For years, I've always thought the C4 ZR1 was a really interesting car given the driveline and design that went into the package. Was something very unique at the time for a US manufacture to build, and really it wasn't until the Ford GT in 2005 that anyone did anything close. However, I always steered away a little bit for fear of the maintenance on the LT5, figuring with the complexity of the design and quantity built that parts would be very scarce. Late last year I started looking into them more and actually found the drive train is damn near bullet proof if it's properly maintained, majority of parts are available, and really the cars just have similar quirks as any C4.
So I set out on the quest to start research pricing, options, years, etc to determine what I wanted, looking for a car to keep long term and to park alongside my 1989 Turbo Trans Am that I've had for 18 years. I narrowed down to top year preference being a 1993 (went to 4 bolt main and 30 more hp with adjusted tuning) followed by 91-92, all of which had the earlier style seats and starting in 91 got a slightly update bumper and fenders. Color preferences were Admiral Blue (only 94-95) and Quasar Blue (90-93), but that only makes up 172 of 6922 cars. So next alternative combos were White/Red, Red/Red, and Dark Red/Black all of which were much more common. The colors I was excluding were Black, Yellow, Turquoise, or Aqua. Finally, I found the 10-30k miles range was kind of the sweet spot on pricing, goes way up with less than 10k and really doesn't save much over 30k miles. I wanted a clean stock original car that I could drive.
So the search started and have been looking for 3-4 months now, when yesterday a deal is shared in the ZR1 facebook group. It's a black on black 1990 in Montana with 20k miles for $25k. I thought at first, this is too good of a deal, but I message the seller and then talk to him on the phone and sounds like a great guy. I message the guy in the ZR1 group who shared it and lives in the same town, 2 hours later he's looking at the car for me and says "you won't find a nicer one, if I didn't already own one I'd buy it right now". He sends me some pictures and walk around video.
So, it's not exactly the car I was looking for, but at the very least I will get the experience of owning a ZR1 and if it's still something I want long term I can enjoy it until I find one of those 56 Admiral Blue or 116 Quasar Blue cars in the right condition. I fly up Friday to look at the car and complete the paperwork. The seller is willing to store it for me until I can come get it (they're getting 6-8 inches of snow right now). Current tentative plan is to drive up with my dad and his enclosed trailer 2nd week of May. I submitted some quotes to auto shipping companies last night but already starting to get the "we don't service that area" emails.
On to the car, it has 20,400 miles, currently 2nd owner who has only added 2k miles in 8 years, most of the miles were from original owner in Florida. Current owner installed new tires, but he has the originals still in good condition. He swapped the radio and speakers but has the originals. He has all the original purchase paperwork, window sticker, owners kit, and the little accessories that came on initial purchase. The paint has a bit of a haze, but likely just needs a quick buff, and there's one ~2" scratch on the rear bumper. Besides for that the person who looked at it for me said it's immaculate and has been well kept, he commented "I think you'll be surprised how clean it is when you see it".
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Originally Posted by Gearhead SS
Congrats 
I'd take either color 
