I wasn’t even seven years old when the 1984 Corvette was introduced, but even at that tender age I knew that it was a big deal. A few years later, I borrowed Michael Lamm’s book titled The Latest Corvette from the library and learned about the gestation of the first all-new Corvette in 16 years. In 1986, I ogled the yellow Corvette that paced the Indy 500 with envy. Because of these memories, I always smile a little when I see the earliest examples of the C4. I know they got a lot better later on, but sometimes the original has the most character.
You can see why everyone was excited about the new Corvette in 1984. Forty years later, they’re common enough that only the most ardent car fanatic gives them a second look, but it looked like a spaceship by the standards of its time. Aside from a family resemblance and similar proportions, it couldn’t look any more different from a 1982 model, and its clean styling still looked good when the last of this generation rolled off the line in Bowling Green as a ’96 model.
The 1984 Corvette has lagged behind its ’85-and-up brethren in value, mostly because of its controversial Cross-Fire Injection 350. It was potent enough at 205 horsepower, but the torquey Tuned Port 350 that replaced it in ’85 was considered by most people to be a huge improvement. Still, the ’84 was able to accelerate to sixty in under seven seconds, according to Motor Trend, and that was quick in 1984.
Perhaps the coolest thing about the ’84 Corvette was the fighter jet instrument panel (or at least that’s what I thought it looked like). If 1984 had a dashboard, this is it. The seller of this car has posted a couple of videos of the car on a lift and out on the road, and mentions that the heater blower motor doesn’t work, but most of the controls in the interior are in good shape.
Even the seats are in pretty good shape. Considering the low mileage (77,000), a little TLC might be all this car needs to be a vintage sports car you can be proud of. Notice that it’s an automatic car, which may not be a bad thing considering that the manual transmission used in the Corvette was the interesting 4+3 unit that apparently took a little getting used to.
It’s even clean underneath, but it will need a set of new tires before it can be driven safely. This Corvette is currently being auctioned for a charity on eBay, and it currently has a high bid of $2,550. If you’re looking for an easy project and like the early C4, this could be a bargain!
If there was ever a car that could use a LS swap, this is it
Clean undercarriage.
While mostly mundane today, C4’s are one of those “you had to be there” cars when they came out. I was just a kid, but they had so many C4 toys you couldn’t not see them. Even girls had the C4 Barbie car. They just looked so fresh back then compared to the dated outgoing model. The good old 80s.
Fun fact (ok, I guess ‘fun’ is subjective): that was a charity that Packers NFL legend the late Bart Starr used to work with. Rawhide Youth Services used to be Rawhide Boys Ranch. He was a class act and did a lot of promotion for them.
Cheap C4s are plentiful, especially those equipped with the infamous “Cease Fire” injection. They were really something, back in the day….but that was then. Most project C4s require far more time, effort, and money than they will ever be worth.
The car shown here may be an exception. It is very clean, in running condition, free of corrosion or damage. Based on the photos, the 77K mileage is likely legit. After a set of new tires, and a fluid change you could be cruising. At least until the CrossFire ceases fire. At the right price, this could be a relatively good deal. Over the years, I have bought a few special interest cars from charities, including a nice C3 convertible. They occasionally get interesting cars, and the prices are typically good.
I have an 84 – and am waiting for the inevitable “cease-fire” comments – blah blah blah.
Yes it only had 205 HP
Yes the engines got progressively better.
Yes they run just fine if “Bubba” doesn’t mess with them – cause he thinks a carb is always the solution.
Yes the 4+3 is a weird transmission – but it works just fine if you take care of it. I only use the +3 feature in fourth gear – on the highway where it acts like a 5th gear.
Yes it rides stiff
Yes it rattles
Yes it was the Corvette that lead to the C5, C6, C7 and C8.
If the C4 had not been successful we would never have had any of them.
Is it fast? No. Camrys, Altimas and Accords are probably faster.
Who cares – it’s a Corvette, has a decently torquey V8 and is fun on a nice summer day.
I’m keeping mine.
The C4 was certainly a puzzle. Big government killed the horsepower race. What was GM to do?
I’m glad they stayed with it.
Were not too many of them painted this Copper Metallic color. Kind of rare for the year.
This place always has some unusual things for sale. Their stuff was all donations. The eBay site is always worth a look but you have to go to Wisconsin to get what you bought. Lots of rusty bottom cars.
Production numbers for the Gold metallic were 2.430 and the leather interior makes getting in and out a lot easier than cloth. A very nice “looked after” example of an early C4 but I would loose those spinners.
I worked on the C4 Corvette while at Chevrolet Engineering. As I recall we only offered the 700R4 automatic transmission in 1984. The Doug Nash 4+3 was not available until the 1985 model year. The photo of the underbody from this listing seems to support that as the transmission oil pan looks to be the 700R4.
Do you remember the early C4 (85, if I remember correctly) that floated around the Tech Center, with the electric power steering?
No. I don’t recall ever seeing the electric power steering C4. That sounds interesting though.
No. I don’t recall ever seeing the electric power steering C4. That sounds interesting though.
The 4+3 was definitely available in 84 – my 84 has it.
The overdrive switch was moved from the console to the shift knob for 85.
Hi Mike, Good catch! That’s great to hear. Obviously my memory is failing me. I knew we didn’t make it to SOP with the Doug Nash but didn’t recall we produced 1984 models. Doug Nash was very good at building small volume race transmissions (200/year) prior to this 4+3 design. However, once he ramped up production for the Corvette (10-15K/year) there were numerous quality issues. So, Chevrolet had to send a team of engineers and manufacturing experts to his Franklin TN plant to help manage the production process. I also remember the switch moving to the shifter. There were several durability tests involved in moving the switch to the shifter since the wiring was always being exercised during the shifting process. Had it not been for the 4+3 there would not have been a manual transmission since the government had implemented the “gas guzzler tax”. If a vehicle failed to meet 22.5 MPG the vehicle was fined $1000 for every mile per gallon below 22.5 MPG. The Borg Warner T10 at the time was getting around 18-19 MPG.
Brad, thanks for the info on the Doug Nash 4+3 being designed to skirt the gas guzzler tax. I imagine that it is the same reason why GM also designed the “skip shift” for later manual transmissions. The LS1 in my ’99 Z28 had one. If you were not producing enough RPM, it would not allow you to shift into 2nd or 3rd, the only shift allowed was 1st to 4th. Very annoying!
I quickly found and installed a $25 “skip shift bypass”.
Also, 6th gear was an overdrive, highway only, gear.
Brad – thanks for the info!
With the 4+3 on the highway I can get 25 mpg – so it definitely works!