Bidding is short of clearing the reserve price on this clean 1991 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 with just over 45,000 miles. The ZR-1 remains a significant performance car bargain at this juncture, especially when you consider the fact that $30,000 still won’t touch an Acura NSX and or a Porsche 911 from the same era. The ZR-1 shown here actually got used, as it’s not a car with under 20,000 miles and has a paint blemish or two. That’s the way it should be considering this is one of the few exotics you can buy for reasonable money and doesn’t cost a fortune to maintain. Find it here on eBay located in Katy, Texas.
White is a sharp color on a C4, and a nice change of pace from the usual reds and blacks we see in this era of the Corvette. The ZR-1 was obviously a monumental achievement for Chevrolet back in the day, both in terms of onboard performance and technology. The ZR-1 was a bit of a moonshot car wherein Chevrolet put considerable resources into the car in order to develop a C4 like no one had ever seen before. While the ZR-1 is a success story in many ways, it remains strange that the collector car marketplace has pushed its value higher like it has for other models.
The C4 Corvette did have one strike against it, however, even as a ZR-1, and it’s the fact that it’s still a C4. The interior is pretty flimsy and cheap and the switchgear all seems pretty brittle. The leather seats were the same as every other model but that’s not necessarily a demerit; I always thought the seats were a selling point of the C4. The seller’s car definitely looks like a driver in that it’s clearly not a spotless specimen, but that’s OK. Not every performance car can or should be a garage queen. White on silver is a handsome pairing, if not slightly bland. It’s inoffensive, if nothing else.
The ZR-1 was defined in many ways by its engine but not entirely so; the suspension tuning was also quite exhaustive, which is another reason why I believe the ZR-1 should be more sought after. Chevrolet didn’t just stop with a honker of an engine, as they also went to great lengths to build one of the more sophisticated suspension set-ups found in a passenger car in the early 1990s. If the reserve price is at $20,000 or just slightly over/under, this ZR-1 appears to be an excellent deal for anyone looking to put one of the more significant high-performance Corvettes in their garage.
I would not want to be owner #6, but that’s just me. Five previous owners leaves a lot of space for gaps in the history of the car.
I’m sure the C4 ZR-1 is going to be another car that I regret not buying when they were under twenty grand with less than twenty thousand miles. I’d love to have one, but I’d rather have one with low miles and only one or two owners with complete maintenance records.
The C4 ZR-1 held several top speed records and speed over distance records when it was first released, all the major car magazines raved about what an awesome car it was, but the price was double what a regular C4 cost, so not many people bought one. Still, I definitely wouldn’t kick one out of my garage if I came home to find it sitting there. Mercury Marine sells a crate LT5 that revs to 8000+ rpm’s and makes over 600 horsepower, that would be a very sweet car to drive.
Why would I buy a boat engine for a corvette? Seems there selling more crate engines today than those unbelievably ugly new vettes. Nice heap.. you can find these for 15k. I love those space shuttle seats. White is a horrible color for a vette. Paint it Black.
You obviously don’t know that Mercury Marine was the company that built the LT5 for Chevrolet to install in the ZR1, so it’s not a “boat engine”. Unless you’re being facetious, in which case- bravo.
John, what ugly things to say. Now get in your AMC Pacer and stop knocking Vettes.
I understand the historical significance of Corvettes and the color white, but there is nothing less appealing for me than a white Corvette and I also understand I’m probably going to be flamed for it 😂
One of the most under appreciated cars, ever!
Was this ZR1 a 2 key ZR1 the performance model?
All ZR-1 were “two-key” cars. The “Valet” key on the lower left of the center stack could be set to normal or full power. Normal would provide about 230 hp and full gave you the Full Monty- 375 hp and a sound like angels singing. I only drove a 1990 ZR-1 once and it was quite an experience back in 2005. I believe it was for sale for $18,000. One-owner, very well-maintained and I talked myself out of it. Could/Shoulda/Woulda.
I hear ya Frank, in ’14, I bought an ’01 Z06, w/42k. Power like a raped ape I hadn’t felt in 22yrs when sold my ’70 ragtop LT-1. Price was a steal at $5500! Minor fr bumper damage that affected just that & lft headlight, less than $1k to fix, but total repaint had it been fixed.
A girls son gave her while in Afghanistan I met a week after a breakoff w/fiance. LSS, got back w/ fiance 3 weeks after I bought & didn’t keep MY MOUTH SHUT where I got it,so w/livid demand I ‘return’ it, despite saying it was sons,not hers, didn’t matter. Unfortunately, she took it back. Bout 10 days later, split for good, I called to ‘re-buy’ it, but sold it, for $10k. If ever again, I bought from ‘some guy’.
“…considering this is one of the few exotics you can buy for reasonable money…” Huh? I get what you’re trying to say but c’mon, the very definition of an exotic is of foreign origin; something not native. Last I checked, Bowling Green is still in Kentucky.
Engine parts are very difficult to come by and very expensive. Not cheap to maintain at all.
The LT5 engine is bullet proof. There are quite a few out there with 100,000+ miles and some with over 200,000+ miles. You can see a list of them on the ZR-1 Net Registry.