If you wanted your Camaro to have a touch of luxury about it in 1984, then you really needed to look no further than the Camaro Berlinetta. Chevrolet did not shy away from the fact that they were trying to increase the appeal of the Camaro to both the more wealthy potential customers, whilst also producing a model that might appeal more readily to female buyers. Was this strategy a success? I think that the figures tell the story on that front because a total of 33,400 people decided to park a Berlinetta the same as our feature car in their driveway in 1984. This figure was far lower than Chevrolet had hoped, especially given the fact that total sales for that year reached 261,591 cars across the entire Camaro range. This fairly tidy example is located in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and has been listed for sale here on eBay. The auction, which is a No Reserve listing, has been set to open at $2,000. There have been no bids up to this point, and there are currently 25 people who are watching the auction.

Finished in its original White, the Camaro is a tidy looking car. Tackling the bad news first, there is some rust for the next owner to consider. However, this is limited to the inside of the hood, so addressing it is not what I would consider as being a major problem that would require immediate attention. This could potentially be repaired, but given the fact that replacement steel hoods are available for around $210, buying one of those would probably be the best path for the next owner to follow. The rest of the car is said to be rust-free, while the paint looks good enough to respond well to a clean and polish. All of the distinctive Berlinetta pinstriping remains in place, although some of this has sustained some slight damage over the years. The alloy wheels look like they might also present nicely if treated to a thorough clean and detail, while there are no signs of any issues with the glass.

While the exterior of the Berlinetta was quite subdued, with little more than distinctive wheels and some very subtle stripes providing hints of what it was, the interior must have seemed like something straight out of Star Trek for potential buyers in 1984. The seats featured luxurious cloth upholstery, but it was the dash that gave the game away. The standard Camaro gauges made way for an electronic display with a bar-graph tachometer and digital speedometer. In addition, the radio was mounted in a pod that swiveled to allow both the driver and the front-seat passenger to clearly see and access the controls. The tan and black combination inside this vehicle looks really nice, and there aren’t many problems to be found here. It looks like there might be a single stain on the rear seat, while the carpet is starting to show some signs of fading. The rear cargo area is in quite remarkable condition because this is one area that can really cop some abuse with unrestrained items dancing around from side-to-side during cornering. The rest of the upholstery is in great order, and as is the case with the car’s exterior, there is nothing inside the Camaro that requires urgent attention. In a 1984 context, the Berlinetta does come quite nicely equipped. It features air conditioning, power windows, power locks, power seats, cruise control, and an AM/FM stereo radio/cassette player.

For those of you who were banking on finding a V8 under the hood of this Camaro, I’m afraid that the news isn’t great. However, I guess there is also the possibility that it could have been a whole lot worse. The Camaro was available with a 4-cylinder engine in 1984, but the Berlinetta was spared the ignominy of finding itself equipped with that. Instead, the entry-level engine was the 173ci V6, producing 107hp. That is what we find hiding under the hood of this particular car. This is backed by a 4-speed automatic transmission, while power steering and power brakes would also have helped the Berlinetta to appeal to its target demographic. Naturally, such a combination wasn’t going to make the Camaro much of a threat at the nearest drag strip. A ¼ mile ET of 19.3 seconds is pretty pedestrian, but then again, with softer suspension as part of the overall package, this was a vehicle that was more about style than performance. This particular Berlinetta has been sitting largely unused for the past 3-years, and while the owner says that it runs and drives well, he does admit that the engine will occasionally stall. He suspects that it is either bad fuel or a problem with the carburetor. With that in mind, a fuel system flush and a carburetor rebuild would probably be a pretty wise move.

This 1984 Camaro Berlinetta appears to be a clean survivor that needs very little work to return it to its absolute best. The relative rarity of these cars when new, coupled with natural attrition, means that they don’t come onto the market as often as other versions from the same model year. However, this particular car misses out in two main areas that will undoubtedly hurt its ultimate value. The original owner didn’t order the car with the optional T-Top, which was one of the more desirable features available at that time. However, it is the lack of a V8 under the hood which will be the major sticking point for potential buyers. Of course, rectifying that by slotting something altogether more potent into the engine bay is always a possibility. So, would you do that, or would you leave the Berlinetta untouched to preserve its originality?