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First Production Corvette ZR1 Sells for $1 Million

written by John Chow on January 20th, 2008

bj-zr1.jpg

Chevrolet and Barrett-Jackson has auctioned off the world’s first 2009 Corvette ZR1. I knew demand was high for the Chevy’s new super Corvette. However, I didn’t expect the bidding to reach $1 million! Dave Ressler, the man who owns the world’s oldest surviving Corvette, 1953’s #003, is the proud new owner of ZR1 #001.

Now you might ask what kind of person pays a million bucks of a car that will retail for $100,000 to $120,000 when it hit dealerships later this year? In addition to owning the world’s oldest Corvette (which he paid $1 million for), Dave Ressler owns 26 other Corvettes (not counting his new ZR1).

When you think about it, Mr. Ressler got a pretty good deal. Because all proceeds from the sale of the car went to charity (the United Way), the amount that was over and above the MSRP is tax deductible. So Mr. Ressler ended up with a $100,000 car and $900,000 tax receipt. Not a bad way to spend a million bucks. Here’s the video of how it all went down.

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  1. Crazy! I think I’ll wait till the price drops by $900K.

  2. Uuhhh weeee – being from Europe, i like American cars in general.
    But that ZR1 ….. amazing….
    I want one for sure!

  3. Cool car. Most cars are depreciating assets, certainly not this one.

  4. Woohoo! Nice deal. Even nicer car.

  5. Pyjammez

    Very NICE! Though I’d rather buy the shell and stick a tesla motor in it haha

  6. Just got back from the show and I got a chance to see it up close. The brakes are just ridiculous :twisted: :mrgreen:

  7. I wish I had a million dollars…

    Hotdog! :lol:

  8. Wow, Unbelievable! Corvette is doing its thing and that car is definitely worth 1 million bucks. Hey Fat Kid Unlease sorry I don’t know your name but trust me If you did have a million dollars would you actually buy that car? I think you wouldn’t cause I know half of that money would go to those bills you owe. hehe

  9. John, I just read the latest issue of Entrepreneur magazine and saw the article on you. Not that there was any question about your status, having such a great article about you must make the unbelievers pay attention.

  10. Awesome video! Thanks for making me and my husband very happy for about 5 minutes. In a minute or so, I’ll probably start cussing for starting the jealousy though. :shock:

  11. Only a million, I guess you will have to keep it under 3 then huh?

  12. I bet the guy who bought it is a white boy red neck honky. Corvettes are such honky cars.

  13. Very cool. Droppin a mil down for a new Vet and the proceeds went to charity!

  14. ok this car is nice, but $ 1 million ? never !!! the car gods must be crazy !!! lol have fun.

  15. It’s good that the tax offset can benefit charity. But, I don’t find this car particularly hot. For 100K I would look towards Jaguar, Porsche, BMW etc.

  16. Very impressive. I got chills looking at that Corvette.

  17. That is one bad ass car…but they just had to keep the original BUTT..

    -Mike

  18. For 1 million, i think people just willing to buy what they like. :mrgreen:

  19. Jon

    Dave Ressler owns (co-owns?) a dealership in the city across the river from me. I’ve bought a few new cars/trucks there already. Dave’s a real nice guy and does have a great corvette collection which he is very proud of. This purchase don’t surprise me at all!

  20. And did you notice in the video that he raised his own bid from 900,000 to 1mil. I do that sort of thing too. “Oh, just throw in an extra 100,000 for good measure.” Don’t we all……