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.
Despite extensive damage, the team, represented by UAW locals 160 and 1869, vowed to preserve and repair as many original components as possible – a decision that involved posterity as much as history. That’s because under the skin, the 1-millionth Corvette carried all those signatures from the Bowling Green Assembly workers who built the car.
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.
The five additional Corvettes swallowed by the sinkhole will remain in their as-recovered state to preserve the historical significance of the cars. They will become part of a future sinkhole-themed display at the museum.
FAST FACT: The 1-Millionth Corvette rolled off the assembly line as a convertible with a white exterior and a red interior – just like the first Corvette produced in 1953.
Additional highlights from the restoration:
• The front sub-frame was damaged in the fall into the sinkhole and required straightening
• The wheels were damaged, but reconditioned, with the original Goodyear Eagle GS-C tires
• Rather than replace the scuffed and scratched pad on the instrument panel, its soft cover was carefully removed and replaced to preserve the employee-signed structure beneath it
• The red leather seats, featuring one-off “1,000,000th Corvette” embroidery on the headrests were damaged but deemed irreplaceable, so they were restored, including a few replacement patches of carefully matched hide
• The 5.7L LT1 engine, transmission and other drivetrain components were inspected and found to be damage-free
