Jay Leno says that the “Best cars are the ones with great stories“. If you are a collector that shares the same mantra then this might be the most desirable ‘Vette on the market! Our friends at GT Motorcars in Wallingford, CT are currently in possession of the very first C6 Z06 “experimental car” ever built. This 2005 testbed car came off the line on February 4, 2005 and has lived a life that could make most car enthusiasts, and the Dos Equis guy jealous.
This is THE car that set the official Nürburgring time (remember when Chevrolet actually published those?) of 7:42.99 in June of ’05 with Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen at the wheel. This was an incredible achievement at the time (and still impressive today as the much hyped new Supra just ran a 7:52.17 in the hands of German car-mag, Sport Auto), magnified even further by the fact that it was from a standing start as opposed to the industry standard flying “hot lap.” Jan commemorated the occasion by signing under the center console lid, making for an even cooler story to tell your friends when you walk them around the car.
While in Europe, this experimental “Blue Devil” was also the one to set the Z’s published top speed of 198 mph on a two-way run in Papenberg where it averaged 198.6 after reaching the magical 200 mph mark on the Autobahn.
This car continued to add hard to spell tracks to its resume with a trek to Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps where our favorite Ride and Handling Engineer, Jim Mero, piloted the devil for a pre-screen for the Z’s press show. Upon its return to the States, this car continued checking off bucket list items at VIR where Corvette Racing’s most successful American driver, Johnny O’Connell took it for a spin.
The EX Z06 comes from a well-known family’s Corvette collection/museum with historical documents and original paperwork. It still features all of the harnesses, roll cage, Sparco seats, and GM stickers that were fitted for testing purposes and used by all of the famous drivers that were there for all of the early research and development of one of the greatest Corvettes in in history, one that still holds the distinction of most powerful naturally aspirated vehicle in General Motors history, nearly 15 years after this test vehicle was born.
You can add this piece of history and all of the incredible stories that come with it to your collection for the not-so-bad price of $80,000. The only downside is that with an “EX” VIN, this car can’t be registered and therefore isn’t exactly legal for road use. This car’s legal status should be considered a moot point though for connoisseurs as this is one of the coolest C6 models that we have ever seen made available and it could anchor any collection (even Mr. Leno’s) with its prominence and multitude of great stories.
Source:
gtmotorcarsllc.com
Related:
Corvettes on Craigslist: 2008 Corvette Z06 with 81 Original Miles
[VIDEO] Corvette Owner Creates Memorable ‘Love Letter to Driving’ With His C6 Z06
[VIDEO] This is What a C6 Corvette Z06 Sounds Like with a Flat-Plane Crank
-
Very cool yes I have a 2005 base with z51 trim package have ls2 400 engine automatic with heads up targa top I heard this was a rare car too made in bowling green I even met the shift supervisor last year he was retired from bowling green ky he and others made it love the vette I had a 68 convertible vette when I was 20 loved that too just curious what engine is in this 2005 zo6 have in it the retired guy said the prototype had all kinds of issues so it came back out October 2005 for 2006 model year
So as I am reading about this very desirable Z06 I’m thinking to myself that EX cars had to be destroyed, scrapped , wharever . Then my thoughts changed to , “Wow , if I owned this Corvette I would drive it everyday the sun was shining, only to have the thought come to mind that they are untitled-able and unable to be registered for street use which was confirmed in the last part of the article. DREAM ON.
Ditto Craig.
Can’t register for the street? Thank you, I’ll pass and continue to enjoy my ’06 that hasn’t been beat to death. Something special about a 427, hope Chevrolet never brings that engine back. Also must comment on posts that lack punctuation and capitalization just DRIVE ME NUTS. Didn’t you people learn ANYTHING in English 101?
I just found a sack full of punctuation marks that I think belong to Kevin Page.
It a comment not a term paper. lol.
Comments are closed.