1991 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1

- One of 2,044 Made
- Original Sticker Price: $65k
- 5.7L/375HP V8
- 6 Speed Manual
- "Full Power" Key
- Window Sticker, Build Sheet, and Original Literature

(Please note: If you happen to be viewing this 1991 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 on a website other than our Garage Kept Motors site, it's possible that you've only seen some of our many photographs of the car due to third-party website limitations. To be sure you access all the more than 140 photographs, as well as a short start-up and walk-around video, and a link to the ZR-1's's accident-and-damage-free Carfax history report, please go to our main website: Garage Kept Motors.)

“Lest you forget: The C4 Corvette ZR-1 was America's supercar” – Hagerty, September 2019

The Hagerty writers continued: “They called the prototype 'King of the Hill.' In production, the ZR-1 was the Corvette that Chevrolet built to take on the world, and it was every bit the 'super 'Vette' that Corvette chief engineer Dave McLellan had hoped for.”

“The major component was its LT5 engine, a V-8 born of Chevrolet and Lotus engineering, and assembled by Mercury Marine. It shared the same 5.7-liter displacement with the base C4's L98 pushrod engine, but little else. The quad-cam, 32-valve, 375-hp LT5 was nothing short of exotic, with trick bits like 16 intake runners that fed hemispherical combustion chambers, and a forged rotating assembly swinging 11:1-compression pistons in Nikasil-coated aluminum bores, all the way to 7200 rpm. These are top-shelf specs even today, but in 1990? The LT5 was a superstar in a sea of warmed-over, malaise-era crap engines rolling out of Detroit.”

Offered here is a properly maintained, routinely serviced, adult-owned, black-over-light-gray 1991 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1. Only 2,044 ZR-1's were made for that model year. The car's odometer reads 86,911 miles, or under 3,000 miles per-year on average, well below the 15,000 Carfax considers “average mileage.”

The black body paint shows extremely well for its 30-year age due to fastidious owner attention to the Corvette. The gloss is uniform and the paint exhibits few signs of wear (most notably on the driver's-side mirror cap road-rash). Black has a sinister quality which suits this high-performance sportscar; with the exception of the four rectangular exhaust outlets, there are literally no chrome trim pieces on the body; even door handles are in black. All factory badging—the bowtie-logo with “ZR-1” emblems fore and aft, Corvette emblem in the rear, Corvette flags badge on the hood and rear deck—is properly in place and in excellent condition. All cabin glass, including on the large rear hatch, is clear and unmarred (the front windshield features an area the factory left untinted designed for radar detectors). Lighting lenses (including the lower-front driving lights, pop-headlights, and quad taillights—are likewise clear. Side-specific-design 17-inch alloy wheels—9.5” wide in front, 11” in the rear—are mounted with GoodYear® F1 high-performance tires.

The interior of the ZR-1 has been properly cared for and the results are obvious. The gray leather seats—known for their (power-adjustable) comfort and side bolstering support—with “Corvette” embroidery are in excellent condition showing only expected minor creasing but no discoloration. Handsome, sculpted door trim (gray trimmed on the passenger's side, black-trimmed on the driver's) looks nearly new. Light-gray carpeting (including in the cargo area) is extremely clean and well-kept. A black, Corvette-branded steering wheel frames a gauge cluster featuring an analog tachometer, digital speedometer, and an array of engine-monitoring gauges. The surfaces of the dashboard are free of damage with all graphic markings clear and crisp. The dash “sweeps around” with HVAC controls and factory audio unit incorporated. The site for the “power key” without which the engine's full-power cannot be accessed (think valet parking attendants) is just below, ahead of the console-mounted shifter for the 6-speed manual transmission. (Note that every standard and ZR-1 optional feature on the car is listed on the plastic-laminated original window sticker shown in the photo gallery and included in the sale.)

Open the front-hinged hood and what many fans think is one of the best-looking,(as well as best-performing engines ever put in a Corvette up to that point greets you. The combination of metal surfaces, top air-supply piping, discreet “Corvette” branding on the valve covers, as well as the overall engine and component layout is certainly striking. Here, the engine bay is properly clean and detailed with no use of shine-enhancing spray-on products. Viewed from below, the chassis is complete, very clean, and free of any damage including any sort of compression damage resulting from too-aggressive driving styles. (This is one more advantage of adult ownership.) The properly routed dual exhaust system is a focal point.

While the more than 140 high-definition photographs and the short walk-around-and-startup video available on the GarageKeptMotors website showcase this Corvette ZR-1 in detail from every angle, including from below, we expect and encourage in-person inspections at our Grand Rapids, Michigan showroom. Please call to arrange an appointment in advance as our showroom is not open to the public. And feel free to get in touch anytime by phone or email if you have questions.

Many Corvette aficionados go through life knowing all about the prowess of the early Nineties ZR-1, but alas, never actually piloting one for any distance. Sadly, they miss out on one of the great performance road experiences ever offered in the 20th Century. That lament will never befall the next owner of this terrific black ZR-1. We envy him or her.