autoevolution
 

C4 Corvette Brochure is a Blast From the Past

Manufactured from 1984 to 1996 under model years 1984 to 1996, the C4 Corvette was GM’s answer to the demise of the beloved Shark. If anything, the fourth-generation Corvette was an important transition for the golden bowtie's halo sports car.
1984 Chevrolet Corvette brochure 39 photos
Photo: Mark J. McCourt for Hemmings Daily
C4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochureC4 Corvette brochure
Until the C4 came around, Chevy used fiberglass to make the body shells of former iterations. One other important first brought by the fourth-gen is that it introduced things like a glass hatchback and a digital liquid crystal display for the instrument cluster.

By modern standards, the 1984 Corvette is like wearing suspends with a suit or a tweed jacket. That’s the general public’s opinion, but Chevy gearheads know better than dissing it. Speaking of C4 enthusiasts, we happened to stumble upon an original 1984 Chevrolet Corvette brochure on Hemmings Daily and it’s... ahem... totally groovy.

Similarly groovy (and 1980s) what the Doug Nash 4+3 transmission. Come again? To put it simply, that’s a 4-speed stick shift mated to an automatic overdrive on the top three ratios. Fortunately, as transmission technology progressed, this unit was replaced at the end of the ‘80s by a ZF-developed 6-speed manual.

Before you lost at least an hour looking through the brochure’s scans in the photo gallery below, we deem necessary to mention one final detail - the all-aluminum LT5 small-block V8 motor. Thanks to the 375 horsepower and its reliability, an example of the ZR-1 Corvette managed to average 175 miles per hour (282 km/h) for 24 hours straight, thus setting a new land-speed record. That's hugely impressive even in 2015.

You could say that grandpa C4 still has the moves like Jagger, LOL.

If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories