Corvette aficionado loves restoring his Torch Red C-4
After serving in the Army Signal Corps during the Vietnam War, Abe Petrow graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in creative arts. He got his San Francisco street artist license in 1974, selling jewelry and wood products. He still sells his woodwork at the Ferry Building art market on some Saturdays, at art shows and craft fairs around the country and on his website at www.abeautifulpen.com.
My ride is a 1993 Corvette C-4. The number “4” stands for the fourth generation Corvette.
This model, built from 1984 to 1996, replaced the third generation Shark and the second generation Stingray.
1993 was the 40th anniversary of the Corvette, and over 1 million Corvettes had been produced by that year. I personally think 1993 is the best year of the C-4, as the 300 hp LT1 engine that came out in 1992 had a year to work out the bugs, and improvements were limited in the 1994-96 models as the next generation C-5s were being designed and tested.
In 1980, Chevrolet engineers and designers studied the Porsche 928, Maserati Ghibli, Ferrari 330 GT, and the Lamborghini Miura. They wanted to build a racecar that could go 175 mph for 24 hours and win at Le Mans, but still be somewhat comfortable as a daily driver.
The car didn’t win at Le Mans, but easily won all of the SCCA Show Room stock races in the mid-1980s. They won so often that the SCCA eventually banned the Corvette from participating.
The engineers, led by Dave McLellan, had designed the best racecar in the world to date. They were shocked to learn, from a questionnaire sent to all owners in the early ’90s, that 94 percent of Corvette owners had no interest in racing at all.
As a result of the efforts of those engineers, I feel very safe on local roads at normal speed limits knowing that this car, with the 11.9-inch disc brakes, roll bars, and ABS/ASR Bosch braking and traction systems, was designed to be safe at much higher speeds.
One of the interesting things about the C-4 is that the radiator slants at 15 degrees to accommodate the low profile of the wind-tunnel tested design. The engineers at General Motors discovered that when they slanted the radiator it deflected radar and reduced the normal effectiveness of radar guns from 3,000 feet by half. They were so excited by this discovery that they started to put various engine components and other metal parts in the car at a slight angle. The flat angles of the F117 stealth fighter later corroborated this research.
A Corvette C-4 in decent condition can be found for $7,000 to $14,000, a tenth of what a new sports car costs today. Tune-ups can be expensive though, as the distributer is under and behind the water pump, which has to be removed.
Avoid the ZR-1, as you might pay up to twice as much for only 30 more hp. Since there were less than 500 ZR-1’s sold each year, the number of remaining mechanics in the U.S. who have experience repairing its LT-5 engine can be counted on both hands.
My car has a recent threecoat Torch Red paint job with three clear coats, applied by Vince Bongiorno at First Class Autobody in Santa Rosa. He added the 18-inch marbleized black stripe and pin stripes that set the car apart.
The Kenwood stereo is matched to a Powerzone amplifier with 900 watts per channel, and a custom made box for two 10” speakers, in addition to the four Orion 6-by-9-inch speakers.
I don’t plan to ever sell my C-4 Corvette. Restoring the car is a rewarding pastime. Rubber seals, more chrome and matching red leather seats are in the works. I don’t use it for everyday transportation, but it is always ready when that “need for speed” happens.
Participating in autocross events has been my hobby for many years, and while I’m not planning on racing my C-4 at the moment, I haven’t ruled it out completely.