ps374

I just came across a web posting that featured the top ten Corvettes of all time. Trend setters so to say. Among the 61 Fuelie and 63 split window was the black sheep of all Corvettes, the 1984. I have yet to find any Corvette magazine or auto publication that has anything good to say about the 84 Crossfire. From teeth shattering ride to engine fires, to unreliable, it seems it is always same old story. The 84 is the whipping boy of all Corvettes. It was refreshing to see the 84 is a positive light.

shootnstarz

The Orwells have their place in history, just like them all. The fact that there's still plenty on the road is a testament to the design.

Rick

Z51JEFF

It's the urban legends of bull$hit that have killed the 84 values that is now killing the ZR-1. I was an 84 owner for 21 years and the only thing that went out on the car was a MAP sensor. Sure,the paint fell off,the window regs died and on and on but the car was as reliable as a Honda. What a lot of people don't understand is the same garbage parts were used until early 86.

jose7740

I had my 84 for 33 years and probably will have it until the end of life

Tom400CFI

You haven't looked very hard. Read ANY publication that road tested an '84 Crossfire Corvette, in '83-'84 and about all you'll read is outstanding reviews. "World class", "Hands down the fastest American automobile", etc. -not very different from C7 reviews of today, actually. In '84, the '84 was a world beating, world class, technological wonder.

Here is a glowing review, from Car & Driver that has nothing but accolades for the car.

divotdug

Agreed. Pretty much every auto publication back in '84 loved the car.

Unmolested '84's will eventually be prized and sought after by collectors.

ex-x-fire

Yeah, I ran into a guy once & we started talking about cars. I said I had an 84 vette. He said "aren't those the ones with bad motors?" I never thought of the chevy 350 as a bad motor. I went on to tell him that it made 205 hp stock & that most of the 350s in the mid to late 70s made only 165-180 hp.
Sounds like chevy was improving the vette as the years went by.

pologreen1

The thing is toys are toys. They re not really valuable unless people want them. If there is a stigma to something people usually won't buy it. IMO they will never be worth anything because of the info floating around about them.

Just like stated above "isn't that the one with the bad motor" says not the car guy even.

Or people ask me about my car and go EWWW a c4 those are the bad ones. I laugh t myself thinking how much more capable my car is in al aspects than this guy's new challenger, and I have far less in it.

RichsC4Vette

I have a 1984, and love it. My understanding is that it got a bad rap because it was difficult to modify and soup up. But the engine if left stock is very reliable.

DinoBob

That might be strong, they made 51,000 of them.

ps374

That was in 84. Things went down hill from there pretty fast, especially after customers starting complaining about the Z51 ride. The boys at Chevrolet started messing with the suspension the next year. The TPI was light years ahead of the old throttle body injection and even Corvette owners decided to jump on board and make the 84 the Corvette whipping boy of Corvettes. To quote Corvette Magazine Oct 2009 issue "The 84's are pretty unlivable on the street, and the aggressive suspension has a tendency to rattle components loose with frighting speed'. They loved the 82 Collectors edition even though it had the same engine.Go figure?

divotdug

But how many low mile, unmolested specimens still exist?

May not happen in my lifetime cause I'm an old man but no doubt will happen in my son's lifetime.

Tom400CFI

I'm not sure where you're getting all this from...care to cite your sources? Yeah, mags criticized the '84, in '85...as they have for virtually every generation after the first year intro hoopla wears off. The same mags that shower praise on almost ANY first year of a new gen...that same mag shoots it down, later. Pretty lame, IMO. Look what the Mags did w/the ZR-1; I think there was more gushing ink laid down about that car leading up to it's intro than any car I've ever read about. Then, in the end, they wrote about how the LT1 killed it, which misses the whole point of the ZR-1. Just as lambasting an '84, b/c the '85 has TPI is missing the whole point of the '84 (ground breaking, world beating, technological wonder that moved the rock forward, dramatically).

You've got an '84, don't you? Do ya like the thing? Or not? How would you feel if you had a '98 when the '05 came out? Or if you had a '05 when the '14 came out? Should you worry about what mags change their opinions to, later?

AnthonyGS

This hobby is a lot like any other. In this hobby there are real car guys and collosal duoche nozzles. Car guys know and understand the importance of the 84 Vette. It was literally a 30 year leap forward in technology. It is probably generation to generation the biggest change in corvette history.

You'll never please the douche nozzles so just ignore them.

I saw a guy about 20 years my senior driving his very clean 84 to 86 vette the other day. The perfectly round tail lights and still shiny flat sided wheels made me smile. Too bad I was in my jeep and he turned off so soon.

ps374

I do love my 84 which has the engine modified which many 84 owners did after the TPI came out. It is the old Xram set up and yes it is as fast as a 85, at least that is what the last owner who built it told me. If you saw the ports on the stock intake and the ports on the Wealand intake which mounts on the Xram throttle body plate you would understand why the 82 and 84's performance is so lack luster by todays standards. My Z51 car has had all the suspension rebuilt and I believe the 84 Z51 is one of the best handling C4s ever built. I do not mind the harsh ride. Most of the older Corvettes rode bad also. I also hate the air bag steering wheel on the later C4s and the split console. Like I said when Corvette Magazine considers it one of the less collectable Corvette to buy, the 84 has not made any friends with the automotive publishing public.

Tom400CFI

I've seen it. I had a CFI car for 12 years. I was pretty sure you knew that already.

JrRifleCoach

What urban legends?

Harsh ride?
No power?
Parts are expensive?

I see no urban legends there.

C4's might come back like the late C3's have. And Zr's will always maintain a spot in garages and some museums. But like most of the cars from the 80's, they will be unlikely to light up someones pocket book at the auction houses. Look at the Mustangs, Olds, Pontiacs, Dodges, you name it... The designers were lost and looking for inspiration. But only found a straight edge rather than a french curve.........

383vett

The 84 Corvette was Motor Trend's car of the year. That being said, they do make good platforms for race cars.

ex-x-fire

Not to get off the subject, but what about the 80s C4 contemporaries? I drove a nice 87 944S the other day, what a lame a$$ car, it makes no usable daily driver torque (you have to get the revs way up), to me the interior lay out & quality wasn't much better, and the cost to fix anything is quite pricey.