One-Of-Three C4 Corvette ZR1 Prototype Pops up for Sale

This ultra-rare C4 Corvette ZR1 prototype was used to test an early active suspension system.

The word “rare” is a subjective term, one that has been tossed around quite a bit in the world of collector cars. No one really knows what sort of number constitutes the use of the word, whether it be a few dozen, hundreds, or even thousands. Regardless, most everyone would agree that three is a pretty darn low number, and that makes this 1990 C4 Corvette ZR1 prototype up for grabs on eBay a truly rare find, and one that’s also quite special for a number of reasons.

Active suspension may be a pretty common thing on road cars today, but back in the 1980s and 1990s, it was reserved for race cars. General Motors famously teamed up with Lotus to work on developing active suspension systems for the street, and the two created a number of C4 Corvette ZR1 prototype cars (as well as non-ZR1s)  with these experimental suspensions for that very reason. Only three have reportedly survived to this day, and this is one of them.

GM poured millions into this project, but the hydraulic setup present in these prototypes just never really worked the way the automaker intended. The types of sensors and computing power required to operate it simply didn’t exist in 1990, and the system suffered from fluid cooling issues as well, which ultimately spelled doom for this particular project. Like we’ve often seen throughout the course of history, it was an idea that was ahead of its time – by around a decade in this case, to be exact.

Regardless, this prototype is a cool piece of automotive history that’s been documented by countless news outlets over the years. The seller notes that this example is fully functional, and it has just over 12k miles on the clock. The car looks to be in pretty amazing condition for a prototype, especially considering the fact that it routinely hit the race track and crested 175 mph during its time. Truthfully, it should probably be in a museum, but for the asking price of $89,500, this slice of Corvette history could soon be sitting in someone’s personal garage.

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Photos:eBay

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