What Can Money Buy You? $60,000 Worth of Corvette C5 Z06

Can money buy you happiness? Not if you’re looking to sell it again.

Everybody wants a fast car but not everyone can buy it right away. However, that is the reason speed shops like Lingenfelter Performance, Vengence Racing, and others exist – to allow customer sto purchase speed. That was exactly the case for this early 2001 C5 Z06. Later editions of this car came with more power from the factory, but it’s easy to more than make up for the difference with the LS6 engine.

The original parts list from Lingenfelter is extensive and impressive for its nearly $30-thousand price tag. The 3100-pound car was propelled by a LPE Forged 346 engine with CNC ported LS1 heads and a LPE GT2 Turbo Camshaft. The twin Garrett turbochargers are fed by a set of custom exhaust manifolds under the car and lead into a BB Tri-Flow stainless exhaust system. This also requires a scavenge pump for the oil drain on the turbos because they can’t be gravity drained. This initial tune resulted in a 550-horsepower car but, as always, the owner wanted more.

That’s when it went to Vengeance Racing in Abingdon, Virginia for more power. This is when they cranked up the boost with a TurboSmart manual boost controller and installed an Alky Control Methanol Injection system with a three-bar map sensor and tune from Vengeance Racing. This new 13-psi of boost meant that the stock transmission had to go. A RPM Level 10 4L65E went in place of the manual with a Precision Industries low-stall torque converter. The rear differential was also replaced with a RPM Level 4 Corvette Differential with 3.42:1 gearing. This pushed the engine to a final 640-horsepower and 644-lb/ft of torque. This also bumped up the total cost of modification to just south of $60-thousand.

Sounds fun and the car still drives easily and could be used as a daily thanks to the twin turbos and the exhaust system. However, with all that money spent the resale value of the car hasn’t been raised. It last sold for $30-thousand. A bone stock, low-mileage C5 Z06 can sell for nearly that and the better, more powerful factory stock versions sell for over that. Then again, if you’re in the market for power, you would be getting a high-value for your money.

So, what do you think? Was the original owner justified in spending all that money for the power just to lose over $30-thousand in resale? Would you buy a used, highly-modified Corvette with big power like this?