1987 C4 Corvette (a cheap skate's dream super car)

One day a few years ago I was convincing a buddy of mine that the absolute best bang-for-the-buck in automotive performance was the 1985-up C4 corvette. 300 horsepower, posi traction rear end, 4 wheel disk brakes, and all aluminum suspension! How can you go wrong. A quick search of Craigs List showed him that there was no shortage of supply for under $5k!! Well, I ended up just convincing myself really. I found this gorgeous 87 TPI Corvette for $3200. The body was near perfect, leather interior like-wise, but it drove horribly. The tires were out of round and out of balance. The add-on adjustable fuel pressure regulator was set too low so the engine pinged and had no power....And it had 215k miles.

                                      
              I don't have any better pics left of this car unfortunately. It was a nice subtle shade of gray.


I doted over this car for a year. I replaced worn door seals, shocks, ball joints, tires, and brakes. I conditioned the leather and regularly waxed the exterior. I cherried her out. It hauled you-know what. It was chipped and had a larger throttle body. It had a nice sounding custom exhaust. It felt like a well planted and fast super car. I auto-crossed the car for fun. I loved that car. I absolutely loved that car. It would rip the rear tires loose at the flex of the foot and it was controlled and predictable when drifting or doing awesome burnouts or donuts. The C4 corvette is a great car for the money. Period. You should buy one. I'd like to buy another before they start getting too expensive again.

Sadly, the car unceremoniously developed a rod knock. I had moved to a horrible little apartment and I was unable to take the time to repair the engine, nor was I able to afford to replace it with a crate engine, though I seriously considered it. I sold the old girl down the road to a guy who ended up just replacing the rod bearings in-car...Why didn't I think of that??

             

                               Powering out of a tight corner at the cone-track in Stockton, Ca

                                                       Pitched over for a hard right hander

This car was a kick in the pants to race autocross!! Very capable in stock form. You need to buy one!