Corvettes for Sale: A 777-Mile 2019 ZR1 Sets BaT Record While Its 3,400-Mile Twin Tries to Capitalize

As the collector car market navigates a “Year of Decreases,” that’s even being felt by panicle of the mighty Air-Cooled Porsche niche, investors from all walks of life can find security in the late 2010s wares of General Motors (strangely, GM’s best stuff from early in the same decade is struggling, as evidenced by this 2013 Corvette Z07 60th Anniversary and this manual CTS-V Wagon with ties to “Memphis Raines”). While newer domestics – especially from the firm that tends to build as many as they can sell, then build a few more just to be safe – aren’t the vehicles that come immediately to mind for high-end hobbyists, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

Hot on the heels of a $64,000 2017 SS Sedan sale that topped Bring a Trailor’s record for the misunderstood model, a 2019 Corvette ZR1 set a new highwater mark on the famed auction site. The slice of the 755-horse one-year pie in question is number 1,470 out of 2,953, and it’s most notable for the scant 777 miles that it’s traveled since leaving Bowling Green six odd years ago. On top of the museum-quality expected from a sub-thousand-mile car, it also features the holy trinity of desirable options: 7-speed manual, ZTK track package, and Sebring Orange Design Package, which helped it reach a staggering $252,000 final bid, breaking the previous BaT record that only stood for a month and a half.

This 2019 Corvette ZR1 set a new sales record at Bring a Trailer, selling for $252,000 on 9/18/24

That impressive, but not outlying, result represents a gain of more than $100,000 over MSRP in less than a decade, which used to be unheard of, especially for America’s Sports Car. But the C7 ZR1 isn’t any run-of-the-mill Chevrolet. On top of the limited number minted over a single model year, it is also significant as the final and most powerful front-engine Corvette, the last Corvette ever offered with a manual transmission – which has recently been dubbed the “hottest thing in cars” that typically adds anywhere between 15 and 30% to the bottom line of modern collectible vehicles – and, until it’s successor hits showrooms early next year, it remains the fastest machine ever to wear the famed Crossed Flags.

The perfect storm of spec and circumstance surrounding the ZR1 made it an instant collectible, and those looking to get their hands on one before its value possibly soars even higher are in luck! An auction on the 777-mile car’s identical three-option twin went live almost immediately after the online gavel fell at over a quarter-million dollars – talk about striking while the iron is hot! The “twin” wears VIN 1525, and has been used almost as sparingly, with just 3,400 miles on the clock. Also of note is the fact that 1,525 has been through BaT before! Seventeen months and just 100 miles ago, it hammered for $226,000, making for an interesting case study on the model’s current momentum.

When the market is so volatile, that’s a lot of money to gamble, but unlike playing the stock market, you’ll at least get to enjoy one of the greatest cars ever made if C7 ZR1 values happen to recede like the Gen V Viper that peaked in 2021 with a $400K sale only to settle comfortably back into a sub-300-dollar norm. Sounds like a win-win to us!

Source:
Bring a Trailer

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