C4 Facts
Production was shifted from the plant in St. Louis, Missouri to the new plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The new Corvette plant was among the most highly automated anywhere.
Because of quality control problems in the initial production run, Corvette production was halted and no 1983 Corvettes were produced for sale. Some were produced for engineering tests and for quality control purposes, but these were not for sale. It was too late into the model year by the time the problems were taken care of, so the C4 Corvette was introduced as a 1984 model.
In 1986, Lotus in England started producing the LT5 engine. This motor was based on the 350 cubic inch Chevrolet small block. The most important distinction between this engine and other Corvette engines was its use of four valves per cylinder. It incorporated twin double-overhead cams and produced 375 net horsepower.
For 1992, the Corvette came with the LT1 small block that produced 300 horsepower.
In 1996 the Corvette was
offered in four basic models:
- The standard coupe
- The convertible
- The Grand Sport which was blue with white stripes and came with the LT4
small block with 330 horsepower. It came with black finish 5 spoke wheels.
- The Collectors Edition which only offered silver for its exterior paint.
It also had chrome plated emblems instead of the normal black finish. The
Collectors Edition came with the silver finish 5 spoke wheels.
