU value of the fuel, multiplied by the quantity consumed (and the rate of consumption).
The effective usable horsepower at the draw-bar (tender's coupler) is also measurable (in draw-bar pull & ground speed).

With modern steam locomotives, the NET usable power is, typically, 5% to 7% of the total heat produced -- and that's at 'short cut-offs' and reasonable speeds. At higher power demands, the loco's conversion of heat into work is even MORE horrible! Imagine buying 8,000 to 12,000 gallons of burnable propane and then wasting 95% of that cost for 'dramatic pictures'. Even Warren Buffet would gag on 95%-investment losses!

Earlier discussions on T/O posts have described the real problem of trying to gasify huge amounts of Propane -- conversion from liquid to gas state.
The tanks absorb immense heat from the atmosphere and become ice-coated, ice clogged. I believe some of Norm Sandly's steam engine creations (Bush Gardens, etc.) burn propane; but, it has limited uses for high HP machines.

So, get off of these dream/hogwash imaginings and deal with what works. Hotwater has explained, ad nauseum, the realities of suitable fuels for oil burners.
At times, HICO had obtained oil-washed coal from the mines ----- NOW!-- talk about HOT, the 759's pops lifted even with one hand-fired scoopful!

All of these desires for 'modernized' (mechanical tinkering and exotic --expensive---fuel possibilities) steam locos is moot, unless you can bring up the HP conversion realities.
Even, today, the infernal combustion engines waste immense amounts of heat, but their ratios are in the 33% to 40% efficiency ranges -- 8 times the poor old steamers!

Enjoy and support (with labor & cash) your local RR preservation resources and admire what our fathers did in operating these 'dinosaurs' -- on a daily basis!

Overfire Jets
(We clear the air!)

It's old and in the way. Destroy the monster. Think of the children.

[valerief]

6. Probably more like Frackzilla. nt

[yellowcanine]

13. pontificate much?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

27. In all honesty, I don't get worked up over Corvettes either.

But these are museum pieces, and having a sinkhole open up under them does get one's attention.

I don't know if you were around for the era (i.e., America before gas prices skyrocketed). Whether you were or not, gas in the 60s and early 70s was 25 or 30 cents a gallon or so. People didn't pay much attention to fuel efficiency. Corvettes, which have tended to the excessive side of things, did have some engineering niceties. You could get four-wheel disc brakes in the '65:

Second generation-C2 (1963–1967)

Fuel-injection was an option in 1957:

First generation-C1 (1953–1962)

And before someone points out that Citroën or Alfa or Tatra or whoever had all that in 1913, I am not an expert on automotive engineering. Still, Corvettes probably represented the cutting edge of automotive engineering for the U.S. back then. And for that, we do have to pay homage.

Before we look back on the events of fifty years ago and criticize people for failing to anticipate the future, maybe we need to ask ourselves what we are doing today and ponder how we will be judged fifty years from now.

Thank you for writing. I hope I wasn't too rough on you. I appreciate all those who write.

[Throd]

28. Why would you say that?

[sinkingfeeling]

26. I bought my first Corvette in 1976, right off the show room floor. It

plowed the snow in Columbus, Ohio and got better gas mileage than most other '70s cars.

[JNelson6563]

39. Ok, that's just ugly.

I'm happy to inform you that the Corvette is a part of America's history a real slice of Americana~~as it were. They are beautiful and wonderful. If you ever drove one you might begin to understand. Oh, and the people who make them? They love building them and earn a decent living (as well as those who design & sell them).

Your post is quite hateful and barely lucid. You might consider self-deleting.

Julie

[Berlum]

2. An Omen of phallic significance?

[shenmue]

3. Ouch

That stinks.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

37. Ouch

That *sinks*.

[exboyfil]

4. God's angry that his boy lost the debate

[AtheistCrusader]

7. Ocean's 14?

Did anyone check to see if the cars are still down there?

[BodieTown]

8. Any Fracking Details?

Unexplained booming sounds reported in BG in 2013.

[Lasher]

16. Bowling Green is located on Kentucky's sinkhole plain.

Limestone caverns below, sinkholes above.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Worse than the Winter Park sinkhole that swallowed one or two Porsches

[Historic NY]

10. Maybe I can get a salvage deal.

[alfredo]

11. Photos from inside, courtesy of WKYT Lexington, Ky

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. Thanks for the pictures.

I had been looking for some, but the news was too new when I posted.

[alfredo]

48. Our local TV station was all over it.

[progressoid]

14. Holy Hole!

[Duer 157099]

43. Swallow? That looks like it is just stuck in the throat

But still...

[sakabatou]

44. That's a big sinkhole!

[alfredo]

50. It's just south of Mammoth Cave on I-65. Karst country.

[packman]

15. Part of my Youth weeps

Far down, below all the aches and pains of age creeping up on me, a dim flicker of my misspent youth is crying for the loss. How I wanted one of those many years back. To have a mawing sinkhole gulp up those jewels of conspicuous consumption makes me want to never trust the good earth again. Mother Nature, you done me wrong.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

17. VROOM! VROOM! VROOM! Oops. . . . B U R P !

[Blue_Tires]

18. What is the 1984 PPG Pace Car?

Did they mean the 1986 Indy 500 pace car?

[House of Roberts]

33. Most likely a CART/PPG Indy Car World Series pace car

from one or more events from that season.

[Sunlei]

19. on the brightside in a couple thousand years when the drout is over. The sinkholes will become

beautiful blue holes

[sdfernando]

20. Don't really care for vettes too much

Most of these probably look very similar to each other anyway....but that 1962 Black Corvette, man that one hurts!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

21. The grille looks okay.

Car enthusiasts weigh in:

There's A Sinkhole Under The Corvette Museum And It's Swallowing Cars

I just have to add this:

Route 66 (TV series)

[penultimate]

51. I never really liked the look of them either...

Although I'm not a car person, so I base it solely on the outter appearance. I'd take one if it was offered to me for free though

[sdfernando]

53. Sure, I wouldn't turn down free

Reminds me of when I was buying a new car. I went to a show room and told them right off the bat that I was only looking. They wanted me to test drive and I said OK, but I'm only looking and absolutely will not be buying anything today. After test drive the hard sell starts the and the manager gets in on it. "We want to sell you this car, what can we do to get you in one today?" My response as I was grinning ear-to-ear and walking off the lot was "You can give it to me for free".

[reddread]

22. thank god they only lost one 62

friggin place. My one chance to go in there, I was heading back across "America" in a hurry, and on a budget, but I'll drop ten bucks for the Corvette Museum! Rolled up there right at 8:00 AM according to the clock on the trusty T-Bird.
Slight problem. Timeline starts just before Bowling Green I guess, and I was an hour early for opening.
Took a picture of the T-Bird in front of their Corvette Museum sign and headed back to California.
What a frightening story.
Hope that 62 wasnt anything more special than a 62 Corvette.
Definite fondness for those early boattails.
The Devil take the rest!

[sinkingfeeling]

25. Ditto. The older ones were the best.

[madrchsod]

24. well there`s at least a million dollars down the sink...

maybe the builders should have read matthew 7:24-27 before they started building

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7%3A24-27&version=NLT

[90-percent]

29. Fortunately

Fortunately only one of the eight was of the precious steel bumper variety, the '62.

1973 was urethane front and steel rear bumpers. 1974 all steel bumpers were gone forever.

The '62 will be saved, easily. The caliber of early vette resto's is remarkable.

-90% Jimmy,

on and off Vette owner since 1972

[csziggy]

30. That makes me worry about driving the interstate there!

We drove by the Corvette Museum last fall on the way to Louisville. It's right next to Interstate 65. The big dome is very visible from the highway.

http://goo.gl/maps/UeHSY

If the sinkhole spreads or more open in the area, the interstate could be at risk - or the GM assembly plant across the road.

[Aldo Leopold]

31. My God, are there no limits to the insanity?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

32. From Hemmings:

Breaking News: Eight cars damaged by sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum

[eilen]

34. And we are sure this is not the work of some comic book super villain

and these cars are parked in some mountain hideaway in the Andes.....

[mahatmakanejeeves]

36. Gay marriage is to blame.

You know it's coming, right?

Kentucky ban on gay marriages from other states struck down by federal judge

Please do NOT make me add the sarcasm thingy.

[adirondacker]

38. The '62 would be worth saving. The rest...Meh. nt

[Blue_Tires]

49. I'll take the '09 over the rest, easily...

[JNelson6563]

40. You have to wonder...

will other displays of valuable things reconsider their location? I know if I had a display of world class anything in Florida I would be thinking about where my things might be a bit safer.

Julie

[struggle4progress]

42. "Part of our museum just fell into a sinkhole, but we've decided to stay open"

[freshwest]

45. Guess they figure a few people going down the hole would be good PR? n/t

[Orsino]

46. The Devil wants his bad-ass ride back. n/t

[Crepuscular]

47. pity

that the sinkhole could not have chosen to swallow the creationist museum in Kentucky, instead.

[dembotoz]

52. money pit

[happyslug]

54. Sorry, when I heard of this, I thought of the Corvettes that sailed the seas

Including the Made in USA, Corvettes for the Israeli Navy (About 1000 tons):



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saar_5

Or the larger Italian model:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvette