Prices and Valuation

[rush91]

The ZR-1 that went across Barrett Jackson this weekend was a 1990. Red on red, and very clean looking.

And as far as value, ZR-1's got smacked by the early 90's inflation. $34,000 for a loaded Vette was expensive. Add another 34k on top of that for the ZR-1 and you have future number issues.......How many were put away with the intention of making triple that in 20 years? That is what I see as the issue with the prices. The ZR-1 was produced in to great of numbers to truly hold its value......6939 granted is a low number. But compared to the Buick GNX which over just 500 were made, lower numbers means steady value. Find me a GNX with under 20,000 miles that you can buy for under $30k........

For me, the C4 corvettes are the only ones I have ever driven or rode in. I have never been in a C5 ( which I find VERY ugly, any model) or a C6 ( which is how the C5 SHOULD of looked) or C7. Am I doing myself a disservice by never trying any other Gen out?? Maybe......but in my eyes, the ZR-1 was a HUGE, groundbreaking, truly legend of a car. Where was Corvette performance before the ZR-1?? NOWHERE, that's where.
It made the Corvette a world beater, and quite possibly saved the Corvette from some very dark days........No other Corvette has held and lived up to such hype. None. People can have opinions, they are like you know what, everyone has them. But to this day when I take my Beast out anywhere, it never ceases to draw a crowd.

[spork2367]

Originally Posted by Vette73

What year ZR1 sold for 22,000 at Barrett Jackson? Did they say how many miles? Stick or modded? Color?

I tuned in a little over the weekend and if I saw one more Porshe pass the block I was going to switch to the smithsonian channel...I'm like ee nuff already....

Listen 22K is a lot better than that white 91 selling for 12.5k at Mecum weeks ago ...

Another thing, if the car wasn't originally priced at 60-70 K we would not be having these discussions about value ....

From what I hear some used C7s I think can be had for the high 40s now....

It was a 1990 Bright Red, 24,300 miles.

Originally Posted by Fully Vetted

You need to add in the bidders fee at the auction. Having bought at Mecums before I promise you the bidder was. Also, you're assuming PP sales would be less than the auction because of th auction hype. You can't do that. Especially at BJ because it's a no reserve auction. If that car happens to go thru at a bad time it's going to sell no matter what. You can't then say well that must be what the market is. You've got to figure in known PP sales. I have a buddy who has a classic car dealership and he has sold 2 Z's in the last couple of months. One went for $34k and the other almost $40k. And he has another one on his showroom floor that will probably sell for over $40k based on his other sales. You're putting too much focus on what happens at BJ. While it is a contributing factor the auction can create a deflated price the same as it can an inflated one.


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Buyers premium at Barrett Jackson is 10%. Buyers premium at Mecum is only 6%. (for bidders that are present) So that really doesn't account for much at the amounts we're talking about. 750.00 in the case of the white car at Mecum. There are plenty of reserve cars at Barrett Jackson (although admittedly not all cars can be reserve cars). And as far as the ZR1 I was talking about, it was prime time bidding. The place was packed, floor to ceiling. Highest attendance they have ever seen.

However the cars sold at auction are just a small portion of what I'm looking at. Look at the low mileage cars on eBay right now. How is your buddy selling them for 30-40k when a car on eBay with 11,400 miles just had the buy it now lowered from 26k to 25k? When it was up as an auction it got to a whopping 10,900 dollars. What about the 14,400 mile car that only made it to 18,800 and didn't sell the other day? What about the 3200 mile car that is on there now for a buy it now of 32k? Your buddy deserves salesman of the year.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Ereeves

Not going to comment on the valuation side of things but I can tell you that all the track miles I have in my old C5Z and the few back road miles in my C4Z that the C5Z out handles it bar none. And my newer C6ZR1 out handles it and the C5Z. The C4 did not pull close to or way over 1.0g in stock form on the skid pad. And before someone says it I do not consider .90 - .92 as being close. A set of tires will not do it. Plus the light weight of the C5Z made it easier to acheive those numbers. My C4Z does not feel light and nimble like that. Still love my car for what it is and what it was.

Ya, I don't have stock suspension on any of my cars.
On my C5 and C6 Z06 we had to disconnect the wheel sensors to decrease our lap times.

[Fully Vetted]

My mistake. You're looking at two sales vehicles instead one. You're looking at auctions and eBay. Probably the two worst sources for setting a market that exist. One is dependent on 2 people being present that want the vehicle in order to drive the price up which you then can't use as a market setter and the other pulls about 2% of the buying market. First of all, if I was in the market for my first ZR-1 I would NEVER go to eBay. The reason my buddy gets those prices is he's a respected known quantity that can be trusted not to sell junk, they need nothing when you pick them up and they are well documented. Exactly what you want when buying a car like this. Would I pay his price? Probably not. But I'm a current owner. I don't need those assurances. I have resources for parts and repairs, I know what to look for and I don't really want to pay for his overhead. But for a first purchase that's where I'd go 100 times before I went to BJ, eBay or CL. Another good source is right here on The Registry. Most likely the car will be well known and it may have even changes between members hands. I bought mine here 3 years ago and paid $24k for a low production '94 AB. Seller and car were well known on the boards. I'm not saying you can't use those 2 sources. They are sources after all. Just be careful with how much weight you give them.


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[spork2367]

Originally Posted by Fully Vetted

My mistake. You're looking at two sales vehicles instead one. You're looking at auctions and eBay. Probably the two worst sources for setting a market that exist. One is dependent on 2 people being present that want the vehicle in order to drive the price up which you then can't use as a market setter and the other pulls about 2% of the buying market. First of all, if I was in the market for my first ZR-1 I would NEVER go to eBay. The reason my buddy gets those prices is he's a respected known quantity that can be trusted not to sell junk, they need nothing when you pick them up and they are well documented. Exactly what you want when buying a car like this. Would I pay his price? Probably not. But I'm a current owner. I don't need those assurances. I have resources for parts and repairs, I know what to look for and I don't really want to pay for his overhead. But for a first purchase that's where I'd go 100 times before I went to BJ, eBay or CL. Another good source is right here on The Registry. Most likely the car will be well known and it may have even changes between members hands. I bought mine here 3 years ago and paid $24k for a low production '94 AB. Seller and car were well known on the boards. I'm not saying you can't use those 2 sources. They are sources after all. Just be careful with how much weight you give them.


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Sell junk? We're talking about cars with buy it now and 11,400 or less miles. On top of that, there is nothing stopping you from emailing the seller to go look at the vehicle. That's exactly what I did when I bought my salvage ZR1. It was actually listed as just the engine and transmission.

90% of the stuff I buy from eBay I buy through a private party sale after the auction has ended. Listing a buy it now on eBay is really no different from listing one for sale on here. It's just an advertising medium. In the end, it's the buyers responsibility to do their homework no matter where it's being sold. People are ripped off at dealerships every day of the week.

You're confusing your buddy being a dealer with him being your buddy. The two things are unrelated. If he were selling a car on craigslist you'd stop trusting him? Your buddy at the dealership apparently has a much higher premium than any of the auction houses or eBay.

What about the sub 20k mile car listed on here right now? When the story is the same across the board, you can't really blame the medium through which it's being sold as the problem. You buddies dealership seems to be the one exception.

[Fully Vetted]

My point is most people in the market for this car will not go to eBay. And they're scared to death of auctions. Your pool of sales (or non-sales) is too small if you're trying to determine what the market is if your just going to use auctions and eBay. My point is proven by the fact that my buddy is selling them WELL over what the same car IS NOT selling for on eBay or at auction. Can't argue with facts. You can't set a market off of just BJ and eBay. It just doesn't work.


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[spork2367]

Originally Posted by Fully Vetted

My point is most people in the market for this car will not go to eBay. And they're scared to death of auctions. Your pool of sales (or non-sales) is too small if you're trying to determine what the market is if your just going to use auctions and eBay. My point is proven by the fact that my buddy is selling them WELL over what the same car IS NOT selling for on eBay or at auction. Can't argue with facts. You can't set a market off of just BJ and eBay. It just doesn't work.


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I completely disagree. The overwhelming majority of ZR1 sales are private party and auctions (including eBay). Dealer sale are by far the minority and also have the highest premiums. I think that's possibly the least accurate gauge.

Let's face it, if I'm looking for a good deal, rarely is any dealership the place to get it. The dealership is for people who have plenty of money and don't want to do the legwork themselves. Why would I pay 35-50% more to have a dealer tell me the car is okay when I could look at it myself of even pay someone knowledgeable to come along and look for far less. I bet someone not comfortable looking the car over themself could fly Marc out to look at a car for less than the premium a dealer commands.

[edram454]

Originally Posted by Vette73

What year ZR1 sold for 22,000 at Barrett Jackson? Did they say how many miles? Stick or modded? Color?

I tuned in a little over the weekend and if I saw one more Porshe pass the block I was going to switch to the smithsonian channel...I'm like ee nuff already....

Listen 22K is a lot better than that white 91 selling for 12.5k at Mecum weeks ago ...

Another thing, if the car wasn't originally priced at 60-70 K we would not be having these discussions about value ....

From what I hear some used C7s I think can be had for the high 40s now....

It was a 1990 red with tan interior at around 16k miles. it sold for 22.5k.

[Fully Vetted]

I agree to an extent. That's also why I said I would not use a dealer. But the reason they pay the premium is because to everyone except us these cars are scary as hell. All they hear about is the exotic engine and lack of parts. Paying a premium to someone they trust is much better than paying a premium to somebody they don't. But make no mistake about it, there are a lot of these cars being sold at dealerships. Enough so that you can't just ignore them if you're trying to establish a market price and go with what you see at the auctions and eBay.


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[Fully Vetted]

I think we just differ in our philosophy. You're trying to establish a market based on cars that didn't sell and I'm saying you should establish the market based on cars that did sell. Which do you think is more accurate? That eliminates the reason it didn't sell (which I think COULD be how and where it's being sold which you disagree) and only concentrates on cars that are sold, the condition, the year and the sell price.