Is the ZR-1 going to appreciate in value eventually?

[AT T 2D]

Originally Posted by Fully Vetted

..... That has to be the poster child for Limited Production mass produced american made car. That car, if memory serves, was around $30k new and dropped in price too the point that every high school kid in shop had one....

The base price for a new GN in 1987 was $16,000, typically you would find them for around $18,000 including a few options. They were within a couple of hundred dollars of a new Pontiac GTA or Chevy Z28. So you could buy 3 or 4 of them for the price of a '90 ZR-1.

[HAWAIIZR-1]

Originally Posted by weneversleep

I'm ready to put my money where my mouth is and buy one soon. My dilemma is: I want to drive and enjoy it as well, not just have it sit in a climate-controlled garage somewhere...

You might have just answered your own question. Get a very, very nice driver and enjoy the LT5. Then go buy yourself a 68 Z/28, 70 Chevelle SS LS6, GNX etc. as your collectible investment. I think the ZR-1s are made to drive and enjoy...........you won't regret it. If you decide to get a collectible one, make sure you will be satisfied leaving it NCRS condition.....but it will be a gamble as to how collectible it will really be 20 years from now. I would rather invest in a car that is a sure thing and an older, more simple car without all the electronics and sensors to go bad and lack of parts possible. Cars are only worth what someone is willing to pay in my opinion. Best of luck.

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by Kevin

and for every one car that goes up in value there are thousands that go down. Cars aren't investments.

Yeah...well...I wish I had that 69 SS 396 Chevelle back that I let go for $500. Methinks it was a mistake to let it go!

P.

[tomtom72]

Hello again....yea it's me the guy whose car "speaks to him"!

If I were looking for a collectable ZR-1 I'd buy one of the 448 cars....my choice would be one with Dunn heads. Case closed. Or perhaps an LSV or maybe a Callaway car? Then don't use it too much. This is easy for me to say because I'll never be in that position to have one of those, but if I had some spare coin I'd have been looking for an LSV car as they were quite reasonable recently.
Then, if you really like the C4 ZR-1 experience, you could always get a driver to use often and not worry about loosing value.

I think that I'm just stating the obvious though. You have thought of this already, right? Okay, so it is not a very cost effective answer. I am not much help, sorry. If I had the money that's what I'd do.


Tom

[jcruz]

I don't see values going any lower. How much they go up is anyone's guess, but they will go up in value, if nothing else because of inflation. I plan on keeping and driving mine another 20 years...I'll report back then

[scottfab]

Originally Posted by Paul Workman

Yeah...well...I wish I had that 69 SS 396 Chevelle back that I let go for $500. Methinks it was a mistake to let it go!

P.

Yup me too. Had a 66 Chevelle SS w/396 and let it go for $400 so I could buy a new mustang. Now I see them go for a low of $40k and as high as $60k

I've always viewed my ZR-1 as an investment in fun. It's cheaper than laying on a couch blabbing my problems and it sure as hell maintains more value than the run of the mill GM car.
I think I've got my money's worth. In fact I think I'll go out and get some more of my money's worth from my investment today

[mgg]

Certain cars are investments. I bought and restored a 1966 GT 350H Shelby in 1982. Without getting inot specifics I sold the car after restoring it to perfect condition in 1990. I did VERY well!. After I sold the car the owner who I bought it from asked ne if I had stayed up with who owned the car or the history. I said no. He proceeded to send me documentation regarding the car. About two years ago it burned up in the wildfires of California. There was an article with pictures and serial number documenting my old car. The insurance company wrote the owner a check for over 100k. My wife said, " I thought you knew **** about cars". Well obviously not enough. That being said, with the money I made selling the car, I bought a new 1990 corvette which I auto-x and then truned into a SCCA ITE race car and have had a blast racing it with Nasa. I bought a Zr-1 when values started to drop. I probably paid a little too much but it is a great low mileage car and I love it. It does seem as if the values are starting to creep back to where they were. Certainley not where they should be for such a historcally significant and great car.

[4CAM LT5]

Originally Posted by scottfab

I've always viewed my ZR-1 as an investment in fun. It's cheaper than laying on a couch blabbing my problems and it sure as hell maintains more value than the run of the mill GM car.
I think I've got my money's worth. In fact I think I'll go out and get some more of my money's worth from my investment today

Very well-put. Sounds like a great idea....!!!

[tcz062]

Look at it this way. In 1969 they produced over 200,000 Camaro's the avg price was around $3,500 new. The average nice 69 Camaro now is about $25,000. There is no way of really knowing what will happen with the values due to hundreds of what if factors. But I would bet all things being the same if you wait another 15 or 20 years they will at least double today's market. The 93 to 95 will lead the pack due to the lower production numbers and being a 4 bolt LT5,

[cvette98pacecar]

Originally Posted by Kevin

cars are not investments

Sure they are Kevin. They are just poor Investments.