The National Corvette Museum reports that restoration is progressing on the last of the cars that tumbled into the sinkhole beneath the museum’s Skydome in 2014. The work on the 1962 Corvette is being done by the museum’s vehicle maintenance and preservation department.
Visitors to the museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, have been able to view the work as it takes place in the garage bay next to the AutoZone Maintenance Area. Work generally takes place daily until 3 p.m.
“We have all of the paint stripped and we went in and started trimming the broken front fender for rebonding and fiberglassing back in,” Daniel Decker, the museum’s maintenance and preservation coordinator, said in a news release.
“The driver-side door, hood and trunk lid scratches have all been repaired,” he added. “We have received the new rear quarter panel section, so we have the old one cut out and the new portion fitted.”
That fitment is to take place today, the museum said.
“Fridays will be when we do the most expensive type of work, like primering,” Decker said.
The museum plans to unveil the completed car on February 12, 2018, the fourth anniversary of the sinkhole opening.
New exhibit opens at LeMay – ACM
Through the Lens: Cars Defined by an American Century opens November 9 at the LeMay – America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington.
The display will include a vehicle from each decade from 1910 to 2010 with visitors encouraged to consider the history and culture of the decade.
“In some cases,” the museum notes, “the cars on display may not have been the most popular or a commercial success, just indicative of the time.”
The cars are a 1917 Crane-Simplex, 1930 Packard 740 Custom Super Eight, 1935 Chrysler AirFlow CW limousine, 1945 Willys MB Jeep, 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible, 1967 Volkswagen Beetle, 1979 Honda Civic, 1986 Dodge Caravan, 1991 Mercedes-Benz 500SL and a 2004 Toyota Prius.
Visitors will be asked to voice their opinions about those cars and to vote for those they consider more representative of the time period. The museum promises to switch out some of the vehicles based on popular demand.
Special events this weekend
It’s Autos & Ales tonight at the AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, featuring Tucker ’48 IPA by Rotunda Brewing among other food and brews.
Photographer Dave Friedman will present “My Life In The Movies” as part of the speaker series Sunday at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California.
The LeMay Collection at Marymount in Tacoma, Washington, will host a Sock Hop dance, featuring music by Wally and the Beaves, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday. Earlier in the day, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., the museum will welcome more than 3,000 children to its Trunk or Treat program.
Meanwhile, November is Drive Down Hunger month at the LeMay — America’s Car Museum, also in Tacoma, with those bringing non-perishable food donations to the museum lobby getting $2 off the admission price.
Mark your calendar
The Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California, will host a special screening of the McLaren movie on Tuesday, November 7. In attendance will be Howden Ganley, one of Bruce McLaren’s first employees. After the screening, Ganley will talk about Bruce McLaren’s life and career and also about Ganley’s own racing career.
Also on November 7, Jim Culp of the LeMay – ACM will present a talk entitled “Recapturing the Automotive Market; Henry Ford and the Ford V8.”
The Blackhawk’s cars & coffee events are taking a winter break, but a special Ferrari and Alfa Romeo cars & coffee is scheduled for February 18 in conjunction with Enzo Ferrari’s birthday celebration day. The monthly cars and coffees resume March 4.i
The America on Wheels museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania, will stage its 10th annual Moonlight Memories: Cars, Corks & Cuisine, on December 2.
