If you’ve never seen this legendary 1984 Chevrolet Corvette commercial, you may want to watch it before reading on, because trust me, you’ve never seen anything this before. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
I was born in 1968, the same year as the C3 Corvette. So by 1982, at the age of 14, the C3 Corvette was the only new Corvette I had known for literally my entire life. That all was about to change with the highly anticipated release of the C4 Corvette.
It would be impossible to overstate how high the hype was for the C4 Corvette. Chevrolet started fanning the flames as early as 1981, by announcing a “Collectors Edition” option for the 1982 model year, marking that generation’s swan song and serving as a constant reminder that a new model was coming soon (or at least eventually). The auto buff books were willing conspirators with GM, featuring a constant stream of covers featuring fuzzy spy shots and wild renderings, inaugurating a Corvette tradition that continues to this day.
Kind of doesn’t really look like it
Chevrolet had hoped to introduce the car in 1982 as a 1983 model (in time to commemorate the Corvette’s 30th anniversary). However, quality and production glitches delayed job one until January of 1983, at which point GM decided to skip the 1983 model year alltogether and introduce the 4th generation Corvette as a 1984 model. Not to worry: Like an early season players’ strike, the delay only served to heighten the anticipation.
The Corvette, like most sports cars, had morphed into a boulevardeur in the 70’s, as diminishing horsepower forced makers to focus on style and luxury features. Not so for the C4, with its renewed emphasis on handling, performance, and OK, some luxury features too. To make sure everyone knew that the C4 was all new and was back in the performance game, Chevrolet did something almost unheard of for a Corvette (either before or since): They made a TV commercial.
And not just any commercial. While the typical TV commercial was 30 seconds in 1983, the Corvette spot came in at one and a half minutes of pure 80’s loving goodness. Even the “edit” version of the spot clocked in at 60 seconds. But of course you would expect nothing less for the most advanced production car on the planet.
So where do I even get started with this commercial? The music that was created by someone pressing the demo button on a Casio keyboard? The Knight Rider rejected sound effects? The Stig before he was on Top Gear? The sound system with an incredible four speakers? The flame resistant gloves? So many soft targets, so little time.
It is easy to mock now, but I lapped it all up 1983, and the earworm is still stuck in my head 30 years later. Little wonder that Chevrolet never made another Corvette commercial, because really, how to you top this one?
Tom,
I like how with all of the sound swooooshing and the safely suited Stig’s shifting from 1 to 2, and 2 to 3, the speedometer is shown stopping at and not going over the special line at 55.
Ahh, the good old days. It took 10 more years for the 55 mph national speed limit to completely end.
I did own an 84 Corvette, and I do not recall that the speedometer stopped at 55 MPH. My book states that while the analog speedometer tops out at 85, the digital readout goes to 150.
SomeOneInTheWildWest:
Apologies; I wasn’t clear in my comment (above). The speedometer reading as shown in the ad gets to 55 and then the camera cuts away.
I am sure the speedometer can go past that mark, but the properly vetted ad (see what I did there?) does not show the offending act.
Like in a late 1950s movies when Bridget Bardot was getting undressed, just as she gets to her last remaining clothes, the camera cuts away.
(I had to sneak into that movie; I was only 14.)
The C4 lived up to its billing after the years-long buildup. It was actually the first all-new Corvette, not since the C3 in 1968, but the C2 in 1963 (C3’s suspension was carryover).
Not quite all new. The L83 engine was carryover from the 82 Vette.
The song is similar to Queen’s “Flash” Flash aaaahhh!
The whole thing seems like a cut scene from Flash Gordon!
I’m gonna admit that I paid to see “Flash” in the theatre. In my defense I was also really stoned, trust me it helped ?! Queen still rules though -? (see what I did there?).
Amazing. Not ONE mention of its engine. Oh well, just as well, as the “Cross-Fire” was a dud. Still…
The crossfire was not nearly as good performance wise as the 1985 port injected engine, but it was not slow either.
Not Corvette-related, but Regal vs. Supra? That seems like an odd matchup.
This was the first-gen Supra which was perceived more as a Japanese take on the personal-luxury coupe than the almost-sports car it later became and now remembered as.
This Corvette design, was, in my humble opinion, THE most forgettable Corvette ever.
I was shocked at how the beautiful, sleek 1968 mako shark-derived design had been smashed in a stamping press. Glad it’s long gone.
We’ve managed to reach serious disagreement point #2 in our lives (#1 being your un-understandable obsession with windows must roll down completely): I absolutely love the Corvette, and am in year seven of trying to find myself a . . .
1. Nice condition one that I can afford that
2. Has a manual transmission.
I’ve run across plenty of automatics (I swear 95% of the C4’s for sale out there are automatic), and I’ve run across two (count ’em, two) manuals in my price range . . . . . but both of them had enough problems, dash lights, and potential problems that they scared me off.
I’m convinced that true Corvette aficionados keep their manual cars forever, while Corvette dilettantes sell their automatics after three years to go on to the next toy.
And the C3 wasn’t a sports car. It was a two-seat muscle car, straight out of Jan and Dean’s “Drag City” or the Beach Boys “Shut Down”.
Those early ones had the 4 + 3 manuals for CAFE
The transmission was a Doug Nash 4+3 which was a Borg and Warner Super T-10 with an electro-hydraulic overdrive. It allowed overdrive in second, third and fourth. The Borg and warner T-5 wasn’t strong enough so this was the solution Dave McLellan came up with. It was used from 1984-88 and was replaced by the ZF 6-Speed in 1989. The Doug Nash transmission proved to e somewhat problematic, but many owners now swap in a Tremec 5 -speed.
I agree with Syke on the C4. I don’t understand why the C4 is so disliked by so many on this board. While sure it was a little on the bland side styling wise, at least it was clean styling. The C4 was really an engineers car, while the C3 was purely a stylist machine. The C3 had no significant engineering upgrades from the C2, while the C4 was improved in almost every area (other than the carry over engine). It was also the first Vette designed with aerodynamics in mind with a .34 cd. The C3 may have looked good to many, but it had horrible aerodynamics. The C4 was far from perfect but at least it was a real sports car again.
The C4 was really Dave Mclellan’s Vette, and I think a lot of his personality is reflected in the car, function before form. If you read his book, he is pretty proud of the car overall. That said, the C4 was obviously plagued with many quality control issues and some design compromises (this was Roger Smith’s GM). The 1985 car, with the TPI engine and the revised suspension, should have been what was released for the 1984 MY. Regardless, the car did continue to improve as the generation aged and I would argue that this generation at the very least made the Corvette viable contender in the sports car world.
Count me in as one of the folks who liked the C4, Nowhere near my price bracket, But I agree it was clean styling (it certainly looked modern at the time). I wouldn’t toss one outta my garage!
In retrospect the C4 may not seem like that wonderful a car but at the time, it was very much the only light in the tunnel for American performance cars. I was excited to see it.
We really were living in a black time
http://www.zeroto60times.com/vehicle-make/chevrolet-0-60-mph-times/
In its darkest hour (1982) the Corvette took 9.1 seconds 0-60
The 1984 Corvette did 0-60 in 6.6 seconds.
It also had great handling numbers and while not beautiful was not hideous either.
I was certainly pleased that our long national automotive nightmare finally seemed to be passing.
I felt like Churchill had dressed up like the Stig and was going to rescue us all from the dreary boredom of driving Chevy Citations and Ford Tempos.
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
As much as the C4 Corvette itself, I was attracted to David Kimble’s stunning and finely detailed cutaway illustrations, as seen in Motor Trend. Hand drawn with pen and ink, and airbrush, in an era long before 3D rendering software like 3D Max. It beautifully complemented the C4’s marketing, and inspired my interest in technical illustration.
https://tinyurl.com/mjuvlvl
Kimble’s drawings are just amazing–you can spend a lot of time looking at the details, I have a poster Kimble did of the Enterprise from Star Trek hanging in the man cave. By the way my uncle was a Supertest dealer in Simcoe, Ontario.
<Ed>
The…most advanced production car…on the planet?</Rooney>
Not! LOLROFL.
We can debate quality, but what was more technologically advanced (complex) in 1983?
I actually own a 1984 Corvette. I have had it for about 6 years. Once set up properly, the Crossfire system works fine. It’s a pretty torquey engine, actually, and has given me no trouble. The car’s best quality, not surprisingly, is how well it handles. I drive it a couple of times per week and always enjoy it. Compared to modern cars, it is not that fast (though it matches or exceeds most in handling prowess). But keep in mind that it’s from 1984, a long time ago in car years. Styling-wise? De gustibus non est disputandum.
As one of the commentators said earlier, the song reminded me of Queen’s “Flash” song from the 1980 “Flash Gordon” movie (that song was probably the best thing about that film) – yes, the digital dash, unidirectional tyres and the styling – so futuristic! I notice they conveniently omitted horsepower ratings and 0-60 times. Was this the only ad ever produced for any generation of Corvette, and when did it debut? It’s corny enough and ‘flashy’ enough to have made it as a Superbowl commercial.
Absolute lover of the Flash Gordon movie, the Queen soundtrack, and the effect it had on science fiction costuming (what’s now called cosplay). The 1984 Worldcon in Los Angeles (LA Con II – which is where the term cosplay came from, by the way, after the reaction of some Japanese fans who had never seen an American SF masquerade before) had about six entries from the movie, all done as well or better than what was in the film.
This commercial is EPIC! In an ’80s nostalgia way, of course.
I was born in ’83, but was somewhat “conscious” to the world around me by around ’88 or so. The view of the future in the mid to late ’80s was so wide-eyed and fun. It’s cheesy looking back at it now, but at the time, this commercial and the future-view it represents was mind-blowing.
Glad to have lived through it, at least a little bit.
ETA: Chevy should use the “Taking Charge” tagline for its Volt and Bolt EVs.
Times have changed. Back then the future was bright and exciting with flying cars and civilian space travel. Today the future is dark and dystopic with environmental disasters and zombies.
Or maybe that’s just what aging does to your outlook. 🙂
I was a sophomore industrial designer at Georgia Tech in 1984, and remember this car being a huge deal, at least in our circle. I still have my dealer brochure tucked away somewhere…
Great story and I thank you for sharing this. What was the typical demographic profile of the Corvette buyer/driver of 1984? Was this an additional car/toy for the middle age and older set? Were these cars popular in the West coast?
New Corvettes were breathlessly anticipated by all us teen age car nuts who could never afford one. This new model was very advanced, with a fantastic all alloy suspension design. The engine was the best effort that was available at the time, as well as being somewhat “trick” like Chrysler’s “slingshot” intake of the Fifties. Both automatic and manual transmissions were designed to deliver the best fuel economy, something we now take for granted in current Vettes. The motor issue was fixed with the arrival a couple of years later of the 5.7 TPI motor with 300 hp. The suspension tuning had to be dialed back as it was way too stiff which wasn’t only uncomfortable, but contributed to the proliferation creaks and squeaks, and rattles.
What’s hard to believe is that these cars are now thirty three years old! They are now very affordable and with a little updating can be an outstanding performance car. The May 2004 issue of Car Craft magazine did a cover article on affordable supercars including the C4 Corvette.
That is 80’s-tastic. So much better than today’s “aren’t you surprised we were able to win an award?” commercials.
I still like these Corvettes. Sure they had faults but after years of malaise they were headed in the right direction again. The styling was clean and modern, yet unmistakably Corvette.
The 1984 Corvette is the only Corvette I’ve ever driven.
In early Spring 1983, I was a high school senior. My neighbor, Paul Schmidt, was the manager of the Fisher Body stamping plant next to the US Steel Irvin Works strip-steel mill. Chevrolet sent him a new Corvette so the local press could do road tests.
One weekend afternoon, I waked out and saw Paul standing in our driveway next to the Corvette. “Want to try it out?” he asked. I started for the passenger door, but he said “Don’t you want to drive?”
Thankfully, it was an automatic, because I didn’t know how to drive a stick then. We took off for a pretty brisk jaunt over the hilly, twisty roads of suburban Pittsburgh. It’s been a long, long time, but I still remember how much tauter the ‘vette felt compared to anything I’d driven before – not surprising, given our current family rides were an ’83 Reliant SE sedan and a ’78 Buick Estate wagon.
I also remember how harsh the ride was – damping was a relatively crude science compared to where we are today, and I thought the whole thing was going to shake apart as I went over an aging railroad crossing along the way.
FYI, Paul moved from the Fisher plant – which closed in the GM bankruptcy – to resurrect Lordstown, then off to Europe, before he was brought back to fix the mess that was the GM-10 program. A GM lifer, and a good guy.
Thanks for bringing back those memories.
I have seen this ad on YouTube, but I don’t think I ever saw it when it was on broadcast TV.
I had a buddy who worked at the local Chevy dealer in my hometown that managed to take a ‘Vette for a demo drive. He rolled up to the local hangout and we all were completely surprised. We didn’t know that any of the new ones had arrived yet, it was like seeing a spaceship land in your front yard.
He offered me a ride and I happily hopped in. As we got back into traffic, he asked me if I wanted to drive it? Of course! It was way better than my malfunctioning Capri turbo!
I can still remember getting into the driver’s seat and trying to familiarize myself with the digital dash as quickly as I could. I really didn’t hammer it, as it was an incredibly expensive car. If I had damaged it, my buddy would have been out of a job (at least!) and I would have been responsible for damages.
We tooled around for a little bit, but my friend had to get back to work. I drove the ‘Vette back to the bar where he picked me up and sent him on his way.
It was the only time I’ve ever driven a brand new Corvette. I’ve loved the C4s ever since.
You know a cheap way to make good power from a crossfire engine is to remove it and swap over to a GM truck style tbi intake and throttle body. The crossfire’s wiring harness plugs into all connections except the extra iac valve, fuel pressure is the same too. The ecm will run it just fine. The crossfire intake is very restrictive and the tbi truck swirl port heads were too, so you’d be getting rid of the bottle necks.
I was led to this article by searching for that song. I can’t get the “Never ever before” out of my head. Anyways, this was an awesome read! Love the Stig reference.