Chevrolet needs to resurrect the Grand Sport

[costanzo327]

This was a great lookin vette.The blue and white and red paint was too cool. And all you'd have to do is add in the zo6's LS7.....that's a beautiful idea.....

[ZR1cliff]

costanzo327 said:

This was a great lookin vette.The blue and white and red paint was too cool. And all you'd have to do is add in the zo6's LS7.....that's a beautiful idea.....

Hi Vincent,Yes what ever happenend to the "Grand Sport",what was it all about?,ive never seen one in the UK,are they the rarer than the ZR-1?

[vetteheadracer]

ZR1cliff said:

costanzo327 said: This was a great lookin vette.The blue and white and red paint was too cool. And all you'd have to do is add in the zo6's LS7.....that's a beautiful idea..... Hi Vincent,Yes what ever happenend to the "Grand Sport",what was it all about?,ive never seen one in the UK,are they the rarer than the ZR-1?

Depends what you mean by "Grand Sport" back in the 1960's Zora Arkus Duntov wanted the Corvette to go racing so built 5 Grand Sports which were 9/10th scale C2 Corvettes 3 coupes and 2 convertibles and they were raced at Sebring, Nassau Speed Week etc. by drivers like Roger Penske and Dick Guildstrand. They were very successful but were not "offically" supported by GM as the big 3 Car Makers at the time GM/Ford/Chrysler had an agreement to not go racing. As a consequence the 5 Grand Sports were built in secret and supplied to the race teams thru the back door. It just so happened for example that a whole load of the engineers happened to book a holiday to Nassau during the speed week.........
In 1996 to fill the void between the Zr-1 (production ended 1995) and the introduction of the C5 1997 Chevrolet decided to do the Grand Sport a limited addition of 1000 cars in Admiral Blue paint work with arctic white stripes and red fender accents. 873 Coupes and 127 Convertibles were built and all had the LT4 engine and manual 6-speed gearbox.
This is why all 1996 LT4 engines have the red accents and also why the engine is only available with the manual box.

So to answer Cliffy's question both "Grand Sports" are rarer than the Zr-1.
A 1996 Grand Sport will still fetch a premium over an regular production 1996 but they can be bought for less than $30k whereas the last original Grand Sport to change hands a few years back fetch $6M !!

[LuS1fer]

The Gran Sport was a final hurrah for the C4, using another historic name, which used a 330bhp LT4 engine. I saw one at Billing in 1996 I believe so there is at least one in the country. They also did a silver Anniversary edition that you could also specify the LT4 for.

[vetteheadracer]

LuS1fer said:

The Gran Sport was a final hurrah for the C4, using another historic name, which used a 330bhp LT4 engine. I saw one at Billing in 1996 I believe so there is at least one in the country. They also did a silver Anniversary edition that you could also specify the LT4 for.

I saw one at The Nationals in 1996 or 1997 but that was one that had come over from Sweden.

I saw 2 together in Houston a couple of weeks back.

[Gixer]

LuS1fer said:

The Gran Sport was a final hurrah for the C4, using another historic name, which used a 330bhp LT4 engine. I saw one at Billing in 1996 I believe so there is at least one in the country. They also did a silver Anniversary edition that you could also specify the LT4 for.

I have never seen one in the country. I know of 2 fake GS's overhere though.

[LuS1fer]

The one I saw was pukka but may well have been the one from Sweden. I can't for the life of me recall if it had a UK plate on it or not. I had a black 1985 C4 at the time so was very interested in it, especially those little flares on the back arches.

Damn, I'm fancying another C4 now.

[vetteheadracer]

LuS1fer said:

Damn, I'm fancying another C4 now.

Does the word OPTI-SPARK bring back any horrible memories?

[Gixer]

opti-what

[LuS1fer]

Never owned an Optispark. Always preferred the L98.

[yellowshark454]

I saw one in a dealership in Florida a couple of years back, and of course being 2nd hand I could have bought it but unfortunately I didnt have my cheque book with me!