When you consider how much money some enthusiasts spend to extract 200 horsepower from an inline-six or a high-strung four-cylinder, it begins to look a bit silly when there’s a car like this low-mileage 1985 Chevrolet Corvette with a Vortech supercharger listed here on craigslist for $27,500. The seller does a nice job breaking out how this Corvette has been tastefully upgrade for more power and still presents as a car with less than 8,000 miles should.
The C4 Corvette certainly faces plenty of criticism in the enthusiast community for not being the best version of Chevrolet’s muscle car, but much of that naysaying is misguided. Yes, your average automatic-transmission equipped C4 beater is nothing worth owning, but one that’s been looked after and has some decent tires and suspension upgrades thrown at it is a seriously fun driver. This one goes well beyond that, with numerous upgrades under the hood as well.
Not only is this a supercharged C4 but it also comes with the preferred and somewhat hard-to-find manual gearbox. And of course, it has all the hallmarks of a car with only 7,778 miles on the clock, including an absolutely mint interior. This is the sort of car you’d love to know the history on, especially if it was modified shortly after leaving the dealership. It seems unlikely someone would choose to modify a time-warp car years later, but throwing on some bolt-on modifications before taking delivery has happened plenty of times in the past.
In addition to the supercharger, the Corvette comes with a Tremec 5-speed, AFR aluminum heads, TPIS headers, Miniram intake, deleted air pump/EGR, a high flow cat, Borla SS mufflers, Dana 44 rear end, and ZR1 wheels, among other upgrades. Like I said – this is a ton of car for less than $30,000, especially so when you factor in the low mileage. I’ve always liked the C4 Corvette when set up the right way, and this example certainly seems to be.
There is no way that you could duplicate that build today for the price.
What a shame to think that someone paid for all of these go fast upgrades and then didn’t use the car.
And at the asking price, you are paying a premium for those low miles, so driving it will depreciate it. It’s not a special – like a Lingenfelter – so you are now stuck storing it and looking at it like the current owner.
The C4 is my least favorite iteration. But this one is a gem.
The c4 is outstanding, great design and engines with the L98 and the Lt5 and so forth. My 91 base L98 has almost 300,000 miles and runs like a champ. Also look at the Texas mile in 89, that record held for about twenty years. The c4 has history behind it, look at the scca race in the 80s and what they did to the Corvette.
What is the point of owning ANY car if you can’t drive it and enjoy it
Love the C4. Would own one if I could park it at my house. This one is super nice. my guess is original owner bought it, paid to have modified, then scared the crap 💩 out of them, so they never drove it.
I think that is right around the same price the Corvette sold for in 85′ when it was new.Alot of nice upgrades for the money.whoever buys this one is getting a really great deal
I paid 29,000 for my new Corvette in 1986. It was a stripper No glass top,no Bose stereo, cloth buckets,manual trans
Yes, this is alittle high, it’s not specially built buy a high end special builder, l’m not saying it’s not a great upgraded car,at all.These we’re good upgrades now and then.But someone can, buy,a newer Camaro, with a LS,motor,and maybe some upgrades, for less and it might even be alittle better, and or faster. Looks like a nice car if it was less,l might would 🤔 consider it,my neighbor had one for/sale although it was closer to me,still to much money.
With everything done to the car and the low mileage I’m actually surprised the price is that low, I think the seller could clear the mid to upper $30s or higher in a auction, but I don’t know anything about corvettes other than what I have seen posted here
Can someone clue me in as to the reason, or need to cover over the license plate?? I see this on a lot of ads for cars and I just don’t see what people think that may accomplish??
Great question – it’s for privacy. Not hard to research a license plate & find the owner’s name, address, etc…in today’s identity-stealing culture, this is just a small step to make that a little harder to do.
It is kind of ironic though that you have to remove that cover to drive it so the rest of the world can see it.
My brother had one of these. Just sold it 2 weeks ago. Told the guy that was having an issue with the fuel rail system and the fuel injectors and to not drive it until he got it fixed. Think I replaced the fuel pump in it and started driving it the very next day and a week later we got a text message with a picture with the car completely engulfed in flames. Very sad day.
Chalked up another one for autocorrect. That was supposed to be he replaced the fuel pump. Today’s modern technology what would we do without it? 🤔😆
Davey, The Tremec is a nice upgrade over the 4+3 Doug Nash.
Always had a soft spot for a C4 gen but with all the mods i’d be afraid that its a ticking time bomb just waiting even if all was done professionaly. Good luck getting it certified at your next state inspection If it applies. For someone willing to take a gamble though it could be a winner
Calloway Twin Turbo , friend went to High School with , his dad owned Chevrolet dealership, that was awesome under the hood
I’m probably in the minority here, but I love C4 Corvettes. After the decade of drastically reduced performance in the 73+ Corvette, I think Chevy nailed it with the C4, especially with the TPI 350, which was a sight better than the 180-190hp cars that Corvette owners had to put up with in the C3. All the car magazines back then were touting how the C4 was the first Corvette to top 150 mph, and although the ride was pretty harsh, the C4 would run circles around any C3 on a twisty road or racetrack. It was a technological tour de force for the era it was introduced, and it was banned from SCCA racing because it out handled the Porsche 944 and people were complaining that the C4 had an “unfair handling advantage”, whatever that means. And then Chevy installed the 6 speed and restyled the interior for 1989 and made it even better. And the seats! In my own humble opinion, the best seats of any fast car from the 80’s, one would never have to worry about sliding around in the cockpit with those glorious seats, and they were adjustable to the nth degree for any size or shape of human.
Like I said- I really like the C4, but if I were buying one, I’d hold out for the 89 or newer or better yet, the ZR-1, which you can still find for around the same price as this one, albeit not a show car and with more mileage.
Having said all that, this particular C4 is built right for speed and handling and anyone that absolutely must have a mid-80’s Corvette to relive their formative years can’t go wrong with this one.
I must agree with you. I remember back in ’83 how anticipated these cars were. It was a really big deal. For the money these cars still currently trade for… I’m baffled as an automobile enthusiast that people will pay more for a ratty, abused third gen F body over a clean garage kept C4 Vette. This gen Vette is a LOT of car.
I think we are on the brink of the C4 making a comeback. Yes the early ones had some electrical gremlins but that got sorted out by late 80’s. And you are also correct about the C4 being a break through compared to C3. These are still nice cars and have a nice blend of old school feel and later year technology. If the 3rd gen Fbodies can make a comeback, it’s a no brainier that these will too, especially the ZR1 and 96 LT4. Got to be a stick though!