1995 ZR-1 #004!!

[zyal8r]

Hi everyone, I'm proud to share that, after over 20 years of wanting one, I am finally a ZR-1 owner! '95 #004 - yellow/black/both tops, arrived this past Sunday.

A little bit about me. Like a lot of kids, I lusted after the Countaches I saw in Cannonball Run, etc., and even got to ride in one that a friend of my dad's won in an Alpine contest in 1985... I thought for sure that was my ultimate dream car. They were cool, yes, but, I come by my love of Corvettes honestly.

I've been on Corvetteforum for 22 years, before I even had a Corvette, and have lurked on here almost that long. My dad was my Corvette buddy until he passed away in 2015. He had 14 Corvettes, the last one, a 2007 Z06. So needless to say I was also hooked on Corvettes as a young kid - I had the yellow '72 Corvette-in-a-field picture on my desk, and that's actually my earliest recollection of loving the color yellow. My natural love of Corvettes, and that poster, guided me to a yellow Corvette. The coolest ones to me were always the yellow ones. Throughout my dad's Corvettes, he had white ones, dark red ones, gray ones, blue, orange, and silver. But my favorite one was his '96 LT4 - yellow with black interior - #4411 - I think it's somewhere in Illinois now (incidentally he bought this in '96 after we looked at VERY used '94 green/tan ZR-1). I almost kept that yellow LT4 car for myself when he sold it in '98. Fast forward to April, 2001, I was saving for a 50th anniversary Corvette in 2003, even had a place in line with a local dealership, but a CF member posted a '96 yellow/beige/Z51/LT4 car on the forum. I came to learn how rare it was, and loved the combination. I decided I had to try to get it. I put a deposit down, and flew to Phoenix with my dad on April 7, 2001. I drove it back to Kansas City with him. It will forever be one of my greatest memories of time spent with my dad. This being my first Corvette, a very unique one at that (one of four), plus the memories with it and my dad, I will never sell this car. I have been so happy to make memories with it now with my own two kids! It has just over 17k miles right now.

From '90-'95 I loved reading about and admiring the ZR-1. It was something I was not sure I'd ever get to own. In the early 2000s, I started tracking some of them, and understanding production numbers of yellow ones. I decided if and when I would buy one, it would have to be a yellow one. I have watched many ZR-1s (and frankly, all C4s I can find) over that time, and for several years I kept track of sales prices, Ebay auctions, etc., mostly on ZR-1s and a few rarer LT4s. I recently found out that I had tracked one particular '95 ZR-1 - #255 (yellow/beige) through three previous sales. The C4s are my favorite generation as that's the one I grew up enjoying the most. I'm very careful to a fault about spending money, and I tend to second guess myself a lot when it comes to large purchases. However, in the last year I've observed prices going up. I began to wonder where it might stop, and if they went too high, would I ever be able to justify what it might take to own a ZR-1 when the next 'right' one came along? I wanted a yellow '95. I'd take a '94 but ideally, a yellow '95 was my goal. Originally I thought a yellow/beige would be cool to match my LT4. That almost happened a month ago when #255 had been listed (again) for sale in a barely visible Facebook Marketplace ad. It sat for several months and then the price came down. The very day I decided to make an offer on it, it sold hours earlier due to better advertising just the previous week. Well... okay... so there was another yellow one (black interior) for sale that had been posted in late 2020 for a ridiculous price, but the ad had come down for a while. I looked again mid-summer and it was back. It was a one-owner, 5600 miles, beautiful shape from the pictures, never in rain, original GSCs, wheels never off the car. Seemed to run well from the videos, etc. I liked the story on this one, and the fact it is a one-owner car... pretty neat. It's so new, they didn't even take the paper off the clear top! It was not without a few known issues... windshield, Bose, etc.

So... a couple weeks ago I finally called the seller, thinking it was probably gone, but despite some folks looking at it, there was no deposit on it. He came down a bit on price, so [after a green light from my better half] it was finally time to buy my ZR-1. Although the body, wheels, interior, etc., are perfect, it needs a little refreshing. The windshield is one of the worst I've seen, it's as bad or worse than the last ZR-1. So it's going to have to go, unfortunately. If the sun hits it directly, it is very difficult to see out of it. I don't think it would pass Missouri inspection as it sits today, and I believe I need an inspection to register an out-of-state car as historic (or not). I will be going through it to refresh components from sitting so much over the years. I've already pulled some codes, looks like we might have TPS voltage and/or O2 sensor issues, and seems like the Bose half-works, but I absolutely LOVE this car. I have dreamt of this car for over half my life, and I finally have it! It will be a perfect buddy for my LT4. However, I think I may have bought too nice of a car (yes, it is really one of those 'never been driven in the rain...' in fact, I'm not sure it has ever even SAT in the rain!), so perhaps I need to plot a higher-mile yellow '95 to keep my two company!

This car has an interesting story. It has a prominent dealer sticker on the back - KERBECK. It was supposed to be for *the* Mr. Kerbeck, however, the owner's wife bought it for him when Kerbeck decided to sell it instead of keeping it. I don't like dealer stickers but it's a bit of history on the car and I might just leave it alone. I have the 'SOLD' sign where it was marked sold to Mr. Kerbeck. In '97 a divorce caused the original owner to have to buy it back for himself... at that time, the car had 3800 miles. In 2001 a new title was issued to the same owner, but the state of New Jersey marked the title with 500,000 miles... yes, half a million miles. So it has a 'blemish' on its Carfax showing this Not Actual Mileage title. Since that event was 20 years ago, and there is NO possible way this car has over the 5600 miles showing on the odometer, it doesn't bother me a bit. Adds to the interesting story... other than that I think it sat for most of the last 20 years. In October, 2016 it had some work done with 5574 miles. It rolled off the trailer to me this past Sunday with 5632 miles. Clearly it has barely moved in five years. Also, it has a ZR1.net registry sticker from '96 Corvettes at Carlisle. Not sure if anyone on here might have met the original owner and this car back in '96? The owner passed away in early 2020, so his son is actually who sold it to me. I'm really glad to have it and I will cherish it for a very long time!

I appreciate the already helpful advice from Ted and GoldCylon, both of whom (in addition to many others of you) I have followed and learned from for years, already. I appreciate the opportunity to post here and learn more about my car.

Anyway, here it is as it came off the transport on Sunday. It's all mine!! I couldn't be more excited to have it! (And, honestly, I'm way more excited about this than the Countaches I thought I had to have as a kid...)

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