The first production C8 ZR1 Corvette sold for an eye-watering 3.7 million dollars at Barrett Jackson in Scottsdale, Arizona. VIN 001 was won at auction by none other than Rick Hendrick, who has a long history of purchasing these kind of vehicles to add to his already impressive car collection.
Photos Courtesy of Barrett Jackson
According to Barrett Jackson, Rick Hendrick has purchased 25 charity cars over the years for a total close to 29,000,000 dollars, many of which are VIN 001 Corvettes. In January of 2022, Rick Hendrick bought the VIN 001 C8 Z06 Corvette for $3,600,000 at a Barrett Jackson auction with proceeds going to Operation Homefront for veterans. He also bought the first production C8 Corvette for $3,000,000, as well as the first production C7 ZR1 Corvette a few years prior.
Rick Hendrick is the owner and founder of the Hendrick Automotive Group, a network of over 100 car dealerships, but is best known as the owner of the NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports. He has a large personal car collection and a history of buying rare cars and VIN 001 specialty cars like this C8 ZR1 Corvette.
On the evening of Saturday, January 25th, Hendrick added the first production C8 ZR1 to his extensive car collection. The hammer went down on the winning bid of $3,700,000 with the money going to the American Red Cross disaster relief fund. As with most of these charity auctions, Barrett Jackson waived all auction fees, so 100% of the hammer price will be donated. Ordering for Chevrolet’s next ‘king-of-the-hill’ Corvette will open to the public on February 13th with MSRP pricing starting at $174,995, but to get his hands on the very first one, Mr Hendrick put down $3.7 million.
ZR1 Corvettes have a record of going down in history as the best of each generation. With the C8 ZR1 claiming such accolades as the most powerful Corvette ever made, the quickest Corvette ever made, and the fastest Corvette ever made, it’s a no-brainer that VIN 001 would go for such an astonishing price.