The Rebirth of the Corvette - 1984

The Chevrolet Corvette was languishing. The "Stingray" had been in production in one form or another for 2 decades and had grown into (or devolved into depending on your point of view) little more than a bloated avenue trawler with a notable family name. Questions abounded about the future of the once mighty Vette, with as many people fearing the end had come as were convinced that Chevy would find a way to breath new life into the name.

The fact that no Corvettes were produced for the '83 model year alerted people that something was up and indeed by the time 1984 rolled around anticipation was at a fever pitch. Few people were disappointed with the car that Chevrolet finally rolled into showrooms nationwide. The new C4 was a radical departure from the C3. Gone was the Coke bottle "Stingray" with its pinched cabin and its gi-normous front end and in its place was a sleeked out, wide body (at least it felt that way) sports car, redesigned, re-engineered and resuscitated with plenty of European design cues.

While it took a few years to work out the kinks (suspension problems, transmission issues and the fact that the initial C4 basically had the '82 C3 engine with a meager 205 hp) there was no denying that the Vette was back on the right track. By 1987 no one was disputing that the C4 was a world class sports car with its turbo-charged 345 hp version driving highway policeman batty from coast to coast.

The redesigned 1984 Corvette C4 with its Porsche inspired running lights where the grill used to be.