89onlyZ51

It's all relative. When the '84 came out, it was 0-60 in 7-ish seconds and 15 seconds in the 1/4. Most family sedans at the time were 0-60 in 10-12 seconds and 18+ in the 1/4. Fast forward to today, and a lot of family sedans are 0-60 in 6 seconds and 14 in the 1/4. The vette was still very quick comparatively back then. The L-82 C3 vettes were even a little faster than the '84 (except in top speed). Unless you had a big block or one of the "special" small block vettes in the '60's/early 70's, they weren't really any faster. Sure, they had 300-350 GROSS HP, but that's like, what, the 230 or so the L-82's and the TPI 350 had? What little was lost in real HP was made up in traction. Whenever I drive a classic, it reminds me that they're great to look at and sound really cool, but the newer ones are so much more fun to drive!

ottawabarber

Had 'a 65' Super Sport in high school, after that - well....

Hair to my belt loops, customized a 64 Ford Van, and drove really sllllloooooowwwwwww so the police wouldn't notice us ( a van of hippies was noticed more than a tire squeeling hot rod in those days ) hitchiked accross the country twice and lived in a comune in Colorado.

But, yes indeed - they ruined the era of fine power cars with cheap 4 cyl crap.

KRG'S 85

'69 4 speed Plymouth Road Runner with a 383- $900
'67 Mercury Cougar XR7 4 speed with a 390- $1,200
'69 Camaro RS- fully loaded - $1,500
'67 Buick Gran Sport- $1,200
'73 Pontiac Trans-Am SD455 - $4,500

All of the above were clean, low mileage cars with no modifications located in Southern California. My dad owned the Cougar, Gran Sport, and Camaro (I learned to drive in the Camaro). The prices listed were what he sold them for. The Road Runner was offered to me by a friend in high school who was graduating and going into the Navy. The Pontiac I saw on a dealer lot in Long Beach (red with a white interior). Yes, it was in the middle of the gas crisis, but if you were in high school and only lived 3 miles away gas was not an issue....

To put things into personal perspective, I was 7 years old when the C3 came out, and the '84 came out the year I graduated college in 1983. The C3 was a stale design. When the '84 Corvette came out it was a revelation, but it was also on the heels of the '83 Camaro/Firebird and at the same time as the Fiero. Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time the perception was that, for an American car company, GM was cutting edge. Chrysler Corp was busy building commuter cars (Omni/Horizon), and all of the "exciting" cars from Ford were based on the Fox platform. The '84 when introduced was exciting, and drew favorable comparisons with Porsche and Ferrari in the media. The '84 even appeared in non-GM advertising like Goodyear and BBS wheels. Couple that with all of the toys and models made of the '84, and this may have been the most exciting new car intro GM has ever had.

I absolutely fell in love with the '84 Corvette when I saw it in metallic grey for the first time at Champion Chevrolet in Manhattan Beach, but building a life and career took a back seat to owning one. 25 years later I finally got a metallic grey '85. To show how things in this world are meant to be- when I got the Corvette home and went through all of the paperwork that came with the car, I found the original window sticker. The original selling dealership- Champion Chevrolet.

Rocket22

I got hooked on the night rider show, so had to get my hands on a trans am. The 1984 HO 305 CI had a whopping 205 ponies with a getrag 5 speed. No I didnt add the knight rider red light up front, but mounted my radar detactor in front of the car with a light wired up in the hood bump. (it worked well at night). it was stock 7.1 0-60 and for a high schooler, it was a missle compared to all the other 70's 80's cars. Recaro seats and gatorback tires, it felt like a ferrari to me and had t-tops to boot. Unfortunately the back end and trans were not up to par and this car required a lot of JunkYard scavanging to keep moving.

Sunstroked

Back in the day when I was a pimple faced teen (70's) I became extremely excited about cars. I built my first 73 camaro up to a pretty hot ride during the late 70's and early 80's. Everyone I knew was into cars. Some of my best friends cars were todays muscle car classics, only we didn't know that at the time. 340 cuda', 401 amx, 440 charger, 427 chevelle, 327 camaros, I could go on but these were my buddys daily drivers!

I remember the 2 brothers at the end of the block who had identical corvettes, 69 coupes. Another guy at the other end of the block had 2 superbirds. This was early-mid 70's.

As the decade turned to the 80's we rolled with the flow. Emission testing was a thing of the future so, the low powered cars offered by the big 3 were pretty much turned into fire breathers with aftermarket parts and NITROUS. Yep, I remember those first systems when they came out. I put 1 on my camaro. Instant 75 hp. Tame by todays standards, but quickly better systems were developed.

I came darn close to buying a really sharp 82 vette brand new. I could afford the car, and it was a beauty, but the insurance payments equaled my car payments. ( I had a few to many traffic tickets) That killed that deal. Oh I wish I were 22 again.

I also remember when the new C4 came out. My boss at the time, Conrad Kalitta, took delivery of one. Tame by todays standards, but it sure beat everything else rolling off the line. I thought it was a great looking car at the time. And it was reputed to be very fast.

You, know its all relative. American autos had there day in the sun back then and reprised in the 90's and up to now. I think you will now see a sharp drop in factory performance. The new administration will see to that. Then it will be back to figuring out how to make that electric hybrid car run 12 sec. 1/4's.

jhammons01

I always had a cynical look....I had a Mach 1 with a 350 Cleveland and a Shaker hood scoop. I knew what fast was.

The '84 was great to look at, but deep down inside you knew it had been castrated by Government regulations...

Even "hippy" girls made comments about the "old" vettes...how they would go sideways if you stomped the gas pedal......I wish I could remember her name, she was about 10 years older than me and she loved Bob Seager....anyway we were talking about the '84 being released and that was what she compared it to. Sad when you think about really.

I have that '84.

secondly, in late '83 my neighbors son got out of prison, he wasted no time in breaking into the other neighbors home and stole his '82. The Police were stumped so the victim Neighbor, Johnny, hired a PI to find the car. The criminal had taken the car down to Houston and it "hung out" around a certain 7/11.

Me and My GF and Johnny went down there and found that car. It pulled up to the 7/11 around midnight......on the way home, Johnny stopped in Cleveland Texas where a sparkly new Metallic Silver '84 was on the showroom floor. It was in the middle of the night and he left that '82 in the parking lot and drove home with us. He claimed that the car smelled like beer and Cigarettes and the top was cracked. He didn't want it anymore. The next day He went back and bought that '84.

I remember him bringing it home and how jealous I was that he had one.......

I got one now.......

Bob89c4

My first car was a 1967 barracuda coupe I paid 300.00 for it when I bought it. It had a 273 commando with a hemi torqueflight tranny.
It was awesome. Wish I still owned that car. If you could only go back in time with a little money, wow what I would buy.

Z51JEFF

When the 84 came out it was huge,205 horse power was better than a few years prior,it was just as hot as the 09 ZR1.Then the 85s came out with a 25 H.P. bump.The horsepower kept climbing then the ZR-1 came out with 375.But to answer the O.P. question,for a short time there it seemed like horsepower

traxx1

Getting out of high school in 65 it was the middle of the horsepower wars, I had a 57 corvette and a 67, 61, 427 tri power 67corvette and the bbc was good the 57 was only 22o hp and the 61 was punched out to a 301 and hauled *** but I also had a 70-440 6 pack challenger ans a 61 srarliner ford superstocker and a 64 426 plymouth wedge, to me the good old days were GREAT.

BrianCunningham

Had a '70 RT/SE with a 383

Man I wish I kept that car!

vettebuyer6369

1971 wasn't a bad time. I had a '71 Challenger that I loved. The cars were still interesting and still had some power. It was the late 70s/early 80s when everything was de-fanged that it was a bit depressing. There was a point where cars stopped having performance options and everything went toward luxury options to make up for them. And the so-called "performance" cars tried to make up for being gutless by adding funky tape stripes and badges to pretend they were sporty.

The onset of the '84 was an incredibly exciting time. Everyone wanted the world-class sports car that it was at the time. Even the silly video game dashboard was cool. It makes it that much more disappointing that the car has spiralled into the dated, zero-interest car that it is today that you can't give away. Very sad.

Pwnage1337

I'm living a dream in the 2000's..still in high school and my Vette will roast anything everyone else is driving

I wish I could have been around during muscle car/drive in diner times. It just sounds like the world was a better place back then.

silverja

Those days sure were dismal. I purchased a '66 convertible off a young kid who just got a brand new '77. That Corvette provided many great memories during my many years of ownership. I just could not accept the low performance 70 Corvettes from 1975 - 1980. They suffered from stupid accelerated government pollution regulations that hurt their performance. After parting with the '66, I went to a Trans Am that was fun until returning back to the Corvette world.

jeffp1167

wasn't it a whopping 190hp with a borg-warner T-5 LOL

jhammons01

Watch it..........

No one is kicking your dog......

Actually, the fact that they Sold 55k 84s.....and the original feelings are two of the major components for making a highly collectible Item.

Third component is occuring as many are scrapping these rather than restoring.

Mike J

The 84 Corvette was anxiously anticipated and selling for over MSRP at the time. I lived close to Malcolm Konner Chevrolet in Paramus, NJ and they moved hundreds at 2K over list.

The clam shell hood, advanced suspension, and gorgeous looks helped make the 84 Corvette the car to have in 1984. It handily outperformed the 308GTSi and 911 Carrera of the day.

A clean 84 is still a beautiful car. In my opinion, it makes the C5 appear too busy and bloated. That said, the C5 is the only Corvette body style I never warmed up to.

As an aside, that 1984 Trans Am with the 305 H.O. was only sporting 190hp. I remember this because I owned one. The Trans Am did not break 200hp until the advent of TPI in 1985.

corvetteronw

I remember seeing an article during that era (maybe Motor Trend) with a photo of a Plymouth Super Bird (with the huge rear wing) parked up on blocks with chickens roaming around it.
You couldn't sell a big block Mopar, Ford or Chevy to save you life.
Did you see what they are going for now on Barrett Jackson?
Shoulda/woulda/coulda bought several and stored them away.

cv67

I remember back when I was a kid and teen reading the classifieds..tricked out C3s were under 6k, 69 Z/28s for 5k, etc etc.

Imagine a used car section full of hot rods on the cheap ALL the time.
I was just too young to put the bux together.

On the cul de sac I grew up on the next door neighbor had 2 70 RT Challengers, the one next to him a 65 Stang all done up and the guy on the end had 4 AMXs, his Dad had 2 Superbirds. I was the kid on the bicycle that would always be a pest, dropping in just to watch them work on their cars and hoping for a thrill ride.
Man used to love listening to those guys come down the street, especially on Fri night to run the streets together. Good stuff!

psychodiagnostik

I was a kid in the '70s, but most of my family sort of skipped the boring years, driving old interesting cars until the '90s.

My mom drove her '67 Plymouth Fury 'vert thru the '70s, and her brother drove a Charger with a 383 until the late 80s. My mom eventually got the '93 Corvette (that I've inherited) and her brother scored an LT1 Buick Roadmaster.

One of my weirdo cousins bought one of those dorky Toyota Celica/Supras in the 80s, he thought it was quick. He took us for a ride and we were like, "Uh, I GUESS it's fast...".

dmukina

I was born in 1989, so i have no idea what your all talking about.........

I just remember seeing the late c4s like 95 when i was 6, and thats what i wanted.
Now i have one

sorry for not understanding all you old geezers rants!
just kidding, please dont be mad. lol