DKirk's DriveN

A bit of history is in order to put it all in perspective. I was working for GM Powertrain in Flint MI when this incredible opportunity presented itself, so I flew to LA and lived the LA life for two years, before returning to MI and GM. When I arrived I grabbed a 1984 Honda CRX to get around while growing into the LA lifestyle.

On a late Friday night in 1989, on the way home from work. I had just paid yet another $1, 200 to repair the Honda I was driving and really upset about it. I stopped at a stoplight on Beach Boulevard, in Huntington Beach, California. Across the street sat a VW dealership and I always checked out their lot for some uknown reason. As I pulled by it I saw something new on the lot, a red 1984 Corvette was sitting on the lot. I turned around and went back to check it out. I still don't know why, I mean, why this car? Why now? It was a completely impulse buy, giving that poor dealership my Honda and some cash, I pulled out of that lot not realizing that my life had made a turn, one of those really big ones that you look upon later as having been significant, and yet somehow lost during the moment.

While in LA I worked in "the biz" which gave me access to all of the major studio lots, so this car has toured every studio lot there is. Sitting on the 405 each morning on my way into Century City is where I bonded with the car. We became inseparable racing on Mulholland, running out to Palm Springs, running up to Pismo Beach and putting the car in the Pacific surf for an awesome picture, running to Sequoia National forest, lunches at Disney Land, and the one year+ I drove to Vegas 19 times, most in the Corvette. I had one day where we drove 1,000 miles on a 24 hour Sunday, from Vegas to Palm Spring and all over. My job in LA ended and I opted to go home in MI and resume my job at GM.

I flew back and shipped the car, my first experience with shipping. It was late fall. The car was to be loaded onto a truck in the order it would come off, or so I was told. Four months go by and I'm in MI still waiting for my car, which I was told would be delivered in two weeks when I shipped it. Calls to the company were never returned and nobody could ever tell me where the car was. It arrived in the dead of a MI winter and snow everywhere, including IN the car due to the driver leaving the driver's window cracked AND an old 70s Cadillac parked above the Vette, leaking oil ALL OVER the front of my car. I was so pissed and yet so happy to actually see it again I didn't say anything. It was tied down so tightly I vaguely remember seeing the tires shoved way up into the wheel wells farther than I thought possible. That is the last time I will ever ship that car.

Once in MI she joined my best friend's 75 and we had a blast driving both cars. He was a Corvette engineer and we would run down to the Bowling Green a few times each year for company work. On one trip his 75 kicked up a hunk of retreaded tire and it slammed the hood, between the headlights, and cracked the hood. This must have been around 1989 or possibly 1990. When get to the plant it was late and second shift was running. We were chatting with the guys on the "repair" line as they were bored that evening and I mentioned my damaged hood. They took the car back in and repaired the hood structure so good I still have a hard time finding it. After that I was able to get into the vault where the build sheets were stored and got my "birth certificate"; this was long before you could get them from the museum. I purchased the car in CA but as it turns out was originally bought in MI. I had to know more!

I'll skip the details how but I managed to locate the original buyer in California, before the age of the Internet. He bought the car new at Stewart Chevrolet in Woodhaven MI and drove it immediately to Los Angeles, starting a new life and trading it in for a work truck. As he explained it, early on the 84s were not CA emissions compliant and not for sale yet, so he had one of the first in CA, and the dealership wanted it. The dealership was owned by a lady, who was married to a guy that ran the dealership. He had a girlfriend on the side and he bought this for her. I know his name and he is still working as a car salesman, but not at the original dealership anymore, divorced. The girlfriend put the first 60,000 miles on it before getting in a small accident in the front/left corner. From what I can see it was fairly minor body damage, but it was enough to make her CA car insurance sky rocket. I was told she was drunk when she crashed. She could no longer afford the car insurance traded it in at the VW car dealership on Beach Blvd, where I bought it.

It's complex story! I'll skip the details involving Champion Chevrolet in Hermosa Beach, CA, where I lived as well. My 84' steering wheel was replaced with a new 1988 wheel, thanks to Jim Langer @ Champion. He helped me a lot, so much so I've not forgotten his name. Too many California stories, sideways on a mountain road one evening, speeding across Edwards Air Force base road, somewhere I probably shouldn't have been, Hermosa Beach homecoming parade with homecoming queen sitting on the B pillar. Visiting every TV/Movie studio lot, on the lots. Hollywood boulevard with the top out and a warm summer evening or cruising along route 1.

On one trip to Vegas it was a very early Sunday morning as I was to meet a friend from MI flying in early. I was late 20s and still doing dumb things. I was in the middle of absolute no-where on the 15, early Sunday morning, something like 6:30am and not a sole on the road. No radios stations, so it was a little boring. I come across this kid, my age, walking along the road. I stop and pick him up, for which he mentions that he is very appreciative. He steps into the car and the stench HIT me, he really stunk bad. He then proceeds to tel me how he was released from jail earlier that morning in a town in my rear-view mirror. He wants to go to Vegas, where I'm heading, but did I mention he stunk? Did I mention he was just released from jail? Did I fail to mention he was jailed for roughing somebody up? I'm sweating as I know he's going to pull a knife on me, kick me out, and steal my car. He falls asleep. I quietly begin to accelerate and within a few minutes I'm running just over 105mph. He's out cold, sleeping, while I'm speeding hoping to catch someone's attention, and it worked! Sure enough, a small CHP Mustang pulls me over and I get out of my car and speak to the officer. I tell him what I had done, picking up this guy, and I wasn't feeling comfortable about that decision. I will never forget how he lectured me about how "everyone out here is dirty, Don't ever do that again" and he pulled the guy out of my car and took him somewhere in his police car. I'll never forget that experience and how thankful I was for that CHP officer to be on duty that morning.

The car has made a few trips to Virginia Beach, one time running on a bad alternator with the voltage running down, at night, to the point where I don't recall lights but I remember it making it to the house on the beach, barely. Next morning a new alternator was installed and it made it home again. Another trip, to Toronto this time, was when it decided to give up the fuel pump. I remember how cold fresh gas would let the car run for a long time, until it got warm, and then I had to let it cool down for a spell each time. Even then, it didn't fail me, and it got me home. It's been an amazingly durable car. I've had it sideways on mountain roads in CA, it's been on the BeachBend dragstrip in Bowlling Green, and even a few homecoming parades with young girls sitting on the halo. My niece was just learning to speak and one of the first words was "Corvette" after she had a few rides. Leaving it for the my parents to drive one weekend and my mother gives it back on Monday, with 600 miles racked up on it! I asked where the heck they went and she said they went shopping a few times. In up-state NY my future wife and I were cruising back country roads and it was a beautiful moonlit night and the top was off. I picked a farmer's two-track trail that led off into a field. I was creeping along, paying more attention to the passenger than the two-track and suddenly "WHAM" the front right wheel drops into a large hole, dropping the car onto the frame. With passions quickly cooled I devised a way to lift the car with the tire jack and we quietly slipped back out onto the road.

Back to the original owner, years later, he comes to MI to visit his parents, so I meet him back to his old house, with his old car. It felt surreal and it was interesting when he brought out the original window sticker, kept at his parent's house all these years.

The car even made the catalog cover of "Paragon Reproductions" Corvette parts catalog, back in 1996. I remember that year because it was featured as a first/last C4s, with it parked along side a blue Grand Sport belonging to someone I knew.

While at GM I was blessed to be able to travel with the GM engineers to Carlisle PA a few times with me in my car. One year I drove the GM cars including the awesome 89 Snake Skinner, on public roads all the way to PA, and a few other prototypes like "Big Doggie". It was hard for me to keep up with them in the modern cars during "spirited" moments and I was in the Cross-Fire.

My father was involved in producing the prototype instrument clusters for the upcoming 1983 Corvette, delayed to 1984, as a model-maker at AC Spark Plug in Flint MI. The prototype analog cluster was on display at the Corvette museum in KY last I knew. The digital came very close to not being produced due to the complexity of the components, and they would have gone with the analog cluster. AC Spark was able to create the complex light tubes for the digital dash using a rented Commodore PET computer in the matter of a week, developing circuitry and code for one of the first ever CNC machines. Its nice having a bit of my father staring at me while driving. A shoutout to Kaumagraph for playing a role in this drama.

Since day #1 I have always A) filled the gas tank and B) logged the mileage and gasoline used into a log book. I have never stopped and put $10 in. Every tank filled, every time, which makes for an interesting spreadsheet! Include a 15-tank moving average to smooth out the inaccurate fills and you can really see this car's mileage! On one trip to Corvettes at Carlisle I followed the Paragon Reproductions cube van, real close, all the way from MI to PA, and the gas mileage was insane, something like 32mpg as I recall.

One modification that I fear many C4 owners don't know about is the factory antenna ground-plane kit. GM offered an after-market ground-plane kit that made the rear-mounted antenna perform better. It has a GM part number and involves running wires through through the rear fascia. I bought a few extra kits back in the day, hanging on to them for a later time when they would be rare and more valuable.

I rewired the factory light switch so the running lamps come one with the parking lights. As I recall it was a simple one-wire change at the switch and now I can run the car with the running/fog lights only. Simple change that I have enjoyed forever. I hate turning the full headlights on when I only need those upgraded running lights.

At 9:48 pm, on 8/15/2018, my 84' crossed the 200,000 miles point. I pulled over and stopped, took a picture of the odometer, and thought there was only really one way to celebrate this moment. Like so many times before, I asked and she gave a very nice burnout on it's way to 105 mph. It seemed so fitting to be at 3 digits for such a milestone, in the premier American sports car.

In 2022 I realized the interior light timer was causing the battery drain when the car sat idle so I engineered a replacment circuit board that connected to a timer module that provides theatre dimming interior lights, like a modern car. The circuit board directly plugs into the GM harness and bracket making it totally plug-n-play. An internal web server allows you to program the interior lights using your cell phone web browser, and I hope to sell them online eventually. When the doors are held open for X minutes they will automatically turn the lights off to protect the battery, nice for car shows.

Summer of 2023 the Corvette made its first foray into the world of auto shows. First, the 70th Anniversary of the Corvette show held by Back to the Bricks and GM, followed by the Vassar Michigan show, and finally the massive Frankenmuth Auto Fest where the Corvette found itself surrounded by 2,500 other vehicles. It started out a rainy weekend but ended up being rather pleasant. Mileage at the show was 243,400ish. The car shows well, better than some, not as well as others, but it doesn't matter. 

Removing the A.I.R. pump and various other emissions related components have made the summer of 2023 most memorable for the car finally sounding like a proper GM V8 and the noticable performance gains appreciated. It was really enjoyable working with my father to engineer a replacement for the A.I.R. pump while attempting to leave the car looking somewhat stock.

The second radiator was installed some time around 1999 and here in 2023 the same problem has occurred, the plastic tank on the passenger side has developed a crack in the plastic, allowing coolant to weep out so this late fall will bring its third radiator. This time an all aluminum one, no more plastic tanks.

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This automobile has helped forge friendships, created opportunities, been present for many significant life events. It has never let me down, always given more than it probably should. That, in of itself, is the definition of a friend, a lifelong friend. Never judging, always there. How could I possibly elect to part with such pure friendship and sell it? Ever so many past memories, and the untold quantity laying in front of it.