QUICK SHIFTS: C8 Z06 Meets C4 ZR-1, C6 ZR1 Makes Sense, Corvettes for Sale, SuperCar News, Forgotten C4 EV, and More

Welcome back to another exciting edition of Quick Shifts! Quick Shifts is a content feature here at CorvetteBlogger that highlights links to Corvette and automotive-related stories of interest. In this episode, we will talk C4 ZR-1s and C6 ZR1s, a Caffeine(!) C8Z makes an appearance, we catch up with a pair of future C8 variant competitors, we share this week’s hottest Corvette (and one CTS-V Wagon) listings, and we take an electric detour with Motorola’s 400-horse 1992 plug-in Corvette and an explainer on why tracks and racing governing bodies are making moves to freeze EVs out of competition.

First Gear

This past week, MotorTrend threw a party and only dual overhead cam Corvettes were invited! Over the past 70 years Chevrolet has fielded countless variations of its legendary sports car, but just two have ever featured DOHC engine tech instead of the traditional cam-in-block setup of the small block V8. Corvette Chief Engineer Josh Holder brought his personal 1990 ZR-1 out to take glamor shots with the spiritual successor to its throne on the hill. The new Z06 on hand is officially a member of the 1% as we learned at The Bash that, as expected, Caffeine will be the toughest exterior color to find on any 2023 Corvette. We think the underrated hue really shows well in this excellent article and its rarity could lead to some interesting auction results in 2050! Just like a similar article from Automobile in 2019, we love when the underappreciated moonshots that are the C4 ZR-1 and its LT5 get some love; in a world where its closest contemporaries both trade in excess of $275,000, it is criminal that these hugely significant ’90s American thoroughbreds don’t receive the appreciation that they deserve!

Second Gear

Man, what a way to start; we worked in two generations of ZR(-)1 and the new Z06! Well, buckle up because second is all about the ZR1 that sits between the other two, chronologically. Top Speed’s Richard Sachek recently posted an opinion that I’ve been spouting to anyone who will listen (which isn’t many, honestly) since 2020. If you’re thinking about an LT2 midengined “markup queen,” you should really give the Blue Devil a chance! The 638 HP, manual-only Super ‘Vette from 2009-13 is a less-elegant weapon from a more amusing age (this was written on May the Fourth, happy Star Wars Day/weekend to all who celebrate!). The first factory supercharged Corvette might not feature as sophisticated an engine layout, and its interior appointments have only gotten more laughable over time, but none of that will matter after one press of the glowing green starter button fires up your LS9 for the first time! The C6 ZR1 is one of the most thrilling drive’s one could ever experience. It was notorious ‘Vette hater, Jeremy Clarkson’s car of the year, it was Hagerty’s car of the decade, and very nice examples can still be had in the $80-85k range, which is up significantly since ’20, but still represents a roaring deal that is still capable of lighting your hair on fire and more than worthy of your consideration!

Third Gear

Buying break! For those that were inspired by the preceding forward gears, this Corvettes for sale section is going to focus on the stars of those two sections. We’re going to start with an eBay Motors pro search tip. It is possible to search for multiple model years at once by implementing parentheses and commas. Instead of highlighting individual listings as per uzhe, we are going to include all C4 ZR-1s currently on eBay by implementing this multi-year searching technique that you are encouraged to try on your own! As of writing, there is some impressive range in the eight results. Bookends (1990 and 1995) are the most prevalent right now, making up 75% of listings, with one example each from ’92 and ’94 rounding things out. The best deal of the bunch has to be the 19,500-mile red on red ’90 that despite its excellent condition is only tagged with a $33,000 “Buy It Now.” It is also fun to see the cars that were immediately packed away as investments come to market, and this 30-mile listing certainly fits that bill. Even with a steep ask just shy of $120,000, its original owner won’t break when you account for inflation. In 2023 dollars, a new 1990 ZR-1 would be knocking on the door of $140,000 AND that’s if the speculator was able to get one at MSRP which was a tall task when the King of the Hill first hit the market – more on the age-old problem of dealership markups later!

On the C6 ZR front, two examples really stand out right now. Miami’s Formula Sports Cars has been advertising this awesome Torch Red 2011 specimen for 151 days. It only has 10k miles and has the rarer 1ZR equipment group that loses out on the leather-wrapped dash, but spares owners having to look at/fiddle with the DVD-based navigation system that has yet to achieve “chic” status on the retro scale. It is also “tastefully modified,” in a way that most people making that claim about their cars are not; aftermarket items include the Z07/PDE package’s subtle upgraded full-length spoiler and a must-have exhaust system from the best name in the game – Corsa. What started out as overpriced has benefitted from an appreciating market and a $6,000 price cut to become one of the best buys on the market. If it is still on FSC’s floorplan on day 165, we’ll be surprised!


The other ZR1 making waves in our collective psyche is a newly listed Centennial Edition out of Pennsylvania2. It has double the miles of our red car, but they were all put on by a single owner (vs. two for the ’11), and apart from the desirable Carbon Flash special appearance package celebrating a century of Chevrolet, it is a real-deal PDE ultimate performance model, making it one of just 375 ZR1s ever built with the factory go-fast upgrades (on most C6 ZR1s, the black cup wheels are a dead giveaway of PDE special-ness, but all Centennials also received Cups but weren’t all PDEs, on these, the slightly different spoiler is the easiest way to tell if you’re looking at royalty!). For $85,000, or right around the average transaction price of a run-of-the-mill C8 Stingray, you can score this incredible piece of Corvette history!


A few more related listings and auctions:
For your author, choosing between a C6 ZR1 and a 2011-13 Z07-equipped Z06 would be like choosing between my favorite SI Swimsuit cover models (sensational back-to-back stars, Bar Refaeli and Brooklyn Decker, if you’re curious; feel free to share your faves below!), and the ne plus ultra of Z07s is up for grabs right now. It is Carbon #77, an Inferno Orange beauty that never had its stickers installed. Unfortunately, even with 22,500 miles on the clock, the seller is quite proud of it and it’ll take $90k – down from $110,000) to pry it away.


GM’s best/most desirable non-Corvette creation from the C6 years is also up for grabs on Bring a Trailor with bids being accepted until mid-day on the 10th. This glorious manual transmission CTS-V Wagon is presented in the other Z06 Carbon paint option that we would call Supersonic Blue. With six days remaining as of writing, bidding is already nearing this unicorn’s original MSRP and it should hammer in ZR1/Z06 Carbon territory, making it the Kate Upton in this pickle of an early 2010s three-horse race – if I could only have one of the cars in this section, I honestly don’t know which one I’d drive away! What’s really neat about the V Wagon, though, is that its 556-horse LS9-based Supercharged V8 can be upgraded to nearly match the ZR1’s output on the cheap! Our friends at Lingenfelter have a 630-horse engine package for the LSA that only costs $3,234! In this day of $40 Chick-fil-a tabs, that is an absolute steal from one of the most respected Corvette tuners in the world! There’s also 650 and 700 HP packages that’ll make respective dents of $6,295 and $13,999 in your wallet while shining an even brighter spotlight on what a deal the 630 pack is!

Fourth Gear

It’s a strange thing, but on the week of the 2023 NCM Bash, the biggest news in the Corvette world, a story that received mainstream attention, actually originated out of the National Council of Corvette Clubs (NCCC). Its decision to ban – then almost immediately unban – GM’s first-ever electrified Corvette from competition and even parking near the other ‘Vettes was one that made bigger waves than the NCCC was apparently ready to deal with, and the whole saga is worth a closer look!

First, while some publications resorted to calling the N Triple-C’s original ruling “dumb,” Hagerty’s Steven Cole Smith did some real journalism by interviewing the owners/runners of multiple US tracks about the practical issues and even dangers presented by allowing modern electric vehicles to participate in events at their facilities and the approach each is taking in response to this new challenge.

If you peel back the curtain on the NCCC’s initial ban – and the waves that it made in the national conversation – there might have been another motive at play. One of the best things that I’ve read on this topic in the past few years was also from Hagerty. Avoidable Contact #93 presented the forthcoming EV mandates from the perspective of the manufacturers who suddenly find themselves in a hostage situation, of sorts (click the link for the full argument, it’s worth a read!). One of the overarching themes of the opinion piece is that there is probably significant profit and clout (with customers, not at the yacht club) awaiting any OEM that continues to build its in-demand internal combustion fleet and tells the world’s governments where to shove their well-out-of-current-term, future-centric EV directives until the technology reaches a point where customers actually want the things, if that time ever comes. As car building companies all seem to be falling in line though, fighting to save our hobby has fallen to the street level and it seemed like the NCCC was serving up the poor E-Ray as a sacrificial lamb in the fight against a future where The Man has the right to tell its citizens what they can and can’t drive. The Council of Corvette Clubs’ rapid about-face on their position means that the first major blow from the underdog side of this struggle has yet to be struck.

Like the EV movement or not, it is hard not to admit that this is an extremely fascinating time to cover, follow, talk, and even think about the automotive industry and its place in the culture-at-large. Start-ups are popping up all over the place and companies are jumping in from other industries, trying to get a slice of the pie and perfect the plug-in car recipe; this is what it must have been like at the dawn of the automobile 120 years ago! You’ll note that I called the E-Ray “GM’s first ever electrified Corvette.” That’s because an outsider beat the parent company to the punch, all the way back in the C4 days. This week, The Drive posted about Motorola’s secret battery-powered 1993 Corvette that even a lot of Corvette die-hards might have missed when the project came to fruition thirty years ago. Coolest feature? Interchangeable batteries like a kid’s Powerwheels Jeep; check it out here!

Fifth Gear

The subscription section. You get three free articles on Road & Track’s site each month. If you haven’t spent them all already, here’s one that should really hit home with the residents of ‘Vetteville in the C8 era. It’s titled Dealer Markups are Bullshit, and we think that pretty much says it all!

Another interesting article popped up this week in what my old finance professor called “The Journal” this week. While the WSJ charges subscriptions, the writeup in question – featuring a beautifully photographed Manhattan-native Sateen Silver 1960 Corvette with white coves – is free to read if you setup an online account. If you are a fan of classics that actually get driven, this one’s a must!

Sixth Gear

A pair of direct rivals/benchmarks for upcoming C8 flavors broke cover in the past month or so. After unceremoniously ending production of its celebrated 720S supercar earlier this year, McLaren finally revealed its replacement at the end of April. The new car which goes by the 750S moniker looks more like a facelift than an all-new model, but besides the 30-horse bump and a successful diet that helped it drop 66 pounds, McLaren claims that 30 of the 750’s parts are new. See detailed info and photos of the car that the twin-turbo ZR1 will duke it out with in the years to come at Car and Driver.

So the ZR1 is expected to make use of a boosted version of the Z06’s wicked LT6, but as far as we know that isn’t going to be the end-all be-all of C8 Corvettes. That honor is going to a car that we have all been calling “Zora” that will add the E-Ray’s e-driven front wheels to the ZR1’s powertrain with four-digit HP as the goal. The folks at Lamborghini are on the same track with their newly revealed Aventador replacement, the Revuelto. Lambo was able to keep their trademark NA V12 in commission by supplementing it with hybrid tech. The result is a 1,001 HP stunner. We can’t wait to see this thing go head to head with the Zora!

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