[1]For the five or so Corvette fans that haven’t heard yet, the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky fell victim to a sinkhole [2] in the worst place possible. We’re talking about the Skydome, where dozens of irreplaceable Corvettes are housed. The sinkhole swallowed eight of these unique Corvettes, including a 2001 Corvette with the rare Mallett [3] conversion.
That Corvette technically belonged to the Corvette Museum, after being donated by Kevin and Linda Helmintoller, reports WBKO [4]. But losing the Corvette was like losing a member of the family, and despite driving 13 hours from their Florida home to the National Corvette Museum several states away, the Helmintollers still don’t have the closure they sought.
[5]The Corvette was donated to the museum back around Thanksgiving, but had only just been brought out of storage six weeks ago. Kevin and his wife, Linda, hadn’t even had a chance to see it on display in the center of the Skydome before the sinkhole swallowed their car up. So the impromptu road trip was meant to bring some closure to this automotive tragedy.
Unfortunately, the 2001 Mallett Corvette was swallowed whole, and there isn’t much to see, even in the pictures. The car is all but completely buried, and while some of the other, less-damaged vehicles might be easily restored, the Helmintollers’ Corvette might be too far gone to save. We’ll find out in a few weeks as the museum begins the arduous process of removing each Corvette, one by one, piece by piece.