Mecum Auctions will be offering a very rare 1972 Corvette ZR1 coupe at their upcoming 25th Anniversary Indianapolis auction May 15th to 20th. The blue coupe is one of just 20 produced in 1972 and one of 53 built during the 1970 to 1972 production run.

When selected, RPO ZR1 equipped your new Corvette with the solid lifter LT-1 motor, M22 4-speed transmission, heavy duty power brakes, transistor ignition (in ’70 and ’71 only), and heavy duty suspension and radiator. It also deleted the radio and the radiator shroud. In 1972 the option package added $1,010 (or roughly 18%) to the $5,533 coupe base price.

The restored matching number example seen here is one of the 20 built in 1972 as documented by the tank sticker and Protect-O-Plate. All of the ZR1-specified items mentioned above are present on the blue / black car. The auction listing calls it Bryar Blue, but we think it’s actually code 979 Targa Blue. Either way, we still want to buy it and drive it.

Lot number #S159 will be selling at approximately 2:25pm CST on Saturday May 19th.

The most recent sale of a 1972 ZR1 at auction took place in January of this year when an Elkhart Green on black example sold at Mecum Kissimmee for $130,000. Although the Elkhart Green car had a deluxe interior and this one has a base vinyl interior, we still expect that the selling price for this blue one will be pretty much that same amount.

Mecum’s 25th annual Indianapolis event takes place May 15th to 20th, 2012. We’ll have more details on the event and additional Corvettes there as the date approaches.