The return of the "King of the Hill".....

[Carnage]

Motor Trend is reporting that GM has settled on a name for the upcoming Corvette which up to this point has been known as the "Blue Devil"...and the name will be the ZR1.

That badge will appear on the January 2008 Detroit show car and on the production version set to go on sale later next year as a 2009 model. It will be powered by a supercharged version of the new 6.2-liter LS3 which is in the 2008 Corvette and will be somewhere in the area of 650 to 700 HP.

The price will be much higher than the Z06 (reports have it at around 100K), and Chevy will continue production of the Z06 after the ZR1 launches.

For you history bluffs....the first "ZR1" was an RPO in MY70 (25), 71 (8) and 72 (20) (# of cars built). It consisted of the LT1 Special High-Performance Small-Block V8 along with other performance options such as HD brakes, aluminum radiator, HD suspension and (high-tech at the time) transistor ignition. Also many convenience options (A/C, power steering, etc) were not available when ZR1 was ordered.

Chevy revived the name from 1990-1995 for the C4 version known as the "King of the Hill". It had a Lotus-designed, Mercury Marine-built quad-cam V-8 LT5 motor which put out 375 + horsepower (375 in 1990 and upped to 405 in 1993) and was capable of 0-60 in 4.6 seconds and a top speed of 180+, those are times which are considered very good even today and this is a car built almost 20 years ago. The car was ahead of it's time in more ways then one...go here to read more,..http://www.zr1netregistry.com/firstking.htm

The new ZR1 should be a monster and by giving it the ZR1 moniker, GM is giving this car a performance heritage to uphold. Damn, I can't wait to drive one.

[voltron1011]

ZR-1, huh? Cool!!!

I remember the one in the early '90s.. The only way to idenify it from the normal Vettes was the square quad tail lights and the exhaust tips.

[toofasttooslow]

They better include 3 foot wide drag radials to put the power down

[Carnage]

Originally Posted by voltron1011

ZR-1, huh? Cool!!!

I remember the one in the early '90s.. The only way to idenify it from the normal Vettes was the square quad tail lights and the exhaust tips.

something tells me this one is going to stick out like a sore thumb compared to the other Corvettes currently in production.