murph182

A buddy of mine has 9 brand new C-4 Zr-1 engines in GM crates that he purchased from GM years ago. He says he paid GM $15,000 for each motor. He thinks he's going to make a killing on each engine whether he sells them complete or parts them out. What say you? I personally think he's dreamin if he thinks they're worth a fortune... but I may be wrong.
Thanks,
Dan

Z51JEFF

Your not wrong.Ive seen these on Fleabay for $14,000 for crate motors

Polo-1

Ive seen them sale for $18k and as low as $8k.

Zrxmax

Considering the time his interest earning money has been out of circulation and adjusted for inflation I don't see 9 engines at 15K a pop as a good investment.

On the other hand, having a couple new spares laying around would do wonders for my parts collection!

rickyrj1

How long did he plan on waiting for a return on his 135k investment? Economy is tuff now, can he hold them longer? Sounds like he has some coin to do so. If he is serious about selling them he should put them up here and the ZR1 net reg. first. Ebay will be bottom feeders.
Good Luck, hope all works out for him.

Cdn ZR1 95

Most of what I have seen on ebay has not sold at anywhere near that price.

locobob

I think your friend made a bad investment. I doubt he'll even be able to recoup the original purchase price let alone make a profit.

LT5corsa

Depends on if they are early motors or late ones (2 or 4 bolt mains).

If he paid $15k each, they MUST be 4 bolt mains....

Polo-1

don't think I have seen a create 375hp motor for sale.
All the ones I know of were 93-95 405 hp motors in plastic wrapper.

Redline7g

I think he's crazy. Whose he going to sell them to? These motors last forever! His grandkids will still be holding on to them hoping that they become valuable. He would have had more fun if he had bought 3 or 4 ZR-1' s and had some fun with his money!

cv67

^^^
Exactly. Bad time to try and sell one of those. heck for 15 you can buy a complete car these days. Maybe someone will step up, who knows.

normally you sell when money is flowing and people can afford it. Maybe youre friend needs a reality check which I think he will get on Ebay. I had a tough time getting 5k for a sub 5k mile LT5.

xlr8nflorida

You know what they say, a picture is worth $135,000.

Wolfgang427

Is he also selling a bridge in Brooklyn by any chance? There's no way he will ever come close to getting his money back if he paid $15K apop.

Z51JEFF

So,less than $14,000 for a crate motor,it just got worse for the OPs friend.When I say crate motor I do mean NOS as in never in a car.Somebodys got to have money to burn to spend the cash for all these motors only to loose his *** when it comes time to sell them.

Aurora40

How long ago did he buy them?

cv67

Oh someone will buy them he has to be real patient and wait for someone wanting a virgin untouched one. They are out there.

richardhead

I believe I know the guy who owns these engines, and if it is who I think it is, he is a straight shooter and no dummy.

Some of his 93-94-95 motors are in GM wooden crates, and the rest (90-91-92) are in plastic bags sitting in the original giant steel GM shipping racks, three to a rack. As I understood things talking to him and looking at the motors, all the engines are complete with all accessories, as would have been installed in the cars at the factory, right back to the clutch and bellhousings.

The nice thing is none of the engines have any car serial numbers stamped on them, and the production dates stamped onto the motors cover a wide enough range of production dates...perfect fof restoring an original car. Unfortunately, a lot of these engines are now going into Hot Rods, and the motors can pump out big big horsepower with turbos and superchargers on them. As I understand, the things are practically bullet-proof.

All I Know is the OEM spark plug wire sets on those motors bring $300 per set or more, and the OEM dealer replacement cost back in the mid-90s for all the parts in the engine run around $60K or more per motor. I think he could part these engines out for a fair amount of money, but what a shame to do it. I have seen them, and they are works of art. He did say there were no other new 90-91-92 engine assemblies available anywhere other than the ones he owned, and that from a durability standpoint there was little to no difference in the strength of the bottom ends between the two and four bolt motors. Apparently, he is ex-GM connected and knew a lot of the development folks.

The guy was never looking to "make a killing", as I understand. At one time he owned three of the ZR-1 cars, and wanted to be sure there would be parts available at reasonable cost for him and other enthusiasts to keep the cars running. I believe he also owns the only inventory of brand new OEM Mahle piston/liner assemblies in the world, and sells them very cheap. Since the motor is a wet sleeve engine, using the forged Nikasil liners is apparently crucial to avoiding galvanic block corrosion when replacing liners. I think he bought a bunch of other stuff from GM, also, when they stopped production of the engine.

So, I think this guy is more altruistic than greedy, and simply wanted to assure affordable access to OEM parts for himself and other enthusiasts. From what I know, money is not an issue with him, either.

I remember in the 80's when you couldn't give away a 427 Corvette engine, and big block cars sold for far less than small blocks. Things have certainly changed, so I wouldn't count these early ZR-1 cars or parts out either. I wish I'd had the foresight to buy my buddy's 1967 L-89 aluminum head big block loaded (everything but A/C and an L-88)Corvette marlboro maroon/black stinger/black interior convertible when he dumped it for $4200. No one wanted the car. My, how things change.

So, my point is these ZR-1 cars are unique and over time will only become rarer as they crash and parts availability decreases. And that means they may become more desirable and parts become a lot more expensive. Maybe the guy ain't so far off base?

5abivt

Sucks though you can pick up a whole zr1 for that price. Even then there will be those out there that will spend the money. If I win the lottery I'll be buying a 93 zr1. Id happily buy a crate motor for whatever he asks and have him ship it to someone to build me a 10,000 rpm screamer! But oh wait, Id rather start with a 4 bolt main so maybe I'll use the original motor instead.

richardhead

I just talked with him, as some folks have shown interest in the motors. He has both 1993-1995 4-bolt main and 1990-1992 2-bolt main engines. I believe he also has the very last documented engine to come off the line, although it is only a partial 4-bolt assembly. He showed me all the testing and assembly paperwork, including a certifying letter from Gary Cline of Mercruiser's LT-5 project management.

smartdoggystl

if he bought these Lt5's 10 years ago, he lost less money then he would have if he would have invested that 135k in the stock market in a mutual fund that tracks the S&P500 Index.