Corvettes for Sale: 17k-Mile 1991 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 on Bring a Trailer

From the outside, the casual observer might think this is just your typical red C4 Corvette.

But my oh my, when you raise the clamshell hood of this Bright Red 1991 ZR-1 and gaze upon its bespoke LT5 engine, you realize just how special this car is.

The ZR-1, of course, features an all-aluminum four-cam, 32-valve V8 engine that was a joint effort by Chevrolet and Lotus engineers and assembled in Oklahoma by Mercury Marine, which then shipped it to Bowling Green.

While an engine that delivered 375 horsepower and 370 lb-ft of torque might not sound all that impressive these days, you have to remember that the base model back then produced 245 to 250 horsepower so this represented a big step forward for performance.

If you missed the boat 31 years ago and are now in the market for a ZR-1, you might want to take a look at this pristine 17,000-mile example currently offered on Bring a Trailer. With six days left in the auction, the current bid has climbed to $20,000. While the C4 as a whole doesn’t get much respect nowadays, we are of a mind that as the years roll on, interest in, and the value of, the more exotic ZR-1 will rise.

After all, only 6,939 ZR-1s were produced from 1990 to 1995. We wish this one was a 1993-95 model, though, because that’s when Chevy bumped the horsepower to 405 – but we wonder if you can really tell that much of a difference when driving a later version.

We’ve always felt like the C4 ZR-1 was the victim of marketing miscues by GM. Sure, it does have a wider body, but two years in, Chevy changed the rear end of the base car to look similar to the ZR-1 – meaning the average person had no clue about the monster lurking under the hood. Plus, in 1992, Chevy upped the base car’s output to 300 horsepower – making customers question the value of paying nearly double the price for just 75 horsepower more in the ZR-1.

This ZR-1 is listed for a whopping $65,283 – with the ZR-1 Special Performance Package accounting for $31,683 of that amount.

Photos with the listing show this particular example to be in like-new condition inside and out. We’ve always been fond of the design of the leather seats in C4s, and this car’s red and black interior looks like it would be at home on the showroom floor even today.

The ZR-1 came with a bundle of features, including power-adjustable sport bucket seats, cruise control, air conditioning, removable transparent roof panel, tire pressure warning system, fog lamps, fender aero-vents, four-wheel anti-lock brakes, power-adjustable and heated side mirrors, and three-mode Selective Ride and Handling that was designed jointly with Lotus and included Bilstein shocks. Unfortunately, the Delco Bose Gold Series sound system with CD and cassette players is no longer functional.

The car comes with a window sticker, owner’s manual, cover, and a damage-free Carfax.

We’ve never known anyone fortunate enough to own a ZR-1. If you have, we’d love to get your comments on what it was like to actually get behind the wheel and drive one.

Source:
Bring a Trailer

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