Daily driving a well-worn '85 GM-product: One Week Impressions

"JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7" (jayzayeighty)
09/04/2014 at 21:08 • Filed to: C4 Update

-Every squeak, rattle, or knock becomes more of a reality every day
-You plan out where bumps are to be avoided because racecar, bro.
-You wave to middle aged dudes with Corvettes every once in a while
-The smells and distinctive sounds make your commute an event and part of your waking up routine
-You are driving something imminently noticeable among a sea of beige that will potentially help out the pre-donut time cops
-You can lose the car for two years because of the rules of antique plates
-Little, brittle pieces of plastic break as you use them because, like Bruce Hornsby says, that's the way it is.

Most of all, though, it's something that helps make my hardly-worth-it day just livable enough. If you ever have the opportunity to buy a well-used classic car and use it often, do it. I also had the side of the car caked with grass and dirt one day because of a mower incident. Goodbye, 1 hour wax job.

DISCUSSION (28)

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/04/2014 at 21:11

What GM product are you driving?

Manuél Ferrari > Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast.
09/04/2014 at 21:16

C4 Corvette

wkiernan > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/04/2014 at 21:32

Goodbye, 1 hour wax job. On the contrary, that wax job was just in time to protect the paint underneath it, another job well done!

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/04/2014 at 21:32

Please do this to it. http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/how-to-make-th…

Tuned-Port-Injected-Rage > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/04/2014 at 21:39

This is 100% accurate.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/04/2014 at 21:59

Lose it for two years because of your plates?

midengineer > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
09/04/2014 at 22:56

mileage limitations?

Textured Soy Protein > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/04/2014 at 23:25

You also have no room for your feet, because GM's engineers decided to have a comically gigantic transmission hump, and then said,

"Feet? Who needs room for feet?"

Kinja'd!!!

Which leaves these eensy beensy teeny tiny footwells.

The '91 dashboard update...doesn't really help things.

Kinja'd!!!

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Textured Soy Protein
09/04/2014 at 23:49

That looks hideous and fugly. What's with that giant hump on the sides of the dash??

Textured Soy Protein > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
09/05/2014 at 00:09

The transmission's under there. The only possible explanation I could find for why it eats up so much room is that's also where the headers run through. But still. It's ridiculous.

The side sills are equally ridiculous. They eat up a bunch of room too.

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > Manuél Ferrari
09/05/2014 at 00:40

No shame in that. Rock that 'Vette!

Manuél Ferrari > Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast.
09/05/2014 at 00:44

Not me but OP has one. He is the man!

NeonBlaqk > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/05/2014 at 11:34

Phowar do I know the feel! I do a lot of waving to middle aged dudes in Corvettes. They do a whole lot of picking their jaws up off the floor in return cause I'm a 20-something girl in a C3. But god have mercy do I love that car.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > K-Roll-PorscheTamer
09/08/2014 at 17:01

There's a lot going on there because, like atlas said, the headers are there too. The cars are too low to have hanging below the frame rails. It's not a problem in practice unless you're quite large, presumably.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
09/08/2014 at 17:03

Haha that's an interesting idea! Except I'm afraid I wouldn't even want to hack up a wrecked C4.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
09/08/2014 at 17:07

You aren't allowed to daily drive an antique vehicle, but there's no way to prove such a thing. It's like the 25-year-rule except easy to beat.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > wkiernan
09/08/2014 at 17:09

I don't like having thin paint, but the optimism helps.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > NeonBlaqk
09/08/2014 at 17:15

Yeah, there are a lot of them to wave at, and some of them do it so begrudgingly. Also, it must be so cool to be one of probably a few non-middle aged and non-male C3 drivers!

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/08/2014 at 17:33

Well at least someone thought it was interesting.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
09/08/2014 at 17:40

I like the way you think, Vince. Had this been me, 5 years ago, typical person who didn't obsess over defending innocent C4s, I would have thought "I hope someone makes a C4 kart like this."

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/08/2014 at 17:43

I kind of want to find a shell cut the fenders then throw in a 4.3 V6.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
09/08/2014 at 17:50

Of all the engines you can just drop into a C4 corvette. A 4.3 V6.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/08/2014 at 17:54

Yes. I am a mentally unstable weirdo who shouldn't be left alone in a garage because I build weird shit.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Vince-The Roadside Mechanic
09/08/2014 at 18:01

It's okay, I am too. But that reminds me of one video with some really scary people hanging around a 2-stroke '68 charger doing a burnout in mud and grass.

Vince-The Roadside Mechanic > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/08/2014 at 18:03

2 stroke Charger? I kind of like that idea.

NeonBlaqk > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/09/2014 at 12:20

I have a love/hate relationship with other Corvette drivers. Some of them are super cool and will bend over backwards to share their love and enthusiasm for their cars. I've noticed this mostly from the "crap" Corvette drivers, i.e. the 80's/90's owners. There may also be a little mutual bias in there, lol. The people with perfect sought-after C2s and the high end C6/spankin' new C7 drivers tend to be a bit less friendly imo. It's also always a little awkward being a solid 20 years younger than 99% of the other owners.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > NeonBlaqk
09/09/2014 at 21:37

This is pretty much my experience in my short time of corvette ownership. People love to blast the late C3/C4s, but it's what makes the owners more about the cars than anything. Douchey younger guy in the tinted C7 probably doesn't know what the wave is, and I got nothing from a C1 I passed. But I don't see why the "crap" corvettes can't be judged as classics seeing as they are 25+ years old. I'm also ~1/3 the age of plenty of Corvette owners I come across, but they see me in a round-taillight C4 and don't feel like I'm lessening their ownership.

NeonBlaqk > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
09/10/2014 at 14:57

I don't mind the C3/4s not being judged as classics by age or by style/substance, somehow the disdain seems to make the whole thing a bit more special. The us vs. the world bond you get with other C3/4 drivers is also sort of cool. I don't really think other gen owners feel like I'm lessening their ownership either since I'm a girl. Essentially I'm seen as Corvette Barbie and combine that with the otherness of owning a C3/4 and I'm left to play in my own corner, lol. When it comes down to it, I'm not in this game for track times, horsepower numbers, or competition wins. I just happened to fall madly in love with a car that happens to be from the wrong side of the tracks of Corvette history, it is what it is. I don't think I will ever have any other Corvette simply because there isn't any other Corvette I love so dearly. I lightly lusted after a white 85 for a bit years ago, but then my baby entered my life and I learned what true automotive love is.