[1]Photo Credit: National Corvette Museum
While the cars that were swallowed up by the National Corvette Museum [2] sinkhole [3] suffered varying levels of damage, from “fender bender [4]” to “utterly destroyed [5],” for at least one of the damaged cars, a generous Corvette owner has stepped up to provide a twin.
“Ruby,” the 1993 40th Anniversary Edition Corvette, was the second car recovered from the sinkhole, and was only moderately damaged compared to some of the Corvettes subsequently pulled from the ravenous cavern.
The owner of another 40th Anniversary ‘Vette was so affected by the story that she was motivated to donate her own car to the museum. “It was quite a shock,” Lynda Patterson said. “Seeing that other Ruby in the hole made me think that maybe I should give ours to the Museum soon. Almost twenty years ago my husband Mike and I designated that our Ruby would go to the National Corvette Museum anyway. He died in 2012 after being diagnosed with a brain tumor a year earlier.”
[6]
[7]
[8]
Upon contacting the museum, Patterson says, “The people at the Museum were very excited about having her. It made me feel good that the people there would be taking care of her.” On April 17th, 2014, Patterson said her goodbyes and handed over her car. “This is bitter-sweet,” she added. “I’m so glad she’s coming here and will be enjoyed by so many. Some people may not get why I’d be so emotional about it, but it is more than a car… it is memories.”