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Chevrolet never built a "35th Anniversary Edition" Corvette as a separate model in 1988. It was an order code. Check RPO Z01 and a buyer added $4,795 to the $29,489 coupe, and in return the car left the factory white from the wheels to the steering wheel. A 6,705-mile example is live on PCARMARKET now, with the auction scheduled to close November 12.
What the Z01 box actually bought
The Z01 package was coupe-only, and Chevrolet built 2,050 of them out of roughly 22,800 Corvettes in 1988. The exterior was white with a black roof halo and windshield frame. The 17-inch wheels, mirrors, door handles and body moldings were white too, and anniversary badges sat above the side gills. Inside, the leather sport seats, the steering wheel, the console cover and the door trim were white, set against a black dash and carpet. A numbered plaque on the console identified the car as one of the run.
The rest of the price went to equipment that Chevrolet bundled into the package. That meant power-adjustable sport bucket seats, electronic automatic climate control, a Delco-Bose stereo, a tinted removable roof panel, heated mirrors and the Z52 handling package. In 1988 the Z51 suspension option added front brakes with a larger rotor, but it required a manual gearbox, so the Z52 was the sensible fit for an automatic-equipped car like this one.
Why Chevrolet did it
The point was the calendar. The Corvette turned 35 in 1988, and the white-on-white color scheme was a nod to the 1953 Motorama car that started it all. Chevrolet showed the Z01 car at the New York Auto Show and planned about 2,000 of them. Demand was strong enough that it built 50 more. The option vanished after one model year, and the Corvette went back to its regular color and trim menu for 1989, the year the ZF six-speed replaced the older manual transmissions. If you want to see how the earlier gearbox worked, we recently covered a 1988 convertible with the Doug Nash 4+3.
The car, and the digital dash
Under the hood is the tuned-port-injected 350, rated at 240 horsepower, behind a four-speed automatic. The listing describes the car as carrying the Z01 package and shows the console plaque. The seller also reports original-condition leather, with no cracking on the driver's seat bolster and only slight discoloration on the armrest and pull handle. The original tires are available separately and can be shipped from South Carolina, and a clean CARFAX report is included in the listing.
The cabin is where the C4 was at its most 1980s. The leather-wrapped wheel frames the digital instrument panel that the Corvette wore from its 1984 debut through 1989, and the dash also includes an onboard trip computer. That set of gauges looks very different against a white interior than it does in the usual red or black car.
Why it appeals now
The Z01 appeals to Corvette people because it is a documented, factory-installed, one-year-only car that you can recognize from across a parking lot. At under 7,000 miles, this one also gives the buyer something that is hard to find on the C4: an unrestored car with its original white leather. White interiors show wear, so low-mileage survivors matter. The listing is a reserve auction run by a dealer in Westhampton, New York, and no bids had been placed when we checked. For more Corvette history, see Motorious Explores the Chevy Corvette, or the 1991 ZR-1 'King of the Hill' for the other end of the C4 story.
View the 1988 Corvette 35th Anniversary Edition on PCARMARKET
