Listen to your brother or you may end up never listening to your wife
again.  Which I guess could have its upsides.
--

You can run, but you'll only die tired.

ZombyWoof

Chevy sold a ton of these in 84, and I don't recall them all being denounced
as lousy cars at the time. Yes, the later models have a better fuel
injection and
a stronger transmission, and you may encounter difficulty finding someone
who can work on the crossfire (should that misbehave), but I don't think
there's
anything inherently wrong with an 84 as a boulevard driver. price guides
say the
car is probably in the $7k to $10k range...
http://www.manheimgold.com/car_lo.html

I'd suggest you buy it.

NADA
http://tinyurl.com/s9f8j
but
listen to your brother.

I also have an 84...

I had an 84 before my 93, I enjoyed it, would own another if I found the
right one.  It's a rougher ride, but handled magnificently.  Never had
problems with the cross-fire, but will admit that the TPI is better.  I'd
suggest you get it, you won't find many in that shape again.

<snip>

Johnny:

Deciding to buy a Corvette is not something that you do with your mind
as much as you do with your heart.
If this car speaks to you, buy it.

Yes, it'll cost you more for upkeep than a Toyota or a Honda, but at the
end of the day, you'll be driving a Corvette, YOUR Corvette.
It probably won't be your last Corvette, but it will be your first, always.
Buy it and don't look back.
Don't expect to make a dime on it when and if you ever sell it.
This way you won't be disappointed if it is worth less when you pass it
along to the next owner, and pleasantly surprised if it's worth more.
At any rate, a Corvette IS NOT a wise investment financially speaking.
(unless you had a time machine and could go back to 1969 and buy one of
the only 2 Corvette ZL1's made, but I digress).

As that it's the first year for the C4 design, there were still bugs to
be worked out, and the design improved a great deal until '95 when it
was replaced with the C5.

The L83 350 engine was not a world class performer, HP was rated at
205hp @ 4300rpm with 290lb-ft torque. That can be improved somewhat with
bolt-ons, but to significantly improve performance requires heart and
lung transplant surgery.  Not trivial (or cheap), but certainly a handy,
mechanical kinda guy with lots of tools wouldn't find it too much of a
challenge.
The Doug Nash 4+3 transmission was not the greatest design, a lot of
people had problems with them while others did not. If it's never been
repaired or replaced then you may be one of the lucky ones.
The Crossfire fuel injection system was another problematic item, a lot
of people replaced them with newer FI systems or carburetor systems. If
you do take it off, box it up and store it away in a dark corner of your
garage. You'll want to keep it for the next owner, he may want to put it
back on. I've always liked the air cover lid, I think it looks really cool.

Good luck!
Welcome aboard.

TomC
'90ZR1 #792

You and your wife should take it for a drive and if she likes it and you're
still interested then only the price should make up your minds. What other
people think will have nothing to do with how the car will treat you and yours.

Sure, there is always things that are changed to make a new model better and
that happened in '84 as well as any other year, first year or not. Yes, it is a
stiff ride and it has a unique injection system that has been pulling that car
around for 22 years, no reason it can't do it another 30 years.

If the cars turns the two of you on and you can do it without a high price it
can be a great pleasure car. Don't forget that it will need a garage to stay in
and lots of loving care.

Many will denounce the '84 simply because it is the '68 Corvette of the C4.

A car in the condition you describe is always an intriguing buy.  But I take
exception to the "buy with your heart" comment someone made.  That is the
fastest way to get in trouble.

Arrange for you and your wife to drive it some day. Since they are friends,
maybe they would turn you loose with it for a few hours so both of you can
see just what you are getting into.  It will be stiff.  However, either most
who describe the ride are real pansies or they have never driven an older
Corvette.  My first drive in an '84 reminded me of a big block '67 or '68.
Not the power, the ride, the feel-every-pebble ride.  It really isn't much
different than most C2s and early C3s in ride.  But it may not be what you
or your wife want.

At the same time, arrange to drive some others within a few days for
comparison.

The Cross Fire is cursed by many, but really, there is nothing wrong with
it.  It just is not a performance injection system. It is basically the same
parts as most Chevy vehicles from the same time period up into the '90s with
the TBI, except there are two TBIs on a cross ram manifold that has poor
flow.

Most problems with the '84 are possible in most of the C4s - LCD display,
4+3, Bose, and so on.  So buying an '85 or 88 won't automatically protect
you.

And you know the history.  It is in great shape.  That is better than most
of what you find.

That said, the value on '84 is basically very low.  I don't know if they
will ever increase.  After all, they are 22 years old now, so it isn't like
we have to wait until they are old.  Hopefully your friend isn't expecting a
huge price.  It would have to be something like less than 5,000 miles or
still on the MSO for that.

I also agree that a daily driver is not what this car should be. Of course,
that depends on what you define as a daily driver. A friend had a '72
convertible as a daily driver up until 4 years ago.  But he worked across
the street from his house. Now he works 8 miles from home, and a '68 Chevy
pickup is his daily driver. The Corvette is the evening and weekend car.

I wouldn't suggest a 20 mile one-way commute each day in rush hour traffic.
For one, those 61,000 miles will rapidly become 100,000.

I also wouldn't suggest modifying it. While most do to make the '84 perform,
the value of this car will be its present condition.  Any changes, excessive
miles, body changes, engine changes, etc, will just drop the value unless
you do something like drop $20,000 into creating a Pro Street or some such
out of it.

Good luck.

Actually I find the 1984 to be an interesting car in that it was the
first of the NEW BREED "world class" Corvettes ...

The ride was harsh...and it was harsh because it was meant to be
Firm...real firm !   ajust turns out that many people would rather had
the car handle a tad less so their own personal rear end was more
comfortable... so GM softened it up in 1985.

The cross fire engine is fine...really not a big deal in my opinion...
and I never heard of many 82 owners who complained about misfiring >>>
the big drawback is that there are not alot of after market bold on
suppliers who supply parts for the engine...

Personally I would not mind buying a 84....if it were low milage and
in very very good shape... BUT NOT AS A DRIVER... not even as a fun
car to take out in the evening on the local twisties and relieve my
tensions ..  The deal maker for me would be if it had the original
tires with the indented lettering...and that darn star wars dash
better work .. LOL

Bob G.

Concur with you assessment of prices for early C4s.  Mid 80s with around
100k miles in the mid GA area per Auto-Trader have asking prices around
ranging 10 -15k.An 85 with 2400 miles had an asking prices of 19. If you can
find something nice at a good price, I would jump on it.