After raining all night we awoke to a lovely morning. We carpooled to the National Corvette Museum. Not only were we Airstreamers doing this tour today, but it was the 25th anniversary of the museum and hundreds of Corvette owners were coming to gather as well…
Even our campground was not immune to this invasion of Corvettes…
The museum is located only a quarter mile from the Bowling Green Assembly Plant, where Corvettes have been made since 1981. Unfortunately, the plant is closed for re-tooling; rumor has it that the newest model Corvette will be revealed at this event this weekend…
(Spoiler Alert: Yes, the new C-8 Corvette, with a mid-engine configuration, was revealed at the Museum on 4/27/19!)
This yellow structure is called the “Skydome”. It contains a large exhibit hall inside, as an addition to the main museum. More about the Skydome later…
We gathered in front of the museum for a group photo, then went inside for a tour.
The exhibits started with a display of a 1953 Corvette, showing its innovative framework and chassis design. Note how light the structural framework is. These cars were clearly designed for performance, not for safety…
We proceeded through the exhibits, seeing the Corvette design evolve. The first years were difficult, and very few cars sold in 1953-1955, but the 1956 model caught on and sales sky-rocketed. However, they have never reached the 1,000,000 cars per year that were originally envisioned…
The 1956 – 1962 years (Model C-2, as the aficionados call it) are my favorite Corvettes…
This is the interior of the Skydome:
A particularly interesting exhibit centers around an event that happened a few years ago…
On February 12, 2014, a sinkhole (40-foot-wide and 25-foot-deep) opened under the floor of the Skydome area of the museum. Video from the museum’s security camera shows the collapse occurring at 5:38 AM local time. Since this did not occur during visiting hours no one was injured although much of the Skydome area concrete floor collapsed. Eight rare and one-of-a-kind Corvettes, portions of the display stands and rails, large concrete floor slabs, boulders, and dirt fell into the sinkhole, causing serious damage to all eight of the Corvettes. The Corvettes involved had an estimated value of a million dollars. The remaining 20 cars in the Skydome were immediately removed from that area. All eight of the Corvettes were recovered from the sinkhole.
Exploration in the sinkhole discovered a cave passage 80 feet below the Skydome floor and that this previously unknown cave had an unstable area in its roof that collapsed. Apparently, when the museum was built, a large storm water retention basin was dug adjacent to the Skydome, which altered the flow of ground water under the museum. This change in geologic activity contributed to the cave collapse.
The Skydome reopened after repairs were completed on September 3, 2015. The eight Corvettes are displayed in their original location at the time of the collapse, although only three of them have been repaired/restored. The other five were deemed too damaged to be repaired, so they are displayed is their “as found” condition… It is a remarkable thing to see!
We continued to look at the displayed until lunch happened…
After lunch we visited the Historic Rail Park, located at the historic L & N train depot…
It was great fun…
There were model railroad exhibits that little kids really love…
There were historic exhibits inside the museum; but the best part was the train!
We were able to go through all the cars…
First was the engine (with the engines and generators removed…). We also could go into the cockpit and sit in the engineer’s seat. No steering wheel!
This is the Post Office car…
The dining car…
The kitchen…
We saw a 3rd class Pullman sleeping berths, the 2nd class “roomettes”, and the private bedrooms in 1st class. Finally we saw the private car of the L & N president, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dining room and a parlor, plus observation platform at the rear. This car was used by Herbert Hoover during his presidential campaign.
We also saw cars that are not on display; a caboose…
And a hospital car, used to transport injured troops from WWII and the Korean conflict…
We returned to the Villa in time to prepare for the first GAM – Get Acquainted Meeting. As luck would have it, we already knew these four couples…
And an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 