Art,
It's kind of difficult to say yes you should do it, or no, you shouldn't. The ZR-1 and the C5 are two totally different animals. Each has its own personality traits, pros and cons.
For its day, the ZR-1 was and still is an engineering marvel and the performance has often been a means of benchmarking other high performance automobiles, especially the Corvettes that marched on after the last ZR-1 rolled off the assembly line in April of 1995.
There have been times where I've considered selling the ZR-1 for a C5. I absolutely love the look of the C5 from front bumper to rear. I think it's an awesome sports car and the Z06 is incredible.
The performance of the Z06 is incredible especially when you compare it to other high performance sports cars that are double if not triple the price.
The ZR-1 however, is still much more unique in my eyes. It was very limited production, and you rarely ever see them on the road. Because the overall shape of the car isn't really any different than the base model C4, other than the rear end, it blends in with most other C4s. In my mind, the Z06 is very similar because unless you notice the wheels, the rear brake ducts, and the mesh in the front air intakes, you won't know it's a Z06. The LS1 and LS6 look very similiar in appearance other than the red plastic covers on the LS6. You can't make an LT1 look like an LT5. In fact, you can't make any engine look like the LT5. It's too unique.
In one year, GM met 3/4 of the ZR-1 production with the 2001 Z06. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a decent boost in those production numbers for the 2002 MY.
The C5 and Z06 performance are very close to the ZR-1 and in some cases, exceed it.
For me, there is too much history and too much uniqueness to let my ZR-1 go in order to make room for a C5. The ZR-1 is my first and only Corvette that I have ever owned. I basically threw three years of my life away working just so I could afford to buy it. I remember the day it was delivered to me from Bud's Chevrolet. I remember climbing up on top of the flat bed, opening the door and seeing the plastic on the seats and the steering wheel. I remember putting that key in the ignition, turning it and hearing the LT5 engine roar to life for the first time. I remember putting in reverse and gradually rolling it down the ramps off the flatbed.
I remember the next day I washed and waxed the car for the first time....I remember what it was like moving my hands over the gradual curves and polishing the paint to an almost translucent appearance and then stepping back to look at it thinking...."wow!"
I remember talking with the original owner of the car in Canada for almost an hour, and as I sit here typing this, I look up at my bookshelf at the enormous ring binder filled with every single receipt, pieces of original documentation and typed up history on the car as it was transcribed to me by the original owner.
I remember going down to Bowling Green, KY at the end of April 1995 for the Legend Lives event to see the last ZR-1 come off the assembly line. I remember hearing some of the Lotus and GM Powertrain engineers talking about what it was like to get the LT5 motor into production. And most of all, I remember hearing almost 400 LT5 engines spooling up and laying rubber in and around the streets of Bowling Green and then the gradual progression of ZR-1s from the factory to the National Corvette Museum to see the last ZR-1 take it's rightful spot inside the museum.
I remember all of this and much more. The C5 and Z06 are very special in their own way, but in my eyes, the ZR-1 is that much more so and something like it may not ever be repeated for quite some time, and if it is, I may not be able to afford it.
It only has 375 horsepower and with the recent horsepower wars we're seeing, there are a growing number of muscle cars/sports cars that exceed that level of output and performance, but each time I press the garage door opener, and see that wide rear end appear from within, and I climb inside and turn the igntion key only to be welcomed with the unique sounds that only an LT5 engine can produce, it still puts a wide smile on my face and gets my adrenaline pumping.
It shakes dues to the chassis structure (especially with the roof off), parts are hard to come by and expensive, and it's difficult to find someone competent enough to fix them....and the radio vibrates within its chassis when its cold and the glove compartment door rattles when its cold......but to me these are just inherent design traits worthy of overlooking. Because when you step back and look at the entire package, the history behind the car, how it came about, and the performance, for me...at this point in my life, to give it up would be a shame.
C5s are just about everywhere. And around this area that I live, I see at least one, sometimes two Z06s per week. If I see another ZR-1 every 3-6 months, I'm lucky. And when you do finally meet that other ZR-1 on the road and you pass by one another, nod and wave, there is that special feeling you get in knowing that you both own and appreciate a rare piece of Corvette heritage.
