After more than four months and 1,200 man-hours of painstaking craftsmanship, restoration of the milestone 1-millionth Corvette - a white 1992 convertible - is complete.
It was unveiled today at the National Corvette Museum, in Bowling Green, Ky., where it returns as part of the permanent exhibit. The car was damaged on Feb. 12, 2014, when it and seven other rare Corvettes tumbled into a sinkhole that opened beneath the museum’s Skydome area.
Chevrolet pledged to restore it.
After recovery from the sinkhole, the 1-millionth Corvette was moved from the museum to the Design Center on GM’s Technical Center campus in Warren, Mich., for restoration. Approximately 30 craftspeople and technicians from GM Design’s Mechanical Assembly group, along with GM Service Operations, took on the project. Mechanical Assembly and the Fabrication Shops at GM Design builds concept vehicles and maintains GM’s historic vehicle collection.
The 1-millionth Corvette is the second sinkhole-damaged Corvette that Chevrolet has restored. The first, a 2009 Corvette ZR1 prototype known as the Blue Devil, was only lightly damaged and was returned to its original condition last fall. The National Corvette Museum will oversee the restoration of a third car, a 1962 Corvette.