I’ll preface this week’s Curbside Musings by acknowledging that Christmas was almost four weeks ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was already yesterday, and many are simply Christmased-out. For those of you who feel that December 2026 will come entirely too soon after having gorged at the buffet of the year-end holidays, this essay is probably not for you. I write and schedule these pieces weeks in advance, so as of this writing, it’s only Boxing Day and Christmas is still at the forefront of my mind. That’s my thought process behind why you’re seeing this today instead of eleven months from now. Without further ado, I present this ’89 Corvette that had appeared at the curb on my block the evening of Christmas Day.
At first, I had to squint to make sure that what I was looking at from my kitchen windows was a now-classic Corvette that was close to forty years old. It’s really an unmistakable shape, with its low, fastback profile, glassy greenhouse, and impossibly long hood. From that distance, it might also have been a third-generation Firebird or Camaro, but I was able to make out the four round, rear lights and was then determined to get some pictures of it before heading out that evening to a small Christmas gathering with friends in the neighborhood. Maybe it was all of the cartoon specials I had been watching as part of the holiday-themed Christmas planning. Perhaps it was the memory of having purchased a beautiful diecast model of a 40th anniversary 1993 Corvette from a local estate shop around this time last year. The sight of this all-black Corvette reminded me of at least a couple of other things related to the holidays.
During Christmas of my first year of middle school in the mid- / late-1980s, I had received as one of my main presents one of these silver, battery-operated, remote-control C4 Corvettes manufactured by New Bright, identical to the one pictured above. I don’t remember if this gift had been one that I had asked for or picked out, or if I had otherwise been involved in its selection. It used to be an exercise in utter frustration when I would be aware of such presents being hidden in the house somewhere and I wasn’t even supposed to look for them. (“I was just looking for some dark cordovan shoe polish… honest!”)
Last spring, the kind owners of the house in which I had spent over a decade of my childhood in Flint, Michigan, the same owners who had purchased it from my parents over thirty years ago, gave me a quick tour of the inside as part of what had been a completely unplanned visit. That’s a beautiful story for another day, but I bring it up here only because that house is positively tiny compared to how I had remembered it from ages 5 through 17. How my mother had been able to find any nook or cranny in which to hide things from us kids is beyond me. Such presents were probably tucked away somewhere in my parents’ bedroom, where none of us had dared to go, not even to use the touch-tone slimline phone with the coiled cord that would stretch into the pink-tiled upstairs bathroom. (Okay. Busted.)
Regardless, that remote-controlled Corvette was instantly one of my favorite Christmas presents, ever, car-related or not. I absolutely love things that light up, and the fact that the headlights could retract, pop up, and illuminate, along with the taillamps, had put this toy over the top with coolness. The one-piece targa roof came off and snapped nicely in place when affixed, and the whole thing was beautifully detailed, down to the louvers in the front fenders. I’ve seen a myriad of model or toy cars of varying quality over the years and depending on the scarcity of the combination of year, make, and/or model, I have sometimes forgiven details that were slightly off for the sake of simply having the miniaturized representation at all. There was no need for any such allowances with this Corvette, as the scaling seemed correct from bumper to bumper, the interior was molded very realistically (given the generally plasticky interior of the C4, this undoubtedly and inadvertently had added to the realism), and its silver color was sparkly and pretty.
The only downside to this New Bright Corvette was that it was remote-controlled instead of radio-controlled, meaning that it had a six-foot cord between the controller and the back of the car, where you’d have to walk behind as you operated it. Normally, that would have been huge points off and only slightly better than a radio-controlled car that moves forward and turns in reverse (what was even the point of that?). However, I loved that Corvette so much that I kept it all the way through the end of high school before my entire family of origin pulled up stakes and moved from Michigan to Florida, at which point the ‘Vette was sold in a garage sale. By that stage, it was less of a toy that I played with all the time and more of a showpiece that I would take out of the closet and admire. I’d turn all of my bedroom lights off except for those in the rear bumper of a C3 that I had mounted on my bedroom wall, look at glow of the lights from this silver, toy Corvette, and imagine what it might be like to own one like it one day.
The other thing this black ’89 Corvette reminded me of was when I had gone off to college and discovered alternative music and smoking and would come back to my parents’ new house a changed man, increasingly in touch with my inner rebellion against what I would later come to understand were deeply narcissistic family dynamics and an assigned role that was not of my choosing. I wasn’t a goth, but there was a significant amount of black in my closets that probably reflected how I felt inside. I didn’t have the tools at the time to understand what it would take to pull me back to a place of calm, self-love, and internal individuation. I thank God for my former therapists and also for much great, insightful online content that has helped me understand so much that I hadn’t before. I can look with increased fondness and understanding at Alterna-Joe and appreciate that he was doing what he needed to at the time. There’s actually still a lot of Alterna-Joe inside of me, and he’s not going anywhere. I’m reminded of him every time I spot the little hole from my old nose ring in my left nostril. I hope I never lose the drive to question things.
I’ve already referenced some of those dark feelings and experiences here at CC before to varying extent and given that I’m still full of the warm-and-fuzzies that thoughts of my New Bright Corvette have brought to the forefront, I won’t go into any more of those details in this writing. I will say, though, that this all-black Corvette seen on Christmas Day could represent the darkness (or absence of lightness) that many of us have felt at one point or another during those holidays when we’re supposed to be happy, festive, and seemingly ready for anything. Boundaries can be harder to maintain when old habits and relationship dynamics resurface, and in my own experience, there have been few feelings worse than feeling down for just feeling down. This murdered out Corvette seemed almost like a validating mascot for those who just weren’t feeling the spirit on this particular Christmas Day. I was feeling the Christmas spirit, and for that I was thankful.
This example was one of about 26,400 Corvettes built for ’89, of which 16,700 were closed, targa-roofed fastbacks like this one. Built in Bowling Green, Kentucky, it was powered from the factory by a 240-horsepower 5.7 liter V8, the only engine available that year. The famed ZR-1 supercar variant with its dual overhead cam engine with 375 horses and its deftly restyled, convex rear panel with rectangular taillamps would arrive the next year, after which all Corvettes would feature this revised rear styling from ’91 on. Nineteen eighty-nine was the sixth year of production for the fourth generation Corvette, so with the exception of relatively minor detail changes, it had looked basically the same from year to year up to that point. The day after Christmas, this visitor to my city block had vacated its spot by the curb at some point in the morning. I’m glad that a neighborhood gathering with friends on Christmas Day had prompted and facilitated the taking of these pictures, helping me to remember one of my most cherished childhood presents of all time.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois.
Thursday, December 25, 2025.
Pictures of the New Bright Corvette were sourced from the internet. The factory brochure pages came from www.oldcarbrochures.org.
Here are links for related reading on the C4 from Paul Niedermeyer and again from myself.
Our Mid Century Modern ranch had wood room dividers, the one by the front door had a plastic tray insert for fake foliage. Lift out and most nearly any Christmas gift would hide in there. The children never suspected.
That’s awesome. And for whatever reason when reading your description of the wooden room divider, my mind went to Rob & Laura Petrie’s living room.
It seems that Darth Vader came to your neighborhood for a pre-holiday visit.
All things considered, that Corvette is holding up quite well for a 36 year old vehicle. It’s still shiny and looks like its body is holding together well. As a random thought, that makes me wonder why more cars over the years haven’t had their bodies made primarily of plastic.
I love the reference to the touch-tone slim line phone. I immediately know the model you’re referencing and my childhood homes generally contained a mix of those and the standard desk sets. The slim line ones were less favored by me since holding them on your shoulder often generated errant pushing of the touch tone buttons. Something today’s youth will never experience. Not to mention the long coiled cords.
Jeff, yesterday I finally dove into a book I had purchased in 2024 on the Chevrolet Camaro, and I remember reading that the composite panels on the fourth generation cars was only GM’s fourth go-round on a regular production car with exterior body panels of some sort of composite material. IIRC, the 1993 – 2002 Camaro had *several* types of such materials, excepting the hood, roof, and rear quarter panels. I’d be curious to see if they try it again.
One of the coolest thing about those touchtone slimlines was that the numbers lit up. There I go again with things that light up.
I’m fairly certain it’s a respray job over a lighter color, possibly gold or yellow based on the paint under some of the chips. The thing with the plastic body panels is with modern corrosion protection they don’t necessarily hold up any better, paint will fade or oxidize the same and if the steel chassis rusts it’s no better than anything else
It might be a respray, but looking at the rear three-quarter view on the driver’s side, what might look like chips might actually be reflections of some of the lights from across the street.
I wonder if the surface and texture of composite body panels and/or fiberglass retains the smooth texture aside from oxidizing paint, or if it starts to break down over time. I’ve started to see and lay more attention to older, unrestored Corvettes at shows, and I think fiberglass seems to retain its integrity pretty well from what I’ve seen. I’m no expert.
It might be the case as I’d tried looking close, but the chips I see seem like some of them are on the same spot in the photo above from a different angle. There’s also the matter of the corvette logo being totally black which could have been customized that way deliberately but is also a potential tell of a respray.
As for the composite, paint on bumper covers on all cars tends to age just the same as the paint on the sheetmetal panels. I’ve certainly seen many C4 Vettes with “patina”, like this one
No telling how many of these are sitting in garages never being driven. Was talking to a man in his 70s who had one in the garage saying it was too low for him anymore. Always wanted one, but oh well!
Great point. I’m in my early 50s and I tend to need to roll myself (is that the verb?) off of really low seating surfaces or grip something. I’m in good health, but I could see how getting into and out of a C4 (or a low sports car in general) might be an issue for someone like me down the road.
That blue, convertible one is the one for me.Had one of those “RC corded”, cars in the mid “60’s”. Big red “Jag”, fastback.
Headlights, huge controller box. Used one of those old, school “9V” batteries.
Had some fun with it; older brothers/dad did too.
That blue convertible is gorgeous. They picked the right car for that page of the brochure. I’d love a diecast of one like that, but alas, I’ve got to slow down with such purchases. LOL
Always a pleasure Joe, to read the Curbside Musings on a Tuesday!
While everyone is so done with the holidays, it’s interesting around here that a few folks still have their lights up, and perennially, leave them up through January. My wife always had the get them down on New Years Day mentality, while I was always of the January 6th mindset as the last day of the holidays. The irony this year? Between delayed gatherings because others were sick, to my wife and I now being under the weather ourselves, we still have our little tree up in the living room (everything else is put away though). It must go this weekend!!! – but we both admit that we’ll miss its ambiance. It lights up the room just right… nice and softly.
This segues nicely into also loving stuff that lights up! When I was a little kid, back when toys were actually made of metal, since there was no fear of lawsuits and such… ok, I digress as usual… for Christmas one year I got a toy Boeing 707 (in Pan American’s livery) that had engine nacelles that lit up in red. While that’s weird in reality, as a little kid, I thought it was just the coolest! You put a couple of D-batteries in the belly of the bird by separating the wing assembly from the fuselage. I think it also made jet sounds, IIRC, and may’ve even ‘taxied’ across the floor. I’m not sure what ever happened to that toy plane, but imagine my surprise when I saw it at a bazar years ago on a table with other ‘antique’ toys with a $200 price tag on it! Your C4 ‘Vette probably would fetch a similar price. Of course, like your piece talked about a week or so ago, it would probably need to be in the original box. 🙄
The Corvette: I’m glad I’m not the only one who, back in the day, would confuse these at a distance with a contemporary Trans Am. When the C4 came out, after YEARS of staring at the C3 Corvette’s curvaceous figure, these just looked too plain to my 24-year-old eyes. Of course, after a while, they grew on me and I was able to disassociate the two.
Oh, and I’ll echo what JT says above regarding the blue convertible in the brochure pic… I really like that car and its wheels.
The CC effect strikes again! My brother and I received a toy 707 metal jet in TWA livery in 1963. Ours worked exactly as you described, and it did taxi on the floor. The front wheels were steerable, so you could make it go straight or turn in a circle.
I found it in my mother’s house a few years back but gave it away on one of those local buy nothing sites. One engine was missing, so it probably wouldn’t have commanded $200.
Photo of the Boeing 707
Yep! That was the plane, except for mine having the PanAm livery.
Funny thing is, my first plane ride ever when I was 14 was from Baltimore to San Francisco on a TWA 707 with that very livery.
How about that! TWA used that livery for a long time, from the late 50s into the 80s as I recall.
My first flight was at age 17 in an Eastern DC-8 from Pittsburgh to San Juan, Puerto Rico, with a brief stopover in Miami.
Thanks so much, Rick! I like that you mentioned the glow of the Christmas tree as ambient lighting. When I had my tree up, one of the first things I did in the morning before pouring myself some coffee was to plug in the tree in the corner of my living room. I’m pretty sure the first day after I had put everything away, my first instinct was to walk over to where the tree had been.
Love the story of your Pan Am Boeing 707 – and the mention of D batteries! So big, heavy and bulky. One could almost do arm curls with them. It also hurts my feelings when I see childhood toys going for crazy money. I’m like, wait just a darn minute. It wasn’t *that* long ago. And it actually was.
I’ll have to go back and reread if the same styling teams were responsible for the ’82 F-bodies and the C4.
My routine as well, Joe… plug in the tree before coffee. It’s dark when I get up in the morning, so that warm soft glow is welcome. I will miss it after I take it down this weekend.
Were I to get a C4 ‘Vette, I’d want an ’89. First year for the new 6-speed ZF manual trans (replacing the odd Doug Nash 4+3 trans with a tacked-on automatic overdrive), last year for the original blocky dashboard before they switched to a plasticky, swoopy, overstyled new dash design that IMO didn’t fit with the exterior styling at all.
I’m glad you mentioned the 4+3. I had recently read about that in a book and also in Jon Stevenson’s excellent C4 piece that ran last Monday, and I still didn’t quite grasp all of that. My reading comprehension abilities are close to used up at the end of this workday, but maybe I’ll tackle that 4+3 thing later this week. Thanks for reminding me.
Here’s Jon’s piece: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/1984-chevrolet-corvette-riding-firmly-into-modernity/
When I scheduled my C4 piece the day after Christmas, I had no idea his was coming up. I’m glad his ran first, though, because it had a lot of great factual info for which many readers come to CC.
The featured black Corvette looks like a candidate to be Batman’s daily driver.
Agreed. It even has afterburner taillights.