My Corvettes- 1988, 1995 and 1991 ZR-1

1988 Corvette 4+3 Transmission L98-245hp
Not an over-powered car but the automatic down-shift
of the 4+3 transmission makes good use of torque.

1995 Corvette Convertable Automatic LT1-300hp.  With dark purple
metallic paint, black convertable top and automatic transmission, this
beauty screams of female mid-life crisis!  Driving this car always made
me feel as though I was a "kept" man, sort of a dandy as well.  Sort of made
me feel like taking the top off, throwing on a scarf and over sized
sunglasses and driving around town, really slow...



1991 ZR-1 Corvette ZF6 Transmission LT5-375-405hp

Male mid-life crisis exudes from this car every bit as much as

shaving the male pattern baldness off your head!  This is no

ordinary crisis car, its design specifically addresses the need for

speed, style and performance that is absent from its owner.  When

the 20 something rice burner driver flashes his pinky finger, I just

down shift and engage the secondaries with WOT.   Works every time!  



The 1991 ZR-1 is four inches wider than the base C4 in the rear to fit the

wide 315 tires.  This car handles like it's on rails and accelerates like a new

base model Corvette.  Not bad for being 20 years old!  This car has 27K

miles on it and drives like I drove it off the show room floor yesterday.

The 1991 ZR-1 engine is the LT5.  Extremely complex in its design, GM out-sourced

the manufacturing to Mercury Marine.  Mercury was probably the best choice because

of their expertise in all aluminum engine manufacturing.  GM co-designed the LT5 with

Lotus. To date, the LT5 is, if not the best,  is one of the best engines ever built.  If properly

maintained, this engine can live well beyond 200k miles!  Always remember to change the

10 quarts of oil every 3k miles or every 6 months! This car still holds the endurance record.

(Hence the King of the Hill classification)   A stock model was driven at 170MPH+ for 24

straight hours while covering over 4000 miles.  I'd like to see that from an obscenely

oversized-single-piped ricer! Ha!

Another view of the LT5 engine. For some reason I can open the hood and stare at this 

thing for a good ten minutes before I feel the need to start cleaning something.  Specialized 

Racing Products LLC http://www.zr1products.com makes a super charger that fits the LT5.   

That should up the hp to over 500 I would think.  I would always worry about blowing it

up.  And at $20,000 to replace or at least $10,000 to rebuild I would have to think long and

hard about it.