vtknight

On the one hand, I think you are correct. But not for the reasons you gave. Domestic cars have a bad rap. The World and even many North Americans (which is really unfortunate) tend to perpetuate the stereotype that domestic cars are cheap and crappy. From a numbers perspective - for a base C6 - you are of course correct. There are over 100K C8's as well. Those won't be as valuable in the foreseeable future. That said - less than 4700 C6 ZR1's is a low production number. I was fortunate to have a McLaren 720S and there are almost 9K of them. Ferrari produced about 15K 458's. The C8Z is barely at 8K total today. The C7 ZR1 has about 2500 built - and are super collectible as we have seen. ACR's as well - so the domestic negative reputation doesn't apply to everything domestic. The C6 ZR1 will continue to appreciate as it already has even during this down economic time. It is the last true analog ZR1 - steering, gauges, all manual, and by far more of a benchmark car than the C7 ZR1 was/is when you compare how much the C6 ZR1 dominated the performance car world. It is still relevant today. And now - if my numbers are at all accurate, there are likely 500 to maybe 1500-2000 high quality examples left out of that 4695 total volume for someone to obtain. With the electric car paradigm here and growing - visceral, old school analog cars will be a demand item IMHO.

Chevy Performance

A lot of it has to do with mileage. Once over 10k miles I don't consider it to be a low mileage car anymore, referring to the C6's and C7's. At 15k miles it's definitely a used car and I would never consider paying a premium for it. When it's between 5-10k miles I still consider it low mileage and one that will hold value. Under 5k miles it should bring a premium. Under 500 miles it's like new and price can be unpredictable, easily viewed as a collectable. I think the maximum for any C6 ZR1 right now would be $110k, that would be the Centennial and 60th Anniversary. Inferno Orange could also demand a premium, especially the 2013's with potentially only 5 remaining that are stock. If one has the PDE package that could also help the price out; I would pay a premium for one. For any C6 ZR1 above 5k miles $90k should be the maximum, they all seem to be sitting on the market for months right now.

I just bought this 2010 ZR1 with 356 miles and paid $100k even, probably $5k too high.

Colonel

"I think the maximum for any C6 ZR1 right now would be $110k"

You couldn't buy my Centennial ZR1 (450 miles and PDE) for $110k....not even close.

chubbs6350

I never really understood car collecting and not driving them, but it's whatever makes a person happy that count.
How many people bought a c4 Zr1 and thought they were making an amazing financial decision by letting it sit in their heated garage collecting dust and not putting any miles on it Some c6 Zr1 owners probably thought the same thing, their money would have gone so far it they put it somewhere else like owning more real estate.
I also do wonder how collectors are positive the previous owners didn't just roll back the mileage on the odometer.

Chevy Performance

Understood, but there has to be a buyer for it. There was one early last year that went for $115k’ish that had 500 something miles on it. I could see MSRP for certain editions that have less than 20 miles on them.

vtknight

One of my strengths when it comes to investing is to not just fixate on "now". Now, you are correct. We are in a recession after a collectibles boom. Everything has (over) corrected. Great to buy anything if you have the means. I picked up my car for just about 70K all in with just over 21K miles. There is always a better price - but it is also about what I wanted. As to investments - for the longer term - I first intend to fully enjoy this car. That said - looking at where I see things going, and it isn't too difficult; the EV generation is here. Now. All car manufacturers are heavily investing in this technology. They have superior performance in a straight line due to the instant torque, but they lack visceral sensation. Once the newness of the sub 2 seconds to 60 MPH wears off, car people are going to realize that the ICE car is done. And all things analog will be in vogue. The less digital, the better (which is up to the C6 generation and the C7 has electric assist steering). Manual cars especially will become a collectible - even if people cannot drive them. And then those analog special cars that are limited, and desired - will be in the most demand. I do not think people truly appreciate how many quality examples of C6 ZR1's remain. It is a much lower number than people think as no one cared to collect them when they came out and even now. Will you become a millionaire from one? No. But they will be an attractively expensive car in the not so distant future IMHO.

vtknight

I am not a collector per se...but someone who wants to fully enjoy the car and also know there is an upside in case I want or need to part with it. I will drive my car. I am not the 500 mile owner. And yes people can mess with odometers unfortunately - but if you look at service records - they should add up. The C4 ZR1 is a great buy - still. There are slightly less than 7K of those and I am highly interested in one. If only to enjoy - but also because they are so cheap - that they really have only an upside value wise - even only including cost of living/inflation.

chubbs6350

I do agree with you, and I hope you're right with your predictions, but have you thought about what your government's will do to make it very difficult to drive our gas guzzling cars in the future? How many gas stations will be available to fill up? I'm gonna predict California will straight up ban all gas cars... Hopefully I'm wrong.

vtknight

I have thought about this. Porsche has already created a synthetic fuel and they are not the only ones. That all said - it will be expensive. People owning these cars will need to pay to play. THAT said - there is a massive market for ICE cars. How many cars are on the planet today? So solutions like synthetic fuels that could be used and provide low emissions with a base of ICE cars that we have - could make them, relatively, cheap (or at least cheaper). This could create an ICE resurgence. Time will tell.

70T/A400

When you want to get work done, there is only one solution-internal combustion.

There are currently 28 million cars and light duty trucks on the road in the US. Last year out of 15.5 Million light duty vehicles sold 1.1 Million were heavily subsidized electric vehicles. How long will it take for them to be a majority?

It means there is no future for EV's even when taxpayers are paying for the car plants, taking money off the invoice and plowing money into their makers with credits for fuel economy. All the corporations going into this are bleeding cash.



Long live internal combustion. You will never see it phased out.

tommyc6z06

the push to EVs may be cresting. the zealous early adopters came out in droves. some because of subsidies. others because it was chic.
and with regime change, the push may also wane. I found this interesting https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/11/busin...ing/index.html

vtknight

Lol...Unfortunately, this is not going to happen. Beyond the fact that there is finite fossil - meaning from dead dinosaurs - fuels, it isn't sustainable. The synthetic fuels are a possibility, but as we develop fusion technology - there are just so many other ways to create power. That said - to your point about the number of vehicles that are ICE, the market to create a solution to keep them viable - is real. THAT said, there won't be any new ICE cars made after 2030-2035 depending on where you live, so hold onto the rare and fun versions of these beloved machines. People are going to want them...

Josh M

I know this wasn't the OP's original point of the post but we just had a blizzard and all I know is me and my Silverado did just fine...........saw a few Teslas and Prius vehicles in the ditch though!

I want a ZR1 again now after reading this thread a few times lol

vtknight

And back to OPs sort of point - you should look into it as prices are pretty basement - if not basement right now.

CorvetteFan1953

Buy it and drive it. My 2010 had 5,710 miles on it 7/31/21 for $85,000 with a free set of Michelin Pilot Super Sports to replace the 2009 date coded PS2s, now it has just under 16,000 miles. At this mileage they are low to mid $80,000s.

I will never lose money on it, and I have my high school poster dream car. These collector types can suck an egg! Full PPF the car and drive it.

And this nonsense that 2012 and 2013 are worth more, hogwash. They're heavier, have 2 extra cats, have seats that realistically still aren't any better, steering racks that are more failure prone apparently, and a longer gearset unless you have the PDE pack, which not all do. No thanks, but to each their own of course!

Trakrat

The comments people post on here is hilarious! Basically, each owner justifies why they paid their price and why it’s the right price!!
And i LOVE how some on here claim the price is all about the miles! LOLOLOL
In all honesty, Im amazed these cars aren’t averaging over 150k no matter mileage. These cars are the last of their kind.
Truth is, the prices are all over the place because everyone is willing to pay. If owners all started posting 100k minimum, we’d justify why we paid 110k for a 35k mileage ZR1

Chevy Performance

Market research strongly indicates pricing is somewhat sensitive to mileage. Auctions also show that’s the case. BAT, Mecum, and Barrett-Jackson all have examples of this, and the results are still available to see. Are there outliers? Yes. Rarity also plays a role.

Trakrat

I dunno.. while mileage definitely plays a role when all things are equal, I don't think mileage is the deciding factor for those who actually buy a ZR1.
I think the first things that most people are looking at is the color. As I mentioned, black and gray are the most common. After that, I think some look at mods (originality). Why pay top dollar for a ZR1 that isn't original.
To summarize... yes... people look at mileage and will turn away from a ZR1 with high mileage. As of now, it seems anything over 30k is high mileage. But again, in all honesty, these cars are VERY rare. There are more Ferraris in the world than there are ZR1s. And the ZR1 is the top-of-the-line Corvette. If the C6 had just 1 year of a ZR1 like the C7 did, you'd probably see pricing as high as 500k for them. Because it is THAT RARE! again.. I still can't believe that there are C6 ZR1s under 100k still available. Absolutely INSANE! C6 is the most beautiful Corvettes next to the C2 from the 1960s. (that is my opinion)

jschindler

They can ban the manufacturers from making something, but they can’t ban people from keeping what they have. It will be many, many years before gas stations become hard to find. The number of as gas engine vehicles on the road is staggering, and the number of people who can’t add afford to have their houses set up for charging is a big number as well. The government can and will subsidize the cost of charging installations, but there are millions of homes that don’t have the electrical capacity coming into their house. That makes it pretty expensive.

Even now the spike of EV sales has slowed down. Ford just announced reduced production of the Lightening. Plug in hybrids are the growth market now

vtknight

I agree with this...hybrids will be first and allow the inevitable transition to full EV. As I stated above - there are options like synthetic fuels and other conversion technology that will become available in time as the amount of ICE cars is a massive market to allow companies to innovate and find solutions. That said - pure ICE, high HP, larger displacement, especially NA cars - and manuals - are on their way out - so the C6 ZR1 which is already extremely low volume (and the C7 ZR1 even lower production volume) will continue to appreciate. The C6 ZR1 is about a third the production volume of a Ferrari 458 and half that of a McLaren 720S. As one poster stated - I am surprised that the C6 ZR1 still goes for the money it does. Ford GT350R's and GT500's go for more money in many cases and they are just not delivering the same performance and definitely not the looks lol (yes subjective)...objectively - they are both less rare...