1987
CORVETTE
During February, 2005, after a very long search, we accepted
a new member into our family: A Dark Red Metallic, virtually all original, 1987 Corvette, 2-Door Coupe.
The body style is that of the 4th generation
Corvette, and for that reason is known as a C4. The engine is known as an L98,
that translates to being of 350 cubic inch displacement. It is fuel injected
and produces 240 horsepower. As the ‘Vette’s body is fiberglass,
and thus light, this turns out to be very satisfactory power as car magazine road
tests of the day gave its 0-60 mph times as being in the 6-7 second range, with a
top speed in excess of 140 mph.
It was purchased from a 66 year old fellow who was the
car’s second owner and who had it for the previous four years (during which
period he put about 4,000 miles on the car). When bought, the car had approximately
69,000 miles and looked like it could have come straight from a dealer. It was
obvious that it had been meticulously cared for. The representation that it had
likely never seen rain was entirely believable.
For those who care about such things, the seller even
had the original Build Sheet.
The car is well-appointed, but does not have every
option offered. Of those it does have, two tell the story that the original
purchaser thought more about performance than loading the car with the full
list of available creature comforts (though with tan leather seats, Delco-Bose
radio, and electronic air conditioning, it has plenty). Most notably, the car
has the very desirable Z52 “Sport Handling Package” and the “Performance Axel
Ratio” options. The Z52 option has all of the components that the street-racer,
Z51, package has but without the bone-jarring suspension. In addition to
the standard springs and shocks for a smoother ride, the package includes an oil cooler, wider
wheels, Bilstein shock absorbers, faster ratio steering,
heavy-duty radiator with electric cooling fan, and
body strengthening reinforcements taken from the convertible.
Finally, with the car came the 1st Place trophy
it won at a 2002 car show! Not too shabby.