depends on what you're looking for. the '96 would be closer to a daily driver fun car with good mpgs like Jerry said (although neither of my LT1 cars would do 21 mpg in traffic unless I had switched on the electric motor) and the '77 and '82 are more likely to get the looks of a classic car (note I said looks not performance ). Neither the '77 or '82 are the most "classic" or corvettes but the '77 is still clinging to the 70's style while the '82 looks like a mini '81 f body with extra plastic. I suppose for a car purely meant to be a toy I'd get the '77 since it still looks about as old as a '74. IMO the '82 is completely out. It just has nothing going for it over either of the other two except probably price.

I'm curious why you are limiting yourself to one of these three cars. I can't imagine how many good deals there are on corvettes of this age to settle for one of these.