50 Years of the Chevrolet Corvette

1989

The Z52 option from previous years became standardized in all models of the 1989 Corvette. In addition to gaining Z52 equipment, seventeen-inch wheels and tires replaced the 16-inch setup from years prior. A new Z6 six-speed transmission was also included and accepted by consumers as a vast improvement over Dough Nash’s 4+3 manual transmission. The same year Chevrolet unveiled a new Z-R1 edition at the Geneva Auto Show. It had a 375 horsepower LT-5 Engine developed by Tony Rudd and his engineering team. The ZR-1 would not be available until the 1990 model year for the public, but Chevy built eighty-four for testing and exhibition. Despite not coming out that year, the dominant news cycle of the Z-R1 caused an increase in sales.