| In the early ‘80s when the C4 Corvette was being designed, a convertible version was not part of the plan. Convertibles had fallen out of favor in the ‘70s. When the decision was made to make a roadster C4 Corvette, an add-on, x-brace was needed for structural rigidity. The fix worked and it was great to have the Roadster back. But unlike the C4, the C5 was designed to be a roadster right from the beginning.
During the eleven-year run from 1986 to 1996, Chevrolet sold 74,651 Corvette Roadsters. This accounted for approximately 25-percent of the Corvette’s annual sales. Chief Engineer Dave Hill wasn’t about to let the new C5 Roadster be a second-thought version.
Magazine writers who road tested the ‘98 Roadster were astonished at how the car was just as rigid as the coupe version. The usual convertible “wiggle” was hardly noticeable. The new C5 Roadster weighed 114-pounds less than the ’96 C4 version and the chassis was 4-times stiffer than the C4. One magazine tested the car and found that the salon times were on par with the Ferrari 550 Maranello and the Jaguar XK8 Coupe. The cynics were almost speechless.
The aesthetics of the new Roadster were picture-perfect. Unlike most convertibles, a hard tonneau cover was already part of the body design. Lowering the top required releasing two latches at the top of the windshield, pushing a button to release the tonneau cover, then manually lowering the top into the trunk. It only took 6-to-10-seconds to get the top down. An electric system would have been nice, but the manual system kept the weight to just one-pound more than the coupe.
Except for a few noise reduction adjustments, the ‘98 Corvette was the same as the ’97 model. However, the Roadster had several very nice features. The convertible top was fully insulated and the rear glass was heated. A separate “trunk” with outside access hadn’t been available since ‘62. The storage space was slightly more than half of the Coupe at 13.9 cubic-feet, versus 24.8 cubic-feet. And with the top down, there was 11.1 cubic-feet of space. The stereo system was speed sensitive and would increase in volume at higher speeds with the top down.
For a roadster, the aerodynamics were excellent. The coefficient of drag was .33 for the ‘98 Roadster and .29 for the ‘98 Coupe. Considering that the coefficient of drag for the ’84 Corvette Coupe was .34, this was amazing.
Corvette Roadsters had long-since carried a premium, and the new C5 Roadster was no exception. The $6,930 option priced the car at $44,425 before any other options. However, this was $635 less than a ‘96 Roadster! A fully-loaded ’98 Roadster cost over $52,000 - not including the $5,039 Indy 500 Pace Car Replica package.
The ‘98 Corvette Roadster was bloody fast as well. One road test reported an automatic version with 0-60 times of 4.9-seconds, quarter-mile times of 13.4-seconds at 105.5 m.p.h., and a top speed of 167 m.p.h. with the top down. The Roadster was back and it was better than ever!
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