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Here's the story...
lllustrated Corvette Series No. 99 1995 Pace Car Corvette
"The Rarest of the Indy 500 Pacer Corvettes" 1995
was an unusual year for the Corvette. It was the final year for one of
the most exotic and expensive production Corvettes ever made, the ZR-1.
It was also the third time a Corvette was used as the pace car for the
"greatest spectacle in motor racing" - the Indianapolis 500. A Corvette
paced the Indy 500 in '78 and in '86. Pace Car replicas have been the
subject of some wild collectibility speculation, especially in 1978.
But the 1995 Pace car Special would prove to be the all-time most
desirable Pace Car Corvette.
The 1978 Pace Car Special came along during the darkest days of
Corvette performance history. After decades of tire-burning performance
in the '50s, '60s, and early '70s, the Corvette had become a shadow of
its former high-performance persona. But at least it survived the
muscle car meltdown of the early '70s. So when the '78 Pace Car Special
was announced, collectors and speculators went a little crazy thinking
that the car would become one of the most desirable Corvettes of
all-time. What was supposed to be a limited-production run of 300 cars,
turned out to be 6,501 cars. And there was a serious issue over quality
control, or lack there of. It ended up that many buyers paid way too
much for their car and the collector value never was there.
The Corvette was reborn in 1984 and there was no looking back. The
roadster returned in 1986 and the Corvette was given the opportunity to
pace the Indy 500 once again. To avoid the big collector crunch,
Chevrolet decided that every Corvette Roadster would be a "Pace Car
Special." This time Chevrolet produced 7,315 pace car replicas. There
was also a big price increase from the '78 Pace Car replica. In '78 the
185-horsepower Pace Car option made the car cost $13,653 - a lot of
money back then. The 230-horsepower '86 Pace Car cost $32,032. 1995 was
like a different world. The Pace Car Special now cost $46,481, had
300-horsepower under the hood, was lighter, and much more refined. And
with only 527 units built, it was a true collectible.
The $2,816 Indy 500 Pace Car Replica option was arguably the nicest
Corvette pace car package to date and was very distinctive. The paint
scheme was dark purple metallic over arctic white and a white
convertible top. The new style, 5-spoke ZR-1 allow wheels wore
275/40x17 Goodyear GSC tires. The interior had a black and purple
leather seats with 1995 event logo embroidery on the seat headrests.
All of the '95 Pace car Special Corvettes were built in March and April
of 1995 and the first 50 cars built had all black interiors. As we
mentioned in a previous installment of this series, there was no
horsepower increase for 1995, but there were many subtle improvements
made to the car. The only options that were not available were the
lift-out roof panels, the adjustable suspension package, and the ZR-1.
A fully loaded 1995 Corvette Pace Car Special could cost over $51,500.
The base price of a '95 Corvette was "only" $36,785.
Chevrolet built three cars to pace the Indy 500 in 1995. Two of the
cars built had the standard 4-speed automatic transmission and the
third car had a manual 6-speed gearbox. The only things added to the
actual pace cars were 360-degree strobe lights, a roll bar, five-point
driver and passenger harnesses, and an on-board fire suppression
system. Everything else on the cars was stock! With 300-horsepower,
there was no need for any power enhancements or special performance
engines. The stock '95 Corvette was more than up for the job.
Chevrolet only allotted one '95 Pace Car Special to each of the top
Corvette retail dealers from 1994. Since the production numbers were so
low, the current value of the '95 Pace Car Special is still high,
fetching between $24,900 and $36,500.
Chevrolet General Manager, Jim Perkins paced the 1995 Indy 500 with the
only stick version of the pace car Corvette. .
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