Bobby Simone

car addict

I had to buy a replacement tail light assembly a couple months ago. I got one from eBay. When I bought it there were several amber tail lights for sale. Don't recall what years, but they were there.

Zak2018

Pre 1991 C4s came with amber/orange tail lights in Europe. The inner lights are orange and the outside ones red. So maybe you can import it.

Joe C

import model - not only the tail lights, but note the license opening and back up light as well as the reflector lens' in the rear belt line molding. note that the tail lights are flush with rear fascia.

to answer the OP's original question, I've seen these pop up on fleabay as NOS from time to time - not too often though. I would think they would be quite rare in the domestic market -

Zak2018

That's a strange rear end. Are you sure this is not a prototype of some sort? The picture looks vintage and from a magazine.

This is normally how European C4s look like from the rear:




So basically the same rear as in America but with amber tail lights. But they are not flush or anything.

The license plate opening is also not wider. Only with the ZR-1. So in Europe people either get an American shaped plate as above or just put an European sized plastic holder on top such as bellow:

Joe C

not sure of anything after seeing your pic. i'm fairly sure, but not 100% sure, the export model had flush mounted tail lights. you pic doesn't show that detail. puzzled....

here's a pic of the 1984 corvette that mike and edd did several years ago - note the similarities --

Joe C

the front end - note the side markers, front turn signal/fog light lens' and side door mirrors -

Zak2018

Interesting indeed. Maybe it came out like that only in the first year or in the beginning? O maybe only in England? Could have been locally altered to meet local regulations.

The pictures I posted above were pulled straight from for sale adds in an European site. They are cars for sale now. I only took 2 examples, but there were dozens on the same site and none of them looked like the car you posted. Interesting indeed. If I get time I will try to get to the bottom of it. But most likely somebody here already knows the answer. This place is an incredible resource.

Zak2018

So, after doing a bit more research, it seems that the C4 with the different front and rear fascias and lights you posted might indeed be an official European version for the C4. I'm not sure if it was UK only or whole Europe. Also not sure if it was sold that way in 1984 only or later too. But it's clear that at some point before 1991 it was changed back to the original way.

I found another 1984 in the UK which looks the same as your picture and also the one Mike from WD had:




This very car is for sale now and belonged to Jeff Back (rock star). It's a 1984 automatic.

It would be interesting to know what's the story on the different look and why they changed back. The wider license plate opening specially is very useful for people in Europe. So they don't need to hang it over the original opening.

The only thing I can think is GM officially brought the C4 to Europe and at some point stopped, because it didn't sell well or whatever reason. And the cars with the original look we find around Europe were imported independently later on and not by GM. Hence why they don't have the European mods, apart from the tail lights which are law and quite easy to do for an independent importer or even individual.

It has been fascinating learning the history of these cars, even when we need to guess.

Joe C

here's the build sheet on the jeff beck car. note the rpo codes for the export. model.



here's a link that pretty much covers the restoration -- http://www.corvetteclub.org.uk/viewt...r=asc&&start=0 -- plenty of pics. one thing I noted from the beck car and the wheeler dealer's car is the lack or rear side marker lights. fronts have them in full amber. not sure years for the export model, but here's a shot of what appears to be a late model C4 -- again, note the lack of rear side markers.

Zak2018

Interesting. So does the RPO options show that GM modified the cars so they could sell them in Europe or just that they made the mods available for whoever wanted to order?

84 4+3

IIRC there is an export rpo for 84. Don't remember if it was for upfit or emissions though.

FelixP

Export models also had the wheel arch flares and some came with more rectangular mirrors. I guess as rules changed over the years.

Zak2018

So only the 84s had that?

Zak2018

Was that only for the 91 and newer cars though?

Mity2

CORNY

this is my 84 export I live in the UK had it 25 years all original. There are a few other differences not mentioned here such as the seat belts, glass, no catalytic converters, different ECU and European radio ( different band width). The back lights are flush mounted with no rear marker lamps on the rear lower quarter.

ghlkal

Thanks.

The amber lenses are on the outside. I wonder why I've seen some with amber on the inside ...

OzyC4

Those number plate areas would be very handy here in Oz. You can buy US size plates if you have full registration, but if you opt for the reduced cost permit scheme you have to have the standard size plates.
These are a real PITA to fit......I had to section nearly an inch out of my front and back plates to make them even look reasonable.

CORNY

Yes they are handy i see a lot of C4s over here with motorcycle size letters to make the plates look like they fit. The folding mirrors are a bonus too although they are ugly originally from a rolls Royce of the time.