GM photo

After a disastrous sinkhole that opened up underneath Kentucky’s National Corvette Museum last month swallowing up several historic Chevrolet Corvette models, GM has begun the costly process of rescuing the famed vehicles from their premature burial.

According to a news release, three have been carefully lifted out as of today, including a 1962 model, a 1993 40th anniversary edition and the 2009 ZR-1 dubbed the “Blue Devil.”

“The recovery of the first three cars went flawlessly, and the cars are in remarkably good shape,” said John Spencer, a manager for the Corvette brand.

Of the vehicles so far rescued, the ZR-1 is in the best shape sustaining mostly cosmetic damage even after falling almost 30 feet. The remaining Corvettes are either partially or completely buried and will take much more work to extricate.