The Overview

The C5 Corvette Z06 was built 2001–2004, 28,388 cars by GM’s counts. The return of the Z06 name: the fixed-roof hardtop body, the 385- then 405-hp LS6, a six-speed only, 3,118 pounds and a $47,500 price that undercut everything it could outrun.

The first modern Z06: the fixed-roof hardtop body, the lightest C5 at 3,118 pounds, with the LS6, a close-ratio M12 six-speed, FE4 suspension, 17 x 9.5 and 18 x 10.5-inch wheels on Eagle F1 Supercars, a titanium exhaust and functional brake ducts. 385 horsepower and $47,500 in 2001; 405 horsepower, 3.9 seconds to 60 and 171 mph from 2002, at $50,150 to $52,385. Chevrolet built 28,388: 5,773, 8,297, 8,635 and 5,683, the last 2,025 as Commemorative Editions with the carbon-fiber hood. In 2026 driven Z06s sold for $16,300 to $36,500, the best delivery-mileage cars for $41,500 to $55,000, and Classic.com’s benchmark sat around $28,500; the 2004 Commemorative Z06 benchmark was about $34,800.

This page has every model year of the C5 Corvette Z06 in its own section with the year page’s account, the specs, the numbers and the posts; the figures by year; the colors; how it compares to its siblings; the site’s guides, videos and news; and a buyer’s guide: which year to buy, what to pay, how to verify one, what goes wrong and the site’s market reports. The Corvette Z06 guide has the whole line across every generation.

The C5 Corvette Z06 Story

Bringing Back The Z06 Badge For The Corvette C5

After the dismal first half of the generation for the Corvette C4, things had started to look up in the early 1990s as the ZR-1 was released, the base spec options were increased, and interest in the branding started to grow again. However, by the time the high performance ZR-1, which had an at the time astounding 375 HP, had been developed and released, in its first year it was listed at $58,995 (approximately $133,700 in 2022 USD). This made it exorbitantly expensive, and a car for the wealthier of the Corvette enthusiasts.

Just under 7,000 ZR-1s were made, proving that there was a demand for higher-performance, race-car-derived Corvettes. Chevrolet took notice of that and while the Corvette C5 was being developed, they increased the base car’s performance with the LS1 V8 to 350 HP. As well, to reduce the overall cost of the C5, it was a totally new design, unlike an evolution of the previous generation’s chassis and design from the first four generations. It was affordably priced at $37,495 (about $69,100 today) and proved extremely popular from the start, selling almost 10,000 cars in 1997 alone after going on sale in August of that year.

However, from the start of production, there were plans to both create a race car version of the car, the Corvette C5.R, and a subsequent “race car for the road” version based on it. However, as the ZR-1 tag was still heavily associated with the fourth generation as it entered into the secondary and auction/resale market, another tag that signified racing performance in a road car was needed. The car itself was coming along nicely, development was going smoothly, but there was no tag attached to it.

In what we can only imagine was a meeting in a nameless boardroom at General Motors where an employee that was a Corvette history enthusiast suggested looking at the first year of the C2, as the Z06 code simply screamed out from the annals of history. As the C5 Z06 was going to be a lightweight, race-car derived option package, it was the perfect fit. This time around, however, the marketing and design team at Chevrolet were not bound by a ban on advertising a car as a race car for the road, and were not prevented from referring to the 1-2 victory of the C5.R at the 2001 24 Hours of Le Mans. The design team drew up a badge or twenty, and once one was selected, the Z06 made its first appearance on the side of a Corvette in August 2001.

For the Corvette C5, it was a mild upgrade, boosting the LS1 engine to 385 HP and codifying that upgrade as the LS6. A year later, that power was boosted to 405 HP, making the C5 Z06 one of the few American sports cars at the turn of the century that boasted over 400 HP. The Z06 was also restricted to being a hardtop coupe only, had race-derived FE4 suspension and springs, larger wheels and tires, functional brake cooling ducts (supercar level technology at the time), a special gear ratio setup for acceleration and top end speed, and featured a titanium exhaust system, thinner glass, a reduction in sound proofing, even going as far as using a lighter weight battery for the car.

As a result, the Corvette C5 Z06 was rapid, with 0 to 60 times in the low 4 seconds, sub-12 second quarter miles, and could hold over 1.02 G in skidpad testing, making it one of the best handling, fastest sports cars at the time. The Z06 sold like hotcakes despite being priced $10,000 above the base C5 coupe, as of the nearly 250,000 Corvette C5s sold between 1997 and 2004, 11.5% were Z06s, or put another way, just under 29,000 C5 Z06s were made.

As we all know, the subsequent generations that had race car versions also had a Z06 version come out a couple of years afterwards, including the current Corvette C8 Z06, the one of the most powerful cars that Chevrolet has sold. Ever. But, starting with the sixth generation, there was another badge that you could have affixed to the front fenders (or rear air scoops for the C8) of your Corvette…

MORE: THE CORVETTE Z06 GUIDE / THE C5 HUB

2001 Corvette Z06

Dave Hill’s race-ready Corvette and the first of four C5 Z06 years: the hardtop body with the 385-hp, 385-lb-ft LS6 (10.5:1 heads, hotter cam, high-flow intake, bigger injectors, 6,500-rpm redline), the close-ratio M12 six-speed as the only transmission, FE4 suspension, forged 17 x 9.5 and 18 x 10.5-inch wheels on Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires with an inflator kit in place of run-flats, the first titanium exhaust on a production car, thinner glass and a smaller battery for 3,118 pounds, mesh grilles, rear brake scoops, red calipers and cover, Z06 badges and black or black-and-Torch-Red seats with embroidered headrests. Chevrolet quoted 4.0 seconds to 60, 12.6 at 114 and 1.0 g at $47,500 with destination; 5,773 were built in Quicksilver (1,345), Black (1,819), Torch Red (1,623), Millennium Yellow (634) and Speedway White (352). In 2026 documented cars sold for $21,000 to $41,500 at auction by mileage, with a benchmark around $28,500; the 405-hp 2002–04 cars bring a little more.

MORE: THE 2001 RESEARCH PAGE / THE C5 Z06 STORY

2002 Corvette Z06

The 405-horsepower year. The LS6 gained a camshaft with 0.7 mm more lift, hollow-stem intake and sodium-filled exhaust valves, a low-restriction mass-airflow sensor and air cleaner and lost its two pup catalytic converters, for 405 hp at 6,000 rpm and 400 lb-ft at 4,800, the output of the C4 ZR-1’s LT5 in a car 400 pounds lighter; the clutch gained 7 percent clamp load and a thicker flange plate, the FE4 suspension revised rear shocks and cast-aluminum stabilizer links, the wheels went from forged to cast-spun, the front pads to a fade-resistant compound and the Head-Up Display became standard, with Electron Blue replacing Speedway White on the five-color chart. Chevrolet quoted 3.9 seconds to 60 mph, 12.4 at 116 in the quarter and 1.0 g for $50,150 (up $2,650), and 8,297 were sold, 1,467 Quicksilver, 1,814 Electron Blue, 2,205 Black, 1,746 Torch Red and 1,065 Millennium Yellow.

In 2026 documented cars sold for $23,000 to $39,000 at auction and $50,000 for a 430-mile example.

MORE: THE 2002 RESEARCH PAGE / THE C5 Z06 STORY

2003 Corvette Z06

The third C5 Z06 and its best-selling year: 8,635 built, mechanically the 2002 car, with the 405-hp, 400-lb-ft LS6, the close-ratio M12 six-speed, FE4 suspension, cast-spun 17 x 9.5 and 18 x 10.5-inch wheels on Eagle F1 Supercars, the titanium exhaust and the standard Head-Up Display, at $51,155, now within $800 of the convertible. For 2003 it gained the 50 emblems, a thicker headliner to meet the new head-impact rules and child-seat hooks, and lost nothing; the 50th Anniversary package and Magnetic Selective Ride Control were not offered on it, the magnetic shocks weighing 13 pounds more than its conventional units. It came in Black (2,599), Torch Red (1,967), Millennium Yellow (1,708), Electron Blue (1,272) and Quicksilver (1,089), with black or red/black seats.

In 2026 documented cars sold for $21,000 to $36,200 at auction by mileage and $55,000 for a 354-mile example.

MORE: THE 2003 RESEARCH PAGE / THE C5 Z06 STORY

2004 Corvette Commemorative Edition

The C5’s send-off, built to honor Corvette Racing’s 2001 and 2002 Le Mans class wins and offered on every body. On the coupe and convertible (RPO 1SC, $3,700 over the 1SB group): Le Mans Blue Metallic, a Shale leather interior with the Le Mans emblem embroidered on the headrests, Commemorative badges citing the titles, polished wheels with special centers and, on the convertible, a Shale top and a silver waterfall emblem; 2,215 coupes and 2,659 convertibles. On the Z06 (RPO Z16, $4,335): the C5-R’s silver-and-red center stripe over hood, roof and rear deck, polished Z06 wheels with “Commemorative 24:00 Heures du Mans” centers, the embroidered black interior and a carbon-fiber hood developed with MacLean and Toray, 20.5 pounds, 10.6 lighter than the composite panel and the first painted carbon-fiber panel on a North American-built production car; 2,025 built, the number fixed in advance, with 46 European Z18 coupes carrying the Z06’s hood, stripes and running gear.

In 2026 Z06 Commemoratives sold for $23,583 to $40,000 at auction by mileage, the coupes and convertibles for $19,800 to $22,500.

2004 Corvette Z06. The last and best-sorted C5 Z06: the 405-hp LS6, M12 six-speed, cast-spun wheels, titanium exhaust and standard HUD of 2002–03, with FE4 suspension retuned after Nürburgring testing (revised Sachs damping, stiffer upper-control-arm bushings, softer rear-bar bushings) for a car that settled faster in transitions and lapped the Nordschleife in under eight minutes; Car and Driver’s Frank Markus said it felt hundreds of pounds lighter and twice as rigid, and Motor Trend ran one 0–60 in 4.2 and the quarter in 12.4 at 117 mph. $52,385; 5,683 built in Le Mans Blue (2,025 Commemoratives), Black (1,186), Machine Silver (967), Torch Red (876) and Millennium Yellow (629), with black or black/Torch Red seats. In 2026 standard 2004 Z06s sold for $23,259 to $42,750 at auction by mileage, the Commemoratives a little above them.

MORE: THE 2004 RESEARCH PAGE / THE COMMEMORATIVE EDITION STORY / THE C5 Z06 STORY