There’s No Such Factor As A 1983 Chevy Corvette — Or Is There?

There is not any such factor as a 1983 Chevy Corvette. By no means has been, by no means shall be. All people is aware of that. For those who’ve ever seen one, no you did not. If somebody ever tried to promote you one, they have been making an attempt to rip-off you. In case your uncle ever had one, he is a liar. Now, technically, a handful of recent C4 Corvettes have been constructed in 1983 — 57 of them, to be exact — however they have been by no means bought to the general public. These automobiles have been early prototypes, engineering bucks, crash take a look at models, and media evaluation automobiles, they usually have been all destroyed earlier than the precise new C4 era was launched in 1984.

So, if there is not any such factor as a 1983 Corvette, what’s up with the white ’83 C4 on the Nationwide Corvette Museum in Bowling Inexperienced? Certainly that is a faux, proper? If the story says that every one the take a look at automobiles have been destroyed then the NCM could not probably have one. Did somebody pull a quick one on the museum? Properly, you know the way there’s an exception to each rule? That is the case right here, as a result of there is such a factor as a 1983 Corvette. It is the one considered one of its type on this planet, and it solely exists immediately on account of a string of fine luck and unusual occurrences.

Issues have been trying fairly dire for the venerable Corvette by the daybreak of the Nineteen Eighties. The C3 discovette platform was on its final legs, its engine strangled by malaise-era emissions requirements and its working gear a ’60s-era relic. By the late ’70s, the large brains in Basic Motors design have been already working away on a brand new era of Corvette, the C4. They knew they needed it for 1983, however that they had some very bold objectives for the brand new automotive’s physique, working gear, and know-how. Sadly for GM, its eyes have been a bit greater than its abdomen, because it have been.

As C4 growth progressed, quite a few manufacturing points reared their ugly heads. GM moved Corvette manufacturing in 1981 from its longtime residence in St. Louis to an all-new facility in Bowling Inexperienced, KY. This was performed in anticipation of constructing the C4s within the new manufacturing facility, however it shortly bought twisted up in points producing the brand new composite physique panels on account of a last-minute change of their make-up. Different elements of the manufacturing and design course of bought delayed, schedules fell behind, and there was even some alleged c-suite meddling — apparently GM boss Lloyd Reuss needed the C4 to have a targa high as a substitute of t-tops, and introduced this up on the final minute. It turned clear to the Corvette boys that they have been by no means going to make their ’83 deadline, in order that they punted.

Whereas a few of the C4’s superior know-how made it into the final 12 months of the C3 — the brand new cross-fire gas injection system, a brand new four-speed auto, and the one-piece glass liftback — Basic Motors determined that discretion was the higher a part of valor and determined in 1982 to delay the C4’s launch till 1984. The corporate would use this hole 12 months to essentially dial the brand new automotive in and ensure it was pretty much as good because it may very well be when it was lastly launched. You recognize what? It labored, and the C4 Corvette was an enormous evolutionary leap ahead for the Corvettes and cemented its future in GM’s lineup.

So, what about this white automotive on the NCM that claims to be an ’83? Properly, that automotive there’s an precise, factual, 1983 Corvette, the one considered one of its type. Nobody is sort of positive the way it survived when it and all its remaining siblings have been ordered to the crusher. Some say it bought misplaced, others say it was deliberately hidden. Regardless of the case, the automotive apparently languished in a car parking zone exterior of the Bowling Inexperienced manufacturing facility for 2 years till the plant supervisor found it in 1985. He ran the thriller automotive’s VIN — 1G1AY0783D5110023 — and it got here again as an ’83. The ’83, actually.

The automotive was instantly moved inside to guard it. A pair years uncovered to the weather had performed an actual quantity on the automotive, so the blokes on the manufacturing facility spruced it up just a little, slapped on a set of directional 16-inch C4 wheels, and gave it a snazzy stars and stripes-themed paint job. The world’s solely ’83 Corvette turned form of a manufacturing facility mascot and was set in a spot of honor the place it stayed for almost a decade.

The star-spangled ’83 was donated to the Nationwide Corvette Museum in 1994 upon the museum’s grand opening. Museum workers undertook a radical restoration returning the ’83 to its unique white paint and blue inside. They even changed the 16-inch wheels with 15-inch hoops that have been initially designed for the underside rung of the C4 lineup.

The world’s solely 1983 Corvette remains to be on show on the Nationwide Corvette Museum the place it has been since 1994. Miraculously, it survived the 2014 sinkhole occasion and you may nonetheless see it often puttering across the museum grounds.