Hands On With a Rare C4 Corvette Lister Convertible!

Of all the limited-edition Corvettes ever made, the C4 Lister Convertible might be the rarest and most unusual.

When you head to a massive Corvette show such as Corvettes at Carlisle, you expect to see all sorts of rare and quirky Corvette models. But a much smaller, local car show hosted at a McLaren dealership is not necessarily where you would expect to find a rare Corvette. However, that is exactly what happened recently. As I made my way past the rows of high-end exotics that included a Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport, a 25th Anniversary Lamborghini Countach, and of course many McLarens,  I did see some Corvettes. There were a few C8 Z06 models on display and those are always fun to see. But tucked away towards the back of the overflow lot was another Corvette that caught my eye. It was a C4 Corvette Lister Convertible.

Wait, a what? A C4 Corvette Lister Convertible? What the heck is that? Well, that is a good question. I have to admit that I even needed a few minutes to process what I was seeing. From the back, it looked pretty close to a standard C4 Corvette Convertible. Although, the custom PA license plate that read “LISTER” was my first clue. From the side, I could see non-standard C4 wheels tucked under some fender flares. Hmmm. But it was at the front that the Corvette spilled its secret. That nose is not from any C4 I ever saw, and does that badge say Lister Cambridge? What am I looking at here?

C4 Corvette Lister Convertible

In the 1990s, Lister of North America built five C4 Corvettes designed to compete with the Calloway and ZR1 models of the time. Great, so who the hell is Lister? Lister is a sports car manufacturer founded in Cambridge, England in 1954 by Brian Lister. In their early years, they were building some incredible road racing cars and would sell them in kit form. The Lister Jaguar race car of the late 1950s is probably the most famous of their creations. However, there were some serious Chevrolet Corvette-based Lister cars back then as well. However, little information exists on the C4 Lister Corvettes. Understandable, as only a handful were ever created.

Custom Bodywork and Supercharged Engine

The C4 Lister Corvettes have what I could best describe as a unique look. They might not be the best-looking Corvettes ever made, but they do stand out from the everyday C4. The cars also feature more power than the everyday C4. Not all of these custom Corvettes have the some powerplant, but the most powerful iteration featured a stroked 383 ci engine with a supercharger. This increased the horsepower to the 600 range.

Car Show Lister

Is the car spotted at this car show one of the original five? Unfortunately, I was not able to chat with the owner to get any additional details. But this car certainly looks the part. To be honest, my favorite part of this one is the booster seat on the passenger side. It is heartwarming to know that the owner of this car is bringing their child to shows like this. Whether this is a real Lister Corvette or not, we are sure the child had an amazing time getting a ride to the show and back. I had an amazing time simply looking at this car. Get out there and attend your local car shows. You never know what you might find.

Images: Joe Kucinski

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