sahhas

i think this conversation is really questioning if you are talking about a c4 corvette as a sports car or as a muscle car/race car, ie: styling vs. engine HP (speed).

i think they are 2 different things, but i think most people think they are the same.
the reason i mention this is this weekend i saw an old MG midget, man they are a SMALL car, and i don't think they go very fast. the other thought was i looked up those old mercedes sports cars (the ones on TV show Dallas) and i think it said their top speed was only like 110mph.
and our old '79 mazda rx7 only had a top speed of 110 mph (had ours up to 90 and i thought it was going to break apart!!!!).

heck, i remember reading an old article of one of the magazines reviewing a '73 Corvette w/ Zora, and i think the fastest they got it to go was 140mph, but most of the runs only got to 130mph....

and yet, the C4 corvette was a 150mph car (and the later LT1s upped the top speed a bit).

as for style, well, i think some are put off by the 80s wedge shape. so you either love it or not. it is a style that they stayed with for 12 years -although the C5 was supposed to come out in '93, but budget problems stalled that! i think the one answer to that is look at the C4 Sledgehammer...that car showed what the potential of the C4 was, granted it supposedly cost $400K to build....

tpi1986

That is the coolest post of the day my friend! lol

tpi1986

That is a nice group! Big time!

I went and looked at a 93 LT-1 6 speed last night. Looked great in the photos, but a little rougher than I thought it would be. However, its about the 6 speed C4 I can find with in 300 miles.

Been trying to talk myself into buying all night. Stuck on the fence. Since I started talking about C4 again, Im really wanting to go get one! Then I see your list! lol. I feel so ashamed for ever selling my C4's.

kostas86

I like the C4, always liked the C4 so when it was time to add some American to my mostly Euro collection it was a no brainer. I enjoy driving and also looking at it's sharp lines. No regrets and whoever doesn't like it, oh well. True car enthusiasts enjoy all years/makes/models of all cars. It has received many comments/compliments from others so there will always be a few bad apples to deal with.

kael

Hmm, odd. I live in the hugely population of the US state Iowa (/sarcasm). I see C4's often, including a nice early Red C4 at my local library (should have left a card for the owner to contact me), a massive town of 3000+ people.

Just depends I guess.

tpi1986

Clearly this shows that people in Iowa are hoarding the majority of the C4s!!

Maybe you should point me in the direction of a good one. I'm in Nebraska. Snuck out at lunch to go look at a 96 that was "really really nice".

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then I don't want to meet the guy who "Customized" this car.

It literally has a half naked woman (very cartoonish) painted on the roof.

kostas86

My eye *****! Poor thing!

tpi1986

I would have included a photo of the mostly naked cartoon woman on the top, but was worried that I would put everyone into a deep depression. I seriously thought about buying it just to save the poor thing. But then I realized I would have to drive it home.

My wife would probably slap me stupider if she saw it.

pologreen1

Send them to a viper forum and watch how many pegs they are knocked down.

A corvette is a great affordable platform for performance, BUT they are run of the mill cars.

Corvette is a step up from a mustang for sure, but there are many that are more of a special car than any c3-c7.

C1, and C2 really were far superior to others in the same generation.

FresnoVette

Designed by 80's stylists. Which I believe is the only 80's car that looks good.
Start of port injection for passenger cars. TPI
Start of Computerized Engine Controls.
Three different engines.
A racing series sanctioned by the general.

So many nuances for one generation.

kael

http://iowacity.craigslist.org/searc...searchNearby=1

Couple of '87s (my favorite for some reason), '94 and a '96.

Granted, listed a bit high, but hey, git wha ya pay fer.

sahhas

re: "Designed by 80's stylists. Which I believe is the only 80's car that looks good."

remember, the C4 started development in 1978. The original images of design it was very angular (i remember image from "corvette from the inside"). but the final wasn't as angular as the picture/design.

as for "all the C4s are in Iowa", well i'm in Iowa City, and there have been a few listings of things (mostly check Des Moines since it's a bigger city)...Chicago has a lot of listings, but obviously bigger area, lots of people....honestly 2 years ago i saw a fair amount of C4s out and about, but this year, i really haven't seen very many at all!!!!! I know there is a guy who has a red 80s model, i've seen it around a couple of times, someone in the development behind us has a white 89 convertible, that i've never seen them drive, but they've had it out at a couple of places trying to sell it...honestly i see more C3s around than C4s. have seen just a few C5s, only seen 1 C6 in my area, and there are a few who have the new C7, saw them more last year than this year.
heck-2 weeks ago leaving the UI campus, i saw THREE brand new porsches parked on the street! i was like: WOW. you never see 3 corvettes sitting around on the street....

VikingTrad3r

i agree it depends on where you are and what situation is going on.

where i live. calgary canada, we have been decimated by low oil prices. but, we have a buttload of wealth here due to the oil induatry. we have the highest per capita of supercars in north america i am told. ive not seen a study on that but suffice it to say we have a much higher than usual per capita "fast car" %.

we also have many guys in thier 30's and 40's (who were kids or early teens during the c4 years) who because of the oil business have access to 10k of disposable income but NOT 20k right now at this point in time. It was nothing for a guy here to go and buy a ferrari or lambo up until 2 years ago when oil prices crashed. Things have really really changed here.

What i have noticed is that all of the anobe has resulted in a huge surge in the 80's "fast cars" becoming desirable here in my city.

Guys my age (me included) are buying the C4 (and 240sx, 300zx, mustangs but there seems to be a mutual agreement that they are Fugly no matter what you do) "fixing them up" adding bluetooth and handsfree calling, updating rims, and away you go with a 6k car that looks like a 20k car up here because they really do look sharp with newer rims and they are very rare at the same time.

I've often thought about buying a few of them from the states where they are cheaper and importing them up here, cleaning them up, and selling them off.

We just did that with our 85 z51. Looks amazing. 12-15k car up here. Bought it for 5k and added $1551 worth of parts over the last two years. Its not a business in and of itself but it does allow a guy beer money and also pays for your fun car to drive around.

corvetteronw

Eye candy:

the kid C6

I had a 1981 Camaro Z28 with air induction. The speedometer went up to 85 mph. Needless to say, we pegged that speedometer on a regular basis!

SpiritOf76

My first Corvette experience was in a C4. When I was 15, I had knee surgery. My VERY SEXY mid-30's physical therapist had a white C4 vert. On my 16th birthday, she took me out after my therapy session and let me drive on my learner's permit. She made a man out of me in more ways than one in that 'Vette.


Yeah, I like C4's too, but C3's are still the sexiest.

tpi1986

thanks man! I drove to Des Moines this afternoon, on a tip from one of my drag racing buddies. I bought one! 1992 6 Speed. Absolutely in perfect condition. See below, I just got home! I so darn pumped lol.

tpi1986

Ok, you just brought me down from my the high I was on for buying my new (to me) 1992.

I had to have a couple of back surgeries after a crash in our top dragster. (A hell I would not wish on anyone)

My physical therapist, well, she easily was the scariest looking creature I have ever seen. She has to sneak up on water!! Im not joking when I say that despite the fact she had the personality of a rattle snake, she was not blessed with even a little good looks.

However, I was a terrible patient and thanked god she got me up and going. But damn, 16, sexy therapist and a Vette!!! Dude!! Nice!!!!

86C4Z51

Someone said the styling was started in 1978, and that triggered memories of the TR7 from 1977 -- wedge-shaped. "The shape of things to come" was the ad campaign. Maybe they'd seen the drawings over at GM.

Whenever I see a C5, 6 or 7 from the inside of my C4, I think, "Your car was possible because of my car." And that's true in more ways than one.

But the bottom line is the car looks good, is fun to drive, and easy to maintain. It's American made (and yeah I've had/worked on lots of foreign cars) and I like having the keys to mine in the garage. Did I mention it's fun to drive?

Another thought -- OK mine is a pretty stock L98 iron head. Not high on the HP listing. But I have to wonder, for normal driving, what do you DO with 400-600+ HP? Sure, we all want more power because it's more power. But with stop lights and cops and pedestrians etc, the power I get from my car is fantastic for maneuvering in traffic and reasonably economical to drive.

Did I mention it's fun to drive? Yes, yes it is. As are all Corvettes.

drcook

Well , 400 to 450 HP is fun, and that is my target. After that, for the street, it is either a wreck, a ticket or any other bad thing waiting to happen, unless you are very disciplined, in which case, the expense for the extra HP is simply wasted money.

At the track, different story, but on the street............

Do you know how long the first Hell Cat that was sold lasted ? 1 hour..........

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/do...llcat-totaled/

when I was in my late teens, early 20's, one of the neighborhood members put his '67, 427/435 coupe into a tree and burnt it up. Bet he has out his self azz-kicking machine daily, considering how much they are worth now.