CRUSHER-ESCAPEE ZR1
The lives of automobile manufacturers’ prototypes are often short-lived. After coming to life as a test bed for design or engineering ideas (or both), the prettiest and luckiest among prototypes usually stand tall on a display stand at an auto show. After the ideas and concepts that these prototypes test become obsolete, the vehicles are almost always destroyed to prevent them from becoming corporate liabilities. Only a few have survived, and they are cherished.
Many readers are familiar with General Motors’ practice of crushing most of its prototype vehicles because they are rarely tested to ensure they meet the requirements to be safely operated on U.S. roads. Furthermore, these prototypes are not always built to the standards required for a reasonably long service life. Such was the case with the 1988 Corvette ZR1 prototype known by its GM code of . All of the ZR1 prototypes were sent to the crusher, but is one of two that miraculously survived.
