2004 Corvette buyer's guide: the last C5, its Commemorative Editions, the fuel tank check and 2026 prices

GM’s 2004 vehicle information kit, one of the GM documents in the site’s library, lists four things new for 2004: Commemorative Editions of the coupe, convertible and Z06; revised Z06 shock valving; a carbon fiber hood, which went only on the Commemorative Z06; and four colors. Arctic White, Machine Silver, Magnetic Red and the Commemorative-only Le Mans Blue replaced 2003’s Quicksilver, Electron Blue, Speedway White and Anniversary Red, the 50th Anniversary Edition’s color (Corvette Action Center’s 2003 and 2004 color lists). Arctic White and Magnetic Red were returning C5 colors.

Corvette Action Center’s notes on the year add a nylon timing chain guide, and the LS6’s valley cover and PCV (crankcase ventilation) system on the LS1. The change that matters most isn’t on GM’s list at all. Every 2004 has the new tanks and fuel lines GM switched to partway through 2003 (the C5 guide has the background): two tanks joined by a crossover tube with quick connectors. That’s where the 2004’s one serious weakness lives.

Three tells separate a 2004 from a 2003. The VIN’s 10th character is 4, not 3. A 2003 should wear GM’s silver “50” anniversary emblem front and rear, which GM’s April 2002 release put on every 2003; a 2004 has none. And a C5 in Arctic White, Machine Silver, Magnetic Red or Le Mans Blue isn’t a 2003. The fuel system doesn’t help, since late-built 2003s have it too.

GM built them to celebrate the C5-R, which by the kit’s account won nine of ten American Le Mans Series races in 2002, the GTS manufacturer and team titles, and its class at Le Mans for the second year running.

Coupe and convertible. Package 1SC, at $3,700, brought Le Mans Blue paint, a Shale interior, a Shale top on the convertible, special badges, embroidered headrests and polished wheels with their own center caps. It included the $1,200 1SB group: head-up display (speed and other readouts shown on the windshield), memory settings, auto-dimming mirrors, automatic headlamps and a power telescoping column. Prices and contents are Corvette Action Center’s.

Z06. Le Mans Blue again, plus a silver and red stripe scheme matching the 2003 C5-R, polished Z06 wheels and the carbon hood: 20.5 lb, a 10.6 lb saving over the standard hood, by GM’s April 2003 release (opens in new tab), which billed it as the first painted carbon fiber panel fitted as original equipment to a North American-built vehicle. The package cost $4,335 on journalist Hib Halverson’s 2004 road test car. The hood also held production back, he reported: first it couldn’t take the heat of the paint ovens, then its suppliers fell short of the volume they had promised. By late February 2004, a GM source told Corvette Action Center, only 780 had been built, against a goal of about 2,000. The final count was 2,025.

The codes. Corvette Action Center, the Corvette Quarterly article it quotes, Halverson (whose GM source called those 780 cars “Z16s”) and this site’s C5 Z06 guide call the Z06 package Z16, and Corvette Action Center lists a European package of 46 coupes as Z18. GM’s own list of option codes (RPOs, for regular production options) in the kit has the two labels the other way round. Whatever the label says, the paint code and the car have to back it up. The paint settles it only on a C5: Le Mans Blue carried on as a regular color on the 2005 C6 (2005–2013).

How many. Corvette Action Center publishes no count for the coupe and convertible package, but Le Mans Blue came only with the Commemoratives, so the paint count stands in. The Le Mans Blue count is 6,899: 2,215 coupes, 2,659 convertibles, 2,025 Z06s, the most of any 2004 color. By this site’s reading of Corvette Action Center’s tables, the coupe figure includes the 46 European cars, LS1 coupes with the Commemorative Z06’s hood, seats, brakes and tires in Corvette Quarterly’s description: Z06-style seats went into exactly 45 coupes and Shale interiors into 2,170, so the regular Commemorative coupes probably number about 2,170.

The LS6 still made 405 hp at 6,000 rpm and 400 lb-ft at 4,800, unchanged since 2002 by Halverson’s account, through the M12 six-speed and a 3.42 axle. Bowling Green built 5,683. The C5 Z06 guide covers the model across 2001–2004.

What changed was the ride. GM’s kit says the Z06 spent a month in 2002 on the Nürburgring’s 12.8-mile, 177-corner circuit before the new valving was finished at GM’s Milford proving ground, and Corvette product manager Harlan Charles called the result “more tied down, more glued to the road.” Halverson’s interview (opens in new tab) with GM ride engineer Mike Neal fills in the how. The shocks lost some damping in the middle band of piston speeds, the one that governs body roll, and gained some in the slow band that controls heave, the rear eased slightly more than the front. Stiffer front upper control arm bushings and softer rear anti-roll bar mounts finished the job.

Halverson’s test car averaged 3.96 seconds from 0 to 60 mph and 12.57 seconds at 114.8 mph in the quarter mile (Vericom meter, no rollout), against GM’s 3.9-second claim for the 405 hp Z06 from 2002. The LS6 valve spring failures that shadow 2002–2003 builds are rare here: the owner study behind the Z06 guide counts 6 on 2004s, against 98 on 2002s and 67 on 2003s. Owners report those failures themselves, so the counts show a pattern, not odds.

The figures shoppers ask for first: 350 hp, or 405 hp in the Z06. Both engines are 5.7-liter (346 cu in) pushrod V8s with aluminum blocks and heads. From GM’s specification pages:

GM gives curb weights of 3,246 lb coupe, 3,248 lb convertible, 3,118 lb Z06. Every 2004 is 179.7 in long and 73.6 in wide on a 104.5 in wheelbase. The owner’s manual confirms the tank and oil figures and gives wheel nut torque as 100 lb-ft (140 N·m). GM’s papers disagree on where the manual LS1’s torque peaks (4,000 or 4,400 rpm), so the table leaves it out.

Gearboxes. Three in four coupes and convertibles have the automatic (21,453 of 28,381), on the standard 2.73 axle or the optional 3.15 (G90). The six-speed went into 6,928, and every manual, Z06s included, has the 3.42. The LS1’s six-speed runs from 2.66 in first to a 0.50 overdrive sixth; the Z06’s M12 is shorter, 2.97 to 0.56.

Fuel and revs. The manual calls for premium, 91 octane or more, for best performance and allows 87 at the cost of slightly reduced acceleration (the kit’s spec page prints 93). Fuel shuts off at about 6,200 rpm, 6,500 on the Z06. Under today’s EPA method, a 2004 automatic rates 16 mpg city and 23 highway, a manual 17 and 26.

How quick. GM’s 2001 spec sheet put the 350 hp LS1 at 4.5 seconds from 0 to 60 mph with the six-speed and 5.0 with the automatic, and 175 mph for the manual; GM’s 2002 Z06 release gave the 405 hp car 171 mph. GM’s 2004 spec page counted the Porsche 911 among the key competitors of a coupe that listed at $43,735.

No spare. The coupe and convertible ride on run-flats good for up to 200 miles at up to 55 mph with no air, per the manual, and the Z06 carries an inflator kit. The battery guide explains why the label on a 2004’s original battery decides the replacement, and a 2004 stored for the winter wants a maintainer.

Bowling Green’s 2004 total was 34,064 (16,165 coupes, 12,216 convertibles, 5,683 Z06s). Corvette Action Center’s production page (opens in new tab) gives the base prices and Halverson’s price box the destination charge: $43,735 coupe, $50,735 convertible, $51,585 Z06, plus $800 destination (Corvette Action Center prints $670). A July 2004 Detroit Free Press story and one of Hagerty’s two list prices run $100 higher for the coupe and convertible, which this site reads as a rise during the year; no GM price list confirms it.

The 1SB group went on 22,715 cars, two in three. The options that matter, priced and counted by Corvette Action Center:

Z51 or F55. Z51 brought 1.13-inch anti-roll bars front and rear, against 0.90 and 0.75 inch standard, per GM’s chassis page, and went into 11 percent of coupes and 15 percent of convertibles. F55, Magnetic Selective Ride Control, uses shocks whose fluid stiffens in a magnetic field; it went into 14 percent of coupes and 29 percent of convertibles. Neither came with the other, or on the Z06.

Colors. Eight, with Magnetic Red and Millennium Yellow $750 extra:

Inside. Black interiors led, on 20,979 cars, ahead of the Commemoratives’ Shale (4,829), Light Oak, Light Gray and Torch Red. Convertible tops were black on 7,086, Shale on 2,659, Light Oak on 2,029 and white on 442.

Magnesium wheels. GM’s manual warns that a poor paint repair lets them corrode, and owners in 2002 and 2003 threads said they chip easily, suffer in careless tire changes and need tape-on weights. Inspect every one.

NHTSA, the US road safety agency, opened investigation PE10-015 in May 2010 with 30 owner reports of fuel leaks on 2004 Corvettes. When it closed the case that September (opens in new tab), it had 268 complaints and 2,222 warranty claims on file from a population of 33,501 cars, with no crash, fire or injury among them.

GM’s answer put the leaks at cracks in the crossover tube’s quick connector, or in its weld to the tank, on cars built from about October 22, 2003 to March 19, 2004, and blamed the connector material’s processing, variations in the welding and high stress on the driver’s-side connector. It argued the risk wasn’t unreasonable: a low leak rate, a smell drivers would notice, cracks at the top of the tank. NHTSA closed the case without a defect finding.

Instead of a recall, GM issued Special Coverage Adjustment 10150 (opens in new tab) in August 2010 for 2004 Corvettes built within VIN breakpoints 45110258 through 45125500: a leaking tank replaced for 10 years or 100,000 miles from the in-service date, whoever owned the car. GM’s owner letter told drivers to watch for a fuel smell at the pump, on the road or parked, drips as a leak grew, and possibly the check engine light. GM allowed 7.5 hours of labor for one tank (GM 25899601, OEM, left; GM 10337582, OEM, right) and 2.0 more for both. Every 2004 is past ten years in service now, so the coverage is gone.

By this site’s keyword count, 139 of the 2004’s 217 NHTSA complaints describe fuel smell, leaks or the tanks, roughly six in ten, with 56 filed in 2010 and the latest in 2024. Split by the VIN characters NHTSA stores, they make up 61 to 66 percent of each body’s complaints: coupe, convertible and Z06 alike.

Owner-reported bills ran $1,800–$2,350 in 2009 and about $4,000 by 2022 (CorvetteForum), so get a current quote. Owners still argue about the risk: one 2022 poster says of an in-range car with no records that “the question is when will it happen, not if,” while others reply that the bad ones failed years ago. Fuel complaints still reaching NHTSA in 2024, twenty years on, back the first view.

So the VIN does the sorting. If its last eight characters fall from 45110258 to 45125500, the car is inside the range, and it needs either receipts for a replacement tank or a price that leaves room for one. Outside it, the tanks are the same design, and a sniff after a fill-up still costs nothing.

NHTSA lists (opens in new tab) two GM recalls for the 2004, plus two aftermarket lamp recalls it files against every C5. Recall 04V273000 (GM 04043, from August 2004) covered lower control arm ball stud nuts and washers made of the wrong material: a washer could fracture and the control arm could separate from its knuckle. It reached some 2004s, so ask for proof the work was done.

The column lock recall, 04V060000 (GM 04006), reaches fewer 2004s than its reputation suggests. It left out US 2001–2004 automatics, and GM’s February 2006 revision, 04006C, limits the 2004s to VINs 45100001 through 45120862, roughly the first three fifths of production, and not every car in that span. So a US 2004 could be in it only as a manual (every Z06, plus the six-speed coupes and convertibles) built through VIN 45120862. GM’s Special Policy 05081, for manual-car locks that failed to unlock, reached 2004 VINs up to 45132433 but ended on February 29, 2008.

The owner’s manual lists the PULL KEY, WAIT 10 SEC and SERVICE COLUMN LOCK messages for manual cars only, and the second means the car goes to a dealer on a truck. The fault outlived the paperwork: a 2004 convertible built after the breakpoint locked its column in 2016 and GM wouldn’t pay, its owner told NHTSA, and the latest 2004 column lock complaint came in April 2024.

NHTSA’s complaint file (opens in new tab) held 217 owner complaints against the 2004 on October 18, 2026, 6.4 per 1,000 built:

Take the fuel complaints out and about 78 remain, about 2.3 per 1,000. Steering, the top area on every other C5 year, comes third, and about 18 complaints mention the column lock. The rates and themes are rough counts by this site; treat them as a ranking, since complaints pile up with age and publicity.

GM’s 2004-only bulletins are minor: a dead or intermittent fuel gauge (01659A), a seat belt that won’t pull out of its retractor (3117A) and, on automatics, a squawk on the 2-3 upshift (01654A). Wider ones add 4L60-E fluid leaks or a cracked case at the 2-4 servo (040730025A) and a fuel gauge that reads empty with fuel aboard (050604041). The rest belongs to the whole generation: the harmonic balancer, irregularities at the spoke bases of 2000–2004 wheels (bulletin 0703100003), headlight motor gears and seats are in the C5 buyer’s guide, and keeping Magnetic Selective Ride working, or switching it off, is in the years-to-avoid guide.

The VIN. Every 2004 starts 1G1YY, and on GM’s VIN chart the next three characters name the car: 22G for a coupe, 32G for a convertible, 12S for a Z06 (the body, a 2 for frontal air bags, then G for the LS1 or S for the LS6). After the check digit come 4 for 2004, 5 for Bowling Green and the serial; GM’s fuel tank and column lock ranges are those last eight characters. The plate sits at the driver’s end of the dash, and a stamp of the serial’s last five digits is on the back of the front sill tie bar.

The door and the glovebox. The build month and year are on the certification label on the driver’s door edge (kit), and they place a car against the fuel tank window. In the glovebox, the Service Parts Identification label (owner’s manual) lists the options the car left the factory with, by RPO code, along with the VIN and paint: hold 1SB or 1SC, F55, Z51, MM6 and N73 up against the ad.

Matching numbers. Look for the engine’s partial-VIN stamp at the rear of the left cylinder head or on the front of the left oil pan rail; it and the transmission’s should end in the car’s serial (kit). Corvette Action Center lists the engine suffix codes as ZCA (LS6), ZCB (LS1, automatic) and ZCD (LS1, six-speed). The rear axle’s tag is on the right rear of the differential.

A Commemorative. The glovebox label should show paint 19U (Le Mans Blue, WA 933L on GM’s July 2003 spec sheet) and LMS, the Le Mans emblem, plus 1SC and Shale interior 15I on a coupe or convertible, or the package code on a Z06 (Z16 or Z18; see The Commemorative Editions, counted). On the car, look for the badges, the embroidered headrests and the polished wheels’ own center caps, or on a Z06 the stripes and the carbon hood. GM’s manual warns that in some light the hood’s weave shows faintly through the paint, its edges slightly jagged in reflections, and settles it in three words: “This is normal.” Paint and stripes can be added later; the label is where the codes have to agree.

Pace car claims. The Pace Car Registry (opens in new tab) says Chevrolet built no replicas of the 2004 pace car to sell, though enthusiasts have recreated it, and Corvette Action Center’s 2004 option list has no pace car package. Price a 2004 in the pace car’s colors as a recreation unless papers tie it to the Speedway.

1. The VIN and the door label, against 45110258 through 45125500 and the late October 2003 to mid-March 2004 build window. Inside the range: tank paperwork, or a price that covers the job.
2. Fuel. Sniff around the tanks after filling up, look for damp spots, and watch the check engine light and the fuel gauge on the test drive.
3. Recalls. Proof of 04V273000 on any 2004, and of 04V060000 on a manual built through VIN 45120862; a Chevrolet dealer’s VIN lookup settles what’s still open.
4. Column lock, on a manual. Cycle the key a few times and watch for PULL KEY, WAIT 10 SEC or SERVICE COLUMN LOCK. Ask what was done to the lock, whatever the VIN.
5. The glovebox label against the ad, and 19U on any Le Mans Blue car.
6. Magnetic Selective Ride (F55 on the label). SERVICE RIDE CONTROL on its own means the system wants service; with SHOCKS INOPERATIVE and MAXIMUM SPEED 80 MPH beside it, the shocks are stuck at full soft. Working, original or deleted, priced to match.
7. Seat belts. Pull each one all the way out and let it retract.
8. Wheels. Cracks at the spoke bases, and corrosion on polished or magnesium finishes.
9. An automatic. A quiet 2-3 upshift and a dry transmission case.
10. Tires. A coupe or convertible should be on run-flats, since it has no spare; a Z06 should still have its inflator kit.
11. The C5 checklist in the C5 buyer’s guide, then have a C5-savvy shop put the car on a lift.

Bring a Trailer’s (opens in new tab) 2026 results through October 18 include six stock 2004 coupes and convertibles, sold for $14,000 to $29,250: a median $20,633 (6 sales), worked out by this site from the listed sale prices. The low was a 59,000-mile automatic coupe, the high a 7,000-mile coupe with Z51 and the dual roof package, and the one Commemorative convertible, with 46,000 miles, brought $21,607. On these few sales the last year carries no premium of its own: the C5 vs C6 guide puts base 2001–2004 C5s at a median $20,750 for April to September 2026.

Stock Z06s sold for a median $35,000 (13 sales), one car twice, from $23,259 for a 42,000-mile car to $40,000 for an 11,000-mile Commemorative. Seven Commemoratives brought a median $35,890 and six regular Z06s $34,500, so the package alone added little; the four Commemoratives under 20,000 miles brought a median $38,250. Both samples are small and mostly clean, low-mile cars.

Archived copies of Hagerty’s valuation tool give #3 (Good) condition values of $17,000 for a 2004 coupe (October 2025 guide) and $18,600 for a convertible (July 2025), 10 percent less for an automatic, $20,500 for a Commemorative Edition convertible (October 2025) and $24,100 for a Z06 (January 2026). classic.com offered no 2004-only figure this guide could reach, and CorvetteForum’s editors’ 2026 range for ultra-low-mile 2004 Commemoratives, $40,000–$55,000, comes with no data behind it. These are records of what cars sold for or were valued at, not a forecast.

The 2004 to buy is a six-speed coupe or convertible with a VIN past 45125500, or one inside the range with the tank replacement on paper. Make it 1SB, as two in three are, and take Z51 if you find one: $395 bought fatter anti-roll bars and a power steering cooler, the cheap way to a sharper car. A late-build manual was never in the column lock recall, so ask what has been done to its lock.

On a budget, an automatic coupe with the same VIN or paperwork costs the least: Hagerty knocks 10 percent off an automatic, and Bring a Trailer’s two automatic coupes sold for $14,000 and $19,666 in 2026.

If the budget stretches, stretch for the Z06: Nürburgring-tuned shocks, the fewest reported spring failures of the 405 hp cars, and about $14,000 over a base car at auction. Pay for a Commemorative because you want Le Mans Blue, the stripes and the carbon hood, and pay the most only for very low miles. Skip an F55 car unless the shocks work or the deletion is honest and priced in.

Two neighbors deserve a look. A 2003 has the cleanest complaint record of any C5, though late-built 2003s share the 2004’s tanks; the years-to-avoid guide ranks both. The 2005, the first C6, brought the 400 hp LS2 and fixed headlamps for about the same base price, $43,710 a coupe, with a first-year record of its own; the C5 vs C6 guide weighs one generation against the other.

The pace car was the one 2004 nobody could buy. The rest are out there, and with the VIN checked, about $20,000 at auction buys one: 350 hp, a six-speed if you hold out for it, and the last pop-up headlamps on America’s sports car.