LT5 Crate Engine Sells For Over $50k At Auction

With the upcoming ZR1 setting records left and right, there is now another ZR1 record for the books. But we aren’t talking about the C8 generation Corvette, or even the car itself for that matter. We are talking about the supercharged 6.2-liter LT5 engine from the C7 ZR1. Over the weekend, a still-new crate with the limited-production 755-horsepower Gen-V LT5 crate engine inside once offered by Chevrolet Performance sold on Bring-A-Trailer for an eye-watering $51,000.

When Chevrolet announced the C7 ZR1 back in 2017 it captured all the headlines, and for good reason, as the ZR1 is traditionally the ‘King Of The Hill’ for that generation and boasts performance figures that make its lesser models look like family eco hatchbacks. Chevrolet wanted the last front-engine Corvette generation to go out with a bang, so it needed more than the 650-horsepower LT4 to go with its extreme racecar-like handling.

Chevrolet took the LT4 out of the Z06, changed the camshaft and crankshaft, and swapped the Eaton TVS1740 supercharger for the much larger TVS2650 blower. They also equipped the LT5 with a special fuel system no Gen-V LT engine has ever received from the factory, dual fuel injection. The LT5 still had the DI system of the LT4, but hid port injectors in the supercharger base to help with the supplemental fuel the 755-horsepower V8 needed.

It came to everyone’s shock when Chevrolet Performance announced at SEMA 2018 that it was going to offer this as a crate engine for sale to the public. What was the original price? Well, $17,995 would allow you to snag the LT5 crate engine that powered the one-year-only ‘King Of The Hill’ ZR1. But it also essentially required you to purchase Chevrolet Performance’s engine controller kit, as the aftermarket offered nothing at the time that could control the dual fuel injection. That engine controller kit alone added almost five thousand dollars to your purchase, bringing the total to roughly $23,000 before tax and shipping.

Chevrolet Performance only offered the LT5 crate engine for a little more than two years. Combining that statistic with its low production volume, dry sump oil system that complicated engine swaps and conversions, and the initially high MSRP, it is easy to see that this was not their big seller compared to the other LS and LT crate engines they offered. But that scarcity and exclusivity combined with the highest horsepower production pushrod V8 GM ever offered, and the highest horsepower production engine ever offered by GM until the latest C8 ZR1, have driven prices through the roof, especially for crate engines that are still brand new in the crate and come with the equally hard-to-come-by engine controller kit.

LT5 crate engines have brought big money on the auction site that is known for unique and classic cars in the past, but when the seller listed theirs for sale, the bidding took off about as fast as a C7 ZR1 goes from a standstill to sixty. The bidding wrapped up Sunday night to the tune of $51,000 to the new owner. No word yet on their plans for it. As valuable as the crate engine is, we hope that they finally swap it into a deserving project car and not left in the crate, the way Chevrolet Performance intended.