Kevin and Linda Helmintoller donated their ’01 Mallett Corvette (Mallett serial #009) to the National Corvette Museum on December 2, 2013. The couple gave the car up to help the NCM grow. In addition, they felt that the Mallett would be a good training vehicle for the new Motorsports Park. They are both lifetime members of the Museum and have participated in many R8C Museum Deliveries. This Corvette carries VIN# 1G1YY125415134460 and Mallett completed its conversion in June 2002.
It produces 700 hp at the flywheel and has been clocked at 10.6 seconds at 128 mph in the quarter-mile. It had a total of 16,000 miles on its clock when Kevin and Linda donated it to the museum. This car was featured on the cover of GM High-Tech Performance magazine. It was the last car to be found and it was located at the very bottom of the sinkhole. It took some time to uncover it and it was raised with a chain wrapped around its rear crash bumper. The Corvette was so badly damaged that it now rests on a specially constructed wooden dolly with wheels. The remains of this once proud Corvette rocket are now on display in the NCM exhibit hall.
The good news continues to be that nobody was injured or lost when this event happened. Recently, the museum board developed three options on how to proceed with the sinkhole repairs: fill it, keep a portion of it, or preserve the entire sinkhole. It appears that the board favors filling half the hole and the repair estimate is between $3 and $5 million. How much the insurance will cover is still being determined. If you are in the area we highly recommend stopping by for a visit. For updates go to corvettemuseum.org.
Upon viewing the remains of the Corvette, Chuck was pleased to see that the roll cage welded by his brother Lance Mallett was still intact.
Scroll down for pictures of the vehicle both pre- and post-sinkhole.
