1992 Chevrolet Corvette C4

On July 2nd of 1992, Chevrolet produced its 1,00,000th Corvette. The 1992 Corvette was available as a convertible coupe, hatchback coupe, and a ZR1 coupe. Visually, there were few changes for this year's model and the base engine was a 5.7-liter V8 rated at 300 horsepower. Base horsepower jumped by 50 for the 1992 Corvette as the L98 gave way to a much-modified version called LT1. The LT1 used reverse-flow cooling (which meant the heads were cooled before the block), a new distributor, and had a higher compression ratio of 10.5:1. The distributor, called the 'Optispark,' was driven off the front of the camshaft and positioned in front of the timing cover, just above the harmonic balancer and traction control unit. The traction control device could be turned off if desired.

New for this year were the Goodyear GS-C asymmetrical tires and the Acceleration Slip Regulation (ASR) system, both standard equipment. The ZR-1 engine was rated at 375 horsepower and mated to a six-speed manual transmission. The Corvettes that contained the ZR-1 performance package were branded with a ZR-1 badge mounted on the side of its clam-shell hood, and they had rectangular exhaust outlets. The LT5 32-valve dual overhead camshaft aluminum V-8 was backed by an MN6 6-speed manual transmission.

The 1992 Corvette Hatchback coupe had a base price of $33,635 and the Convertible sold for $40,145. 14,604 examples of the coupe were built and 5,875 of the convertible.

The 1992 Corvette was part of the fourth generation of the Corvette produced from 1984 through 1996. When it arrived in 1984 it represented the first complete redesign of the Corvette since 1963. For the final year of C4 production, Chevrolet released the Grand Sport (GS) version with a total of 1,000 examples built, with 190 being convertibles.

by Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2012