I bought #2822 1990 ZR-1 back in 2018 with 74k miles on the clock, it had been just sitting for many years. I had a lot of maintenance work to do on her, got tags and insurance in May of 2020. Have driven her over 8k miles so far. I drive this bad boy as much as I can, it's a blast to drive and runs great. Still have work to do, but figured I would enjoy it while I continue to work on it. I remember when they came out, way out of my price range, can't believe I actually own one now, pretty cool.
Hard to believe you did a video about the C4 ZR-1 without even mentioning the multiple FIA World Land Speed Endurance Records set by Morrison Motorsports in 1990. Those records were only eclipsed years later by a one-off, purpose built prototype race car, and they still stand TO THIS DAY for a production car.
well racing is not see what car is more fast if so any comercial four door saloon can beat it ,to go straight ahead ,it´s not racing and those speed contests are not in a regular car
Sorry, but yes, they were stock cars. It was a very impressive feat. The cars they used could have gone longer, but the drivers became exhausted and had to stop. @@RUfromthe40s
I own a 1995 ZR-1. Its one hell of a car! The LT5 engine steals the show. It FOR sure has more power than 405hp. My but dyno says around 440-460hp. The LT5 pulls hard all the way to redline with ease and its real party trick is the 60-90mph. It all ways puts a smile on my face when i drive it! For what i payed for my ZR-1 i stole it. Now if you can find one in ok shape for any price is hard but still very worth it. The car is amazing and i cant say enough good about it, just buy one.
Early C4s were "not all that fast?" And yet they went undefeated for 3 years straight (as in they won EVERY race) from '85-'87 in SCCA Showroom Stock. In fact, Porsche and Lotus got so butthurt they got together and had the Vettes banned from the series and they were forced to race against themselves in Corvette Challenge.
@@bluesky-ud9wg Race car??? Yeah I guess if a professional driver, some decals and some safety equipment makes it a RACE CAR then yeah... What part of "SCCA SHOWROOM STOCK" did you miss? It's called SHOWROOM STOCK for a reason. You must've graduated at the top of your f'ing class... just because someone makes a RU-vid video does NOT make them an authority on the subject or on history.
@@sidefx996 Haha, the C4 was terrible, period. So it won showroom stock, does that make it a good car? Hardly. You can love them all you want but they are terrible cars period.
I was six back in 88 when my dad bought his first Corvette. He purchased a book from Lingenfelter and pulled out and rebuilt the 350. I always had fun with him in that car. We have had 4 Corvettes in the Family since then. I miss my C5. I used to think my shit didn't stink when my mom would drop me off at high school in her 95 Vette. Fun times
The C-4 ZR-1 required 2 keys to unlock all its power like a Bugatti. Your main key went in the stock ignition switch on the column. A second key went in a switch on the console to enable “Full Power Mode.” Without the second key they only made 210 horsepower.
Haha! All that for only 33 percent more power than a Toyota Camry! (If you told someone in 1988 that the ZR1 variant of the corvette would only come with 1/3 more power than a Toyota Camry he’d find that very disappointing.)
@@juanc5149It outran virtually every car in the world on the track and street. Yes, normal passenger cars make good power these days and thirty years have changed that fact, shocker.
I recall the C4 demolishing the brand new 944 Turbo and large the 944 Turbo S in the 80s. As a Porsche owner at the time, it was a shock. I think that also lead the 911 on a journey to improvement from the 3.6 liter to the liquid cooled products.
@@yankees29check the statistics the 911 was slightly faster in 0-60 and 0-100 it was magazines who overcooked the zr1,,zr1 had better acceleration tho..
The 1984 Corvette with the miss-fire engine, sorry the cross-fire engine. I had the unfortunate experiance of owning one, but the 1991 ZR1 was one of my favorite Corvettes. Still love the wheels. I forgot the Corvette Sledgehammer was a beast, Callaway went nuts! 255mph.
Yeah I have heard those early c4s were just not it when it came to engine, thankfully the LT1 that they got towards the end was fairly stout even at the base model level
yeah but US people dont know about it, if they know, collectors buys, even some of them already buy, 25 year ban time passed for it, i talk a man from US said he bought 1 and waiting for transport, prices going up, i hope he didnt do that video before i buy 1 of it.
Corvette at one point even contemplated a V12, for this they built a special test vehicle, a one off, in 1990 to top the recently unveiled Viper and its 500 cubic inch v10, It was internally called ZR-12 also dubbed „Conan“, The engine was a 600 cubic inch naturally aspirated monster that made north of 700 hp and 750 lb.-ft. If you do research you will find even some clips on here with the car driving in motion, engine sounds etc. They should have made a very limited special edition production run. God Bless America.
I was in high school back then so the C4 was my generation Corvette and I've owned several and raced them too. So I know them inside and out working on them and they are super cool and an absolute bargain today. I think the ZR1 really was a bit late to the market with a flurry of magazine tests for the '89 MY year in Europe and then the car didn't make it to market until 1990. The 1990 interior redesign is particularly atrocious unfitting for an economy car let alone a sports car so while the car had a great engine the rest of the package plus the "sill" wasn't going to win over very many Porsche operators. I think the '91 C4 body update and then the Viper just killed all the buzz with this car. In reality the pushrod engine was easily able to hit 300HP in 1985 with the TPI had it been not sized for a 305 engine, had higher flowing heads, and better exhaust. You can literally cover the exhaust manifold on an L98 with a quarter. I did just that with a mild 211/219 cam on a 1990 and ran 13.0s@108 in a convertible on street tires. GM got lazy, spent a lot of money developing the LT5, which lit a fire under their powertrain division resulting in the LT1, LT4, and then the LS1. The ZR1 lit quite a spark and is a 1000% awesome car for those that know .
Regardless of whether people thought c4 base weren't all that fast,they still easily beat all other American sports cars without even being the all mighty zr1 vette.
The Vette has been my favorite car for as long as I can remember. It was the first car I could identify on sight, way back at the tender age of 3. Forty years later, my interest never waned. Oh sure, there are a lot of other cars that have populated my list of favorites, but the original King of the Road has never lost its place at the very top. In my opinion, it's the only car built by any of the big three that's any good. We've been building nothing but trash here in the US for longer than I've been alive, but the Corvette stands apart from the rest. As it should, considering it's a true "halo car" in every sense of the term.
My 1994 stock LT1 automatic will go to 178 MPH without any trouble. The ZR-1 only had 30 more HP, it still had a governor at 178, because the tires are only rated for 178.
Thank you! I try to be very specific with the sponsors that I may partner with as I want to make sure they are legitimate and actually something the audience might find useful! No cryptocurrency companies on here LOL
PLEASE DO THE 1ST GEN ZR1!! They are so unknown, underrated and under appreciated. You've got my sub you have an awesome channel here and I wish you the best growing into a well known channel. Also something on the L88's AND the little known L88, L89 transplants that took place...
@@themaninabucket8365 if you ever drove it you would know it´s a wankel engine and still goes like in the day i bought ity , the only problem with wankel engines is the mandatory maintenace also have a SAAB 900Turbo , a 9000turbo both with wankel engines and all are fine ,only did what came in the book as maintenace ,the most seen problem is that at the end of several thousands of km´s the rotor as to be substituted and no one would do it , too expensive , well if it had any problem would be but they were built perfect so it´s a myth all about wankel engines, i have two more 9000 turbo but from the early 90´s that instead of a big window in the back ,they reduced the size of the glass and made a litle car trunk to avoid the expense of makin`it big but all rest of the car is the same, the luxury is amazing as the Saabs always had since early 70´s when i bought the first one. the Mazda i only bought it because my father had bought the early model who was amazing good but in 87 the 2 seat car was perfect as the driving position was above of many other more expensive cars , not that this wasn´t but a type of engine that wasn´t the regular with a lot of power , check it if you doubt it
I may or may not be the first to mention, but when the ZR-1 was produced, the company making the T-56 6 speed transmission was Borg-Warner, not ZF. Borg-Warner was later purchased by Tremec.
even? it´s the only to have if your not filphy rich, i have three corvette´s from the 60´s two from the 70´s my last was a special edition of the barbie car don´t understand the C1 or 2 or5 it don´t make any sense ,which are the ones that doesn´t count?
@@RUfromthe40s I remember attending a classic car meeting at Modderfontein. Next to my car was a Callaway Corvette. That was also not bad looking. Incidentally my car was a stock standard 1988 Ford Sierra 3.0 GLX. Due to it's extremely nice condition it actually drew a crowd too.
I own one. 1986 coup. Not real hard to get into to. A bitch to get up and out of. Dead stock 350 engine pass 70 mph. But from a dead stop....floor it and burn the tires off. Once got a speeding ticket at 88 mph. The freeway cop gave me a break. Love opening the hood to anyone that asks. Only the C4 has that racing front swing up hood.
i like that it looks like a regular c4. if you want to know with hood closed just notice the space on either side of the license plate where the extra wide is
The Mercury built overhead cam motor was a real performance car. I had a Taurus SHO with a Yamaha motor cycle overhead cam and a 5 speed Mazda built 5 speed stick that was a street sleeper. It was the fastest Ford in 1989 although Ford ruined it with the later SHO’s by changing the motor and going to an automatic.
These cars seem to be making a comeback because of RU-vid vloggers like you. The value of the C4 Corvette is now skyrocketing due to the economy. If you decide to buy one of these cars, the good thing is a lot of the owners take good care of there C4. Unless you buy one from a junkyard to start your own build.😎😎😎😎
The 1963 375 HP fuel injected 327 Corvette went toe-to-toe with the European cars and held its own quite well (I would argue that it won), so your closing statement is wrong.
I’m not familiar with the ZR2 having a Lotus engine. The ZR2 “Big Doggie” project has a Chevy big block 454 that has similar performance to the Lotus engine model at less price. Rumors were that contract restrictions required the Big block project to be killed so only 1 ZR2 (Big Doggie) was built from a mule. I believe I saw it sold at Barrett Jackson as part of a collection. Google Corvette ZR2 “Big Doggie” and you’ll see all about it.
I always thought that horizontal molding made the C4 look cheap. Black C4’s looked better but only because the black molding matched the color of the body so wasn’t as obvious. I suspect this was the reason why the C4 has been the least popular corvette.
Even bigger is finding some shop that can help trouble shoot issues that pop up. kind of a downside. I pasted on a 90 ZR! with 17.000 miles. It was out of a collection. The price was right. But any 30 plus year old will need servicing, and the Chevy dealer was telling me that due to its age they didn't have any tech that had worked on an LT5. I held off looking for anybody who worked on Corvettes in my location. I do most work myself on everything I own. Minus my wife's new car under warranty. Truly disappointed that I couldn't find anyone who would touch it. Yes, some parts are no made anymore but I have found that networking with other C4 owners to be a big help on my 90 C4 with just the L98. Yup had to past on the ZR1. For me the cost and what ifs out weighted the driving enjoyment.
@@bluesky-ud9wg I say that because alot of ppl take the Corvette as a a joke- The corvette makes me proud & I just hate when ppl wont give a car credit
Didn’t GM do a twin turbo V8 Vette in ‘94 ish? Calloway or something like that? Btw in this era the Buick Turbo 6 was a real powerhouse idk if that’s the same turbo 6 in the cyclone
The Buick was the 3.8 V-6 which was actually Buick's design. The Syclone/Typhoon used the 4.3 which many call the baby SBC because it shares much. Both are great little engines that can take a beating. Especially the 3.8. GM slapped Superchargers on them in latter years. They were notorious for torque steer N/A so you can imagine how they were with a blower. I've had both and enjoyed them.
@@presmasterflash7555 Syclones were only offered for 1 year and Typhoons I think only ran 3 or 4. They were expensive for 1 but their #1 sin was they beat up on the Vette. Same as the GN, GNX and the Turbo T/A for '89. So not a lot of people have gotten to experience them.
Unfortunately, this particular corvette design was made with inadequate legroom for taller drivers. I'm six foot four, with 36" inseam pants, and though I could jam my legs into the car, I couldn't move my legs at all once in it. This is what pushed me to a Porsche 928, which had both more legroom (adjustable seat bracket mounts, and moveable pedal brackets, too). Wound up being a great decision, that Porsche was the best car I ever drove.
Same....its the sport seats and that crappy steering wheel. Put an aftermarket in it and swap out the standard seats in place of the sports and way more comfy. I could only drive mine for an hour before my hip was on fire Auto C4 was fairly comfortable no problem. Loved the 928s but knew I couldnt maintain one on my own
I’m 6’4 and the C4 is the only Corvette I could get comfortable in. You must be all legs and no torso, because the 928 has awful headroom, especially with the sunroof.
7,200 rpm in the 90s, first Gen Miata spun to 7 grand. Crazy what newer cars can do now. My 2017 civic turbo is 0-60 in 7 seconds flat. That's 80s Ferrari numbers lol
1987 mustang gt 5.0 5 speed could get to 60 in low 6 seconds range stock. I don't think 80s supercars were doing 7 0-60s or the mustang was insane fast in the 80s compared to everything else.
1996 mustang cobra with the 4.6 4v motor Rev to 7k stock. Pretty awesome engine to be in a mid to high 20 something thousand dollar mustang (at the tIme)
destroyd, burning adjectifs by the second, i´m seeing a corvette passing by a porshe 911 turbo and it all falls apart the porshe driver seats on the floor with the steering wheel in his hands
to what 911 are you refering, as i have a 85 911 turbo and a 89 corvette made by etc.,etc., lot´s of talk but bought it some years ago by 7500€ in England ,than drove it till the north catch a ferry ,the netherlands where i also have family and friends and then till south of Portugal and i thought it was not that good but was perfect only drinked more than it´s owner ,either than this was smooth sailing ,made 4.632km´s without any problem ,and it was cheap maybe because it had the steering wheel in the right side wich is the left side .
the only corvette c whatever from late 80´s that had some driving quality was like this because european engeniers took over the most hated corvette of all times, i own one that it´s a special edition bought it cheap but it´s the better one, Barbie destroyd this model for everyone, it´s nice to drive it´s fast but not the best car,when buying it in England i made a 4.000km trip to portugal going to see some friends in the netherlands so i made it with a 2nd hand corvette i knewn nothingf about it but no problems dring it´s 4.000Km trip after being stoped and not knowing it´s history ,it must be a good car ,only paid 7,500€,mettalic grey car
I’ve found three of your posts, and they are just totally wrong. What European engineers are you talking about? The C4 was totally American designed. When they built the ZR1, yes they got Lotus involved, as they were owned by GM at the time. But even the engine was jointly Chevy and Lotus, not all Lotus.
@@ErikDB6 dude you seem to no nothing about cars ,this is for men with beard, not for kids that were born yeaterday C4 what about the C1,C2,C3, so in 69 the C4 was released after that ,what?dude say something being a Dude you´ll have something to say or just Dude all ,boy, "totally american built, then Lotus...."lotus is a euriopean brand and made some of the best handling cars, i still have my Europa from 72 ,allthough i don´t fit in it anymore i like it so much that i´ll never seel it or maybe loose some 40 kg or a bit more so i could drive it again,Dude and european GM as after owned by the south koreans or maybe you haven´t noticed that there is no longer a chevrolet corvette but a corvette with the litle two crossed flags as in more fast Chevrolets like the 65 and 67 impala coupé
RU-vid SUCKS!!!!! Interrupting a video in the middle of a word is piss-poor taste. It guarantees I SHALL NOT consider the trash/trinket being hawked!!!!!
The C-4 is growing on me as I get older.I was 13 and getting into girls and cars.This was supposed to be the muscle/sports car for my generation.Ugly,ugghh.The made it better in 88 and 90 but still not sexy.As I get older though....still meh.But only the 90 and newer.That atari dash was terrible in the 84-89
Who cares what they're worth! If they're stuck in a garage to be "seen", you do you. I'd rather have something I can drive and enjoy. TBH, I'd rather build my own. Say a C-3 with 30+ years of innovation plugged into it? But that's just me. Recipes for unassuming Beasts rattling around in my Nugget.
And yet only one of them holds multiple FIA World Land Speed Endurance records that still stand TO THIS DAY for a production car. Hint: it's NOT the 911.
Quick correction: it was the 1989 model year, not 1990 that Chevy brought back the ZR-1 (the original ZR-1 was simply an optional performance package for 1963). Also, all the base model Vettes had a 6-speed manual as standard equipment for all the years the C4 ZR-1 was available. Chevy did not indeed upgrade the tranny from 4-speed manual to 6-speed manual just for the ZR-1.
well in 65 they releaed the most fast car in the world , but only for a couple of monthes till mercedes only tunned diferentelly a family saloon, a SE as always
@@RUfromthe40sDude. You really have no clue about automotive history. Mercedes made nothing in the 60s that was close to the world’s fastest. Nor did Chevy. The Stingray had horrible aerodynamics.
@@ErikDB6 Dude ,it seems you also don´t have nothing to say either than dude me, if not mercedes or the 65 stingray or whatever they called it ,a corvette is it mark what? that i never understand it ,in europe it´s the diferent versions of the same model ,in the U.S. what is it?By the way in the 60´s Mercedes was the best brand of the world, without any doubt any other brand was decades behind what Mercedes did at the time and still is the most powerfull and easy to drive sport and family cars ,manual gears, automtatic is for phisically disabled persons and i know because i colect them, a new camaro looses a race with 500 h.p. to a 80 h.p hyundai Lanos ,races do have turns as they are made in circuits, racing circuits ,never the less what do you think were the fastest cars in the 60´s, 70´s, 80´s and 90´s also the 2000´s .Dude, thank you.
@@RUfromthe40s Corvettes were always affordable performance cars. Mercedes makes mostly high quality luxury cars. At least they did. I’d take Corvette reliability over Mercedes reliability now. Chevy and Mercedes did the same thing. Same basic car with different engine options. W116, for instance, offered two straight sixes, gas and diesel, a 4.5 litre V8 and a 6.9 litre V8. All at the same time. Plus two different wheelbases. The C8 is the only generation of Corvette not to offer a manual transmission. Corvette take rates for manuals have always been very high. The Hyundai vs Camaro thing makes no sense at all, so I won’t bother commenting.
@@mikepierce4739pushrod gm guys always overhead cam motors are "overly complicated" when they really aren't they're just different from what you're used to.
Corvettes are a nice name badge and all but you can't compare that car to ones that are just simply better built. Like one annalist said, " so sleek so fast, so shoddily built"
Yea the cars that are "better built" cost way more. You can have performance on par or ahead of those snobby euro guys and badass looks for a fraction of the cost at the cost of some build quality. It's for guys who don't need a purse. If that isn't for you guess you need to pay the extra dough for the 911
Isn't it insane how little horsepower they were getting out of those cars whereas now a standard hot rod motor out of 350 cubic inches could easily get well over 500 naturally aspirated horsepower
@@stereolababythey couldn't pass emissions and get that power reliably back then. The tech today is far beyond what it was then and fuel is also much better allowing for more compression etc. The newest 6.2 c8 base only has 495 hp from 6.2 liters and modern tech. So honestly it isn't making that much more considering this is a 5.7 and 40+ years old.
The 1990 Corvette ZR1 is a good model for the C4 but only ran low to mid 13s. A 1980s Porsche 930 would smoke the ZR1. The 1990s 964 would smoke it even worse. I'm talking about factory stock, what are you talking about?
You might want to double check your numbers. It was more like mid to high 12's according to car and driver. A 1990 911 turbo was a mid 13s car, again according to car and driver. So what are you talking about? The ZR-1 was one of fastest production cars in the world when it came out and considered the best handling car. It beat the 930 in every instrumented test and cost half the money. The C4 ZR-1 was an amazing car let down by GM itself. When you make a super Vette that looks just like the normal one but cost double the price it's a pretty tough sell to most people just looking for a flashy car to cruise around on the streets with. I love my C4 ZR-1 and wish it got the respect it deserves.
Actually any one test of any car, especially 1/4 times can vary quite a bit. It depends on the car, the climate, the driver and the tires. Power to weight ratio might be a more accurate factor of which car has more potential. What I know is my basically stock 82 930 turbo would run a 13.2/112 and the 3.6L engine in the 964 was a stronger engine than my 3.3. I googled for results on this but google is full of crappy info much of the time. The ZR1 was a cool variation from the fairly slow normal production C4, so good that GM did something cool towards the end of the run. @@MrNeon2002
Exactly, there are lots of variables with the test, but getting numbers from the same magazine rules out equipment and driver inconsistencies. If you look at the pool of data the ZR-1 is quicker on average. Mine is completely stock and from a 45mph roll I stayed right along side my friend in his stock c5 Z06. Which is a lighter car with more aggressive gear. Your power to weight theory doesn't quite work if the manufacturers aren't honest with their power numbers...
With a clutch destroying start, a 911 Turbo of the era could just take a ZR1 in the quarter. But from then on, it was all ZR1. At 150 mph, the 911 was disappearing quickly into the ZR1s rear view mirrors.
