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| CORVETTES 1953-2019 |
Now that I have your attention, this has absolutely nothing to do with the plastic explosive most of us have seen in the movies. It's much more mundane than that. C4 is Chevrolet's designation for the 4th generation of their Corvette sports car. It was produced between 1984 and 1996. At this time most of them can be considered as antique as any of the earlier generations of the car.
The Corvette has been produced continuously since 1953, almost. Apparently there was a pause between the 3rd generation and the 4th. Technically, there were no 1983 'Vettes. The new car was still under development and only prototypes were built. The C4 was a complex machine, unlike any Corvette before it. The new 2020 mid-engine C8 had the same teething problems. Happens when your creating something that hasn't existed before.
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| 1969 C3 CORVETTE CONVERTIBLE |
From the outside the C4 looks like a streamlined version of the C3, the Vette that came just before it. Under all that fiberglass the two couldn't be more different. For starters, the chassis of the 3rd generation Corvette is the same as the C2, developed for the 1963 model year. In addition the power plant in the later C3 tended to be on the anemic side. While originally available with 300 to 400 hp engines in a variety of displacements from 305 cubic inches to 454, the later models standardized on a 350 cubic inch engine that was smothered by pollution controls. In 1968 the 427 could launch the shark bodied Vette to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds, only a second slower than the 427 C2 the year before. By 1982 the 5.7 litre V8 under the hood had been detuned to 180 horsepower and literally crawled to 60 mph in around 8 seconds. To Chevy, the car design was jaded, especially considering the chassis was designed 19 years before.
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| 1984 CORVETTE GRAN SPORT COUPE |
This brings us to 1984. Remember there were technically no "new" Corvettes built in 1983. The guys at Chevrolet were working on a new design, a light year or two beyond the previous generations. The C4 was the first of the "modern" 'Vettes and nothing like any American car ever to reach mass production up till that time. Under the new body style was a frame and suspension more at home on a race track than a highway. The engine displacement was still standardized at 350 cubic inches, but output was boosted to 205 horses. The 0-60 time dropped to 6.7 seconds. That was just the start. By the mid 90's the C4 was sporting 300 or more horsepower in it's various incarnations. The 0-60 times were in the 5 second range.
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| 1993 CORVETTE COUPE |
This blog post was inspired by one C4 Corvette in particular, VIN 1G1YY23P4N5105157. She was #105157 to roll off the assembly line at the Bowling Green, Kentucky plant (where all Corvettes are built) in 1993. A two door coupe painted "bright aqua" as GM calls it, the car was equipped with a 300 horsepower 350 cubic inch V8 with tuned port fuel injection and a four speed automatic transmission. When new, a Bose "Gold Series" am/fm stereo with CD player provided entertainment. Power seats, covered in genuine black vinyl, matched the rest of her interior. Like all other 'Vettes built that year there were power windows and door locks. The anti-theft system, called VATS, was designed to thwart most amateur car thieves, even if they only stole the radio.
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| 1993 CORVETTE COUPE #105157 |
That was back in 1993. After passing through 7 owners, including one who had an accident, she ended up in my driveway. Still running, sort of, she was a shadow of her original self. Her original seats were gone as was her radio. The seat motors were still there but topped off with APC racing seats that didn't really fit into the car. The transmissions that move the seats (yes, power seats have transmissions) were no longer in any shape to move anything, let alone seats. The rear hatch didn't open and the removable targa top leaked like several sieves in concert. The original factory aluminum wheels had been replaced with rather expensive 20" diameter AIX wheels holding ginormous tires. The car sat too high as a result and looked like a giant toy version of itself. In short there were quite a few things that required TLC before she could be returned to her former glory. Her bright aqua paint was still in good shape except for the few places where the fiberglass underneath was damaged. Fortunately, these spots are all in the passenger side where I don't see them on a daily basis. Did I mention the hole in the bottom driver side of the firewall?
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| 20" AIX WHEELS |
The craziest part may be that I've never really had the desire to own a Vette. The cars are expensive no matter what generation you're looking at, That's true with brand new ones as well as classics. They just weren't on my radar. I admired them, even sat in a couple, but the possibility of actually owning one was beyond my skill set, so to speak. Then I came upon an article that mentioned that the fourth generation Corvettes could be had for next to nothing, relatively speaking. A really nice example with low mileage would set a buyer back $18,000. A fair example might cost under ten grand. Curious, I start checking EBay, Craigslist and a few other online sites to find out what they were selling for. I found a nice red 1992 coupe at a dealer that specializes in classic cars. He was asking $4950. The car was in fair shape with damaged clearcoat on the front and rear bumpers. It was not running. That marvelous security system GM developed all those years ago had shut down the car. He said he would hold the car and let me know when it was fixed. In the meantime I started researching what issues would kill the car. Turns out the VATS security system is based on a resistor in the ignition key. One of the computers in the car (there are several) had been programmed for a certain resistance value that matched the key. Without the correct key the car couldn't be started in any way, shape or form.
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| 1992 CORVETTE COUPE |
The issue is chronic with all GM models using the same system. If the key gets lost or the resistors missing or dirty or worn out in some way, the car is dead. Dead as a door-nail. No whirring, no clicks, no nothin. There was a way to bypass the security, but it wasn't something the amateur car thief could do quickly enough to not get easily caught. The problem was so common that the bypass was even sold as a kit and sold by companies that provide parts for classic GM cars. It still is. Bypassing the security, however, leaves your car open to an easy abduction. Some owners don't care, others install a dead switch. I wasn't comfortable with watching my investment's tail lights disappear without me. While I was waiting on the dealer, I sent him emails with the info I had found. He politely said thanks, but they still didn't have the car running. Time passes, I drove to the lot to see how things were going. A itinerant "mechanic" had been working on it. He had the fuse box and the passenger side of the car apart. I was pretty sure he had no clue why the car wouldn't start. I was sure of this because I researched it (you can Google anything) and knew that any work you had to do for a bypass or otherwise would be done on the drivers side. Basically,you solder a resistor with the correct value across two wires. The hard part is figuring the value. This is done by A- Asking GM what the value is for that VIN or B- Trying a bunch of different value resistors one at a time. When you find the one that matches the computers programming and/or key, the car will start. It's magic.
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| ITINERANT MECHANIC |
The short story is this. I got tired of waiting on the dealer. I didn't trust his mechanic would find the fix and kind of assumed that maybe he wasn't computer literate enough to look it up. I started looking around again. I found a guy on Craigslist selling a 1993 coupe for $4400. In the photos it looked great. The ad even assured me there were no issues whatsoever. I should have seen that one comin', but I'm just as dumb as I look. So my wife and I set out on a journey of a hundred and some miles to look at the car. When we got to the address this beautiful teal colored Vette was sitting right in front of the house. I looked at it, saw it's blemishes (there were quite a few) and took it for a test drive. I should have bolted back home the moment he gave me the key. That little resistor I mentioned was missing and there was a kill switch under the dash. The VATS on the car was bypassed. The car started right up and sounded rumbly as a Corvette should but ran horribly. The throttle response was zilch. It stumbled and bumbled its way around the block. We got back to the house, got out of the car and I decided to buy it. I think it was the color that blinded me to its oh so obvious faults. Turned out the guy was probably a car dealer who lived across the street from his lot. Though he said the lot belonged to a friend, he was able to use the office, the bills of sale, the notary stamp and everything else he needed to sell the car. The price dropped from $4400 to $3900 so that the tags and all the formality fees were included.
Now every other sentient being on planet Earth would have checked every single thing on the car. You would think I would. I've bought so many used cars that I could've opened a dealership. But no, I did not. Instead I drove the damn thing home. The first stop was a gas station, The tank was almost empty and I had a long drive ahead. I filled it up with premium as the label at the gas filler stated and headed for home, my wife following behind. The premium gas made a difference almost immediately. The stumbling smoothed out, though it still ran rough. Evidently somebody had been using cheap gas. C4 Corvettes don't run well on anything less than 93 octane. Sold for $3 a gallon at that time.
At this point in the story I'm sure any readers are waiting for the words "broke down" to appear in a sentence. Though it's unbelievable, that never happened. I did find that the climate control had seen better days and didn't work at all. I had wipers and lights and even power windows that worked. All this was good because it got dark and rainy and cold. The power seat on the driver side seemed to work fine in certain directions. The radio, which wasn't original, worked too. It even had bluetooth. I couldn't get it to sync up with my phone but it did work. There weren't any decent stations out where we were, but I could get those evangelical preachers. Aside from finding out how much TLC the car might need, the trip was uneventful. It did burn a lot of gas, almost the full tank to go 100 or so miles, but that was fixable.
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| APC "RACING" SEATS |
Looking back on it, I probably should have not purchased the car. Yet, it was the only running C4 Corvette I've seen before or since for the price. Considering the price of Vettes in good shape, odometer mileage and general condition, I probably got a good deal. Many of the other C4's are older with their own issues or parts only cars. A lot of them have issues with the clear coat from exposure to the sun that would require expensive work at a paint shop.The later years that were in better shape had a third more miles on them. Mine has 94,000 on the odometer, most of those others are well over 150,000. Truth be told, none of the other Vettes I've seen can be had for the ultimate $3000 I spent. This price takes in account the money I made selling those ridiculous 20" wheels (each worth about $200 new) and ugly "racing" seats. How I wish whoever the owner was had dumped that money into repairs, but that's just "water under the bridge" so to say...I ended up with a running project car with obvious faults, which is better that than great looking car that ends up a doorstop. The car originally sold for $32,000 or more. So after waiting only 27 years, I got it for 10 times less. What a bargain! Good things come to he who waits and all that kinda stuff.
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| 1993 CORVETTE COUPE #105157 |
All I need do now is "restore" it. That's what I'm doing now, a little bit at a time.So it looks as if #105157 has found a forever home. She'll be showered with TLC (and sweat, maybe some tears, some blood for sure, I always bruise my knuckles) She runs almost perfect now and the sight of her hood open for days at a time will get more infrequent now that she's getting into decent shape. Hopefully I'll have her so spiffy the grandkids will want to borrow her on prom night.
