Who has the most interesting Z car history

[LGAFF]

Ok its colder than hell outside and not much going on, who has an interesting story to their Z? How they got it, the great deal they got, prior history, etc.

And please none of you Southerners or West coast guys spoil it by starting the thread with how great the weather is where you are.

I was thinking about running a title search to see how my Z ended up in Illinois. There were three prior owners in the Chicago area, but the car started in FLorida.

So lets hear a few tales, our European counterparts can chime in....... I know they are lurking, I got an e-mail from one in Switzerland, great to hear from them. Hadi this is right up your alley, what number is your Z and how did you find it?
:happy1:
LGAFF
92 ZR1
#234

[GOLDCYLON]

Well the weather here in AZ is...... Oh Sorry :rolleyes:

[LGAFF]

Goldcylon, I'll give you a pass on that comment, its got to be hard to read with one eye constantly on the run.



LGAFF
92 ZR1
#234

[HADI-ZR1]

i lost good deal with one red in CA, before buying my dark-red Z from 55 years old man in Michigan, the man told me he is second owner, but the truth he was the 5th owner from CARFAX! :D

my Z had 53k on it. i pay $18.500 for it !
the car had DRM chip on it and filter kit when i bought it.
it was fair price at that time!

1st owner______No data __ ____ No data
2nd owner______07/06/1998____Oregon
3rd owner_____ 05/27/1999_____Michigan
4th owner _____11/01/2000_____Michigan
5th owner _____05/29/2001____ Michigan

[LGAFF]

Maybe its been done before, but would like to hear about Tyler's 88 ZR1 and how he got it.

LGAFF
92 ZR1
#234

[djpatrick35]

Hadi, how did you end up in Kuwait?! Are you a soldier or are you from the middle east?

[ZR1Vette]

I think I have my down pretty pat... have the original bill of sale, build sheet etc etc laminated. Provenance for my 1990 ZR-1:
-First ZR-1 delivered in Florida (Mahler Chevrolet) and sold to first private owner 11/89; total of about 1200 miles put on car
-Sold to Atlanta Muscle Cars
-Went to Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach and sold to second private owner 3/2006
-2nd private owner trucked to NJ and stayed there; 46 miles added
-sold to third private owner (Ellen and me) December, 2007; 1347 on odo

I have the Barrett-Jackson documents including original consignment papers (all laminated)

Michael

Oh...heard the legend of Tyler's 88... love to hear it from the source!

[bradslt5]

So you dont feel tooo bad. in mammoth lakes ca. there is a total of 7 feet of SNOW. in bought my first z in reno from a used car lot . they couldnt sell it due to the chain slapp on startup. traded a 92 lt1 that got sand blasted (i had just recieved a7800 repaint ck from AAA) they gave me 6500 for my car+ the 7800ck got the car for 14900 with 65k miles on her . so i basicly feel i got her for a 92lt1 and 600. the red one i bought off the original owner who thought she was just about blown up for 11500. what was wrong the vaccue connection to the map sensor under the ecm was dissconnected . which i found out while we were gassing up to go the 300 miles home. she is still going strong :mrgreen:

[32valvZ]

Not an interesting history....but I did get what I think is a great deal on my 92 with 45k miles on it. $15,900. The color combo seems to be a bit rare for the 92 model year. So far I have only found one other 92 red/gray of the 100+ cars that I can verify. :cheers:

[evl_twn]

Mine was two owner car; my Uncle in FL, and GM before him. It was the yellow Z on the "Past, present, and future" tour in 1994...

http://www.rc30.us/ppfzr1.html

[HADI-ZR1]

Hadi, how did you end up in Kuwait?! Are you a soldier or are you from the middle east?
hello brother,
my blood is Persian ,i live in kuwait...but i wish living in czech Rep. but i can't.
:cheers:

[LGAFF]

My Z was sold by Jon Hall Chevrolet in Daytona Beach, it also has a built in K40 Radar detector installed in the center console, with front and rear radar.....very clean installation that looks almost stock.

Radar is useless, but I leave it on as I am able to pick up 7-11s a mile or two out....just in case I need a beverage and a day old hotdog/nachos.

LGAFF
92 ZR1
#234

[ZRWON]

Ok its colder than hell outside and not much going on, who has an interesting story to their Z? How they got it, the great deal they got, prior history, etc.

And please none of you Southerners or West coast guys spoil it by starting the thread with how great the weather is where you are.
I was thinking about running a title search to see how my Z ended up in Illinois. There were three prior owners in the Chicago area, but the car started in FLorida.
So lets hear a few tales, our European counterparts can chime in....... I know they are lurking, I got an e-mail from one in Switzerland, great to hear from them. Hadi this is right up your alley, what number is your Z and how did you find it?LGAFF 92 ZR1#234

BEAST2 is my third and probably the last ZR-1 I'll ever own. IMHO, all ZR-1 are most interesting and BEAST2 can't hold a candle to many of the "most interesting" ZR-1s around but to me the interesting story of the late Doug Johnson's BEAST and BEAST2 and Jim Van Dorn's (AutoMasters/Pirate Racing) involvement make it a very special ZR-1 for me. I am very pleased to be the current custodian of this magnificant ZR-1! The SAGA of the BEAST is published on pages pages 24 and 25 of the July 2005, ZR-1 Registry's, "The Heart of the Beast" Newsletter if you'd like to know more. It's worth reading... http://www.zr1netregistry.com/member/newsletter/RegistryPublication3.PDF

Thanks, Bill

PS: I'm still building my collection of stories, documents, pictures, etc about Doug, JVD and the BEASTs and would really appreciate anything you might offer!

[Ccmano]

Thought my story was kind of interesting. Posted it in 06', it was kind of long...

Here's the link;

http://www.zr1netregistry.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1932&highlight=ccmano

Turns out the car originally belonged to an Indy Car Team owner from Iowa, can't think of his name off hand, but I'll post it when I look it up.

Hans
:cheers:

[LGAFF]

Hans great story, you've been AWOL. There are rumors of a Z06 defection.

I believe that there are still a few pending warrants out for you and Jeff, both of you stole these cars. I felt pretty good about my purchase until I heard your #s.

LGAFF
92 ZR1
#234

[-=Jeff=-]

Hans great story, you've been AWOL. There are rumors of a Z06 defection.

I believe that there are still a few pending warrants out for you and Jeff, both of you stole these cars. I felt pretty good about my purchase until I heard your #s.

LGAFF
92 ZR1
#234

Yeah but I got mine in August and drove it once in November.. mine is/was rough as Hans can attest. Mine is coming along slowly though

[LGAFF]

Jeff-:-({|= You could slip in a Lingenfelter package and still be in under budget.

Plus its a black with red guts:cool:

LGAFF
92 ZR1
#234

[-=Jeff=-]

Jeff-:-({|= You could slip in a Lingenfelter package and still be in under budget.

Plus its a black with red guts:cool:

LGAFF
92 ZR1
#234

LOL.. yeah I know.. car is coming along though.

[petefias]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Here is the story of my Happy/Sad day when I got my Z.

In the fall of 95 I found out that Kerbeck still had a brand new yellow 95 ZR1 in their showroom. It was a delightful sunny Saturday, so I decided to go on a road trip and visit their showroom. Since I already researched everything about the Z and already decided that I wanted to get one I took my checkbook, title to my '86 coupe and with a tankful of gas headed toward Atlantic City, NJ.

The trip was rather uneventful, with a slight anticipation of seeing the yellow car and comparing it to the torch red that Kerbeck also had at the time.

When I got there I talked to the sales guy who decided that I'm more "suited" for a 96 6-speed with a Z51 package and he convinced me to go out for a test drive. I remember he was egging me on to push the car harder and I was thinking, hey this car hasn't even been broken in. The car was superb, but I already had my mind set on the ZR1. Once he realized I was serious he called in the big guns. From there on the man himself took on the negotiating and laid out the details. The yellow ZR1 #443 was of course $5K more than the torch red #442 car. Surprise, surprise.

I decided that the color wasn't all that important all of the sudden, but I wanted my wife to make the final call about the color, so I called her. Told her about the colors and the numbers. She simply said: get the red one. I knew I'll be perfectly happy with the red one as well, so Torch Red it will be.

Unfortunately, she also gave me the bad news. She just found out that my father passed away (he was fighting bone cancer). After several hours of contemplating about the color, it became a non-issue all of the sudden. I just told George that I'll take the red one and finish the paper work.

I always thought that my father still drives shotgun with me whenever I take the car out on a nice day...

P.S. my first and only speeding ticket I got with '95 #442 to date was on the way home.

[kenthompson]

It was early July when I started looking around for a toy.

I was put in the hospital for what was originally diagnosed as pneumonia. I had been hacking and coughing for about two months before I went to the hospital because I couldn't stand it anymore. Well, after four days of tests, they still couldn't find out what was wrong. I "self-discharged". Some people call it "AMA".

[Focus shift] I noticed a metalic grey ZR-1 on Ebay and was amazed that the car I had only gotten glimpses of in the 90's had become so affordable.[Focus shift back]

When I went to the specialist to see if he could figure it out, he said there was a mass in my chest and wanted further looks, since it had been about a month since I was in the hospital. When they did another Catscan, the technician noticed something. The next day, the doctor's office called me and requested that I IMMEDIATELY return to the hospital for more tests. (They had my attention at this point......). The technician was the first one to mention carcinoma. Hmm, this could be fun. More tests. I got a hold of my catscan results and the x-rays and went to see my GP. And he promptly sent me to the hospital. His exact words were "This is the equivilant of a surgical heart attack, you are going to the hospital, I'm calling right now." (Now they REALLY had my attention.....)

[Focus shift again] Hmm, that ZR-1 on Ebay is still there. Well, I could buy a different 'vette and go Mod crazy....[Focus shift back]

Trip #2 to the hospital: Two days and no doctors. I'm beginning to not like hospitals very much.....Third day:

"Hi, I'm your surgeon. Yep, you have kidney cancer. The cure is surgery. We need to remove your left kidney. I'm going on vacation for five days, we'll do it when I get back. Just go home and relax." Hmmm, relax, OOOKKK...

[Focus shift again] Ya' know, for the mods that ZR-1 has, I can't afford to do the regular 'vette. I think I need to............[Focus shift back]

Doctor's office called: "Your surgery is scheduled for this date. Stop eating the night before and here, take this medicine and stay close to the bathroom." Alrighty then. "Opps, we made a mistake and cancelled your surgery and didn't bother to tell you until 5:00 pm the night before"

Well thanks for letting me know now that I've taken the medicine.......

Ok, surgery is scheduled again.

[Focus shift again] Ya' know, I got a hold of Ralph on that ZR-1 and he's given me his schpeal about the car. I think I need that car to get my spirits up after the surgery. Ralph says that's the reason he bought the car too. Ok, transfer a deposit to him and buy plane tickets to New Mexico. Fly to New Mexico Saturday Morning, meet Ralph and look over the car. Gave him the check on the side of the road after a quick test drive and take off driving back to Las Vegas, NV. Man, I sure hope this car makes it.......

[Interlude] Well, here I am on I-40 just cruising along. Boy, it sure does seem hard to keep this car below triple digit speeds. I know my foot isn't that heavy! I wonder what it would do if I pressed down a little more....
[Interlude off]

Made it back to Vegas in FIVE hours. Wow, nice car. [Focus shift off]

Well, it's surgery day. Off we go again. Made it to the hospital this time. Met with the surgeon and the anestiaologist. Ok, off we go to the surgery room. Conversation in the surgery room:

Her as she is giving me the knockdown drugs: "What do you do for fun?"

Me: "I drive my Corvette."

Her: "Really? I have a Corvette too!"

Me: "Mine's faster."

Her: "Really? What kinda Corvette do you have?"

Me: "Do you know what a ZR-1 is?"

DID I JUST GET SMART WITH THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR KEEPING ME ALIVE DURING THIS????????

Needless to say, I survived the day, have a sixteen inch scar down my left front flank and LOTS of good memories. Six days later, I couldn't stand it anymore and climbed in the driver's seat of the car and turned the key.

Haven't looked back since.:dancing

[glass slipper]

My Z was sold by Jon Hall Chevrolet in Daytona Beach, it also has a built in K40 Radar detector installed in the center console, with front and rear radar.....very clean installation that looks almost stock.

Radar is useless, but I leave it on as I am able to pick up 7-11s a mile or two out....just in case I need a beverage and a day old hotdog/nachos.

LGAFF
92 ZR1
#234

While mine doesn't really have an interesting history as I'm the original owner, this info makes our cars connected. As everybody knows, there were a lot of '91 ZR1s that hadn't sold when the '92 model year began and a lot of dealers got stuck with a car they couldn't sell (there were still unsold '91s when the '93 model year started). As a result, dealers didn't order many '92s causing productions numbers to drop like a rock. That, coupled with the fact that GM decided only 448 ZR1s would be made for each of the '93, '94, and '95 model years led them to make the policy for the '93 model year that the only dealers allowed to order a '93 ZR1 would be those that ordered or sold a '92. This eliminated the majority of Chevrolet dealerships from ordering a '93 ZR1. When I went to order my '93 QB ZR1, Jon Hall was the nearest dealership to me (90 miles away) that qualified so I took a trip there in Sept of '92 to put my order in. My order was the last one allotted for the region and they told me they had sold one '92 ZR1...you have the only '92 ZR1 Jon Hall Chevrolet sold making my order possible. Although it was early in the model year and I would have travelled much farther if necessary, I'm not sure I would have been successful in my quest for a Quasar Blue ZR1. My '93 ZR1 #064 owes its' life to your '92 ZR1 #234...not only are we part of the brotherhood, our cars are truly brothers.:cheers:

[tomtom72]

http://deliquescence.net/~tyler/prototype/APrototypesStory.doc

This is the link to Tyler's story about Queenie....I hope this works...

My Z's story is & will be rather pedestrian comparred to Tyler's story;) Which is very heart warmingly recounted by the man...it's a great read...or at least that's JMHO.

Feb 17,1990 she was ordered by Bob at Bergland Chevrolet/Jeep in Roanoke, VA. Deposit of $10,000.00 was made via personal check. She was built in May 0f '90 and delivered June 17. Her tab was just a touch over 65k out the door....yea, I guess Bob got a pretty good deal? List plus zero? She went home to her new diggs.....bob was a builder of custom homes & additions, high end stuff...he had the $ for the toys but not the time.

She lived in a climate controlled & carpeted garage at the summer house in Roanoke, along side a 78 anni for awhile .....it was a gilded cage, but a cage none the less. I forgot to mention that Bob bought all his company vehicles from Bergland, so maybe that's why List plus zero??? Or maybe that's just what the traffic dictated?

Anyway she had tremendous fun, when she saw Bob, all highway work and long distances at that....but alas, only too briefly between long periods spent in the dark garage, alone. In 2003 an ad was placed on Collector Car Trader dot com & I spy it out..."1990 ZR-1 Black/Grey, 7000 miles, garaged....$24,500.00, Roanoke, VA, XXX-BBB-BNMH".....Sweet, maybe, but it'll be gone by the time I collect enough nickles.

One yr later, in 11/04, my pile is as big as it's gonna get....let's go shopping! Man, I wonder about that 90 I saw last yr....naw, that chit can't be still there...we'll give a lookie see, gotta start somewhere. I go thru a few cars and make a good/bad decision...Roanoke is still listed, I call up.

"oh, yea, hi. Yes the vette is still for sale. It's over at the dealer having the seat belt recall done & some maintenance work. Sure you call the service manager and talk with him. I'll call & tell him to expect your call. Why I'm selling? Well, I'm just getting around to the seat belt recall now! I don't have the time to even use it much, it's a shame....yea, a bit more, now she's got 7400 on her. Is this your first vette? Oh, a LT-1...sweet car...have you ever driven a ZR-1?....no, well they will get you to sit up & take notice, they bite back if ya poke at 'em. Call Steve at the service dept...okay, talk to you later."

"Hi may I speak with Steve in service? Hi Steve, I'm Tom....oh yea Bob called....no I've never even seen one...I joined the ZR-1 registry so the support is there....no, I had a 72 LT-1 I did a frame on to....yea, I had an a/c car....yea I know....so tell me about this car, I'll pay the freight for an inspection.....all the time?....except LOF....a/c was done to 134A....warr issues? No."

"Hi Bob, what bank do you use, I'm with First Union...oh, that'll work smoothly...I'll ask the bank to do that today....I figure to fly down & drive her back home, how's the weather down there?.... Hey boys....it's December 16, my car doesn't like snow & salt! Ya know Bob, Jean is right...I'd hate for that to happen, I'll make some calls & get back to ya when I have details." 12/6/08, "Bob please....Hi Jean, It'll be FedEX on the 12th, ya got the check okay? Great! Yea, I promise, never in the winter! No, I want to get back into the hobby, no I'm not gonna flip the car, I just wanted a special vette...my 72 spoiled me...I'll tell ya this, if I sell I'll call you and you can have first crack. Call me when FedEX calls you....okay thanks, bye"

12/12/04...."hi Jean...they've been there! Bob couldn't watch them load up...Look I'll take good care of her...I promise to....did you find the owner's package....oh, cool...second roof in the hatch, cool....all the paper work from the dealership....hey, listen I'm thankful for you taking the time to gather up all of that....us guys never remember where we put things! Okay, thank you for finding that stuff.....yea you guys have a merry & a happy too!...bye"

12/16/08 "Yes this is Tom...yea the black vette....okay at the TZ bridge...hey man listen, no way you get that rig down my street....give me some stops ya gotta make in the general area....One in Scarsdale, where? Oh, I know that....its close...I'll meet ya there...okay...no problem man I'm a blue collar guy myself & ya never make things harder than they have to be...cool! I'll wait for your call."

"Hi, you must be Tom....pleased to meet ya Mike...oh and Barb...hey that's cool, makes it less lonely. Yea, I'll help...okay the Ferrari, the Packard & the A/H...oh the Pack don't run & the steering is broke in the 308...this'll be fun....then my vette, right? Yo, Tom, you never saw this car? I can see it in your eyes....listen man you got lucky...first time over the net, yea don't do it this way again...ever! Nawh, your vette is..well, see here at the loading sheet...yea man that's all the nicks...well the rockers have rash but what can you expect.....no, this car is a virgin...even smells new! You were $hittin' pickles, weren't ya? "

Then Mike backs her out & I see her for the first time, and it's MINE & she's soooo sinister looking & beautiful! Hot Damn! I'm kid at christmas! "Mike, stop!....whats up Barb?...the spoiler, remember?...go back & I'll reposition the ramps....yea now it's okay....Tom ya gotta watch, this spoiler takes a beatin'...you're gonna be buying a few if you're gonna drive her!.....Thanks guys...have a merry & a happy...hey, no problem & you're welcome Mike....I gotta go get insurance picts taken & then it's into the barn till spring....safe trip to Beantown guys!"

It had been so long between vettes....25 yrs...I had to look in the owner's manual to find how to get to reverse, lift the ring stupid!:sign10:

:mrgreen:
Tom

[Ccmano]

Hans great story, you've been AWOL. There are rumors of a Z06 defection.

I believe that there are still a few pending warrants out for you and Jeff, both of you stole these cars. I felt pretty good about my purchase until I heard your #s.

LGAFF
92 ZR1
#234

End of the year in the car business is crazy also went skiing in Colorado.

You guys comming to the pizza get together on Friday?

Hans

[-=Jeff=-]

End of the year in the car business is crazy also went skiing in Colorado.

You guys comming to the pizza get together on Friday?

Hans

Lee mentioned he could not make.

ME?? Of course I will be there..

[LGAFF]

"End of the year in the car business is crazy also went skiing in Colorado.

You guys comming to the pizza get together on Friday?"

Hans


HMMMMM, noticeably absent is Han's response to the Z06 portion of the question:icon_scra

LGAFF
92 ZR1
#234

[-=Jeff=-]

"End of the year in the car business is crazy also went skiing in Colorado.

You guys comming to the pizza get together on Friday?"

Hans


HMMMMM, noticeably absent is Han's response to the Z06 portion of the question:icon_scra

LGAFF
92 ZR1
#234

LOL, Wonder if he will have that Z06 on Friday..

[djpatrick35]

For me, it all started when my dad traded in his '81 Vette for an '84 back when C4s first came out. Year after year, my dad and I took trips to Bloomington Gold, Bowling Green, and just about every kind of Corvette show known to man in that '84.

Basically, I was raised in a C4. When the ZR-1 first came out, I was 9 years old and when I read about it in Corvette Quarterly, Car and Driver, etc. I was in love. I even drew a picture of my dad and I driving a ZR-1 over the Kentucky border to go to the assembly plant.

Fast forward 15 years and it's 2005 and I've just wrecked my first car. As I was searching for cars, I saw an '88 35th Anniversary Edition and I decided to take it out for a spin. As the guy kept knocking down the price, I convinced myself that I could afford it. Besides, I always said the first car that I would buy with my own money would be a Corvette. So, after a little coaxing from a salesman and my own delusions, I drove off the lot in my first Corvette.

That was one of the biggest mistakes in my life.

Because of the car payments, I got a second job as a bouncer and even skipped meals to try to make ends meet. After 6 weeks, I had to let her go and traded it in for a new 2005 Chevy Cobalt. I was heartbroken, but I had no choice.

Two years later, I was in a serious relationship with my current fiancee. I didn't know it, but she worked at my newspaper just for "fun" and actually owned a business on the side. When she was looking for a new car, she knew that cars were my expertise, so she brought me along. I steered her in the right direction and she ended up with a 2007 Z51 Convertible.

While it was fun to drive her car, it killed me inside to drive my girl's Corvette when I didn't even have one of my own. Ever since I gave up my '88, I was saving up for a Corvette of my own, any Corvette. And when she bought hers, I had to get one for myself.

So I spent months looking at cars.com and dreaming about finally getting my own - and then I saw her - a 1991 Corvette ZR-1. Sure she was rough around the edges, sure it had a bogus 2004 Collector's Edition paint job, but it was a ZR-Freaking-1 and it was one that I could AFFORD!

Well, my fiancee and I drove down to the dealership to check it out. While I knew it was rough, this car was a piece of S**T! It broke my heart to see a Z in this condition even at just 41,000 miles. So I gave up and moped.

Little did I know it, but my girl wanted to get my an unbelievable birthday present and was looking at C5 Z06s and even a lease on a C6. But when she mentioned to a dealership about how I was looking at a ZR-1, they, by the grace of god, happened to have one.

Some guy had just traded in a black 1990 ZR-1 and a 1976 coupe for a new Z06. Well, she told me about the car, and I had to have her. So my birthday present? My girl put down the downpayment and now, I have my dream car.

And now, I can finally drive down to Bowling Green with my dad, side by side in our C4 Corvettes. And in two weeks, she'll be my wife, and she'll be in our little Corvette caravan too.

[4DSZR1]

Very cool story DJPatrick! Congratulations on getting married too! Your fiance sounds like a great woman!

[guinnessdood]

My car was one of the very first sold in CA. Being a 1990 and serial number 120 I can believe that. The original purchase price was .....$112,000. The original owner's SON got hold of the keys and took the car out for a SPIN...and did just that and tore it up pretty good. Doug Asay (ZR1 NUT) bought the car and replaced several body panels with NEW GM panels and had the car repainted. He sold the car to a local guy here in Utah with 17K on her. I bought the car from him with 22K on it. I have owned it ever since. The car now has ~44K on her. She loves to be THRASHED when driven....and I comply. ;-)

[GOLDCYLON]

I bought my first Corvette a bone stock L-98 coupe 2 months before I deployed to Iraq in Sept 2005. It was Dark Red metallic and looked great out here in the AZ sun. I fixed a few things before I left tires maintenance issues and such and told my wife to drive it a couple times of month. The wife was annoyed I bought it but I figured it was now or never.;)

Upon returning home in December of 2006 for 14 months in AL-Qayarrah Iraq just south of Mosul I decided well its time to move up to a ZR-1. Wife was confused until I explained my concept of the word “placeholder” I knew I would never lose money on the 90 and I didn’t. I looked hard, high and low but the magic number was how close the car would be to purchase price of my 1990. Folks you know how hard it is to find the car you want in color you want right? Well White is just practical as hell in AZ. Black is beautiful but not unless you have a death wish in the Arizona Summer time.

So I found it on Ebay. An Arctic White 91 with 61K on the clock. Winning bid was 16K but it ended up being 15,850 out the door as one of the actuators was bad from the front end. The Z had been traded to luxury car dealer in a small Houston Suburb. Talking to the guy on the phone he had no real clue what a ZR-1 was and he could not answer any of my questions. To boot I was a little dubious about buying the car. It had an aftermarket stereo with an amp and subwoofer configuration in the back. It had 96 CE seats installed, a wing and a strange start button. I was about to say thanks not interested until the seller said well do you want to talk to the guy who traded it it?

Long story short I talked to the original owner and had learned that the car was really loved and that the owner was beaked by his wife to death to sell it. He told me exactly what was wrong with it explained all the mods including the ZF.DOCs latest transmission installation and he agreed to meet me in Houston to go over the car. He gave me everything he had all the maintenance history, Books, Parts the original radios and speakers. When I bid on it I figured the mods would keep away the NCRS folks lol, I was amazed to get it for so low or a difference of 4k from what I sold my 90 for. So away I drove in Jan 2007 taking Interstate 10 back home to Arizona. We choose I-10 over I-40 due to snow however My pop and I had to stay the night in Van Horn Texas as the snow was so bad the interstate 10 was shut down. How bad was it ? Well so damn bad it took us 4 hours to get 20 miles into town and luckily get the last room

Oh I forgot to mention Z’s don’t like the snow and I made a complete 360 on the I-10 and am lucky to be alive!! Or damage the Z. I passed lots of Semis wrecked and some poor soul with a U-Haul towing a trailer with a car wrapped around a tree. Even saw a wrecked DPS car off to the side. So here is the picture and headline “Arizona Father and Son found dead in a snowstorm because we couldn’t find his AZZ in the white Z he wanted lol.

Well the roads clear the next day by 2pm and I made it all the way home without any further event. She has been my daily driver since!

POP was so impressed with the Corvette that we repeated the process flying back to TN to pickup his 96CE LT-4. In April mind you this time and no issues!! GC

[djpatrick35]

It had been so long between vettes....25 yrs...I had to look in the owner's manual to find how to get to reverse, lift the ring stupid!:sign10:

:mrgreen:
Tom

I did that too! I'd been driving my girl's '07 Covertible, and that 6 speed doesn't have the ring lockout. SOOO, when I tried to take the ZR-1 out, I sat there for about 10 minutes trying to get it into reverse.

Finally, I went back into the dealership looking like a dumbass and he showed me the ring... :o

[IowaZR-1]

Turns out the car originally belonged to an Indy Car Team owner from Iowa, can't think of his name off hand, but I'll post it when I look it up

Has to be Lee Kunzman from Guttenburg, Iowa. He finished 7th twice('73 and '77) in the 500.

[SDZR-1]

Well mine's not too interesting....I happened to be cruising through sturgis, sd when my stepfather called me just to tell me about this zr-1 he had seen on ebay (he owns 2 + a z06). At the time, I was driving an 04 GTO which I had owned for nearly 3 years which happened to be the longest I had owned any vehicle (i get tired of the same quickly). So a different vehicle was long overdue for me. When I got home, I started looking around at several zr-1's and decided that I just as well get rid of the gto because it was dropping in value pretty fast and that I could own a zr-1 for not much to boot. So after a few weeks of talking to several people about different cars, I find one here in the for sale section that is about what I'm looking for. I chatted back and forth w/ the gentlemans son since he was taking care of the sale and decided to book a flight for the girlfriend and I down to Baton Rouge. We flew down from SD, w/ a layover in houston....arrived and was informed that our flight was delayed due to weather. Several more delays and hours later, they finally cancel our flight and cant book another til the following evening. So, needing to be back home on Monday for work I decided that we do not have time and rented a car to drive the 300 plus miles to baton rouge. Original plan was to pick the car up friday evening and make it to little rock, ar where I had reserved a room. We made it to baton rouge at about 4 a.m. and got a room there, slept for a couple hours and met up w/ the owner's son at about 7...looked the car over and took it for a drive. When we returned, the gentleman who owns the car had arrived who was about 70 and very passionate about cars in general and was forced to sell his collection due to cancer. Sincerely one of the nicest guys I have ever met, he was absolutely amazing to deal with, and generous. We finally leave at about 10 a.m. sat. morning and have 1500 miles to go. First things first, I need to top this thing off w/ gas...credit card ended up being shut off due to the fact that there were two separate motel charges in two cities on the same night since I still had my reservation in little rock that wasnt filled....but charged for. So after a long fiasco w/ the cc company, they finally understood what happened and turned the damn thing back on. I've rambled on much too long already, so will wrap this up. I drove straight thru 1500 miles back to SD got home on sunday afternoon, but missed much of the great stuff we had planned on the trip, like exploring the ozarks a bit, which unfortunately we passed through after dark. Either way, the trip wasnt great but I am pleased to be the owner of a 91 red/red zr-1.....adding the 6th zr-1 to our town which has a population of 352....probably making Bison, SD "most z's per capita."

[Ccmano]

Has to be Lee Kunzman from Guttenburg, Iowa. He finished 7th twice('73 and '77) in the 500.

Here we go... just looked it up.

The car was registered to "Cahill Auto Racing" Larry Cahill was the owner and driver of the car, out of Cedar Rapids.

If you google him you get this... interesting, I should contact them and see if any of the original bits are still there.

Cahill Racing is an Indy Racing League (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indy_Racing_League) IndyCar series team owned by Iowa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa) businessman Larry Cahill (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Larry_Cahill&action=edit). The team initially was active from 1998-2002. From 1999 to 2000 the team was sponsored by Big Daddy's BBQ Sauce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Daddy%27s_BBQ_Sauce), a company with a history of failing to complete the commitments of their auto racing sponsorship contracts. However, the team was able to continue until 2002 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_in_IRL), the last season before large cost increases of the 2003 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_in_IRL) season brought by the former CART (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CART) engine manufacturers and teams. The team's best finish during that time was a third place at the 2000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_in_IRL) Phoenix International Raceway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_International_Raceway) race by Donnie Beechler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Beechler).
On December 16, 2006, Cahill announced that the team will be re-started for the 2007 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_in_IRL) season, with Venezuelan female driver Milka Duno (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milka_Duno) confirmed in the first car. It was also announced that the team was trying to finalize a deal to race American sprint car driver Jeff Mitrisin (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jeff_Mitrisin&action=edit) in a second car. However, the deal has apparently fallen through and Cahill has not entered any IndyCar series races yet in 2007.


Hans
:cheers:

[-=Jeff=-]

How I got my ZR-1

When I was a Senior in High School the 1990 ZR-1 came out (yeah I know I am a youngster I graduated in 1990). I remember seeing the ZR-1 for the first time in person at the Chicago Auto Show. It was Red with a Clear hood to see the LT5 Eye Candy. They also had it locked you could only peer inside. I knew I wanted one, but I was a teenager and the ZR-1 was out of my reach.

After I started my first full-time job after getting my Degree, I was looking in the newspaper at the cars for sale, I found a 1989 Corvette, White with Red, for a reasonable price at a local dealer, I went and looked at it and ended up buying it. it was the 3rd or 4th Corvette I had looked at. It was a 21dt birthday present to me in Sept, 1993. Looking at that same 89 corvette today (14 years later) it is not anything like I bought it. It modified and fun, but my dream to buy a ZR-1 was still there, I had 4 close friends that have had ZR-1 now for the past 6-8 years, one of them being Pete on this forum. So the itch was there but while prices had come down from the sticker price of 1990, I had gotten married and had a couple of kids (now 5 and 2.5). I still hoped someday to have the ZR-1 and my 89.

Bloomington Gold 2007 came, I met LGAFF and ccmano, members of the Forum, Also XfireZ51 (Dominic) bought his ZR-1 in May of this year and he lives a couple miles from me and is a good friend. Now that ZR-1 itch had gotten worse. After Bloomington ccmano (Hans) kept emailing me links to ZR-1s that were 'Deals' but needed work. He sent my the link for one on the Registry for a 1990 in Colorado, needed TLC had some minor ¼ damage and looked to need interior work, Hans also stated in the email, I will be in Colorado next week if you would like me to look at it. The asking price was 11K. So I talked to my wife, told her about it, that I wanted to have Hans look at it and told her the MAX I would spend on. She said fine, purse it, I think hoping there would be no deal.

Hans, looked at it the weekend after the 4th of July. took a bunch of pictures and checked it out. At first he could not drive it. The owner hosed the motor off and soaked the starter. Hans left and got a call about 30min later, the seller had the car running., he met up with Hans so he could drive it. Hans then called me that night after sending me a bunch of pictures. We walked through each picture on the phone so I knew exactly what he was looking at.

I called the seller the next day and gave him my low ball offer, he was shocked and asked why I was so low, I told him, needs interior, needs weather-stripping, FX3 shocks and A/c Not working (per his ad) and now needs a starter. He countered and I said, well if you change your mind and come down, call me, he said basically the same to me. Sunday night after the call, I sent him an email, said that I was sorry the deal did not work, if he got the starter fixed maybe we could talk, I also asked to get a price to fix the starter. Next day I got an email from him (forgot the details) but part was if he got the starter fixed what would I pay. When we talked on Sunday he mentioned if he got the starter fixed he would take it to the dealer for repair. So I called a local dealer on the repair cost, (approx $1000) for a starter.

I called him that evening, gave him my final offer. I did not say final, but knew it in my mind. he then said “I got a call from someone, they want to buy the car for $xx,xxx sight unseen, but I told him it needed a starter so I would knock $300 off”. That comment from the seller did not make sense to me, but I said okay, good luck, if it falls through let me know. Then I called Dominic about the conversation I had, he said, “Jeff the seller does not have a buyer, he wants more $$ from you” Then I realized that from the conversation. okay cool, sit back and see what the seller does. this was a Monday night.

Wednesday I got an email from the seller, with a new offer, hmm what happened to the other buyer?? So I waited until Thursday to call. I called Thursday, told him the SAME offer as Monday, I was like look, I have to transport it home, get the starter fixed etc. he was like if I fix the starter.. etc, I said I would rather not, I wanted to have everything looked at while apart (and cleaned) said i will buy AS-IS and That is all I am spending, If you choose not to take it fine. So he said he had to talk to his wife, I said no problem. That night he called and accepted my offer.

He had a small Lien on the car, I paid that first then got the title, but it was not signed, I also had to get a Cashiers check for the balance to him the day the car got picked up. So the car was on the way to me and the title was going back to him to be signed and returned. I got the car the 2nd on August, Title came back to me the following Monday.


So basically that is my story of getting my car. I am not sure if I should post what I paid for it though..

[tccrab]

"Girlfriend" was ordered in 1989 by the son of man who owned the local Chevrolet dealership where I grew up in northern California.
He drove it a little over the years but for the most part it sat in his warehouse with his other car toys (including a very low mile '61 Big Brake Fuelie, a '63 split-back funnycar, etc..).
We were at a business meeting (he's a business partner of mine now) a little over two years ago, and he told me that he needed room in his warehouse for some new toys that he was in the process buying and wondered if I'd like the ZR1. He said it didn't have very many miles on it and the only person who drove it any more was his mechanic who serviced it every month.
I told him that there wasn't any way I could afford ANY of his toys although I appreciated the thought.
To make a long story short, over lunch he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.
I agreed to first right of refusal back to him at the same price I paid should I ever get tired of the car (which was WAY less than what she was worth) and I became the proud new owner of a red/tan 1990 ZR1 #792.
When I went to pick up "Girlfriend", she had just gotten new shoes and a complete fluid change. There were only 9700 miles on her odometer and she still looked and smelled showroom new.
I call her "Girlfriend" because wifey told me I could have 1 midlife crisis and this had better be it.
And after two and a half years I can tell you that this midlife crisis just keeps getting better.
Permagrin and The Brotherhood of the Beast have become a permanent part of my life.

[32valvZ]

How I got my ZR-1

When I was a Senior in High School the 1990 ZR-1 came out (yeah I know I am a youngster I graduated in 1990). I remember seeing the ZR-1 for the first time in person at the Chicago Auto Show. It was Red with a Clear hood to see the LT5 Eye Candy. They also had it locked you could only peer inside. I knew I wanted one, but I was a teenager and the ZR-1 was out of my reach.

After I started my first full-time job after getting my Degree, I was looking in the newspaper at the cars for sale, I found a 1989 Corvette, White with Red, for a reasonable price at a local dealer, I went and looked at it and ended up buying it. it was the 3rd or 4th Corvette I had looked at. It was a 21dt birthday present to me in Sept, 1993. Looking at that same 89 corvette today (14 years later) it is not anything like I bought it. It modified and fun, but my dream to buy a ZR-1 was still there, I had 4 close friends that have had ZR-1 now for the past 6-8 years, one of them being Pete on this forum. So the itch was there but while prices had come down from the sticker price of 1990, I had gotten married and had a couple of kids (now 5 and 2.5). I still hoped someday to have the ZR-1 and my 89.

Bloomington Gold 2007 came, I met LGAFF and ccmano, members of the Forum, Also XfireZ51 (Dominic) bought his ZR-1 in May of this year and he lives a couple miles from me and is a good friend. Now that ZR-1 itch had gotten worse. After Bloomington ccmano (Hans) kept emailing me links to ZR-1s that were 'Deals' but needed work. He sent my the link for one on the Registry for a 1990 in Colorado, needed TLC had some minor ¼ damage and looked to need interior work, Hans also stated in the email, I will be in Colorado next week if you would like me to look at it. The asking price was 11K. So I talked to my wife, told her about it, that I wanted to have Hans look at it and told her the MAX I would spend on. She said fine, purse it, I think hoping there would be no deal.

Hans, looked at it the weekend after the 4th of July. took a bunch of pictures and checked it out. At first he could not drive it. The owner hosed the motor off and soaked the starter. Hans left and got a call about 30min later, the seller had the car running., he met up with Hans so he could drive it. Hans then called me that night after sending me a bunch of pictures. We walked through each picture on the phone so I knew exactly what he was looking at.

I called the seller the next day and gave him my low ball offer, he was shocked and asked why I was so low, I told him, needs interior, needs weather-stripping, FX3 shocks and A/c Not working (per his ad) and now needs a starter. He countered and I said, well if you change your mind and come down, call me, he said basically the same to me. Sunday night after the call, I sent him an email, said that I was sorry the deal did not work, if he got the starter fixed maybe we could talk, I also asked to get a price to fix the starter. Next day I got an email from him (forgot the details) but part was if he got the starter fixed what would I pay. When we talked on Sunday he mentioned if he got the starter fixed he would take it to the dealer for repair. So I called a local dealer on the repair cost, (approx $1000) for a starter.

I called him that evening, gave him my final offer. I did not say final, but knew it in my mind. he then said “I got a call from someone, they want to buy the car for $xx,xxx sight unseen, but I told him it needed a starter so I would knock $300 off”. That comment from the seller did not make sense to me, but I said okay, good luck, if it falls through let me know. Then I called Dominic about the conversation I had, he said, “Jeff the seller does not have a buyer, he wants more $$ from you” Then I realized that from the conversation. okay cool, sit back and see what the seller does. this was a Monday night.

Wednesday I got an email from the seller, with a new offer, hmm what happened to the other buyer?? So I waited until Thursday to call. I called Thursday, told him the SAME offer as Monday, I was like look, I have to transport it home, get the starter fixed etc. he was like if I fix the starter.. etc, I said I would rather not, I wanted to have everything looked at while apart (and cleaned) said i will buy AS-IS and That is all I am spending, If you choose not to take it fine. So he said he had to talk to his wife, I said no problem. That night he called and accepted my offer.

He had a small Lien on the car, I paid that first then got the title, but it was not signed, I also had to get a Cashiers check for the balance to him the day the car got picked up. So the car was on the way to me and the title was going back to him to be signed and returned. I got the car the 2nd on August, Title came back to me the following Monday.


So basically that is my story of getting my car. I am not sure if I should post what I paid for it though..

I remember that car. I was tempted to go look at it myself, as I live about 200 miles south of there. I thought it over & figured it was going to be a little mor work than I wanted to undertake. The last thing I wanted to do was have to deal with body damage. I'm glad it went to a good owner who loves it!! :handshak:

[djpatrick35]

When I was a Senior in High School the 1990 ZR-1 came out (yeah I know I am a youngster I graduated in 1990).

Jeff, YOU'RE young??!?! I graduated from high school in 2000! :mrgreen:

[-=Jeff=-]

Jeff, YOU'RE young??!?! I graduated from high school in 2000! :mrgreen:

yes I am young, you are still a baby.. :sign10:


J/K it is all good man

[Tyler Townsley]

yes I am young, you are still a baby.. :sign10:


J/K it is all good man

I already have his kids hooked on real(C1s) vetts, like a certain 57 I know of.

Tyler

[SDZR-1]

Jeff, YOU'RE young??!?! I graduated from high school in 2000! :mrgreen:

Hey, youre not the only one....I also graduated in 2000.:thumbsup:

[-=Jeff=-]

I already have his kids hooked on real(C1s) vetts, like a certain 57 I know of.

Tyler

is it the Red one with the silver coves? My kids loved gettign to sit in it at Bloomington.. See you this year again at Bloomington?

[Tyler Townsley]

is it the Red one with the silver coves? My kids loved gettign to sit in it at Bloomington.. See you this year again at Bloomington?

Yeah, belongs to Bill Herron. I Will be there among all those L-88s(tough job but somebody has to do it). It will be across the street this year.

Tyler

[-=Jeff=-]

Really? is the Ball Room it was in goign to be used for anything?

[flyin ryan]

not me:sleepy1: , for owning three Zee's my search/buy stories are pretty lame compared to some of the good ones on here. thanks for posting:cheers: , good reading. i always say anything worth having in life is not easy to get. your guys' stories are proof of that.

[RedSled]

I have a fairly standard story about mine and the previous four owners. I just thought it was interesting that four people could own a car and drive it so little. It only had 21,000 miles registered when I purchased it a couple years ago. The car was originally bought from Bruce Glueck Chevrolet in Jasper, Florida by a wealthy business owner in Ohio. He drove it a little and decided to park it as an investment. He died shortly thereafter (some weird karma there I guess) and the car passed to his son in Tennessee. Son kept it and drove it a little and sold it to another guy in Ohio. After a number of years of little activitiy he sold it to the guy I bought it from, also in Ohio. I found the car here on the Registry (thank you very much!) I was so excited to purchase the car, meeting a nice owner who I've stayed in touch with, and I'll never forget the great drive home from Ohio to Maryland. Best purchase I've ever made. Not only for the great car I own, but for all the super Corvette people I've met via this forum and the local club I belong to. I guess I shouldn't talk much about mileage though, I've only put 4,000 miles on the Sled since 2006. It's a start.

- Keith '90 Red/Red #1383

[flyin ryan]

I guess I shouldn't talk much about mileage though, I've only put 4,000 miles on the Sled since 2006. It's a start.

- Keith '90 Red/Red #1383i haven't put 400 miles total on all of my Zee's combined since i bought the first one in July 06. between what seems like seven months of winter & building my garage addition last year:blahblah: . it's a situation that has to change.

[Jeffvette]

1990 #220 was bought by a doctor in Fairfax VA. He paid 85k for the car and picked it up in October of 89. He paid a 25k deposit (markup over sticker) and then paid the other 60K when he picked the car up. He drove the car maybe 2,000 miles in the first 8 years of ownership and then racked up an additional 12k the final two years before I got it.

[tf95ZR1]

1995 #106
I had my first corvette in the mid 90's and was looking for a ZR1.
In 1999 I happened to see an ad in the paper for a used '95- at a dealership!
Went to see the car and was told it was driven by the dealership owner's son
who got too many tickets. The snot nosed kid salesman who took me
for a test drive knew zero about the car including the valet switch. He told
me "that was it" but I knew better. I think I got a good deal for the car (including trading in my beautiful corvette convertible though :cry: ) .
With the help of the ZR1 net I got a service history of my car and found out that the entire engine had been replaced @ about 25,000 miles! I found out
that this was not uncommon- it was sometimes cheaper for GM to replace the motor than try and fix it. So my engine has about 25K less miles on it than the odometer reading.

[tccrab]

1995 #106
With the help of the ZR1 net I got a service history of my car and found out that the entire engine had been replaced @ about 25,000 miles! I found out
that this was not uncommon-

Actually this was the case for a while after the ZR1 was first released. GM wouldn't allow stealership mechanics to open up the LT5 at all. If there was a problem, the engine was R&R'd and shipped back to Mercury Marine and a new engine was installed.
Threre's a chapter in the the Heart of the Beast which details why/where/but not how many were done.

T

[cward]

I bought #364 91 Black/Black in August 1998 from a shady used car dealer in south Dallas. I know nothing of it's history. It had 59,000 miles on it. I ran it on a dyno and it only did about 310 rwhp. By May 2002 it had 105,000 miles and was doing about 392 rwhp with the normal bolt-on's. Stock long block. But it was a fairly fast ZR-1 especially for what had been done to it. I didn't get beat too often.

Curtis