Trolling through used-car classifieds long enough will make a cynic out of just about anyone, so I’m sure many of us will have a hard time taking this one at face value, but if it is what it says—boy, oh boy! Try this out and see if it adds up: 1990 Corvette ZR-1, with 43,600 miles and a clean title, being sold by a long-time owner with everything in working order and nice and clean, for just $14,000. Reader Rocco B. found us this gem here on craigslist in the greater Omaha, Nebraska area—click through if your faith in humanity is still intact!
Fourteen grand is a far cry from the original $58,995 MSRP for the “King of the Hill” in 1990—and it’s also a fair ways off from NADA’s $28,275 average retail price for the car today. And that’s in average condition; we’re just going off of pictures here, but this beauty, in its desirable red paint and rocking both glass and fiberglass removable roof panels, looks well above average to me. The seller, who has owned the car since 1994, uses phrases like “well cared for” and “no disappointments,” and mentions that the original build sheet, window sticker, and owner’s manual are all included.
The heart of the beast is the LT5 350-cubic inch V8, developed by Lotus and built by Mercury Marine. Stats like 0-60 in 4.4 seconds are still impressive today, and if the car has been maintained as well as promised, the low miles suggest that its potential should be more or less undiminished. I don’t know about you, but I’m still looking for the catch here that explains the low price!
Maybe the catch has to do with your tolerance for red, because it is extremely red inside this ‘Vette. So red, in fact, that I can’t tell whether that’s a blemish or a reflection on the driver’s seat side bolster, but otherwise both seats look to be in very fine shape. Similarly, the new-for-1990 wraparound dash with digital instrumentation might not be totally in line with current sensibilities, but appears to be in excellent condition.
Aha, at last a flaw! The carpet in the cargo area looks a little baggy! Of course, 1990s GM build quality being what it was, it probably came from the factory that way, and seriously, if that’s the biggest issue we can find, I’m still perplexed at why this ZR-1 is priced so low. The seller even wants us to know there’s no curb rash on the wheels, for Pete’s sake! Call me a foolish optimist, but if I were in the ZR-1 market, I think I might stop overthinking it and just give this seller a call to see if I could jump on this bargain. Would you?
dang, this thing is tempting. can’t really stand it’s over-redness but the condition & obvious care it’s enjoyed make it a steal at $14k. had
that said, i haven’t seen any with 5-digit odometer totals go for anywhere near the quoted NADA average of $28k. they seem to top out about $20k this kind of usage.
if this was Polo Green or even black with the saddle interior i’d have dialed the numbers instead of just picking up the phone & looking at the seller’s digits.
happy buyer i bet on this thing
Looks like a deal and no “Corvette Catalog C4” BS stuck on the car, no fake “engine data tag” glued to the ashtray cover, no plastichrome “CORVETTE” door sill protectors, no Corvette logo stuck to the information center, my kind of owner.
375hp is still a lot of hp and this is a very analog car, even if it is digital.
A Corvette Dealer will jump on this and sell it for $19,999.
Try to sell it, anyway.
These are so tempting and they’ve been saying for years that they will skyrocket.
They won’t skyrocket and $28k is an absolute pipedream for this. I think he’s priced near correct value. You can get non-ZR1 C4s all day long with this mileage for well under 10k and, while this is cool, it is more complex and expensive to fix. And the performance on these was eclipsed by later Corvettes, starting with the LS1 C5 in 1997. Even a standard ‘Vette from the ’00s will smoke this.
I mean bleep. Won’t a 1996 ‘Vette with the LT4 take this down? And a newer C7 convertible with automatic driven by a busy realtor in a hurry would beat this so bad that it’s own mother (Lotus) wouldn’t recognize it. I just don’t see big value here.
You are exactly correct. I wrote pretty much the same thing about another ZR-1 a while back. If I was a ZR-1 owner and then had Chevy put out Vettes at way less money that did better I would be PISSED.
I mean, the moral of the story is you just buy the car to enjoy it during its time. For most of this car’s normal life expectancy, it was pretty fast and special. It obviously hasn’t stood the test of time though.
It will be very hard to sell even at 14k. The well-heeled American muscle crowd isn’t going to be interested in it because it’s not from the sixties or early seventies. A collector of Corvettes might be though, but that’s not a big market.
I would also be mad that everything didn’t stay the same as it was In 1990…..how dare the world advance???
How come ALF isn’t on TV any more?
Hey. Don’t diss on ALF. That was an excellent show. Come to think of it, it is now due for a comeback.
ALF is coming back to TV, actually.
I cannot state how I feel right now because I fear the post would be deleted due to the forum’s language policy. You are awesome and I look forward to your show!
I have a friend that bought one of these new, it has approximately 30,000 easy miles. He’s tried to sell it a couple of times over the last few years, last time for $20,000 with no interest. These have tanked harder than the 78 Pace Cars, though they are far superior. It’s a shame, but it was bound to happen. Later model Corvettes have progressed so far that value of nearly every model post-1970/71 is likely to be decimated.
Steve R
The guy I bought my 94 base 6-speed from had it listed and on consignment for two years and couldn’t sell it. So, I got a pretty good deal on it. Inexpensive to purchase but expensive to repair. Mine only had 55k when I bought it.This ZR-1 is a nice car.
Anyone using NADA or Kelly Blue Book or Edmunds for that matter for used automobile prices are seriously flawed to the advantage of car dealers, that informational data used to have a solid reputation for being accurate in years past, unfortunately within the last 5-10 years they sold out and are now owned by COX ENTERPRISES, AUTOTRADER/CARMAX, and JD POWER & ASSOCIATES. All these companies are major dealers in the used car industry, doesn’t it make sense from a company’s perspective if you own the information data that everyone relies upon to be accurate for used prices, and then you set those prices your company profits are going to double or more. If you ever go to a dealer listen to the salesman flap his lip about NADA or Kelly Blue Book… they are all in KAhootes with each other…. These books are nothing more than Toilet paper to me now !!!
I was sweating this car back in 1990 and all the way up until 95— when they stopped making them. (fewer and fewer until the last year) anyway, still a super awesome 4 Cam exotic V8 Vette. 375hp and next year 405– Biggest problem you have is—-there are no parts/zero. so this money is pretty much right on. 28k is a total pipe dream; specially for a 1990. not wanting to rain on anyones parade (i have the car sickness too), its still a very cool car to own n drive.
Owned a 91 for a few years, nice car (w/ the exception of the corporate plastic interior bits…) but ran well and was never able to find a road long enough to top it out. 160 one time and ran out of road.
Bought it with 30K miles, sold it w/ 33K. Paid 20K, and sold it for 20K!
To the folks that say they are underappreciated, you are correct.
These cars were “supposed” to take off price wise, never have…
You buy this car to have a very special early ZR-1.
You don’t buy it to try to win races with newer cars, just as you don’t do that with any ’90s car.
Just having that key on the dash is cool and a conversation starter.
If I could import it, I might consider it.
This car is still fast enough that you could lose your license in a heartbeat. The colour will inform the police of your whereabouts at all times!
You have to be pretty flexible to get in and out of this machine the way they designed the cockpit… Alas, for me, those days are gone… its just a little too red as well.
Would be nice to get feedback from the eventual buyer.
reholmes, that’s the next website: Barn Finders. I mean Barn Finders Buyers. I mean Barn Buyers… ah fuggedaboudit.
A similar one to this just sold on that Barney site for $18,300.
I owned this exact car with red on red. The 375hp is underrated. It handled like it was on rails. The 1990 blew oil through the tailpipes. I sold it right after I found out it was an issue for 1st year ZR-1s. Later models did not have the issue. Fun car. Parts are a problem for this engine. Sad to see these drop. They were 60+ new. Thats big money for 1990.
I owned a slightly modified 90 for about 10 years. It was a love/hate relationship. When it ran, it would outrun any c-4 gran sport. It would definitely outrun the earlier vipers. But the damn thing was so beat when I bought it, was up on jackstands more than on the road. If you want to wake these cars up; port/polish plenum, perf chip, 4:10 rear, and flow master. This turns into a different animal. Oh, and there is a great support network at ZR-1 net registry.
Bob, absolutely right on with the wake up parts. The biggest help is the 4:10 rear gears. They are not hard to work on once you understand how the work. If somebody wants to believe 375 HP, I have some land in FL I will sell you. I have messed with these engines for quite some time and they are way over engineered for what they started out for. Will run 7500 rpm all day long and as a matter of fact it did, on a race track in Texas, , 1990, 24 hours non stop, fuel and tires only. Had the highest average speeds ever and held the record until 2016 when a special built Porsche build for this purpose broke it. It was the only Corvette purpose built engine for production, “it will be back”. I love the engine and the ZR1
Can’ remember the track in Texas but all the manufacturers use it for this purpose. The ZR1 was stock off the production line with the exception of tires. Average speeds in the 172 to 175 mph for 24 hours. Stock production car. Its on the web.
The LT5 engine is bulletproof. Many out there with 100,000 up to 200,000 miles on them. There is a list on the ZR-1 registry. The biggest issues are with all of the crap GM parts.Folks also forget the body panels from the doors on back are non-standard due to the rear tire width. Don’t know if replacement panels are readily available. If you buy a 1990, don’t forget to change the fuel injectors. They don’t care for ethanol blends.
There are cars out there with 400K on them. Bullet proof is correct. RC Racing 202cc injectors are the ones you want. I have taken all the GM stuff out of it, coil over plugs and a different engine management system, runs the way it was meant to. Working on a single throttle body per cylinder arrangement now. One of the best engines ever designed.
Very nice, too bad it’s so far away from me. I had a C4 in the past and the only one that would interest me now is the ZR1. it would look nice sitting next to my Black C5.
I may be wrong on this but this car has the standard C4 corvette wheels i thought the ZR1 had chrome or black 5 spoke wheels and they were wider than the standard vette wheels
Those are the proper wheels for a 1990 Corvette, ZR-1 or base. No black, spoked wheels until the 1996 Grand Sport. At that time the ZR-1 production run was over for a year.
Ok thanks for the info