CCTV: Watch 8 CORVETTES Slide Into SINKHOLE in Corvette Museum

Chevrolet says it WILL restore eight Corvettes swallowed by Kentucky sinkhole within six months but it could take weeks just to drag them out

It will take a while to pull the Corvettes out of the chasm
Damaged cars were worth up to $2 million dollars in total
Museum has reopened once again
Other parts of museum are safe, experts say
Too soon to tell if museum's iconic yellow Sky Dome will survive
Ground collapsed inside Bowling Green museum on Wednesday
Eight cars were swallowed by 40-foot-wide and 30-foot-deep hole
Museum hopes to have the cars restored for its 20th anniversary in August

Eight collector Corvettes that were swallowed by a sinkhole beneath a Kentucky museum may be stuck in the pit for weeks before General Motors Co can attempt to restore them.

The historic cars, including the millionth Corvette built in 1992, fell up to 30 feet on Wednesday in a scene captured by security cameras at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Some of the cars, including a 2009 ZR1 'Blue Devil' that landed on its wheels, seem to be in remarkably good shape.

Other cars are covered with rubble, making it tough to assess the damage or estimate the cost of repairs, Chevrolet spokesman Monte Doran said.

A number of estimates have been mentioned as to the total cost of the vehicular loss.

Car and Driver blog called classic-car insurance and valuation experts Hagerty to get the true values of the eight Corvettes.

Of the eight ill-fated Corvettes, just four could be valued at six figures or more.

The bulk of the others are around $30,000--$45,000. Many if them are also not that rare

The cars are significant in automotive history and GM wants to restore as many as possible, Mark Reuss, executive vice president of GM Global Product Development, said in a statement.

Before that can happen, the cars must be pulled from the sinkhole that opened in the 'Skydome' area of the museum. The museum reopened on Thursday, but the Skydome was blocked off.

It will take two to three weeks to stabilize the area and make sure it is safe, and another four to six days to retrieve the Corvettes, said Mike Murphy of Scott, Murphy & Daniel Construction, which is managing the repairs to the building.

The museum's foundation and structure are in good condition, and after the cars are retrieved, workers will replace the earth and floor system, Murphy said.

Six museum-owned cars were damaged: the white millionth Corvette, a 1962 black Corvette, a 1984 PPG pace car, a 1993 ruby red 40th anniversary Corvette, a 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette and a 2009 white 1.5 millionth Corvette.

Two cars on loan from GM were also damaged, the Blue Devil and a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder.

After they are pulled from the pit, the cars will be shipped to a small GM specialty shop in Warren, Michigan, that maintains and restores GM's historic concept cars, GM said.

The millionth Corvette, which was never sold, was likely the most valuable car to fall into the hole and could fetch several million dollars from the right buyer, Corvette historian Jerry Burton has said.

The region of south central Kentucky where the museum is located contains many caves and sinkholes. Mammoth Cave National Park is about 20 miles from Bowling Green.

GM builds Corvettes at a plant near the museum, which opened in 1994. Museum Executive Director Wendell Strode said he is confident it will all be done in time for the museum's 20th anniversary celebration in August.

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.

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.

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