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1985 Corvette: Dusty C4

1985 Corvette

While the fourth generation of Corvettes aren’t my favorite, I’ve had the opportunity to drive several and each time I was impressed with the balance of drivability, comfort and performance these cars offer, especially for the money. If I were looking for a nice V8 powered touring car, I would seriously give this car some thought! Reader Dennis G is looking for a new home for his ’85 and it looks like a nice car! Here is what he as to say about it – For sale a 1985 Corvette with 37165.6 original miles.  The car is red with graphite grey interior.  The Vette has all the options available in 1985 except two tone paint and California emissions. The Vette is very clean on the underside and doesn’t appear to have any leaks. 

1985 Corvette on the lift

The car has been stored on a lift since 2009 and has a light layer of dust overall. The Bose stereo was removed in the past and a Kenwood touch screen system was added along with a viper security system and remote start. The original Bose system is included in excellent condition. The asking price is $14,500. The car can be seen locally and I can answer any questions that could be asked.

1985 Corvette Interior

I would want to check the wiring, as I’ve seen some pretty ugly wiring jobs done to these when a new stereo is installed. This could actually be a really fun car to have, it’s just too bad it has an automatic, but if you’re going to be traveling long distances in it I’m sure it will be a welcomed feature. I’m sure the 230 horses that the L98 produces will also be quite welcome! It’s not the kind of power found in earlier Vettes, but it’s quite respectable given when this car was built. So would you give this dusty C4 a new home?

C4 Corvette

Comments

  1. Mike B

    Very nice car. I love the 1985 corvettes, I have one but 14,500 is way too much money. I bought mine which is an 85 z51 in silver last year with 42,000 miles for $5200 and I’ve known the cars personal history for 15 years. My family has off and on owned it 3 times since 2000 but it’s now my summer daily driver 8k miles since 2014 and it’s not for sale. The c4 corvettes are the most fun car for the money

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  2. dj

    Why get rid of the Bose sound system? Each speaker had a built in amp. I think that’s a little odd to replace the stereo. 1985 was the first year for Tuned Port fuel injection. It really made the 5.7 run good. We could never prove it but as techs we felt the engine produced more horsepower than that. The only bad thing about these were the air pump in the seats. They would overheat and catch the seats on fire. I couldn’t tell you how many I replaced under warranty.

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  3. Rich Truesdell

    I owned a mobile electronics (car stereo) store in the 1980s and the reason why the stereos were replaced (as a complete system — head unit, amp and speakers) is because they had no low bass compared to the aftermarket systems of the day.

    That being said, even with the low mileage, I think this car, at $14.5K, seems over priced. For that kind of money, there’s too many more interesting cars to consider and like Josh, this is not my favorite generation of Corvette. The next generation, starting in 1997 is so much better sorted and great examples can be found at very reasonable prices.

    http://photos.imageevent.com/mmm_mag/richtruesdellpdfs/Car_Audio_and_Electronics_August_1997.pdf

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  4. Quinn

    I bought a brand new 1985 Corvette when I was 21 and lived in California. It was the same color combo but it had the 4+3 stick trans. I would love to get another one because I do miss that car. I sold mine in really nice condition needing nothing with 33k original miles in 1991 for $14,000. It sold within hours at the Pomona Swap Meet.

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    • Michael

      Quinn I have a 1985 Corvette for sale in Colorado with a 4+3 trans. For $7900. Firm
      Mike

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  5. David Frank David Member

    This Vette really is overpriced. It’s priced at condition one or concours price. There are lots of low mile Vetts out there for a lot less money and a lot of newer, nicer corvettes for that kind of money. Here’s one, for example with 42,000 miles that sold on eBay for $5000. There are lots of really nice newer, low mile corvette C5s for sale for about $10,000. This Corvette should be worth about $7000 at most.

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    • dj

      My dad sold his 1987 white with blue interior 125k miles for 8000.00 last year. I think $7000 is too low for it. Things sell different across the US and might be why he got more for it.

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  6. Grant

    Personally, I avoid “blows” audio systems…

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  7. Rich Truesdell

    Glad to see most agree with me, that it seemed overpriced. Quinn, if your car sold in hours at Pomona, di you think you might have underpriced it a bit? And was it better overall than this car?

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    • Quinn

      Hi Rich, Yes this car is way overpriced.

      I sold my car 24 years ago and it was only 6 years old at the time. I was probably priced a couple thousand too low but I re-invested the money in a 1979 Porsche 930 that I still have and if you have followed them I made the right move.

      I came close last year to buying another 1985 C4 from a local lady original owner. Her husband had passed away and she wanted it to go to a good home. She said that I could buy it for $8,000 and it had 30,000k miles. It was blue and auto trans. and nearly perfect with original paint. It still has the factory recall, cloudy paint on the top of the bumpers. They must have never taken it in for the GM recall to have the bumper paint fixed.

      If it would of had the 4+3 transmission I would of bought it.

      Yes, this posted car should be around $7k.

      For $14k there are many way better newer Corvette’s for sale.

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  8. gunningbar

    I think auto trans would be good for local stop and go traffic and std would be just fine for highway.. .. actually standard would be my first choice either way.

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  9. Mark E

    Okay, I’m just adding to the chorus here I guess. The manager at the local NAPA auto parts store has this gen of ‘vette. He bought his a couple of years back. Nice & clean, manual trans, around 50k miles, for $7500. To pay twice that for the lower mileage PLUS micked up wiring with the aftermarket stereo and security system? NO THANKS!

    DISCLAIMER: I was the previous owner of a certain Mazda MPV van that had every option including a remote starter/security system that was installed by the Mephistopheles auto accessories store. The damned alarm would go off at random times for no obvious reason AND would start up at seemingly random times! After my mechanic said they COULD remove it but would not guarantee that it would run afterwards I got rid of it ASAP! One of the only automotive purchases I truly regretted…sigh…

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