The General Skipped '83 So First Year Of The C4. 1984 Corvette Junkyard Find

These used to be the hot ticket when it came to front and rear ends for those building custom hotrods. I actually didn't know that GM skipped the 1983 model year with the new C4. So this 1984 Corvette is technically the first of the generation. America's Sports Car was not much in horsepower department but it was light years better in the handling department than the previous generation. It was pretty much all there. The 350 small block Chevy had the crossfire fuel injection system. While not very good, it looked cool. The interior likewise was all there but well worn. It was sporting some later model sawblade wheels. I kind of was digging the digital gauge cluster. In the end in left it just as I found it, opting not to pull anything off it.

[googleusergp]

Whoa Nelley, 1984 and soon to be out the door.

Let's see if the posts stay or not. If not, look under "Gary McKee's" reply for the normally scheduled program. Yes, GM skipped the 1983 model year because the C4 wasn't ready in time and they didn't want to rush it to production, so there was no 1983 Corvette. That also made pent up demand for the 1984 cars when they were introduced. No, that's not correct. Both the 4 speed automatic (THM700R4) and the manual 4+3 transmission were available in 1984. All Corvettes after June 1, 1981 were assembled at Bowling Green, KY, which they still are today. Prior to that, they were assembled at Flint, MI (originally) and then St. Louis, MO for years. The "L83" Crossfire was carried over from the 1982 model year which was the last year for the C3. My neighbor has an '82 Corvette, painted in code 26 Dark Blue, which is the rarest color for 1982, with only 562 cars out of 25, 407 painted that color. His is a real code 26 car, I ran the trim tag with him. His is a September 1981 Bowling Green, KY built car. The engine appears to be original, but the Cross Fire is now gone. He looked high and low for a Corvette like this, calling around all over the country. Where does he find it? Five minutes from his house. He walked over to the guy's house with cash and bought it. I helped him generate the money, by selling three of his cars when he moved off of my block. He moved six blocks away and lives on my uncle's block now. LOL. The 1982 Corvette also had the THM700R4 and whoever did the swap/work on his car kept it in place which was a smart move. The Corvette's nickname is "Plastic Fantastic". When I started driving, my mother (and I believe my dad) specified "No plastic fantastic" for me as a first car. They didn't trust it was safe. We never considered one back in 1980 as we needed a car with four seats and as anyone with a 2nd generation F body will tell you, the rear seats are a joke. LOL.

As others noted, this car was a big deal when it came out in 1984. The demand was pretty pent up and people were waiting for them. The first owner of this car likely waited a long time to get it, and paid a good sum if they bought it out of dealer stock. It was that hot of a car back in 1984.

We got the VIN, we win: 1G1 for US made Chevrolet, A for manual seat belts, Y07 for Corvette two door coupe, 8 for 5.7L V8 with Cross Fire Injection, aka "Miss Fire", aka RPO code "L83", 8 is a check digit, E for the 1984 model year, 5 for Bowling Green, KY assembly, and the rest is the production sequence. According to Mobil, all 1993 and up Corvettes come factory filled with Mobil 1 synthetic oil and it says so on the oil filler cap.

We got the SPID, glad you did: AG9 for six way power adjuster, driver's seat, AU3 for power door locks, A42 for six way power seat, A51 for bucket seats, BGR for Bowling Green, KY assembly, B16 comes back to a trailer wiring harness, which is odd, C49 for rear window defogger, DL8 for LH and RH power and heated mirrors, D3X for a specific driven speedometer gear, D98 for accent stripe, FE7 for variable rate front and rear suspension system, K34 for cruise control, K61 for 105 amp alternator, L83 for "Misfire" 5.7L V8, HE3 for 3.07 rear end ratio, MD8 for THM700R4 four speed automatic overdrive transmission, NA5 for standard Federal emissions, N81 for full size spare tire, UQ4 for four speaker base system, UU8 for Bose stereo system, 63U/WA7772 for Light Bronze exterior paint, 65I for brown interior trim, Z51 for performance handling package, QZD for P255/50VR16 tires, among other codes.

There were 39, 729 Corvettes made for the 1984 model year and 2, 452 were painted code 63 Light Bronze Metallic. There was one code 35 Yellow car and the rarest color after that appears to be code 20 Light Blue Metallic with 1, 196 cars painted that color for the 1984 model year.

Whoa Nelley, made in Bowling Green and no longer mean. Cross Fire is no longer for hire. L83 it's over for thee. That's it, time to quit. Paint code 63U and it's over for you. C4 and soon to be out the door. MD8 used to be great. Extra value is what you don't get, if you buy this Corvette. Plastic is no longer fantastic. Going to be flat and that's that. Misfire is soon to be on the funeral pyre. Going to get squished and the Plastic Fantastic faithful, many here, maybe Benny (slightly so) and yes, even the Google Man are going to be pissed.

[stevegold]

Corvettes. Iroc and Firebirds have no business being in the boneyard👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[Jtels]

Another car that would sell quick here in the Midwest. I know people don’t like C4’s, but they have their place. Someone bought that car new 38 years ago and if was their pride and joy. It’s a shame it’s had such a hard life.

[gregorylyon]

The 84 Vette was a revolutionary design. A very good sports car. Way ahead of it's time

[darrenporsch]

I had an 84 Corvette in the mid '90s. I never had an issue with the crossfire injection even though everyone says they sucked and didn't work right. I had other issues but the thing always ran great. Other stuff broke But a lot of it was just age and then mileage pretty much normal wear and tear stuff. but never had an issue with the injection. The tranny blew after only about 40, 000 mi but the early 700R4 were known to have issues. It had the z51 handling package it's still the best handling car I think I ever drove. A lot of the stuff that went bad was really cheap to fix cuz it was just small block Chevy stuff.

[NJRangerGeorge]

Had a crossfire in my 83 trans am thing never gave me trouble took care of the car had original engine and trans. Engine had 260, 000 miles on it

[Frank-wnlr]

3:13 it’s a real z51 car. fourth code from the right in the bottom row

[emeyer]

Almost grabbed an 85' at auction last week for $2100.Dashboard was not working and I am getting too old to be chasing electrical gremlins but car ran strong through the lane

[charlesgoodman]

I think I remember one of the old advertisements, "The most advanced car on the planet is now called Corvette" back in 1984, I was a senior in high school then.

[khb]

Corvette Ben could bring this car back to life.

[The_R-n-I_Guy]

Damn, it sucks being poor. I'd love to have that to build.

[johnbehneman]

THANK YOU SO MUCH. A GREAT VIDEO AND THANKS FOR SHARING.

[lawrencenicolaides]

I love my c3 ray 76', you have to have a vett in the collection

[RageousMode]

I like how he's looking for an opening for the glovebox when it doesn't have one. Just that chunky block on the passenger side.

[olikat]

There is an '87 Callaway twin-turbo, with under 30k miles, on Haggerty's auction site right now-

[aa]

I had a friend who would buy wrecked vettes and rebuild them and sell them. According to him there was no reason to write one off and body wise they were the easiest car made to restore.

[garymckee]

Had an 83 Z 28 with the Cross Fire, ran well for a 305 when it ran 🙂

[QuelloVeloce]

They called it the poor man's corvette

[Also]

Tell me you got those Salad Shooter wheels and the air cleaner/intake and injection system…right?

[richroj]

I like that C4 Vette Benny, very nice 👍