1982 Chevrolet 4x4 Truck Small Block 350 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM to restore legendary Corvette damaged in sinkhole accident

Car lover's hearts' sank when they saw images of bent and destroyed classic Corvettes at the bottom of a sinkhole last February after the floor of the National Corvette Museum gave way. General Motors announced Wednesday it would restore the one millionth Corvette ever produced to its former glory. The 1992 convertible was heavily damaged when a 40-foot deep sinkhole opened beneath a bevy of rare cars at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Since then, GM has been slowly restoring the classic cars, though five of the eight that caught in the sinkhole were determined to be too damaged to repair. This November, the 2009 Corvette ZR1 Blue Devil was the first car to be returned in mint condition to the Museum, according to Autoblog. It suffered significant damage but was still drivable after being pulled out of the debris. The one millionth Corvette is still in bad shape. The automaker is estimating six months worth of work to restore the car, which sustained paint scratches, rear-suspension damage and a mangled front fender. Related Gallery Consumer Reports Most Loved Cars 2014 Chevrolet GM Automotive History corvette famous cars sinkhole corvette museum

Chevrolet donates 300 vehicles damaged by Sandy to help train first responders

Super Storm Sandy took out a lot of automobiles in its path of destruction through the Northeast last October. The number surpassed 250,000 at last count, and a few of those were owned by Chevrolet - cars either sitting on dealership lots or waiting at port to be shipped off. Rendered unsellable by the water damage inflicted by Sandy, these vehicles were facing the crusher. But Chevy didn't send them there.
Instead, Chevy had a better idea: It will be donating 300 of these vehicles damaged by Sandy to help train first responders at Guardian Centers in Perry, GA. Chevy is the official automotive partner of Guardian Centers, which is an 830-acre facility that trains first responders in disaster preparedness. Junked cars are practically a consumable commodity there, where a full-size cityscape simulator gives trainees an entire urban center in which to train for all sorts of rescue operations and disaster scenarios.
Chevy says its particular vehicles will be used "in conjunction with role players for wide area searches, traffic congestion in emergency situations, counter terrorism, public order and mass casualty exercises." While grim scenarios all, we're certainly glad there are people out there preparing for the unexpected. While a zombie apocalypse isn't officially on the list of potential disasters to prepare for, when the virus hits, we'll be hot-footing it to Perry, GA to hang with these guys and gals.

Chevy Corvette is latest car breached by hackers

UPDATE: This story has been updated with comment from General Motors. In the latest car-hacking exploit in a summer full of them, researchers from the University of California-San Diego say they've found a way to manipulate braking in a 2013 Chevrolet Corvette. The vulnerabilities may not be limited to that model. Cyber-security researchers breached the car's security systems via a device they had plugged into the Corvette's OBD-II port, and through that connection, they sent messages that could turn windshield wipers on and off and tamper with the brakes as the car drove at low speeds. It's the latest in a series of car hacks that involve access to critical systems obtained via the OBD-II port, where drivers can plug in devices that provide anything from diagnostic information for mechanics to driving information for insurance companies. Last November, cyber-security engineers from Argus Cyber Security remotely controlled vehicle functions in a car that had a OBD-II dongle called a Zubie installed. In January, researchers from Digital Bond Labs found security holes in an information-tracking dongle popular with more than 2 million Progressive Insurance customers. Those came before prominent hacks unveiled in recent weeks, in which researchers remotely commandeered control of a Jeep Cherokee and, separately, showcased problems with GM's OnStar infotainment system. Regarding the dongles that plug into the OBD-II ports, Stefan Savage, a Cal-San Diego professor involved in the research, tells WIRED that, "we acquired some of these things, reverse-engineered them, and along the way, found that they had a whole bunch of security deficiencies." Savage and others unveiled the latest study at the Usenix security conference Tuesday. In a video of their exploit entitled "Fast and Vulnerable," they show how they sent SMS messages from a smartphone to the dongle plugged into the car's OBD-II port. From there, their messages accessed the CAN bus, a network on the car that connects individual electronic control units, which control dozens of vehicle functions. As they send the commands to brake the car, the driver of the Corvette notes "the pedal doesn't react to any pressure." General Motors issued a written response Wednesday, warning drivers to be careful with third-party devices they plug into their OBD-II ports.