In what can only be described as a fantastic moral victory for all the Corvette enthusiasts and lovers of American automotive history out there, the first car has been plucked successfully from the sinkhole in Bowling Green at the National Corvette Museum and that car actually drove out of the building under its own power! Yes, that’s the right the famed “Blue Devil” ZR1 mule, which was the lone car that landed in the hole on all four wheels was the first to be removed by riggers today. After being pulled from the hole and set back on the ground, the car was hooked to a jumper pack for a few minutes and fired up. It ran like a top and after idling in place for a minute or two, the driver let the clutch out and idled the car to the door.

What no one saw until the car started rolling was the fact that it was bleeding oil like a stuck pig, undoubtedly the cast aluminum oil pan was cracked when the car fell a couple of stories into the hold and landed hard onto whatever solid ground is left under there. We’re very doubtful any damage was done to the engine and because the car is a museum piece anyway, what does it matter. Symbolically we think it is a cool first step in the recovery of these cars and we can’t wait to see the rest of them come out of the hole, although we doubt any more will be driving themselves out of the place.

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THE BLUE DEVIL FIRE AND THEN BECOME A CERTIFIED “BLEEDAH” AS IT LEAVES THE BUILDING –