Road to nowhere: Sinkhole at Kentucky's National Corvette Museum swallows eight vintage cars

Ground collapsed inside Bowling Green museum about 5.40am this morning

Eight cars were swallowed by 40-foot-wide and 30-foot-deep hole, but staff removed irreplaceable 1983 Corvette

Value of damage not released, but museum's director says it's 'substantial'



Sinkholes are common in Kentucky

A 30-foot-dee p sin khole has s w all owed eight vintage American cars on display at the National Corvette Museum in Kent ucky, including a 1962 Black Corvette and 1984 PPG Pace Car.



The floor collapsed about 5.40am this morning in the Bowling Green museum's Sky Dome area, which showcases about 30 iconic Corvettes.



Six of the damaged sports cars were owned by the museum and the other two by General Motors, but staff managed to remove an irreplaceable 1983 Corvette.

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Sinkhole: A 30-foot-deep pit swallowed eight cars on display at the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky this morning

Massive: Engineers are trying to determine what caused the 40-foot-wide and 30-foot-deep sinkhole Unstable: Five of the damaged iconic cars were owned by the museum and the other three by General Motors, but staff managed to remove an irreplaceable 1983 Corvette from the facility

The damaged cars include d a 1962 Black Corvette, 1984 PPG Pace Car, 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette, 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette, 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette and 2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette.

Two vehicles on loan from General Motors, a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and 2009 ZR1 'Blue Devil', were also damaged, according to WKYT.

Museum executive director Wendell Strode Strode has not released the total value of the damage, but said it was 'substantial'.

'There's a story behind every single one of them,' he told New York Daily News. 'I'm going to have to make a phone call and tell them we lost their babies.'



According to automobile website ZePerfs.com, a 1993-1995 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is priced at 76,200 Euros or $104,000.

Moments before disaster: This video footage from the National Corvette Museum's security cameras captured the vintage cars on display seconds before they were gobbled up by the sinkhole

Doomed: The floor opened up directly beneath a pair of vehicles at the museum



Gone: The freak sinkhole took down at least two classic cars in a matter of about 30 seconds

While pricing website Vette Finders provides average values of Corvettes, it does not include rare vehicles.



Sinkholes are cavities in the land caused by underground water erosion and are common in Kentucky, which is one of the most famous karst areas in the world. This means springs flow under most of Kentucky's land.

According to a University of Kentucky geological survey, sinkholes form in two ways.



First, the roof of a cave becomes to weak to carry the bedrock above it and collapses. More commonly, however, is when bedrock under an area is dissolved and carried away under ground, causing the soil to slump.



Tragic loss: Among the eight damaged cars are the vintage 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette (top) and 1962 Black Corvette (bottom)

American classics: The rare and vintage Corvettes swallowed by the sinkhole

1962 Black Corvette



1984 PPG Pace Car



1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette



1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette



1993 ZR-1 Spyder



2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette



2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette

2009 ZR1 'Blue Devil'

Engineers have been called in to assess the situation at the 20-year-old museum.



'Before we do anything, like remove the other cars, we want that assessment so we know if there’s been any structural damage to the Sky Dome,' Strode told courier-journal.com.



'We’ll try to get back to business as usual as soon as we can and keep moving forward.'

Bowling Green city spokeswoman Kim Lancaster said the 40-foot-wide sinkhole has forced the closure of the Sky Dome - an original part of the facility was completed in 1994 - but the rest of the museum is open.



Lancaster said information was still being gathered about what exactly happened, but this appeared to be the first incident of its kind at the property.



Bowling Green sits in the midst of the state's largest karst region - the Western Pennyroyal area, where many of Kentucky's longest and deepest caves run underground.



No injuries were reported and the damage has not been valued.







Damaged: This 2001 Mallet Hammer Z06 Corvette was also swallowed by the sinkhole this morning

Vintage: One of the damaged cars was this 1993 ZR-1 Spyder, on loan from General Motors

Preservation Staff have managed to move some of the Corvettes out of the destroyed room to avoid further damage

The museum is set to host the 2014 Corvette Caravan in September, a celebration marking the 20th anniversary of the museum.

Although the event is still a year away, 1,200 people already are registered for the 2014 Corvette Caravan that will mark the 20th anniversary of the National Corvette Museum.



Museum officials expect car clubs from all 50 states and Canada to converge on Bowling Green for the celebration.

Bowling Green, Kentucky, is the only place where General Motors builds the iconic Corvette.



The museum showcases the Chevrolet Corvette, an American sports car that has been in production since 1953.

