C4 Corvettes are a dime a dozen, always for sale in any form you can imagine. But this 1984 example stands out, namely for its price of just $9,500 for a mint condition car with 19,000 original miles. The gorgeous red-on-red combo makes this one a stunner, and although we’d love to find a manual inside, we’ll forgive the automatic at this price. Find the cheap C4 here on craigslist or go here if the ad disappears.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Randy N. for the find. I will always love red leather interiors, especially when accompanied by matching carpeting and plastic trim. C4 interiors do tend to be hard-wearing, but it’s easy to spot where they fall apart in hard-use examples. The seller says he maintained this car as if he would never sell it, which was the original plan. The seats – both sides – look barely sat in.
The C4 wasn’t the most powerful Corvette at first, and Chevrolet focused on making a variety of handling upgrades available over the years to capitalize on its greatest strength: impressive road-holding abilities. The C4 remains a popular choice today for a cheap entry into autocrossing or LeMans racing, thanks to ample parts supply, robust mechanicals and DIY-friendliness.
There’s one of these in my neighborhood, clearly used as a weekend-only, summer-only car, as it sits in the backyard under a tarp for much of winter and fall. But every year it comes out, and the driver perpetually has an ears-to-ears grin as he cruises up and down neighborhood streets. For such little money and low maintenance, how can you go wrong?
I would buy it. Its a cheap entry level fee to be in the club.
Thanks Jeff! I was feeling pretty cynical when I first saw this C4, but MH is right, of course. It is a cheap entry level fee and the new owner will really enjoy it. It might also set the record for the highest price paid for a C4 in a long time! (I’m not sure about the low maintenance, though, with the Lucas inspired electronics)
@David Frank. This is a similar scenario to Jaguars. If you wait too long the model that you want is out of your price range, so the best thing to do IMHO is to buy what you can afford now, enjoy it and wait for it to become the vehicle that everybody now wants, and you already have one! Now it’s a car that you own and everybody wants but they can’t afford it. I know this from experience as cars that I have sold for a pittance are now worth a fortune and i’m sure we have all had a similar experience.
They are fun cars, handle great, and are pretty easy to work on. Owning one of these, you will quickly learn the saying”Fall in, and crawl out ” as they are difficult to enter and exit. But I always felt that was part of the fun. 84’s had the Crossfire injection, and I understand that wasn’t the best, but in 84, nobody had anything too high tech. For $9500, you could buy a used Camry or Civic, or this. I would prefer this. I have an 89 that I enjoy very much. Many people slam C4’s, but they probably have never driven one because they are a blast.
For ten grand you could buy a pretty sweet newer Civic Si that would run circles around this, just say’in. But I will say, I recall when these came out, we all just gushed over the cool factor of that crazy pretty fuel injection system. You’d have thought it was from the star ship Enterprise or something. Of course my judgement was never that good, just before this time I had bought a Betamax instead of a VHS.
For 9500 you could buy a nice driving c3 or a C5…
Either the owner used an unfortunate place to take photographs, or this car has a serious fluid leak on the left front. $9,500 isn’t a steal if the radiator is shot. Or am I wrong?
I would say the water is from washing the car at a different location prior to taking the photo’s.
I think they washed the car somewhere else before taking the pics and it is water dripping off the undercarriage.
I had one just like this years ago. Was a fun “ around town” car. Not overly powerful but enough for what i used it for. This I believe was the last year for the cross fire injection. Mine caught an electrical fire and burned up right in front of my eyes. Would love to have this one with only 19k on it.
My ex had a black 6 speed, same year as this. Engine shut down on the 101 in the San Fernando Valley and locked her in the car. Flames started coming through the vents and that’s when someone broke the drivers window and she was able to get out. Car burned up on the spot. Never got into another C4.
I don’t see how you can be “locked” into a C4 due to battery failure/engine fire/etc. Electric door locks do unlock manually from the inside. Sounds like the more likely scenario is someone just panicked and forgot they could just unlock the door and exit.
How did it catch fire? Are C4’s prone to fires?
No, not any more than any other car when properly maintained.
“Fall in crawl out” is right! Once you are inside, they are a blast to drive. I really enjoy my 94 6 speed. Out here in the California desert, it is my daily driver. I keep it covered and only have to dust it once a week or so.
This is a nice car.
Looks pretty good to me. Maybe a tad high on the $$ but livable if it’s the car you want. Far as I can tell, it does not have the clear coat issues so many have, apparently because it was taken care of. Biggest issue is the tires, you only have 1 option AFAIK for oem size and they’re hard to get at time. My 86 had the same tires on it when I got it. I changed the rims out and went to 18″ which have a lot more tire options.
Jaguar XK convertibles are a better deal, and many low mileage cars are out there. Corvette C4’s were a weak model in vette lineage.
baahahahahaha
I had a C-4 back in the late 1990’s. It was low miles, but the digital dash lights kept going out. It was a lot of fun, but early retirement meant selling it. Now I drive my C-5 and it is a whole lot more fun and so far zero problems.
Too bad you didn’t know about Batee.com in the day. Bryan does wonders with the Atari dashes. Most likely the lights going in and out were a ground issue between the 2 boards in the instrument cluster.
Where in the world is Prior Lake?
One of the outlying municipalities around Minneapolis, I don’t know of any other Prior Lake communities but there could be.
Im 40 miles from prior lake. I go there quite often.
I’m a Vette guy, but like the 60’s cars. If someone wants a Vette, just to get into the hobby, a nice low milage version like this would be a way to go. Keep it a few years, and sell it for what you paid if it still has low miles on it.
BUT, did have a friend that had a C4 and his burned up on the road as he was driving to the office. Sent me a photo from his I phone as it was burning and he was waiting for the fire department. Hagerty paid him in full in 10 days…
Why did it burn? Are C4’s prone to fires?
If the water was from the radiator, would it not be green?
I’ll sell you mine for $6000 It’s just as nice but alot more miles.