10 (Potentially) Future Classic Cars Now Selling for Under $20K

[Karl]

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/automobiles/10-potentially-future-classic-cars-now-selling-for-under-20k.html/?ref=YF

Page 6 of 11.

[PhillipsLT5]

Several collectible "experts" think ZR-1 is a good value now, they got that right, will they ever appreciate?, in the mean time permagrin

[8cam]

I think they are great value right now, and definitely have the potential to go up a bit in the next few years. I have no intention of selling mine, and in the meantime I'll drive it hard.

[Mystic ZR-1]

Preaching to the choir...
They should go for 3 times the current prices!
Big block, smeeg block... :confused:
you could get a big block in a school bus.

[Roadster]

Preaching to the choir...
They should go for 3 times the current prices!
Big block, smeeg block... :confused:
you could get a big block in a school bus.

ok...ok...what's wrong with a BB?????:confused:[-X
I like my ZR-1 and I like my BB Vert, if I ever get it put back together.......
I'll need to take you for a ride when it's done.......:)


And yes I agree, and feel that the ZR-1 is the buy of the decade, period!!!
It allowed me to purchase mine in April.........

[Mystic ZR-1]

Nothing wrong with a big block! Just lots of them.
Just pointing out they're not unique like the LT-5.
On stock tires most any Vette built in the last 20 years or so
is quicker/faster than most any stock big block Vette... check out the old car
magazines and you'll see... (that should get some responses...)
Put slicks and/or headers on the old car, well, that's a different story. ;)

[Roadster]

Just breaking them for you...:)
I'm still taking you for a ride when it's finished. :cheers:

[Mystic ZR-1]

I'll be looking foward to the ride!
:)

[BigJohn]

Modern tires on a ZL-1 Big Block Corvette would smoke an LT-5 factory stock!!!!!!

[Vetman]

It would run out of gears on high speed track:)

[Hog]

Modern tires on a ZL-1 Big Block Corvette would smoke an LT-5 factory stock!!!!!!

I would love to see some runs with a stock LT5 engine then swap it out for a stone stock ZL-1 engine.

The ZL-1 engines were great engines for their time, but as delivered from the factory they werent the monsters they became with some aftermarket parts.
The ZL-1 all aluminum engines never dynoed under 500 gross hp in the Chevrolet dyno cell, and ranged from 500-535hp on Sunoco 260 gasoline, despite their 430hp rating. Each engine took 16 hours to assemble which was done in an air-conditioned clean-room.
A stock ZL-1 Camaro brought that power down to 275hp as delivered. Headers and exhaust were everything on these engines. 600 hp was attainable with some detail to the cylinder heads, aftermarket tube headers, open exhaust etc.

GMPP now Chev Performance Parts-CPP) recently took the exact same ZL-1 tooling(with some extra strengthening ribs) and did a production run for the series of 427 engines.
Anniversary 427 – GM part number 19166392
regular-production ZZ427 – 19166393
Block only 12370850
And the limited production 200 built Ramjet ZL1 510hp/@5750/493 lb/ft@4250rpm torque-6300 rpm redline- It is pretty much a Ramjet 502, with the aluminum block, 454 cubes and larger 58mm throttle body-88961499.

There is the old story of the 1967 L88 Vette that had its L88 removed so the drivers could save the L88 for a race later on. With the 350 installed the drivers took some Carrol Shelby racing school courses. When they were ready, they removed the 350, re-installed the L88 with its pistons cut to lower its C/R from the stock 12.5:1 down to 11.0:1 and after adding stronger rods and street driving a 1967 L88 Vette from Kansas to Florida for the 1969 24 hous at Daytona. Gottlieb and Dooley drove the entire race sometimes hitting 186mph in the straights, going on to finish 2nd place in the Grand Touring class. They then drove the Vette home. This is the stuff of legends.

Chevrolet did release the ZL-1 and the L-88. They also did some testing on other BBC variants, one was a hemispherical chamber 427 BBC that made 628hp@ 5400rpm and 552lb/ft torque @ 4400rpm all running an 11.3:1 compression ratio.
The other test engine was a SIngle Over-Head Camshaft(SOHC) 427BBC which made 660hp @ 6800rpm and 532 lb/ft torque @ 4000rpm. This 427 ran a 12.5:1 compression ratio.

Those BBC's sure worked well, and were the predecessor to the "Big-Doggie" ZR-2 which was a C-4 Vette with a 454 marine engine that weighed 3500lbs, ran 13 second ET's in the 1/4 mile and topped out at 178-185mph. 6th gear was 2000rpm at 100mph.
The Big Doggie started off from a BBC that was installed in a pickup truck. They started with an aftermarket tunnel ram manifold, then built up a plenum, installed Buick Grand National injectors in it, which flow approx 40% more than the L98 350 injectors and used a stock L98 ECM.
They figured that it might be rich at startup and at WOT, but it should be fairly close everywhere else. They installed the engine into the truck and it started right up. Then they took the truck and did burnouts with it for 2 hours. Around that time they w re sctapping a C4 Corvette and they brough in a BBC just to see if the engine would fit in te engine compartment. The SBC came out and put the BBC in for about 15 minutes just to see if the engine would physically bolt in and clear the "wonderbar" between the frame rails/up around the waterpump. And it did.

84-85 resale pricing was suffering, the froup decided that if the hotrod community found out that a BBC would bolt in, the used car prices would be improved.

The gas guzzler tax that the BBC C4 Vette would get stopped any ideas of a production BBC C4. The BBC performance pickup truck did stick though. For MY1990 the 230hp/385lb/ft TBI 454 was installed into a 1990 reg cab shortbox truck with a thm-400 3 speed auto and a beefy 14 bolt 9.5" LSD rear axle with 3.73 gears.
For MY1991-93 the engine output went up to 255hp/405 lb/ft torque, an elctronic 4l80e OD 4 speed trans was used, along with the same beefy rearend, but a lower 4.10:1 gear gears was used.
These trucks ran mid 15 1/4 mile times in the low 80's for mph.
My 1997 reg cab shortbox with the smaller Vortec 350 rpm L31, lighter 4l60e elctronic trans, and lighter 10 bolt 8.5" rear axle, equipped with stock 3.08:1 rear gears, would cover the 1/4 mile in 15.7 seconds at 83 mph. Swapping the rear gears from 3.08 to 4.10's brought this down to 15.2@82mph with a 2.007 60 ft time.

Paraphrasing coutesty of Anthony Young Musclcar Colour History Chev. BBC Cars