When the depths of the earth opened up beneath the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, swallowing eight irreplaceable Corvettes in 2014 (actually it was just a sinkhole), it appeared that many of the cars damaged were beyond repair. But shortly after, General Motors->ke1024 stepped forward and volunteered to restore three of the ‘Vettes that weren’t too far gone. One of these was the 1 millionth Corvette->ke1280, which after 1,200 man hours at GM’s Design Center now looks better than new.

The 1 millionth Corvette is a white 1992 convertible->ke144 — a fairly common car aside from its milestone status — but the restoration was by complicated by one significant aspect. When the restoration team first started disassembling the car, they found that employees involved in its construction at the Bowling Green Corvette Factory in 1992 had each signed parts of the car. A very cool feature, but it also meant many parts would need to be restored rather than replaced.

Amazingly, the team was able to salvage all but three of the signed parts. Two of the signatures were scanned and reproduced on the replacement parts. For the third, the team tracked down its owner and had her provide a new signature. Other replacement parts, including the hood, front fascia and the panels between the front wheels and doors, came from other Corvettes of the same color and vintage.

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Inside, the damage was less extensive. The pad on instrument panel’s cover was replaced (the whole structure couldn’t be replaced because more signatures were found on it) and the custom seats with “1,000,000 Corvette” embroidery were carefully mended with color-matching hide.

Corvette drivetrains have a reputation for being incredibly robust, and that reputation held true here. The 5.7-liter LT1 V-8 and the rest of the drivetrain were inspected, but found to be completely intact. In a strange turn of events, the team didn’t have to replace the windshield surround, which was initially crushed when the car fell through the sinkhole.

But the recovery crew at the museum used an overhead crane to pull the cars out, which was attached to the surround.

By sheer luck, the surround was pulled almost back to its original position. After that, the windshield was replaced and a new “1,000,000” windshield banner was applied, which was printed using the original computer graphic file from 1992.

Why it matters

The 1 millionth Corvette is the second of three cars from the sinkhole that are being restored. The team already finished restoring the 2009 ‘Blue Devil’ Corvette ZR1 prototype, and will next move on to the 1962 Chevrolet Corvette roadster. The remaining five were deemed beyond repair, but will still be on display at the museum at a sinkhole exhibit. The 1 millionth Corvette will join its fellow sinkhole casualties back at the museum soon.

2015 Chevrolet Corvette Driven

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