http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/...useum-repair-update/When members of the restoration team rolled up their sleeves and took the car apart for the first time last April, they discovered a surprise.
Hundreds of them, actually.
The surfaces underneath nearly every part were "absolutely covered with signatures," Bolognino said. The GM assembly line workers at the Bowling Green factory who rolled the car out in July of 1992, had signed it. They signed it in virtually every hidden place — under the carpet, under the side panels, under the dash pad. Each signature amounted to a personal salute from hundreds of proud men and women honoring their work and the museum piece they helped create.
"We said, 'OK, that changes our strategy,'" said Bolognino. From then on, the team decided to focus even harder on saving every piece of the car — even the most damaged parts.
"Somebody took the time to write their name on the undercarriage. We need to take the time to make sure that we straighten that piece of metal instead of replacing it," he said.
"It almost looks like it's been in a rock storm, or something," said GM Director of Design Fabrications, Dave Bolognino.
So, can GM's design experts bring this car back from the dead?
They've got to wrestle with some big challenges, including:
Paint damage: "If you look at the car closely — the driver door for example — it almost looks like it's been in a rock storm or something — all these little chips," Bolognino said.
The rear bumper cover: "Rear bumper covers during that era were made of a flexible material and were very difficult to repair well. It has dozens of signatures on it, so we're going to repair it," Bolognino said. "That will take a significant amount of work."
The hood: Whether to replace the hood — which was very badly damaged — is a question that balances "risk versus originality," Bolognino said. "While we know we can repair it, we don't want to see it degrade several years from now. So we're going to try some things ... and then we'll make that decision."
Perhaps surprisingly, the total parts lost on the car are relatively few. "The parts we need to replace, you can probably count on two or three hands, maybe," Bolognino said. "The front bumper cover was a total loss. But fortunately there were no signatures on that."
