1996 Corvette - Escape Capsule

Problem: Everyday stress. Solution: Corvette.

That's one thing Frank Erbio has used his '96 coupe for since he bought it. As he explains, "I get in the car, turn the key, and…take the car out, just to hear the exhaust, feel the suspension and the power in the car, just to take my mind off of work."

And, aside from the K&N air filter and Corsa exhaust, it's as stock as the day it rolled out of Bowling Green Assembly.

As with many Corvette enthusiasts, Erbio's Corvette love affair started early. "When I was 12, one of my father's friends pulled up to our house in a new Stingray, and I was blown away by it," Erbio recalls. "Since then, I've been mesmerized by Corvettes."

It wasn't until 1999 that Erbio took action and put a Corvette in his garage. "I said to myself, ‘You're not getting any younger--if you want one, you might as well go look for one,'" he says. "With the permission of my wife, Diana, I started looking. I knew that I wanted a '96, because it was the last year of the C4, and the C4's always been my favorite."

That car was also equipped with a ZF six-speed gearbox--required with the LT4--and Preferred Equipment Group 1, which included a Delco AM/FM/cassette sound system and electronic climate control. In addition, the 15,000-mile C4 had an important clue to its past under the driver seat: A business card from the man who had leased the Vette when it was new. Erbio called him and asked about the '96. "He loved the car, and he wanted to keep it," he says. "But he'd just bought a house, and he couldn't afford to."

Armed with the history that former lessee provided, plus a clean Carfax report, Erbio bought the Polo Green Metallic coupe and drove it home.

Since then, Erbio has performed regular maintenance on the car, and he regularly drives it to events and cruises (that is, when he isn't driving his other '96 Corvette coupe, Grand Sport #917, which has just 5,500 miles on it). He's also joined a local Corvette owners' club--the Royal Order of Smithtown Corvette Owners (R.O.S.C.O.), whose members include at least two NCRS Master Judges--as well as the Metro Long Island chapter of the NCRS, where he serves as treasurer.

"It's just a great atmosphere, a great group of guys," he says of his club memberships. "We do trips, and we do a bunch of things throughout the summer to enjoy the cars. It's kind of a lifestyle." He adds that R.O.S.C.O. members meet each Thursday at night, at one member's home, to do work on their Corvettes ranging from oil changes to pulling engines for rebuilds. "This is an additional stress reliever for me," Erbio adds.

If it's a lifestyle you want to be a part of, and you want a fourth-generation Vette, Erbio has this advice: "Get a car that's as original as possible," he says. "Now that the cars are 16 years old or more, you should bring somebody with you who has some experience with [C4s], like maybe an NCRS judge."

With luck, you might find another of the 6,359 '96 Corvettes optioned with the LT4 engine and six-speed transmission--maybe even one in well-preserved condition like Erbio's, that can make the daily stresses of life melt away as soon as you fire it up.