At $5,995, Is This 1996 Chevy Corvette LT1 A Red Hot Deal?

C4 Corvettes like today’s Nice Price or No Dice LT1 arguably offer some of the hottest deals in sports car bargains. This one is claimed to literally run hot, so we’ll have to decide if its price makes it worth dealing with.

Rutledge Wood Isn’t The Biggest Corvette Fan, But Loved His C6

With its broken top, yesterday’s 2011 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet had all the security and insulation issues of a convertible but none of the fun-in-the-sun benefits. On top of that, the CrossCab’s styling is generally considered to be worthy of a Greek tragedy. All rolled together, not even an aggressively low $4,600 price tag could get the majority of you behind the Nissan. The result was that we started out our week with a 65 percent No Dice loss.

Hey, are you presently wearing Jorts and clunky white New Balances? If so, then you’re halfway to owning a semi-classic Corvette like today’s 1996 LT1 Coupe. OK, I’m stereotyping here, and, in fact, Corvette owners, in my experience, are a broad panoply of people typically only connected by their passion for America’s sports car.

The question we’re going to have to answer is just how much passion this particular sports car might engender.

This is a clean title two-owner car with a not wholly unreasonable 112,000 miles on the clock. And, according to the seller, it is ready for both a new owner and the smog test that will make that title transfer possible. The ad also notes a slew of recent work undertaken on the car to ensure its brakes are up to par, as well as the replacement of other big-ticket items like tires and shocks.

It’s not, however, all baseball and apple pie here as the seller does warn that the car “runs hot” suggesting it is in need of a full cooling system refresh from pump to thermostat to radiator.

That’s no small beans and would perhaps not be that daunting a prospect if the car didn’t manifest other issues as does this one. Among those are ABS and ASR lights (both ABS-related) on the dash, a valve cover oil leak, and a big crack in the front-left corner of the nose, supposedly from when an SUV backing into the car. That will require paintwork and the realignment of the clamshell hood.

Other than that, the car looks pretty good, and the seller says that aside from the hot-running issue, the 300 horse LT1 Gen II V8 behaves as it should. That’s backed up by the ubiquitous four-speed automatic for boulevard cruising and set-it-and-forget-it highway driving.

The cabin is upholstered in biscuit leather and vinyl which all looks serviceable if a little in need of some decent detailing. A bit of alarm is raised by the presence of not one but two pine tree air fresheners hanging awkwardly from the turn signal stalk. Hopefully, those don’t imply this was once a smoker’s car. Of course, such an issue wouldn’t matter to anyone who lost their sense of small due to long COVID. You’ve got to take your wins where you can find them.

On the outside, the Torch Red paint seems decent outside of that accident damage on the nose. Below that, a set of aftermarket alloys appear unremarkable and perhaps a bit less desirable than the factory wheels. The added Magnaflow exhaust probably sounds aggressive and looks equally so, poking out from under the fat rear bumper and employing four tips. A heavy tint has been squeegeed onto all the glass, which also gives the car a bit more menace. As noted, the title is clean, and the car does pass its California emissions test. The asking price is $5,995.

Yes, that’s right—a running and driving Chevy Corvette for under $6K. On the downside, there are those issues with the engine temperature and the janky bodywork on the nose that everyone will blame the new owner for. Also, it’s an LT1 C4, which is generally considered a “meh” car by Corvette aficionados.

Do such demerits make this an already tainted car that shouldn’t be considered, even at that modest-seeming $5,995 asking? Or does that price make this a wonderful weekend wrencher worth the work?

You decide!

Stockton, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Don R. for the hookup!

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