This isn’t the first time I’ve written about the 1984-1996 C4 Corvette and it won’t be the last. It marked a new age in the history of “America’s Sports Car” that brought about great colors, an updated high-performance ZR-1 model, and a wedge-shaped design that still whips my head around for a better look. The fourth-generation Vette also got new engines, including the LT4 in my Pick of the Day, a 1996 Chevrolet Corvette coupe listed on ClassicCars.com by a private seller in Southlake, Texas.
Chevy packed a lot into the C4’s final model year. It offered both the Sebring Silver Metallic Collector Edition and the heritage-inspired Grand Sport in coupe and convertible body styles. In addition to the LT1 V8, the Vette was also available with a new LT4. Based on the LT1, it came equipped with “a new high-compression cylinder head, a recontoured camshaft, new fuel injectors and a performance crankshaft,” according to the brochure for the ’96 model.
The result of that new hardware was 330 horsepower and 340 lb-ft of torque, increases of 30 and five, respectively, compared to the LT1. There was a catch, though: You could only get the LT4 with certain configurations. It was standard on the Grand Sport, but only available in other Corvettes if they were ordered with the six-speed manual. If you wanted the extra power of the LT4 and the convenience of the four-speed auto, you were out of luck; that transmission was exclusively paired with the LT1. And if you waited until the 1997 model year to buy a Corvette, you were out of time because the LT4 was a ’96-only engine.
This particular Competition Yellow C4 coupe you see here has that special combination of the LT4 and six-speed, but there’s more to it than that. As the photos show, it also comes with a tinted glass removable roof panel, power-adjustable Black leather Sport seats, and an aftermarket head unit with navigation. Most significant is the low number on the digital odometer: 12,476 miles.
If you want to add to that figure while burning some rubber off the rear tires, you can do that for $26,000.
Click here or one of the pictures above to view the listing for this Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com.
