Hi, I’m new to corvettes and am looking to buy a 1984 c4. I’ve done some research on them and I know at times they can be problematic cars. I took a look at it and right off the bat I noticed some minor things wrong with it such as; the driver door is squeaky, the driver side rear view mirror is shaky, the seats have wear, the window weatherstripping is torn up a bit, the tires are dry rotted, and my dad says it looks like the transmission is oily (we’re not sure what that means). I took it for a drive with the owner (who has owned it for around a month) everything seemed to be working smoothly except when he first started it up it had a little trouble starting, he says it was because it was parked uphill but I’m not buying it as it was just the slightest of a slope and shouldn’t make a difference. I’m no engine expert but everything under the hood looks clean. There doesn’t seem to be much rust at all under the car. The current owner says he got the car as a payment for what was owed to him from a job he did. He says the guy before him let it sit in a garage for six years and when he went to get it he had difficulty getting it started. It’s working now and he’ll sell it to me for $2,700 I’ve got around $6,000 I can put into it… I’m wondering what you guys think as you’ll probably know way more about corvettes than me. Thank you for your time

 

Welcome to the forums. Sounds as if she has a few miles on her, what you are describing sounds like normal wear and tear. Parts are easy to come by and are fairly easy to install and maintain. They are a road feeling car and things come loose from time to time, basic tools might be needed. Corvette manual would be helpful. If a Corvette is parked for any length of time it should be preped to do so, the fuel will start gumming up, not great for injectors or carburators. It takes a while to clean it out of the fuel system, they make a lot of fuel cleaners. Transmission service might rid the transmission of the oil coating. Sounds like it could be a good car with a little work, and no major damage.

 

This will be my first car and I just want to make sure I’m not going to get something that will constantly give me trouble lol. I believe he said it has 64k miles on it.

Thank you for your insight I really do appreciate it.

 

I would have loved to have an 84 for my first car, my daughter had one a few years back, it was fun to drive. Lots of electronics. Many corvette part sources around to keep you busy.

 

Would you by chance know the safety rating on it? My mom’s concerned that because it’s made of fiberglass instead of metal that if I got into an accident it won’t end well.

Thanks again

 

For a first car it might be a challenge. From what I can read it's got a fairly good crash rating 4 out of 5 stars according to GM, not bad. Reliably issues were a bit of an issue with the 84 being its first year of construction. If you like a challenge this might be the car for you. You can always get your money back on corvettes most of the time.