I might be picking up a 96 Corvette located out of town. I want to bring it back home by putting it on a flat bed trailer I've got access to and towing it back with my truck. I read the OM instructions on towing. Is it absolutely necessary to use a T hook instead of a J hook at the attachment points inside of the front and back wheels to strap the Vette down to a flat bed trailer? Any suggestions? Also when loading the Vette on the flat bed any suggestions like using a 2X8 to make the transition to the trailer easier because of the low ground clearance of the Vette?

A T hook? I donno what that looks like.

The tow trucks all seem to use j-hooks.

Flat bed trailers should have the tire straps that hold the car to the trailer. That's what mine had when I moved out west.

Congrats on the new Vette! LT4 or LT1?

It's an LT4 if everything works out. It currently belongs to a friend that's going through some tough times right now and might need to divest himself of it. It has some miles on it about 175K but it is very clean inside and out. Great paint and interior. The reason I won't drive it back is it needs an opti. He just doesn't have the cash to fix, insure license and drive it right now... Family first. As much as I want an LT4 I kind of hope it doesn't work out since I know he really wants to keep it. He's got a line on a new job so we'll see what happens. I was only buying it with the stipulation from me if things turned around and he wanted it back I would sell it back to him no questions asked.

The T-Hook reference is from the 96 Owner's Manual "Towing Your Vehicle" Page 5-7. " Caution: Never use J-hooks. Use T-hooks instead." There's a picture of a T-hook on the page. The Owner's Manual actually gives this caution twice on this page.

Congrats on your LT4.
The "J" hooks mentioned are used when a wrecker tows a car by lifting the front or rear end of a car with the other wheels on the ground. Not applicable with what you're doing.

The "T" hooks are great but if you don't have them don't worry about it.

Does the flatbed have any D rings in the floor?
The flatbeds with tirestraps like Bogus mentioned are usually the rentals like U-Haul, Budget and those straps go over the tires with extra straps so the main strap won't slide off the tire. I used a U-Haul with those with only minor problems when I bought my C4.

Assuming it's a regular flatbed car trailer, what straps /chains does it have?
The hooks on some of the 3 inch tiedown straps may fit into the hole on the towing eyelets that are just behind the front wheels. You can hook there and run the straps straight to the front of the trailer.

There are also 2 eyelets in the rear just behind the tires. The rear straps must be criscrossed to prevent the car from moving sideways.
The straps I had for the rear wouldn't fit the holes so I put them around the lower A arms.

If you have to get straps, Summit in Reno has them in stock,one day ship to you.

If you want to know if these straps fit the eyelets, let me know, I'll dig a set out of the race trailer and see if they fit.

Oops, forgot. Yes, you'll need some 2 x 8's, even 2 x6's will work. Is the trailer a beavertail, is the rear of the trailer angled down? The 2 x 8's are put under the ramps so the frame dosen't scrape on the trailer when loading. You'll need at least 2 stacked on top of each other. If the angle of the ramps to the trailer is severe, you may have to jack up the front of the trailer to reduce the angle.
If you have to jack up the front of the trailer, you'll need some 4 x 4's to block the trailer wheels. This has to be done for safety.

I wouldn't worry about it, either will work at those points.

You can also strap the tires down.

I'm a bit of an expert at this unfortunately.