Yahoo Autos Throwback Press Photo of the Week: 1984 Chevrolet Corvette
(Welcome to TPPotW, where we find a particularly odd press photo from the annals of automotive PR history and then write something-anything!-about it.)
Ok, so this photo of a 1984 Corvette isn't particularly odd, but there's a lot going on here. To understand what I'm on about, you have to travel back to 1984 and learn about the state of the Corvette. To 2016 eyes, this car might look dated, but in its day, this Corvette was the pinnacle of modernity.
It's hard to overstate the importance of the fourth-generation (C4) Corvette. Its predecessor, the C3, was built from 1968 to 1982, but it was based on the second-generation Corvette, which went on sale in 1962. The C3 didn't exactly age gracefully into the 1980s, so a game-changing successor was a necessity for GM. Chevy was so set on getting the C4 right, they skipped the 1983 model year entirely, delaying the launch to the 1984 model year.
A thoroughly over-the-top commercial proclaimed that "you've never seen anything like this before," regarding the C4 'Vette, and while it's easy to make fun of it now, it was true in its day. The 5.7-liter L83 V8 was a carryover from the 1982 model, and only produced 205 horsepower, but Corvette engineers compensated for that with the suspension.
The C4's suspension setup was significantly lighter than its predecessors, and the interior was modernized with a digital gauge cluster. Over the years, the C4 Corvette's power increased and handling was refined to a world-beating degree with the 1990 ZR-1. A host of other changes made the C4 a clear step forward from the C3, and as a result, sales were strong.
These days, it's easy to see the C4 as the worst of all Corvettes–not old enough to be classic; not new enough to be modern. That's why it's so fun to revisit a time when the C4 was Chevy's great hope. In this picture, you could look at the Corvette's dated shape, and extremely 1980s shade of beige, and write it off. You shouldn't though, because it represents so much more than that.
This Corvette the stepping stone between the classic world-beaters of the 1960s, and the amazing 'Vettes we have now.
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