1990 Corvette ZR-1

Here's something you won't see every day (in Fort Erie anyway): a pristine, original 1990 Corvette C4 ZR-1. Fourth generation Corvettes are, in and of themselves, blastingly cool cars, and the ZR-1 version could be accurately described as being earth-shakingly rockin'.

For those car buffs among y'all, the ZR-1 moniker is probably familiar to you in the form of the 2009 version of the car.  This 621hp, $100,000 beast has been the talk of the American sports car world for the past two years.

Few, however, including myself until recently, realize that the ZR-1 name harkens all the way back to 1990, when GM collaborated with Lotus in an effort to produce the fastest production car in the world. The famous British sports car company provided a 375hp LT5 V8 engine and fine-tuned the Corvette's revolutionary adaptive suspension system. These changes propelled the ZR-1 to 60mph in just 4.4 seconds on its way to a 180+mph top speed.  It also commanded twice the price over a base Corvette at $58,995.

Just under 7,000 ZR-1s were sold between 1990 and 1995, so to find a beautiful one showing under 8,000kms, in Fort Erie of all places, is remarkable. The car looks to be in fine condition, and unfortunately carries most of its originally high price tag with it into the 21st century.

It is a beautiful car, and I love the Forest Green on the black interior. Cool gauge cluster too. If I had $45,000 to blow on a 20 year-old sports car, this would most definitely be my pick. Who would have thought Fort Erie could possess such rare pearls of beauty?

Blast from the past. Full ad