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ZR1 in a Million
The new super Corvette has a base price around $100,000, but to one collector, it is worth much more.
by Alex McCall
ForbesAutos.com
Published on 01/23/2008
Automobile collector and "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno was the guest auctioneer for the Corvette ZR1 at the Barrett-Jackson auction.
The ultra-high-performance Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 was the result of a simple request. General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner wondered what a $100,000 Corvette might look like. So GM designers and engineers showed him.
And now that the first ZR1 has been sold at the 2008 Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., Wagoner can see what a $1 million Corvette looks like — exactly the same.
The annual auction is a place for serious car collectors to pony up major money for the world’s rarest vehicles. And the ZR1, having yet to enter production, is rare indeed.
The car officially debuted at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, with much fanfare.
It also got an enthusiastic introduction at the auction, as “Tonight Show” host, automotive fanatic, and volunteer Barrett-Jackson auctioneer Jay Leno talked it up. “Rivals anything coming out of Europe,” Leno called out from the stage. “It actually beats them, hands down.”
Leno even invoked the blessing of Zora Arkus-Duntov, the Chevrolet engineer nicknamed the “Father of the Corvette.”
“This is the car Arkus-Duntov would have built,” he said.
The auction lasted two minutes, with bids jumping by hundreds of thousands of dollars every few seconds. When the gavel dropped, Dave Ressler of Bozeman, Mont., had won.
The owner of Ressler Chevrolet dealerships in Bozeman and Mandan, N.D., Ressler grew up with a fondness for Chevrolets, and Corvettes in particular. His father sold cars at a Chevrolet dealership and Ressler worked on cars from an early age.
Auction winner Dave Ressler will name his new ZR1 "Ayden Lynn," after his granddaughter.
GM president Troy Clarke said that Ressler would take delivery of the first production ZR1 this spring. Ressler will have the option to drive his new car right off the assembly line at the Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Ky.
The ZR1s appearing at the Detroit auto show and on stage at Barrett-Jackson will make the rounds of the 2008 auto show circuit before being retired to GM museums.
Ressler’s ZR1 will come with a unique “LeMans Blue” paint job said to cost $60,000, the same color used for the car displayed at the auction. He will receive high-performance driving instruction courtesy of famed Corvette racer Ron Fellows, an original sketch of the ZR1 signed by GM Chairman Bob Lutz and the car’s engineers and designers, and VIP access to “The Tonight Show.”
Ressler said he does plan to go to the Corvette factory to be at the wheel of his new car for its first drive, albeit a short one.
“My plan is to drive the Ayden Lynn — that’s this ZR1’s new name, after my four-month old granddaughter — off the line and onto a tractor, where it will be transported to the Corvette Museum there in Bowling Green,” Ressler said. “After it is displayed there for several months, we’ll transport it up to Mandan to join the other cars in our family’s museum.”
In the family’s formidable car collection are 25 rare Corvettes, all showcased at the Ressler Museum in Mandan. It is Ressler’s eventual goal to include the best examples from each Corvette model year.
Ressler bought another million-dollar Corvette, a 1958 “Blue Flame” model, at Barrett-Jackson in 2006. And he was intent on the latest Corvette having the same seven-figure status.
So even though Ressler actually could have had the ZR1 for $900,000, he increased his own winning bid to $1 million. “When my granddaughter grows up, she won't be upset that the old, ugly, white car that no one likes cost $1 million and her beautiful brand new one was only $900,000,” he said.
All proceeds from the sale of the Corvette ZR1 and two other super American muscle cars -- a Ford Shelby GT500 KR and a Dodge Challenger -- at the Barrett-Jackson auction went to charity. The ZR1’s $1 million sale benefits the Southeast Michigan United Way.
In exchange for the commanding price, Ressler is getting a special car.
It is the latest version in the ZR1 series of performance Corvettes. Under its hood is the most powerful engine ever built by General Motors: a supercharged V8 that kicks out 620 horsepower and 595 pound-feet of torque. From a stop, it can hit 60 miles per hour in less than 4 seconds and then keep going all the way up to 200 mph. Using an all-aluminum chassis and plenty of carbon fiber parts, the ZR1 tips the scale at just 3,350 pounds, giving it a better power-to-weight ratio than the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Lamborghini Murcielago LP640, and Porsche 911 GT2.
The ZR1, which enthusiasts nicknamed the “Blue Devil” before it was released, bests the current top Corvette model, the Z06, in performance, price, and some might even say looks.
Add cachet to the list as well: It will be offered in extremely limited numbers. The unofficial production estimate is around 2,000 cars per year.
The Corvette ZR1 is expected to be in showrooms this summer with a base price around $100,000.
The new super Corvette has a base price around $100,000, but to one collector, it is worth much more.
by Alex McCall
ForbesAutos.com
Published on 01/23/2008
Automobile collector and "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno was the guest auctioneer for the Corvette ZR1 at the Barrett-Jackson auction.
The ultra-high-performance Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 was the result of a simple request. General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner wondered what a $100,000 Corvette might look like. So GM designers and engineers showed him.
And now that the first ZR1 has been sold at the 2008 Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., Wagoner can see what a $1 million Corvette looks like — exactly the same.
The annual auction is a place for serious car collectors to pony up major money for the world’s rarest vehicles. And the ZR1, having yet to enter production, is rare indeed.
The car officially debuted at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, with much fanfare.
It also got an enthusiastic introduction at the auction, as “Tonight Show” host, automotive fanatic, and volunteer Barrett-Jackson auctioneer Jay Leno talked it up. “Rivals anything coming out of Europe,” Leno called out from the stage. “It actually beats them, hands down.”
Leno even invoked the blessing of Zora Arkus-Duntov, the Chevrolet engineer nicknamed the “Father of the Corvette.”
“This is the car Arkus-Duntov would have built,” he said.
The auction lasted two minutes, with bids jumping by hundreds of thousands of dollars every few seconds. When the gavel dropped, Dave Ressler of Bozeman, Mont., had won.
The owner of Ressler Chevrolet dealerships in Bozeman and Mandan, N.D., Ressler grew up with a fondness for Chevrolets, and Corvettes in particular. His father sold cars at a Chevrolet dealership and Ressler worked on cars from an early age.
Auction winner Dave Ressler will name his new ZR1 "Ayden Lynn," after his granddaughter.
GM president Troy Clarke said that Ressler would take delivery of the first production ZR1 this spring. Ressler will have the option to drive his new car right off the assembly line at the Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Ky.
The ZR1s appearing at the Detroit auto show and on stage at Barrett-Jackson will make the rounds of the 2008 auto show circuit before being retired to GM museums.
Ressler’s ZR1 will come with a unique “LeMans Blue” paint job said to cost $60,000, the same color used for the car displayed at the auction. He will receive high-performance driving instruction courtesy of famed Corvette racer Ron Fellows, an original sketch of the ZR1 signed by GM Chairman Bob Lutz and the car’s engineers and designers, and VIP access to “The Tonight Show.”
Ressler said he does plan to go to the Corvette factory to be at the wheel of his new car for its first drive, albeit a short one.
“My plan is to drive the Ayden Lynn — that’s this ZR1’s new name, after my four-month old granddaughter — off the line and onto a tractor, where it will be transported to the Corvette Museum there in Bowling Green,” Ressler said. “After it is displayed there for several months, we’ll transport it up to Mandan to join the other cars in our family’s museum.”
In the family’s formidable car collection are 25 rare Corvettes, all showcased at the Ressler Museum in Mandan. It is Ressler’s eventual goal to include the best examples from each Corvette model year.
Ressler bought another million-dollar Corvette, a 1958 “Blue Flame” model, at Barrett-Jackson in 2006. And he was intent on the latest Corvette having the same seven-figure status.
So even though Ressler actually could have had the ZR1 for $900,000, he increased his own winning bid to $1 million. “When my granddaughter grows up, she won't be upset that the old, ugly, white car that no one likes cost $1 million and her beautiful brand new one was only $900,000,” he said.
All proceeds from the sale of the Corvette ZR1 and two other super American muscle cars -- a Ford Shelby GT500 KR and a Dodge Challenger -- at the Barrett-Jackson auction went to charity. The ZR1’s $1 million sale benefits the Southeast Michigan United Way.
In exchange for the commanding price, Ressler is getting a special car.
It is the latest version in the ZR1 series of performance Corvettes. Under its hood is the most powerful engine ever built by General Motors: a supercharged V8 that kicks out 620 horsepower and 595 pound-feet of torque. From a stop, it can hit 60 miles per hour in less than 4 seconds and then keep going all the way up to 200 mph. Using an all-aluminum chassis and plenty of carbon fiber parts, the ZR1 tips the scale at just 3,350 pounds, giving it a better power-to-weight ratio than the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Lamborghini Murcielago LP640, and Porsche 911 GT2.
The ZR1, which enthusiasts nicknamed the “Blue Devil” before it was released, bests the current top Corvette model, the Z06, in performance, price, and some might even say looks.
Add cachet to the list as well: It will be offered in extremely limited numbers. The unofficial production estimate is around 2,000 cars per year.
The Corvette ZR1 is expected to be in showrooms this summer with a base price around $100,000.
