[rhipsher]

Hello guy's. I haven't been on here in a long time. I've had many cars over the years but this one is a keeper. My 1990 Corvette ZR-1 with it's Lotus designed Mercury Marine built LT5 power plant. It's the only 4 cam 32 valve ever to be put in a corvette and hasn't been done since. It's a toy that I've had for the last 7 years. I take it out every now and then to keep everything working. Decided to take it out of the garage Sunday with a little layer of dust on it and take it for a short spin. It's still a blast to drive. It gives Z06's big problems.

 

[shay2nak]

very clean. Do I see some curb rash on the wheels? If so, have them touched up. I had one done and it came out awesome. They do some really nice work restoring them.

 

[lotus69f2]

It really is a Lotus cousin and not distant either. If anyone is interested in reading the details of Lotus' involvement in the ZR1 then get Heart of the Beast which details the behind the scenes development of the engine and chassis for the original ZR1.

Heart of the Beast: Anthony Young: 9780971146846: Amazon.com: Books

 

[4380r]

Indeed, more like kissing cousins. Lotus was part of GM at the time the ZR1 was designed and built, and that very same engine was used in the Elise GT-1 race car.

Lotus Elise GT1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[rhipsher]

No curb rash on those wheels. Maybe your seeing the wheel weights on the outside.
When the opportunity to own this car came up in 2007 it was completely by surprise. I had not seen a ZR-1 since 1990 when I lived in California. Low in behold it was the owner of the Machine shop that I worked for that had it. He was 68 years old at the time and weighed 400lbs and said he could not fit in it. And that it was just not comfortable plus he needed the room in his garage. He bought it three years earlier from a guy in Tampa Bay Florida. He said that he would sell it to me if I wanted it. So one evening after work I walked into his office with two bottles of Ruffino Oro Italian Chianti wine 2001 vintage. And we drank and negotiated on a price for three hours. We decided on $22,500 for it. It's a decision that I've never regretted. This is the original window sticker of what the original owner paid for it in 1990.

I joined the Corvette owners club of Houston which consisted of 350 members. And out of them only about 5 new what a ZR-1 was. I always felt like an outsider in the 5 years that I was a member of the club. It was the only C4 ZR-1 in the club. So eventually I left the club. I liked to race my car and go to the drag strip and race it. The club members were much older than me and were afraid to get their cars dirty. It just wasn't a good fit. So I just became a loner and only hung out with other ZR-1 guys that I had become good friends with in the Houston area. Oh and although I don't do this stuff anymore in the car here is an old video of me on westpark toll road one saturday morning very early seeing what the car was made of.
Reallyfast005.mp4 Video by keeno1970 | Photobucket

 

[Doug Porcaro]

What an awesome engine the LT5 is! Definitely something the C4 needed.

 

[brgelise]

No curb rash on those wheels. Maybe your seeing the wheel weights on the outside.
When the opportunity to own this car came up in 2007 it was completely by surprise. I had not seen a ZR-1 since 1990 when I lived in California. Low in behold it was the owner of the Machine shop that I worked for that had it. He was 68 years old at the time and weighed 400lbs and said he could not fit in it. And that it was just not comfortable plus he needed the room in his garage. He bought it three years earlier from a guy in Tampa Bay Florida. He said that he would sell it to me if I wanted it. So one evening after work I walked into his office with two bottles of Ruffino Oro Italian Chianti wine 2001 vintage. And we drank and negotiated on a price for three hours. We decided on $22,500 for it. It's a decision that I've never regretted. This is the original window sticker of what the original owner paid for it in 1990.

I joined the Corvette owners club of Houston which consisted of 350 members. And out of them only about 5 new what a ZR-1 was. I always felt like an outsider in the 5 years that I was a member of the club. It was the only C4 ZR-1 in the club. So eventually I left the club. I liked to race my car and go to the drag strip and race it. The club members were much older than me and were afraid to get their cars dirty. It just wasn't a good fit. So I just became a loner and only hung out with other ZR-1 guys that I had become good friends with in the Houston area. Oh and although I don't do this stuff anymore in the car here is an old video of me on westpark toll road one saturday morning very early seeing what the car was made of.
Reallyfast005.mp4 Video by keeno1970 | Photobucket

Isn't that the MO of a typical Vette owner. Older, dry weather joy rides only, OCD etc:scratchhead:

 

[Uncle Sam]

Tell us about the underside rocker panels.