WATCH: Cameras Capture Corvettes Being Sucked Into Sinkhole 
 
 Security cameras were rolling Wednesday when a sinkhole opened up underneath the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky. As we reported earlier, eight of the iconic sports cars were sucked down into a hole about 40 feet deep. 
 
 The museum has now posted videos of the hole opening up, the cars disappearing and what it looks like inside the pit. The museum's YouTube channel is here, and we'll embed several of the clips, which include different views of the collapse. 
 
 National Corvette Museum YouTube 
 
 National Corvette Museum YouTube 
 
 National Corvette Museum YouTube 
 
 Meanwhile, The Louisville Courier-Journal says there's no timetable at this point for when the cars will be removed from the hole and repairs are made to that wing of the museum. Engineers need to be sure it's safe to work inside the pit. ||||| In this image provided by the National Corvette Museum shows several cars that collapsed into a sinkhole Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014, in Bowling Green, Ky. The museum said a total of eight cars were damaged... (Associated Press) 
 
 What Mother Earth devoured, Chevrolet plans to resurrect. The carmaker said Thursday it will oversee restoration of the classic cars swallowed by a huge sinkhole beneath the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky. 
 
 General Motors Design in Warren, Mich., will manage the painstaking work to repair the eight prize vehicles, the automaker said Thursday. 
 
 The cars were consumed when the earth opened up early Wednesday beneath a display area when the museum in Bowling Green, Ky., was closed. No injuries were reported. The museum was open Thursday except for the area where the sinkhole occurred. 
 
 Mark Reuss, GM's head of global product development, said the damaged vehicles rank as "some of the most significant in automotive history." 
 
 "There can only be one 1-millionth Corvette ever built," he said, referring to one of the damaged cars. "We want to ensure as many of the damaged cars are restored as possible so fans from around the world can enjoy them." 
 
 Just how the cars will be pulled out of the ground remains to be seen, said museum executive director Wendell Strode. The local fire department estimated the hole is about 40 feet across and 25 to 30 feet deep. The hole opened beneath part of the museum's domed section. 
 
 "We feel pretty confident that most of the cars can be extracted," Strode said Thursday. "And we hope and believe that with just a little bit of luck, that all eight cars can be extracted and be part of the restoration." 
 
 Chevrolet spokesman Monte Doran said some of the cars look to be in good shape, while others are buried in rubble. 
 
 "It will likely be several weeks until we can get the cars out and assessed," he said. 
 
 The GM Design team has helped restore other historic cars, but the Corvette project looks to be its biggest, he said. 
 
 "These Corvettes are part of our history, and they want them restored properly," Strode said. "We're thrilled they're doing this." 
 
 The cars looked like toys as they plunged into the hole, piled in a heap amid dirt and concrete fragments. The museum owns six of the cars while two — a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and a 2009 ZR1 Blue Devil — are on loan from General Motors. 
 
 The other cars damaged were a 1962 black Corvette, a 1984 PPG Pace Car, a 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette, a 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette, a 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette and a 2009 white 1.5 Millionth Corvette. 
 
 Pictures of the sinkhole showed a collapsed section of floor with multiple cars visible inside the hole. A few feet away, other Corvettes sat undamaged. They were later removed from the damaged area. 
 
 Sinkholes are common in the Bowling Green area, which sits in the midst of the state's largest karst region, where many of Kentucky's largest and deepest caves run underground. 
 
 The damaged cars were insured, but the coverage likely won't fully cover all the restoration costs, Strode said. 
 
 Once again, GM is stepping forward to help. 
 
 "We don't know yet what will be covered by insurance, and what will be covered by GM," Doran said. "However, we expect that there will be no cost to the museum to restore the cars." 
 
 The first task is to stabilize what's inside the sinkhole and near it, Strode said. That could take about 10 days, he said. Then will come the extraction by crane, but the timetable hasn't been determined, he said. 
 
 The museum also has insurance coverage for damage to the structure. 
 
 A construction management firm has been hired to oversee the project, and engineering teams have also been brought in. 
 
 The goal is to have the structural repairs done in time for the museum's Corvette Caravan in late August, a celebration marking the museum's 20th anniversary. Thousands of Corvette enthusiasts are expected to converge on the museum in their models of the classic American sports car. 
 
 "Folks, if they hadn't been familiar with it, they may never be aware anything had gone wrong," Strode said. "It's going to look that good." ||||| A 40-foot sinkhole that opened up under the National Corvette Museum and swallowed eight Corvettes, including the historic 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette, in Bowling Green, Kentucky February 12, 2014 is seen in this handout provided by the museum. 
 
 (Reuters) - Eight collector Corvettes that were swallowed by a sinkhole beneath a Kentucky museum may be stuck in the pit for weeks before General Motors Co can attempt to restore them, officials said on Thursday. 
 
 The historic cars, including the millionth Corvette built in 1992, fell up to 30 feet on Wednesday in a scene captured by security cameras at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. 
 
 Some of the cars, including a 2009 ZR1 "Blue Devil" that landed on its wheels, seem to be in remarkably good shape, Chevrolet spokesman Monte Doran said in a telephone interview. 
 
 Other cars are covered with rubble, making it tough to assess the damage or estimate the cost of repairs, Doran said. 
 
 The cars are significant in automotive history and GM wants to restore as many as possible, Mark Reuss, executive vice president of GM Global Product Development, said in a statement. 
 
 Before that can happen, the cars must be pulled from the sinkhole that opened in the "Skydome" area of the museum. The museum reopened on Thursday, but the Skydome was blocked off. 
 
 It will take two to three weeks to stabilize the area and make sure it is safe, and another four to six days to retrieve the Corvettes, said Mike Murphy of Scott, Murphy & Daniel Construction, which is managing the repairs to the building. 
 
 The museum's foundation and structure are in good condition, and after the cars are retrieved, workers will replace the earth and floor system, Murphy said. 
 
 Six museum-owned cars were damaged: the white millionth Corvette, a 1962 black Corvette, a 1984 PPG pace car, a 1993 ruby red 40th anniversary Corvette, a 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette and a 2009 white 1.5 millionth Corvette. 
 
 Two cars on loan from GM were also damaged, the Blue Devil and a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder. 
 
 After they are pulled from the pit, the cars will be shipped to a small GM specialty shop in Warren, Michigan, that maintains and restores GM's historic concept cars, GM said. 
 
 The millionth Corvette, which was never sold, was likely the most valuable car to fall into the hole and could fetch several million dollars from the right buyer, Corvette historian Jerry Burton has said. 
 
 The region of south central Kentucky where the museum is located contains many caves and sinkholes. Mammoth Cave National Park is about 20 miles from Bowling Green. 
 
 GM builds Corvettes at a plant near the museum, which opened in 1994. Museum Executive Director Wendell Strode said he is confident it will all be done in time for the museum's 20th anniversary celebration in August. 
 
 (Reporting by Mary Wisniewski in Chicago)
– The National Corvette Museum is eight vehicles short thanks to yesterday's amazing car-chomping sinkhole, and now security video shows the first moments of the collapse in Bowling Green, Ky., reports NPR. Things are still a mess inside the museum, and there's no word yet on when workers will be able to retrieve the cars and assess the damage, reports the Louisville Courier-Journal. You can see more images at the museum's YouTube channel.