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1990 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 – The Affordable American Supercar

The Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 (C4) was released in 1989 as a home-grown American challenger to the dominant supercars of the day – the Ferrari Testarossa, the Lamborghini Countach, and the Porsche 911 Turbo.

At its heart, the ZR-1 Corvette is powered by an engine that was developed not in America, but over in Britain by Lotus. General Motors bought Group Lotus, the famous English performance car manufacturing firm in 1986 and co-developed the ZR-1 package with them, including the engine, braking, steering, and suspension systems.

The original plan for the C4 ZR-1 was for it to be the fastest production car in the world, this didn’t come to pass however the final production ZR-1 would break seven international and world records at a test track in Fort Stockton, Texas in 1990, all verified by the FIA.

The Lotus-developed engine in the car was dubbed the LT5, it proved to be a remarkably resilient engine given its complexity and power output which ranged from 375 to 405 hp depending on model year.

The LT5 is an all-alloy V8 with double overhead cams per bank, four valves per cylinder, fuel injection, an 11.0:1 compression ratio, and a unique induction system that could shut down half the intake runners when in low power mode for fuel efficiency.

This engine compared favorably with the V12s used in the Testarossa and Countach which produced 385 hp and 374+ hp respectively. The other performance specifications also held up well, the top speed of the ZR-1 is ~180 mph, the same as the Testarossa and 5 mph less than a comparable Countach.

The 0 to 60 mph dash can be dispatched in 4.9 seconds in a C4 ZR-1, the Testarossa takes 5.8 seconds to do the same and the fastest production version of the Countach does it in 4.7.

Above Image: From the outside the C4 ZR-1 looks almost the same as the regular model, however its performance potential is vastly more impressive.

The LT5 engine proved difficult to build and assemble, so much so that Chevrolet didn’t have a factory capable of building it. Instead they contracted the engine building to Mercury Marine who had plenty of experience working with complex all-alloy engines.

The modifications made to the C4 ZR-1 were limited to the LT5 in the engine bay, the vehicle was fitted with a unique 6-speed manual transmission developed by ZF called the ML9. Power was sent to the limited slip differential rear end and out through the P315/ 35ZR-17 Goodyear Eagle Gatorback tires to the asphalt.

The Bilstein-developed suspension system was somewhat similar to the system used on the Porsche 959. It was called the FX3 system and it used a gas-over-oil shock absorber that allowed the driver to electronically control the flow of oil inside the hollow center shaft. This gave the car six damping settings in each of the three driving modes: Touring, Sport, and Performance.

The C4 ZR-1 also came with the UJ6 low tire pressure warning system and an ABS braking system developed by Bosch.

The rear end of the car was notably wider than that on the regular C4 Corvette however there were very few external clues that the car you were looking at was something special – a criticism that was made at the time by drivers who wanted there world to know their car cost twice as much as a normal C4 and had supercar levels of performance.

Over the course of the 1990 to 1995 production run the ZR-1 came in two major iterations, the earlier cars with 375 hp and the later cars with 405 hp. The engine had been upgraded in 1993 by Lotus to take the challenge to the Dodge Viper which had been introduced in 1991 with a 400 hp V10.

A little over 6,900 examples of the ZR-1 C4 Corvette were built during its production run. After it was discontinued in 1995 Chevrolet wouldn’t have another Corvette capable of matching its performance until the release of the Z06 C6 Corvette in 2001.

Above Image: The quad cam 32 valve V8 is capable of between 375 and 405 hp depending on model year – on par with the Ferrari Testarossa and Lamborghini Countach from the same era.

Today the C4 ZR1 remains one of the best bang-for-buck performance car bargains in America. Good examples can be bought for under $30,000, some selling for under $20,000, largely due to the lack of popularity surrounding the C4 Corvette in general.

This does seem to be slowly changing as 80s-era cars become Radwood cool, and you have to wonder if the C4 ZR-1 is poised to see a rapid gain in value when it’s rediscovered by the car community at large.

The 1990 C4 ZR-1 Corvette Shown Here

The car you see here is a first-year model from 1989 (1990 model year), it’s once of just 3,302 built that year and it’s accumulated only 3,335 miles on the odometer since new.

With its black over black color scheme the car has an almost Knightrider feel to it, and it comes with all the bells and whistles you’d expect including power steering, power disc brakes, air conditioning, tinted glass, power windows, locks, and seats, and a Delco Bose cassette stereo.

If you’d like to read more about this car or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing. It’s due to roll across the auction block with Mecum mid-May with no reserve.

Images courtesy of Mecum

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Garage Find: Aston Martin DB6 Vantage Needing A Restoration

This is 1970 Aston Martin DB6 was ordered new with a Vantage-specification engine, raising power output to 325 bhp from the 282 bhp in the standard car.

The car was left parked in a private garage for decades and it only came to light recently with the passing of its owner, it’s in time capsule condition wearing its original color with what appears to be its original interior in place, and of course it’s still fitted with that numbers-matching, Vantage-specification engine.

There can’t be many Astons of this vintage still sitting in barns and dust covered old garages so this one represents a potentially unique opportunity for a person looking to buy and restore one of the most lusted after British classics of its era.

The Aston Martin DB6

The DB6 was released in 1965 as the successor to the Aston Martin DB5 – arguably the most famous car ever built by the company due to the model’s heavy involvement in the James Bond film franchise over the years. With the development of the DB6 the aim was to improve passenger comfort, trunk space, and to reduce rear-end lift which had been a problem for the DB5 at higher speeds.

Above Image: Just 71 examples of the DB6 Vantage were made and this is one of them, preserved for decades in garage storage.

The distinct visual similarity between the DB5 and DB6 was no accident, the DB5 was an understandably popular car offering British luxury motoring to both a local and worldwide customer base.

The engineering team began development with a DB chassis that had been lengthened by 2 inches and they developed a body with a slightly higher roofline for better headroom. A discrete rear lip spoiler was added to reduce lift and it was decided to keep the live axle rear end used on the DB5 to reduce complexity.

Despite the added size the DB6 weighed in at just 17 lbs more than the DB5 and it offered notably more comfort for rear seat passengers. The DB6 Mark 2 was released in 1969, this updated version offered fuel injection and slightly flared wheel arches to accommodate slightly wider wheels and tires.

The most sought after variant was the Vantage-specification car, these were powered by a modified version of the Tadek Marek-designed DOHC straight-six with a higher compression cylinder head and triple side draught Weber carburetors bringing power up to 325 bhp at 5,500 rpm.

Aston Martin would keep the DB6 in production from 1965 until 1970 after which the next DB car wouldn’t appear until the release of the DB7 in 1994. The DB6 would be the final in the original DB line of cars, named after David Brown who bought Aston Martin in 1946 for £20,500 and set the company on the trajectory that largely made it what it is today.

Above Image: The interior of the car is in time capsule condition.

The Garage Find Aston Martin DB6 Shown Here

As mentioned above, this DB6 has spent decades tucked away in a garage and it’s now in need of a full restoration to bring it back to its former glory. This is one of just 71 built by the factory to Vantage specifications when new – many others were converted from fuel injection to Vantage specification in later years.

It’s believed by the former owner’s relatives that this Aston was in storage for approximately 30 years and so it will clearly now need a full body off restoration. As an original Vantage DB6 it’s a highly sought after classic and it represents the ultimate evolutionary form of the original DB series Aston Martins.

If you’d like to read more about the car or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on RM Sotheby’s. It’s due to cross the auction block later in April and the price guide is £140,000 to £180,000 which works out to approximately $192,900 USD to $248,000 USD.

The post Garage Find: Aston Martin DB6 Vantage Needing A Restoration appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/aston-martin-db6-vantage/
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The Ariel Nomad – A 100% Road-Legal Off Road Racing Buggy

The Ariel Nomad is the slightly more muddy sibling of the Ariel Atom, the Atom being one of the most driver-focussed cars in the world and still one of the fastest accelerating.

Ariel developed the Nomad as a buggy-like vehicle that could be driven very quickly both on the road and off, with just a tire change and some suspension tweaking required.

The Ariel Atom

Although the Nomad shares an obvious genetic link with the Atom, the two cars don’t share the same chassis or suspension. The first prototype of the Nomad was essentially an Atom with jacked up suspension and some chunky tires, the team at Ariel liked it so much they designed an all-new car around the concept and released it in 2015.

The all new exoskeleton chassis was formed from bronze welded steel tube, however unlike the Atom the Nomad has a full roll cage over the passenger compartment. I am of course using the term “passenger compartment” lightly here as it’s essentially just a tubular steel chamber with seats and a windscreen – there’s no rain protection, doors, side or rear windows, and certainly no carpet.

Above Image: The Nomad can be raced on road or off with changes to the suspension settings and rubber.

Unlike the Ariel Atom with its Formula 1 derived pushrod suspension, the Nomad has more traditional double A-arms with adjustable shock absorbers front and back. This set up was chosen as it allows much more wheel articulation and helps the car soak up the bumps when off road.

The Nomad is powered by a reliable, all-aluminium 2.4 litre K24 Honda four-cylinder engine, with both naturally-aspirated and supercharged versions available producing 235 bhp with up to 290 bhp with forced induction.

The Ariel Motor Company has just 30 or so employees, they build up to 100 cars each year, and they’re based in Somerset in England. Britain has long been a place where smaller enterprises like Ariel can turn the sports car and racing worlds on their head, Enzo Ferrari used to derisively call them the “garagiste” – he never liked them as they had the somewhat irritating habit of beating his own cars on track.

Ariel and Caterham are, in some ways, modern iterations of companies like Cooper and Lotus. They build some of the lightest and best handling cars in the world, and they have no problem embarrassing supercars worth considerably more.

Above Image: There’s very little protection from the elements, however this gives the Nomad an incredibly visceral, raw feeling when you’re behind the wheel.

The 2017 Ariel Nomad Shown Here

The car you see here is a 2017 Ariel Nomad with 1,774 miles on the odometer and an impressive specifications list including uprated front and rear brakes, a hydraulic handbrake system, Fox multi-adjustable dampers and two-piece springs, a spare wheel carrier, and a front bumper with Warn winch.

Due to the exceedingly low production numbers, the high desirability, and the often very low mileage the depreciation on Nomads seems to be fairly close to zero.

With its excellent list of options and low miles we’re expecting this Nomad to fetch a respectable sum, it’s currently listed for sale with Collecting Cars with 4 days remaining to bid and the bidding is at £40,750 at the time of writing.

If you’d like to read more about this unusual buggy or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

The post The Ariel Nomad – A 100% Road-Legal Off Road Racing Buggy appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/ariel-nomad/
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1 Of 125 Made: The Intermeccanica Indra

This is an Intermeccanica Indra, it’s a rare Italian-built sports car from the early 1970s that makes use of an American drivetrain and many other components. Just 125 or so of these Italian/American cars were built between 1971 and 1975, today they’re becoming increasingly sought after as more people learn about them.

Intermeccanica is an unusual company, it’s one of very few boutique automakers that were founded in the 1950s that remain in business building cars to the modern day. The company was set up by Frank, a Hungarian-born Canadian, and Paula Reisner, a Czech-born Canadian after they moved to Italy in 1959.

When the young couple first arrived in Turin with dreams of starting their own car company they were so broke they camped in the foothills on the outskirts of town and lived out of their Fiat 500. They would call their company Intermeccanica, and they started out building simple tuning kits for European cars.

Before long Intermeccanica had a workshop and a small staff, they designed and built a Formula Junior car that was capable of over 140 mph around the Monza circuit. Later the company would build the modified InterMeccanica Puch, or IMP, which would take a class win around the Nürburgring ahead of the cars built by Abarth – much to the annoyance of Carlo Abarth.

By the early 1960s the time had come for Intermeccanica to build their first sporting GT car, something to compete with established marques like Ferrari, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Mercedes, and Maserati. This car would be the Intermeccanica Apollo – the first prototype was unveiled in 1962 and it immediately won “Best In Show” at the New York Auto show in the same year.

Above Image: The slightly sharper lines of the Indra have won it many fans over the years. Some have compared it to the C4 Corvette which didn’t appear until 1984, over 10 years later.

The next car would be the Intermeccanica Italia, it started out as the “Torino” however the Italia name would be seen as more fitting given the Italian origins of the chassis and body. The final car built by the company during this period was the one you see here, the Intermeccanica Indra.

Whereas the Apollo and the Italia both has the curves and elegance of a 1960s-era Italian GT the Indra had a more angular design language better suited to the brand new decade of the 1970s. Beautiful by any standard, the Indra was designed by Franco Scaglione and released at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1971.

The key to the success of the Indra was the deal organized by Erich Bitter between Intermeccanica and General Motors. This deal allowed Intermeccanica access to the V8 engine and other parts from the Opel Diplomat, it also meant that the Indra could be sold through Opel dealers, and taken to them for servicing and parts.

This deal would stay in place from 1971 until 1973 when GM withdrew from the agreement, Intermeccanica tried to keep the car in production using Ford parts but by 1975 it reached the end of the line and left production. In the end the company had produced 60 convertibles, 40 coupes, and 25 2+2s, with the possibility that up to 15 additional cars were shipped to the United States.

Above Image: The “Prancing Bull” logo can be seen in the center of the grille, nestled between tiny split bumpers.

The Indra was offered as a convertible, a coupe, and a hatchback with 2+2 seating. All were powered by V8 engines with early cars getting GM V8s from either the Diplomat or the Corvette, and later cars getting engines from Ford.

It’s not known exactly how many Indras have survived to the modern day, we typically only see one come up for sale every two or three years, with the earlier Italia being more common as over 400 were built.

The Indra you see here is a 1972 model fitted with a Chevrolet Corvette 327 cu. in. V8 engine mated to an automatic transmission. This is the coupe variant of the model, essentially just a steel roof welded onto the convertible’s steel body, though the resulting car is attractive and the driver has excellent visibility.

If you’d like to read more about this car or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on RM Sotheby’s. It’s currently listed with a price guide of €40,000 to €50,000 and it’s being offered without reserve.

The post 1 Of 125 Made: The Intermeccanica Indra appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/intermeccanica-indra-car/
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For Sale: An Original Parnelli VPJ-4 American Formula 1 Car Driven By Mario Andretti

This is one of just three American-built Formula 1 car developed by the Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing team in the mid-1970s and driven by Mario Andretti throughout the 1974, 1975, and 1976 seasons.

Considering the team’s newcomer status to F1, the world’s premier motor racing class, the Parnelli team did remarkably well – scoring 4th and 5th place finishes in 1975, taking a 3rd place finish at the International Trophy Race (non-points) race at Silverstone in England in 1975, and even leading the Spanish Grand Prix in 1975 after taking the lead from James Hunt after he crashed out.

The Parnelli VPJ-4 F1 Car

The Parnelli VPJ-4 was developed by former Lotus F1 designer Maurice Philippe, and the car is clearly influenced by Philippe’s Lotus 72 design – a car that would win the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship three times, the Drivers’ Championship two times, and take a total of 20 race wins with 39 podium places.

The team was built on a dream team combination – Maurice Philippe was a proven car designer and Mario Andretti was one of the most talented American racing drivers of his generation – having already won a Formula 1 race for Ferrari in 1971.

Much like the Lotus 72, the Parnelli VPJ-4 utilized a wedge shaped monocoque with a chisel nose, it also had its radiators at the back of the sidepods. The car was fitted with the 480 hp Cosworth DFV Formula 1 engine, now remembered as the single most successful F1 engine in history. The car also had torsion bar suspension, inboard brakes front and back, and a 5-speed Hewland gearbox.

Above Image: The cockpit of the car is equipped to keep racing, with a harness, right-side shifter and a prominent tachometer in the centre of the dash.

When originally developing the VPJ-4 F1 car the team planned to use Firestone tires, the American tire maker was also going to be their key sponsor. Shortly before they started racing in 1974 Firestone pulled the plug on the project, cutting off both a critical source of sponsorship funds and rubber.

The car was modified to use Goodyear tires and enough funding was secured to go racing in late 1974, Andretti started out with a promising 7th place finish from of a field of 30 cars. The biggest challenge faced by Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing was the lack of funds and the lack of development time, resulting in reliability issues that snatched away a number of high place finishes for the team.

Failures of parts like suspension and transmission components cost the team dearly needed points and with no new source of funding the decision was made to leave Formula 1 and focus on racing in the United States where the team already had a slew of successes.

After the team was shuttered Andretti joined the Lotus Formula One Team, he immediately started claiming race wins in 1977 and took the World Drivers’ Championship title in 1978. To date, Andretti remains the only driver in the world to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), the Daytona 500 (1967), and the Formula One World Championship (1978).

Car designer Maurice Philippe would go on to work for the Tyrrell team and team boss Parnelli Jones would go down in history as one of the greatest American drivers and team bosses in history.

Above Video: See some footage of Andretti in the Parnelli VPJ-4 at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.

1974 Parnelli VPJ-4 Chassis 4/002 Shown Here

The car you see here is the second of the three that were built, it was personally driven by Mario Andretti and it’s likely the most historically significant of the three as it was in this car that Andretti led 10 laps at the Montjuic Park Circuit at the Spanish Grand Prix in 1975.

It was also in this car that he took that 3rd place at the International Trophy Race non-points race at Silverstone, as well as a 4th Place at the Anderstorp Scandanavia Raceway in the Swedish Grand Prix in 1975.

The car is now coming up for sale, it’s accompanied by spare VPJ-4 Formula 1 racing wheels, tires, and additional parts. Due to the popularity of the Cosworth DFV V8 engine and the Hewland gearbox sourcing parts shouldn’t prove difficult at all.

If you’d like to read more about this car or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing on Mecum. It’s due to cross the auction block in mid-May.