Anyone looking for an immaculate ZR-1?

[Rob]

Beautiful 1990 Corvette ZR-1 up for auction on Ebay:

Chevrolet Corvette ZR 1 | eBay

 

[Toms007]

Looks a lot like yours.......Not that I've ever seen your in the flesh. :L

 

[Rob]

Looks a lot like yours.......Not that I've ever seen your in the flesh. :L

Everyone's a comedian these days. :L

 

[catbert]

What a car! Someone should buy it, get it certified at Bloomington and sell it in Scottsdale next January. It's a shame when a car is too nice to drive! I wonder who has had it for the last 23 years.

 

[Scottsredvette]

Looks a lot like yours.......Not that I've ever seen your in the flesh. :L

That one is Bright Red, I believe Rob's is Mythical Red.........

 

[Rob]

Wow....you guys are harsh!

 

[gmjunkie]

Wow....you guys are harsh!

What are friends for?

 

[KANE]

That one is Bright Red, I believe Rob's is Mythical Red.........

Nah... Rob doesn't live in FL. That car is in FL.


Unless there is something we don't know... ;squint:

 

[WhalePirot]

Beautiful 1990 Corvette ZR-1 up for auction

All this time, I thought all '90 Corvettes had round tail lights. Did the ZR go to the '91 tail 'early'?

 

[Toms007]

All this time, I thought all '90 Corvettes had round tail lights. Did the ZR go to the '91 tail 'early'?

As I recall, that was one of the big uproars with the ZR-1 bunch back in the day. The 1990 ZR-1's had the square taillights, which made them kind of, exclusive. Then in 1991 all the Corvettes got the ZR-1 tail. The ZR-1 guys were a bit POed, as I recall.

 

[Rob]

All this time, I thought all '90 Corvettes had round tail lights. Did the ZR go to the '91 tail 'early'?

Actually, as the story was relayed to me - the '91 base model was changed to look more like the ZR-1.

 

[Rob]

As I recall, that was one of the big uproars with the ZR-1 bunch back in the day. The 1990 ZR-1's had the square taillights, which made them kind of, exclusive. Then in 1991 all the Corvettes got the ZR-1 tail. The ZR-1 guys were a bit POed, as I recall.

Yup. At the time, GM didn't want to spend the money to make the ZR-1 look any different than the base model. Then Corvette Chief Engineer - Dave McLellan, wanted the ZR-1 to look a little different but the bean counters fought him on it. McLellan then decided the ZR-1 needed wider wheels/tires in the back - but this was really done to force a slightly wider rear end on the ZR-1 (by three inches), so McLellan used a "back door approach" in order to get the ZR-1 to look a little different than the base model.

When the '91 came out - it looked just like the ZR-1. The only way to tell the difference between a base model and a ZR-1, was the extra depth in the wheels where the lug nuts are, small ZR-1 emblems, and a 1 1/2 inch black spacer on each side of the rear license plate which was the three extra inches in width that the base model didn't have.

A lot of people cite the state of the economy for the failure of ZR-1 sales and the eventual death of the car which was decided in November of 1993. In my opinion, it was the lack of visual distinction in combination with the state of the economy that killed it.

At the time, if you walked into a Chevrolet dealer to order a ZR-1 - you checked off RPO ZR-1 on the order sheet - which tacked on $25,000 - $27,000 to the MSRP. Someone that is willing to spend that much additional money on buying a new car - wants their car to visually look like they spent the extra money. They don't want their car, that cost them an extra $26,000, to look just like the cheaper, base model.

 

[Tuna]

As I recall, the C4 CR1 kept the center high mounted stop light (CHMSL) on the halo bar at the top of the hatch while the '91 - '96 regular Vettes got the CHMSL in the top center of the rear facia.

 

[Rob]

As I recall, the C4 CR1 kept the center high mounted stop light (CHMSL) on the halo bar at the top of the hatch while the '91 - '96 regular Vettes got the CHMSL in the top center of the rear facia.

Yep - that's correct.

-Rob