C4 production statistics

[David B.]

Good morning. I recently acquired a 91 coupe - L98, 6-speed, Turquoise with black interior. Feels like it might be an unusual combination...particularly Turquoise and the manual trans. Anyway, just wondering if anyone knows if it's possible to determine how many cars were built with this combination of equipment. Thank you - David

[Eric J.]

Re: C4 production statistics

David there is really no practical way that I am aware of to determine the exact number of cars matching your 91. There used to be a way to enter a vin at compnine.com and you could compare options to see how many of a particular RPOs were produced. Years ago they changed the way you could pull data and that ability went away.

An educated guess: Per Corvette Black book 1,621 (7.9%) 1991s were painted code 42 Turquoise Metallic, 5,875 (28.5%) 1991s were 6 speeds, and 10,376 (50.3%) were black interior cars. There were only two recommended interior colors for color code 42, Black and Saddle (tan). Given the popularity of black interiors I would assume a larger percent of code 42s are black. If distribution of 6 speed was equal across all colors about 462 code 42s have 6 speeds and the majority of those had black interiors. Probably about 350 cars build with that combination. Eric

[David B.]

Re: C4 production statistics

Yep, I arrived at similar numbers myself. No harm in asking in case somebody is smarter and/or better connected than me. I appreciate your time on this. Thank you - David

[Joe L.]

Re: C4 production statistics

Yep, I arrived at similar numbers myself. No harm in asking in case somebody is smarter and/or better connected than me. I appreciate your time on this. Thank you - David

David-----


As I've mentioned before, if one looks at the totality of options, including color, interior, RPO's, etc., on any particular car, just about every car is one-of-a-kind or one of a very small number of identically optioned cars.

[Floyd B.]

Re: C4 production statistics

Are you a NCM member? If so you can email the folks at the NCM and they may look it up for you. That's how I found out there were a total of 1218 LT4 Convertibles - all colors / all models (including Grand Sports).

[Eric J.]

[David B.]

Re: C4 production statistics

Floyd, I appreciate the suggestion. Just joined NCM and will follow up with them on those stats.

Eric, I actually bought it at Mecum - Glendale last month and drove it home to Portland, OR. First time buying a car at auction. Car had 26k miles, so I felt reasonably okay doing it. A buddy traveled with me and he had never been to Yosemite, so we rolled through there on the way home. Not everyone gets to drive a Corvette across the USA

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[Joe L.]

Re: C4 production statistics

Floyd yes I do seem to recall getting some kind of breakdown with my past build sheet/ window sticker orders that does provide a little more detail on how many. That would be a good place to start. Betty is very helpful and if that ability exists she could find it.

On a second note on this topic, the survivability % on C4s seems to be low. Of those approx. 350 code 42s I wouldn’t be surprised to learn less than half still exist. I own several c4s and drive them quite a bit but almost never see any on the roads here in Phoenix other then car auctions and at the Pavilions. Glad to know your 91 is in good hands. Eric

Eric------

C4's have the highest parts content of any Corvette ever made. I have been told that the "marching orders" during C5 development were that if the same parts content was to be continued, the Corvette would be discontinued as not financially viable.

Some have called C4's "throw-away" cars. That's because the vast majority of the components, including critical components, have been GM-discontinued, many for a very long time. Since most of these components are unique to Corvettes, it's unlikely that the aftermarket or "reproduction" sources will come to the rescue.

[Eric J.]

Re: C4 production statistics

David, I saw your 91 at Mecum. A nice clean car.


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Eric

[David B.]

Re: C4 production statistics

We also looked at that red 94 in front of it. Auto trans and the rear hatch wouldn't open so never considered bidding.

[Gary C.]

Re: C4 production statistics

David,

You might want to check the injectors to see if they've been updated for ethanol gas or not.

Injectors starting in 1993 were ethanol ready. Prior year injectors were not.

Gary
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[Eric J.]

Re: C4 production statistics

Just checked one of my past build sheet orders. It turned out the info wasn’t that detailed on my 96 Grand Sport. Maybe they have a way of mining it to greater detail.

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[Joe L.]

Re: C4 production statistics

David,

You might want to check the injectors to see if they've been updated for ethanol gas or not.

Injectors starting in 1993 were ethanol ready. Prior year injectors were not.

Gary
....

Gary-------


1992 and 1993 LT1 original fuel injectors were exactly the same---GM #17105094. Both 1992 and 1993 LT1 were approved by GM for the use of fuel containing up to 10% ethanol.

[Gary C.]

Re: C4 production statistics

Joe,

C4 LT5 didn't change injectors for E10 ready until 1993. IIRC the Feds E10 mandate was the fall of 1992.

LT1 must've been E10 ready when introduced in 1991.

Thanks,

Gary
....

[Eric J.]

Re: C4 production statistics

Yeah the data is really worthless.