When you’re a corporation the size of GM, there’s never going to be a short line of folks who will disagree with your decisions. In this instance, a Facebook post by Kornel J Werner lit the social media platform on fire and made the car manufacturer look like the grinch just before Christmas. Kornel posted a couple of images of what appears to be strings of half-stripped C8 Corvettes with the text, “C8 Corvette before they were destroyed by GM. Cannot be sold to the public. Damaged from tornadoes.” That’s all it took before the fans, bargain-hunters, and lawyers started to circle around. As painful as it may seem, history has shown that GM actually has good reason to handle situations this way.

Turns out these cars weren’t stripped, but instead were only partially constructed on the assembly line when the tornado responsible for so much destruction around Bowling Green and so many other communities around Kentucky struck on December 11, 2021. The Corvette Assembly Plant was damaged and caught fire as a result of the tornado damage and these cars (and their unlucky owners) just managed to get involved in the incident. Thankfully, no one was hurt at the plant, but the unknown damage to these cars is why their future is so bleak.

All of these cars are destined to be crushed. All of these cars were open in some way to the elements when the roof ceased to do its job, and there’s no telling how much water damage is lurking throughout all those highly-technical circuits. With all the present issues surrounding panel gaps, paint, electrical glitches, and other points of contention with C8 owners, it’s understandable there is no way on God’s green earth GM is going to risk putting them out into the world.

Some folks have brought up repeatedly about parting out these cars. Some have even offered to do it! But, that’s not gonna happen because GM or the insurance company that now likely owns (paid off on) these cars is not going to open themselves up to liability. Remember, waivers only bind the first person in the chain of ownership. Many valuable “clone” cars have been passed off as factory originals in the past. GM knows it’s a LOT easier to locate a block of scrap than it is to decipher whether that compromised, road-going car was once sold off with a wink and an agreement it would be a “track only” car. Things only get worse if someone gets hurt. Not worth the risk.

In the end, with all the head-scratching that will likely be for the one pushing the scrap-compressor’s button, we just hope he’s not an enthusiast. That would make his job equivalent to being the local executioner in medieval times, “Sorry, Jim. I’m just doing my job.”  Maybe they’ll give him a blindfold or something. Who knows, as popular as the Kornel’s post has been, maybe they’ll give him a video camera? Time will tell.