spalmertree

Currently had the fortune of purchasing a green '96 LT4, and really enjoying it. One mystery though: on the side of the car, by the front fender area, there is a small silver rectangular badge that says "Grand Sport". I'm well aware that the Grand Sports only came with a specific paint scheme, and I know this is not one of them or anything like that. Could this be because the LT4 is the "Grand Sport" engine? Or did some dealer or perhaps a previous owner throw it on because they thought it looked cool?

powerplaytwo

[QUOTE=Or did some dealer or perhaps a previous owner throw it on because they thought it looked cool?[/QUOTE]
I seriously doubt a dealer would do that, so my guess would be a previous owner. I also own one and mine came with chrome “LT4” on the sides.

spalmertree

Weird, the LT4 badge is pretty cool. It was a two owner car before me, and I asked the previous owner but he didn't know. Might have been the first guy.

Tokuzumi

There are so many photos of Corvette owners ricing out their cars with all kinds of nonsense, so it wouldn't be completely out of place for the previous owner of that car to have installed a Grand Sport badge.

RichS

Previous owner probably put it on, no type of badge came on them stock on the outside. The ashtray cover data plate is also aftermarket. The only LT4 badge would be on the Throttle body.

C4 Steck

All LT4’s had the grand sport throttle body plate for some reason. My dads 96 CE LT4 has the grand sport plate. You can get just about any BS badge you want for these cars and “jazz” up your car to be whatever you want. That emblem you’re talking about is straight out of someone’s catalog that the PO glued on there. A little heat, fishing line behind it, and some enamel cleaner or adhesive remover and you can make it disappear if you like.

gcthree

I nearly purchased a white '96 LT4 that was a pre-production or 'pilot' car. Each year, about 50 cars are produced that are pilot cards and carry options and fitments that later production cars will feature. The cars are generally driven by GM execs and examined for quality control and operation. That car had Gran Sport badges on the front fenders precisely where the Gran Sports would have them fitted. It was installed at the factory as previous owners documented it. It also had the spare tire strut in lieu of the space saver spare.

Your car might be a 'Pilot' car with an early VIN?
Bob

C4 Steck

Hmmm I forgot about the pilot cars and never heard of one being badged as a grand sport. I’m intrigued. OP do you have any idea what your build date was for your car.

spalmertree

I'm not sure of the build date, but the VIN is 1G1YY225XT5105306. Does that help?

mazdaverx7

Out of curiosity, are you able to post a picture of the badge? I still feel that it's an aftermarket add on but I'd be interested to see what it looks like.

You build date will be on the loading and information label on the driver's door. The label will look like this:

RPO Joe

Congrats on your new Corvette! The build sheet for your car, which may shed some light on your mystery Grand Sport badge, is located on top of your gas tank on the passenger side, and is pretty easy to retrieve. Here's what mine looked like before and after retrieval:

Tokuzumi

I read a post recently that new build sheets can be ordered

C4 Steck

OP your build date will be on the vin tag on the door I believe. You can also look up your car in one of the various vin check websites and it will show you the build date down to the day. I did that when I first bought my car and got its exact birthday and some RPO codes it was built with. I can’t remember the site I was on.

for anyone looking for the original build sheet and/or window sticker for your car, you can get them off the National corvette museum website for a fee.

spalmertree

Back with pictures!




If the pictures don't load, from what I can see on the sticker the date is 10/95, so October 1995 I'd guess was the build date. Some more info on the car: it's a 47k mile car, one guy owned it up until 2021 (dont know anything about him) and then another guy owned it for a couple of years in Minnesota.

I was also taking the door card off today (window issue yay) and noticed instead of there being a screw behind the sliding lock thingy like I expected, there was just felt. I'd read that on some of the trims/grand sport GM put felt behind panels and pieces to reduce noise, but I wasn't expecting that on a base model.

RPO Joe

It would be very interesting to see your original build sheet (not the reproduction available from the NCM) and see if there are any hand-written notes in this area:



I've seen a pic here of CF of a build sheet that had several notes written in the "message area." The car was a mule of some sort, as I recall.

*89x2*

+1



....and good to see you still around, Rich

C4 Steck

That is a pretty early build date for 96. I’m not sure exactly when the 96 production started. I would speculate though that the pilot cars may have been built prior to October for the next model year but I definitely can’t say for sure. My car is a super late 95. Built in the middle of June of 95.

one fact I do know for 1996 production is that VIN xxx001 of the grand sports rolled off the line on April 3, 1995 which was super early but that was for a special series of cars. It’s crazy that my 95 was built after some of the 96’s in the same plant.

gcthree

From what I've read, Pilot cars were the first 50 off the line.

C4 Steck

https://www.hemmings.com/auction/199...r%20production.

doesn’t list the build date but you can see the grand sport emblem on the hood. Listed as 1 of 49 pilot cars for 96. VIN ending 047.

C4 Steck

Check out this car’s build sheet. It couldn’t be more positively denoted how you can tell if the car was a pilot car. PILOT in print on the build sheet. Based on this, I believe your car would have to have a VIN ending in 001 to 049 to be an actual pilot car. This car is 047.