At $33,500, Could This 1991 Chevy Corvette ZR1 Make You King (Or Queen) Of The Hill?

With its squircle tail lamps set into a wider booty, today's Nice Price or No Dice Corvette ZR1 lets everybody know what just blew past them in the fast lane. Let's see if this uber-Vette is priced to make for a fast sale.

While the events of "Star Wars: A New Hope" are spuriously claimed to have occurred "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." it's pretty obvious that it took place in the 1960s somewhere near where a Ford dealer had set up shop. How do we know this? Well, it's right there in the intro: a 'Galaxy' far, far away? Aside from the obvious misspelling of Galaxie, we can tell it's referencing a Ford. Other nods to the Blue Oval brand include the Millennium Falcon and the fact that the Jawas, Tatooine's resident recyclers, almost exclusively communicate using the phrase "ELL TEE DEE."

The 1982 Ford LTD sedan we looked at yesterday appeared to be just as timeless as George Lucas' original sci-fi epic. Dealer offered, it came with a remarkably low 6,900 miles on the clock and wore an almost-as-new sheen. Unfortunately, it also came with an aspirational $15,000 asking price. According to many of you, that price felt akin to space piracy, and ultimately earned the Ford a hefty 83% 'No Dice' loss.

There's a lot of speculation about what the LTD name stands for on Ford's big sedans. Is it an abbreviation for "Limited"? Or maybe it's the oft-rumored 'Luxury Trim Decor"? No such issue arises with Chevy's Corvette, thankfully, as it takes its name from a frigate class of small warships. That class has engendered the title of "Corvette Captain" among many European and Latin American navies, which is arguably one of the coolest names in the Navy.

Today's 1991 Chevy Corvette (the car, not the boat) ZR1 comes from the marque's fourth generation (most commonly referred to as C4 for obvious reasons) and is that edition's ultimate expression, featuring, for the first time in a production 'Vette a quad-cam engine and featuring a slew of upgrades and updates to account for that engine's 375 horsepower. Those changes included Formula One-inspired suspension revisions and a wider rear end to wrap the car's massive rear tires and cause uncontrollable drooling from Sir Mix-a-Lot. On this one, that butt has been topped with a wide aftermarket spoiler.

Naturally, the engine is the star of this car. That's an all-alloy 32-valve V8 displacing 5.7 liters and dubbed the LT5 by GM's engine naming committee. While its displacement and cylinder count might match the lesser Corvette's L98, the LT5 is a clean sheet design that came about as a result of a collaboration between engineering teams at GM and Lotus (GM owned the British cottage car builder at the time), with construction handed over to Mercury Marine to leverage that company's expertise in alloy work. During development, the ZR1 earned the internal nickname "King of the Hill," which stuck with it into production.

Behind the powerful V8 is a purpose-spec'd six-speed manual from ZF, equipped with an electronic nanny that forces shifts from first to fourth at low rpm.

This ZR1 is reported to be in excellent mechanical condition, having covered only 39,000 miles over its two-owner history. Those stewards have kept up on the car's maintenance, as the ad notes the replacement of the windscreen, rebuilding of the front shocks, and the addition of a cat-back upgraded exhaust, with the last item supposedly adding around 14 horses to the corral. Other improvements include later ZR1 wheels wrapped in GoodYear Eagle tires that have less than 2,000 miles on them, and a new A/C compressor rocking a more ozone-friendly R134 refrigerant.

The car also looks to be in terrific condition. Painted in Bright Red over a black interior with standard leather seating surfaces, it presents as a very desirable color combo. According to the seller, only minor imperfections exist, but states that a magnifying glass is necessary to see them.

Craigslist

One of the notable features of the ZR1 is the dashboard-mounted key switch that allows the ECU mapping to be set to either 'normal' or 'full' output. That's convenient for valets or for impressing passengers. The only aesthetic issue noted by the seller on the interior is some wear on the driver's-side seat bolster. That is to be expected given how wide it is and how difficult, in general, the C4's substantial sills make ingress to the car. On the plus side, all of the instruments (including the digital speedo, how '90s is that?) are said to be working without complaint.

According to the ad, the ZR1 comes with a clean title, two sets of keys, two tops (body color and smoked), the original wheels/tires and exhaust, and a bunch of other bits and bobs. Also included are the original build sheet and Monroney sticker, plus some miscellaneous maintenance and repair records. Not included are the California blue and gold vanity plates that read "I MAILEM." The asking price for the kit and caboodle is $33,500.

What do we make of this nicely packaged, seemingly nothing-needing ZR1, priced at $33,500? Does that make for a deal fit for royalty? Or is that too princely a sum?

You decide!

Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Michael Sweeney for the hookup!

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