1984 PPG Pace Car – Aka The Sinkhole Car
The 1984 PPG Indy Pace Car Corvette was special from the very beginning- in several ways. Initially, it was created as a one-off concept car that would be designated as one of the official Pace Cars for the PPG Indy Car World Series of races. It was custom-built by PPG in cooperation with the Chevrolet Division of General Motors.
Trying to keep ahead of an Indy car is not easy. The 205 HP Cross-Fire Fuel Injected 350 was replaced by a 450hp, 401 cubic-inch V-8, built by Katech, mated to a BorgWarner T5 5-speed transmission, featuring a modified overdrive. The power was heard by all, thanks to long tube headers and a custom side exit exhaust. George Foller created the performance chassis that features coil-over shocks at each corner and Diversified Glass Products covered all of the custom work with an equally-custom body design that was then covered with PPG’s Deltron Acrylic Urethane Orange Glow Candy paint. Triad Service Inc. handled the final assembly and once the PPG Indy Pace Car was finished, it’s special side-exiting exhaust could be heard by millions, leading the pack at various Indy races.
Being a significant contribution to Corvette’s history, it’s easy to understand how the PPG Pace Car made its way to the National Corvette Museum. In fact, that’s where it has resided since way back in September of 1994, when the NCM first opened its doors. It was one of the very first exhibits featured at the NCM.
The 1984 Corvette has been a part of the National Corvette Museum since PPG donated the car to the museum at its opening in 1994. On February 12th, 2014, a sinkhole beneath the Skydive display of the museum caused the floor to collapse, taking 8 of the Corvettes underground with it. While some were able to be repaired, the PPG Pace Car landed upside down and was heavily damaged by a large slab of concrete falling in the middle of the car. Because of the PPG Corvette’s amount of custom one-off body parts (only the roof panel and doors were original Corvette parts) the damage was too extensive to be repaired and the NCM currently displays the car as-is in its damaged state.
