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Everyone has heard about the Sinkhole by now. Back on February 12th of this year, eight Corvettes fell into a giant sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It wasn’t the most threatening disaster in the news that week, but news of the sinkhole spread quickly and it was covered in detail by nearly every media outlet in the country, and along the way it captured the attention of the entire nation. There was something irresistibly fascinating about the mysterious hole that appeared overnight inside the museum’s “Skydome” building. Perhaps it was the loss of the eight pristine and historic Corvette sports cars, as everyone who drives a car could relate to shock of losing a valuable automobile in such a bizarre natural disaster. However, the real attraction was probably the way it looked in still photos and in video footage from the museum’s security cameras. The middle of the night video clearly showed the sinkhole opening up and swallowing the Corvettes one by one until all eight had vanished from sight. The many still images taken later of the cars in the bottom of the pit were so bizarre and unnatural looking that the scene just did not look real. The twisted and broken cars looked like Hot Wheels toys that had been tossed into a sandbox by a giant angry child. The surreal photos were undeniably fascinating and increased the public’s awareness of the Corvette Museum to the point that the great sinkhole disaster might turn out to be the best public relations move that could have ever happened there.
When the story was first reported it had many memorable elements. The first headlines to appear simply stated “Sinkhole Collapses at National Corvette Museum” or “Security video captures sinkhole swallowing vintage ‘Vettes.” That a giant 40 feet across by 30 feet deep hole had appeared inside a museum building overnight and without warning was scary, but explained by the fact that the museum compound was built in an area of Kentucky known to have many caves and sinkholes.
The victims were six historic Corvettes owned by the museum and two others on loan from General Motors. The museum was closed to the public for just one day, and then reopened after structural engineers declared the facility safe. The headlines in February read “National Corvette Museum Open for Business” as teams of engineers and construction personnel began dealing with the disaster and the rest of the museum remained open for visitors. However, it seemed that many of those visitors really came to see the sinkhole, and the headlines began to change to titles like “Corvette Museum Open; Viewing Window Added for Visitor Glimpse of Sinkhole.”
The event remained in the news as workers began hoisting the damaged Corvettes up from the depths. Photos of mangled cars accompanied headlines that marked each step of the ongoing recovery effort; “One of eight Chevrolet Corvettes Removed from Sinkhole”, or “First 2 Corvettes lifted by Crane from KY Sinkhole” and eventually, “Final Corvette Recovered from Sinkhole.” The sinkhole and the cars plucked from it remained in the news for another round of coverage as each vehicle was recovered and the damages evaluated. Some were in restorable shape, and others looked perhaps too far gone, either way, the sinkhole continued to earn headlines and capture more followers. By May, the museums’ Board was beginning to recognize that the public’s fascination with the sinkhole might not be such a bad thing.
In June, the Executive Director of the Museum, Wendell Strode, took ownership of the problem when he said “The interest in our sinkhole and the rescued Corvettes has been more than expected. Current plans are to keep the cars on display as they are so that guests through the summer and especially the thousands attending our 20th Anniversary Celebration will have a chance to see the cars and witness the sinkhole for themselves.”
It appeared that the sinkhole had been a very good thing for the museum as there had been a 59% increase in the number of visitors from March to June 23, 2014 compared to the same time period in 2013. The museum also saw an increase of 71% in admissions income, 58% increase in Corvette Store sales, 46% increase in Corvette Café sales, and a 72% increase in Membership fees for a 65% total increase in revenue overall!
However, anything that is popular and successful will draw detractors and the Sinkhole Disaster was no exception. Much like the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, the sinkhole appeared to be a big event that was entering American folk lore territory as the thousands of tweets, Internet hits and television and newspaper stories about it began to generate doubters and deniers who claimed it was all a hoax. An article titled “The Sinkhole Doubters Emerge” published in the New York Times noted that “Soon after (the sinkhole) photos appeared, doubters took to the Internet to declare it all a scale-model hoax” and that “There was considerable speculation on Twitter that the whole incident was a publicity stunt or the work of sinister competitors.” In the USA, having a legion of fans may be a measure of success, but having a legion of doubters surely means you’ve arrived.
In response to all of the press, both positive and negative, the museum has announced that the sinkhole will remain a permanent part of the museum, for now anyway. A new wall was installed in the Skydome featuring a plexi-glass viewing area so guests can see the sinkhole and related cars from a safe distance. The sinkhole viewing area will also be included in all regular Museum tours and predictably, the media dutifully trumpeted the plan to keep the sinkhole open with appropriate headlines such as “Corvette Museum Will Make Car-Eating Sinkhole a Permanent Exhibit” and “National Corvette Museum’s Sinkhole Could Be Here To Stay” or “Corvette Museum to Preserve Car-Eating Sinkhole Because Tourists Love It.” The museum’s Executive Director added “We have to look at creative ways to generate interest in the museum, it would be so much easier to just be a regular automotive museum with our Corvettes on display, but we have to think outside the box.”
So…what’s the next “out of the box idea” for the Corvette Museum’s Sinkhole? How about a group of eight toy Hot Wheels Corvettes that are accurately pre-mangled to match the iconic sinkhole Vettes? Or maybe a board game version with a trick trap door that swings open to devour cars? Whatever the future of the infamous Corvette Sinkhole holds, now that it is practically a National Historic Landmark, you’ll surely be able to read about it in the news just as soon as it happens.
