Are C4 Corvette Prices Going Up?

A recent auction has us wondering if the era of the cheap C4 is coming to a close.

Over 358,000 C4 Corvettes were produced between January of 1983 (as early 1984 models) and June of 1996. Being Corvettes, most have lived pampered lives in garages, only being used for special occasions and car shows.

As a result, C4 Corvette values have been pretty low for quite a while now. It doesn’t mean that they aren’t terrific cars or that they aren’t desirable. It just means that, since there are almost always a ton of them on the market at any given time, it’s a buyer’s market.

After all, late C3 Corvettes are also rather common, and were very cheap for many years – but prices for those cars have increased quite a bit over the last five years or so. Are C4s next?

Winds of Change

As with any rule, there are exceptions, of course. ZR-1s and Grand Sports are rare and desirable, which makes them quite valuable. For the most part, though, regular production cars can be had in nice shape for well under ten grand if you’re patient and you know where to look.

Those days may not last for much longer, though. This recent auction on Hemmings for a Turquoise Metallic 1990 Corvette had us pretty shocked. When bidding closed, it had sold for $10,763. Of course, we aren’t talking Barret-Jackson pricing, here, but that’s one heck of a price for a Corvette that, all things considered, is pretty average.

Before you fire off an angry email, hear us out. “Average” doesn’t mean “bad.” Heck, we’d love to have this beautiful Corvette in our garage. It’s a cool color, it’s got the excellent ZF six speed manual, and it has the 1990 only variation of the “salad shooter” wheels, with the exposed lugs (our favorite C4 Corvette wheel style).

When we say “average,” we’re strictly referring to the condition of the car. In this case, the car had almost 100,000 miles, and the driver’s seat showed about the amount of wear you would expect from the age and use. It’s far from perfect, but definitely presentable.

This particular Corvette does include the desirable transparent roof panel, but the ad states that the rubber seals could stand to be replaced. Speaking of rubber, the tires are date coded 2011, and should probably be replaced very soon as well.

All in all, this is a great C4 Corvette, and the new owner should be proud. However, it does make us wonder – is this a hint of things to come? Will the price for the average C4 Corvette go up in the future? What does this mean for the value of low-mileage C4s in mint condition? Time will tell.

Photos: Hemmings

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