It’s every car enthusiast’s nightmare, having your four-wheeled pride and joy stolen never to be seen again. That became a reality for a Grimsby, Ontario, Canada car collector who lost his rare C7 ZR1 convertible to car thieves in the middle of the night last August. This motorhead’s bad dream ended up even worse because it was seen again but in the worst possible state, the rare C7 ZR1 stolen and left for dead on the side of the road.

The ZR1 model for the Corvette has always been a low-production, race-spec option for the street. The first ZR1s, in the C3 generation, could only be optioned with the 370 horsepower LT-1 small block. The next generation C4 ZR1 saw a Corvette first, a DOHC V8 producing 405 horsepower by the end of its production run. The C7 ZR1 Corvette was no different from its swan-song big brothers.

The 755-horsepower supercharged LT5 was exclusive to the 2019 ZR1 and was only offered as a crate engine through Chevrolet Performance on a limited basis for a short period of time, making it highly sought after and valuable.

The C7 ZR1 was only produced for one model year, 2019. Among carbon-ceramic brakes and special suspension was the exclusive LT5 V8, a 755-horsepower supercharged V8 owing its roots to the more common Z06 model’s LT4 engine. And like previous ZR1 generations, it was a low-production model, with less than three thousand being produced that single model year.

For the first time since the early 70s, you could get a ZR1 in convertible form. Only 512 convertible C7 ZR1s were ever made.

Car theft is on the rise in Canada and this Corvette is the latest victim. This particular C7 ZR1 was exceptionally rare, as it was 1 of 512 ZR1 convertibles made and only 1 of 3 registered C7 ZR1 convertibles in Canada. As reported by CTV, one of Canada’s news organizations, once this ZR1 was stripped of its parts, it was dumped on a rural dirt road in the New Lowell community of Ontario. The entire drivetrain, wheels and tires, interior, and body panels were removed. All that remained to be dumped was the shell.

Locals state that they have seen more stolen and discarded carcasses dumped in the low-traffic areas of their community. But they haven’t seen anything this special or expensive stripped for parts and left on their dirt roads. The original C7 ZR1 MSRP was around $125,000, with rare and low-mileage examples such as this Sebring Orange convertible going for over $250,000. Hopefully, insurance will make this car collector whole again, but it may be challenging to find an owner of another Sebring Orange C7 ZR1 convertible willing to let theirs go, as only 197 of those were made in total.

Car thieves have dumped gutted stolen cars on this road before, according to locals. Its remote location keeps them from getting caught.