What drew us to the National Corvette Museum wasn’t the Corvettes.
Neither Moon or I are big on cars– instead, we were there to 1. visit on behalf of my Corvette-obsessed father, and 2. see the sinkhole disaster that wiped out millions of dollars worth of cars one morning in 2014.
But I’m getting ahead of myself: first, here’s a few pictures of some beautiful vintage Corvettes.
The museum was clearly made for aficionados– people already entrenched in, and familiar with, the Corvette name, the story of its creation, the engine details, and significance to both automotive history and culture. This could make the user experience a bit clunky for neophytes like Moon and me– it felt like being dropped into a book about 2/3 of the way through it.
While there were immersive videos, and nice descriptions about each car featured, the museum did a poor job of placing the Corvette’s significance in the greater scheme of things. It felt like touring a private car collection, and I left with nearly as little knowledge about the Corvette cars and brand as when I had arrived.
That said, we really were fascinated by the sinkhole.
Early one morning in 2014, before the museum had arrived (ensuring no injuries to humans), the floor beneath some of the most prized cars in the museum simply dropped out from under them. A 30-by-40-foot hole opened in a terrifying flash!
Having just been at Mammoth Cave, the reason was clear– nearly the entire state of Kentucky is covered in subterranean caves, just like the cave system we had just toured. These caves are karsts, meaning much of the verdant grasses of the state actually sits atop wide cave passages, almost like a toupee. The layer of dirt and crust is thin, and sinkholes can form if conditions are right.
To its credit, despite a massive amount of damage– the museum had a good-natured attitude about the natural disaster, and elected to open an exhibit detailing what happened on that day.
The damage cost the museum millions initially– but in a strange way, also created an upside. There was security camera footage of the sinkhole opening– and it gained national attention. The director of the museum gave many interviews, and in one stated that years ago, few had heard of the Corvette Museum– but this made so many new folks aware of their existence, it was (almost) a blessing in the end.
Ultimately, they rescued 5 of the 8 cars that had fallen, and chose to painstakingly restore most of them. EXCEPT ONE:
Yes, they chose to leave one as it was– to fully see what Mother Nature had done to man’s silly little creation.
The twisted glass, steel, and mangled aluminum panels were a sight to behold– it only vaguely resembled a Corvette. And it was a reminder that value is relative– this, the 1.5-millionth Corvette ever to be produced, was technically worth hundreds of thousands of dollars until one day in May.
But it was made of the same basic materials as a Chevy.
The hubris of attaching a luxury value to anything was laid bare by this exhibit. It left me consciously casting doubt on the supposed value of every other vehicle in sight! And wondering why our culture chose to elevate the Corvette to such mythical status, and how these values came to be.
Ultimately, the National Corvette Museum wasn’t much help in solving for that riddle.
Posted by Sun
