It’s a Long, Long Wait for New $58,900 Corvette

Chevrolet’s much ballyhooed but seldom seen wundervette, the ZR-1 Corvette, officially debuts today, but a handful of Southlanders have already claimed the keys to the ultra-performance cars.

But at what a price.

Try $90,000. That’s the nice round sum a doctor forked over to Courtesy Chevrolet for his black ZR-1, which sported a sticker price of $58,900.

“He came in, drove it and was elated,” said Howard Klove, general manager of the Thousand Oaks dealership. “He was tickled to death to get it. The price was not a problem.”

The ZR-1 features a more powerful engine than the standard Corvette, a slightly redesigned body and other added features.

But even if a $30,000 premium isn’t a roadblock, anyone hoping to buy a ZR-1 had better be prepared to wait. There are about 60 ZR-1s in the United States today, and total production for 1990 is expected to total only 3,000 cars. That has forced dealers to keep waiting lists of buyers. Every dealership contacted by The Times said its list contains 50 to 70 names.

“I’ve checked every dealer within a 20-mile radius of here and I haven’t heard of one that’s selling them for less than $75,000,” said Chris Oliver of Champion Chevrolet in Manhattan Beach.

Champion is getting its first ZR-1 today. The second has been bought by Champion’s owner. “He’s going to leave it in the show room so people can always see one,” Oliver said, adding that Champion plans to sell ZR-1s at sticker prices.

Bert Mason, a Seattle wine merchant, doesn’t even have a car to sell, but he has taken out a classified ad in The Times offering his spot on a ZR-1 waiting list for the best offer over $20,000.

“It’s such a hot commodity,” Mason said. Although he has never driven a ZR-1, he can recite the hype, chapter and verse. “The ZR-1 is a car that gives you incredible gas mileage and creature comforts but when you want to get lead-footed it’ll suck up anything out there.”