Corvette Model Gallery

1986

As ‘85 had seen the return of fuel injection, 1986 saw the return of another option that had been gone for a decade. The convertible, and not surprisingly 26% of buyers opted for this $5000 option. Of interest is the fact that in 1984 when chief engineer Dave McLellan had been asked if a roadster was in the C4 future he had expressed an opinion that a roadster was a throwback and not in keeping with his plans for a lightweight Corvette. To spotlight the new roadster it was chosen as Pace Car for America’s premiere race, the Indy 500. The actual pace car was yellow but all 7,315 convertibles were designated as replica pace cars. There was a little known limited production car created in 1986. It was the Malcolm Konner Special Edition of which 50 were built. All were coupes with graphite leather interiors and two tone paint of silver-beige over black.

While the Corvette was steadily increasing in price each year with a resulting decrease in sales it was also undergoing a steady process of improvement. For ‘86 this included the introduction of anti-lock brakes, an anti-theft system based on a special ignition key and other improvements to dash and engine. Other changes for 1986 included a federally mandated third brake light which was located in a small housing on the roof bow but on roadsters it was inconspicuously placed above the name plate on the tail. The major news for ‘86 remains the return of the convertible, a red roadster says everything that needs to be said about Corvette.

The model:

Mike converted an '85 coupe into this 1/8 beauty.

The '86 Pace Car was one of those "why didn't I think of it before" things. Having alread done the '78 conversion, it was relatively easy to turn the Monogram '85 coupe into a ragtop. I have actually done 3 of them, two others for friends. The decals were enlarged, of course, 1/8 scale, and the best paint I found for it was plain old Testors Yellow.

If you would like to contact Mike on this model his e-mail address is: Perhach@keynet.net

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Page updated  10/11/00