The C4 Corvette was introduced in early 1983 as a 1984 model. This Vette was much more modern than the aging C3 it replaced, with a new chassis, roomier interior, significantly lower drag coefficient, and an electronic dashboard with digital liquid crystal displays (super futuristic!). Brenda’s Vette has the L-98 engine and a Z-51 suspension. Luis added TVs and Lambo doors to his Vette. Hilmar likes to enter his Vette in drifting and burnout competitions. You can pick up 80s C4 Vettes for next to nothing now–Josiah picked his Vette up for $2000. And then of course there is the amazing and well-documented $2007 Challenge winner below, which featured dual turbochargers and a snowmobile-powered M1 Abrams tank sucker fan.

Today’s Buicks have a median buying age somewhere North of social security eligibility, and industry insiders have been speculating on the brand’s demise for years. But while current models might not inspire much excitement among the solid-food set, back in the Reagan era, Buick’s Grand National was a force to be reckoned with. Its factory turbo, menacing all-black paint and wicked quarter mile times made it an instant hit, and it’s still popular with CarDomain members. Damon’s 1200 horsepower project is completely insane, Larry has been tearing up the drag strip with his restored ’86, and this wicked machine has been in Jeff’s family since it roared off the lot  back in ’87. Jeff, I love that there’s a baby seat in the back—but it probably won’t be too long before your little girl is hounding you to pass it on!

Launched in the second half of 1982, Ford’s Escort GT got blackout trim, a burlier suspension, a sexy black or red interior, and a high-output version of the base Escort’s 1.6L. The turbocharged option, offered from ’83-’85 only, was capable of a respectable 120 horsepower. The GT graduated to a 1.9L in 1985, the same year it underwent a light cosmetic redesign. With the high-output, fuel-injected version of this later motor, this small and light compact had plenty of get-up-and-go. Check out Greg’s rare factory-turbocharged ’85, it’s like a time capsule! Dave’s ’85 is set up with dual Weber side-draft carbs, which I’m sure gets way better performance than the 4-barrel overkill I’m running on my ’82. Curtis’s ’86 gorgeously illustrates the later body style—with Shelby stripes!—and Price’s custom-built turbo setup on his ’89 is pretty impressive. Jimi’s screamin’ yellow GT is all set up for decibel drags, and Austin’s hard-working GT is on its second powerplant—the very motor, in fact, that I pulled out of my own Escort.

I didn’t like the E30 3-series when it came out in 1984. My dad had owned a 1600 (the predecessor to the 2002) and I thought the E30 looked like a sellout yuppie mobile. Well, compared to  BMW’s current offerings, the E30 seems like a simple purist machine. E30s are becoming increasingly sought after, and the spec E30 racing series is getting quite popular. There are still lots out there, but nice ones tend to get snapped up quick. And good luck finding a nice, reasonably priced E30 M3.

We have tons of cool E30s on our site. This rare 325iX has a Megasquirt engine management system. Ben’s car is gonna be sick when it’s done. Brian’s M3 is stroked and is putting out 275 hp. Piper Motorsports has by far the craziest E30 on CarDomain. And Pat seems to be addicted to Bimmers in general and E30s in particular (see pic below).

Dodge collaborated with Carroll Shelby to put out a hot version of its subcompact Omni: the GLH, which stood for "Goes Like Hell," was introduced in 1984 with a high-output 2.2L engine. The following year, it got a turbocharger, bringing the horsepower to 146. In 1986, a very limited-edition, further-upgraded GLHS was offered by Shelby with a total power output of 175hp! The GLH is often referred to as a future classic, and with its hot performance and limited production, it’s not hard to see why. Check out all the work that Will has done on his GLH, modded to the max after swapping up to a 2.5L LeBaron engine. Matt’s GLH, by contrast, is bone stock and clean enough to eat off of. Chris’s Omni came to him as a 700-dollar eBay basketcase with a huge hole in the floor, but after extensive fabrication and engine mods it’s shaping up to be a real head-turner. Kurt says he’s restored his GLH to "better than new," and once you check out his extensively-documented build, you’ll believe it. Mark still runs 12′s in car #126 of the 500 GLHS’s built in ’86, Michael keeps his #168 in immaculate condition, and Douglas has some great car-show pics of his #284.

During the 80s it seemed like Road & Track devoted half their pages to raving about the 944. It looked great, was vaguely affordable, and it out-handled most cars of that era. Well, today they are cheap (though the parts are still pricey), relatively plentiful, and to me they are still great looking automobiles. Heck, I want one. Just look at Paul’s car (pictured below), which has over 230k miles and is still going strong. Pat is working on a LS1 swap for his 944. Michael did the LS1 swap, but didn’t think it had enough power, so he added a supercharger. This 944 has had a lot of work put into it, so it’s kind of sad to see it parked out on the street. And Alexander’s 944 Turbo is a pristine Euro spec car that was shipped first to Japan and then to Canada. How cool is that?

The Toyota Corolla AE86 arrived in the states in 1984 and was the 5th generation of the Corolla series. The AE86 wears the SR5 and GT-S (1985 and up) badge in the Corolla family, and is known as a great and inexpensive sports coupe. The AE86 was known as the "Levin" (fixed headlight body style) and the "Trueno" (flip-up headlight body style) in Japan, and in the States it’s not uncommon to hear them referred to as their JDM names by enthusiasts. Another common name for the AE86 is the Hachi Roku, derived from Japanese numbers eight (hachi) and six (roku). The AE86 has seen action in many racing series throughout it’s production life, from rally to circuit races, and today the Hachi-Roku’s popularity (and resale value) has recently risen thanks to the increasing popularity of the Drift scene and race series like Forumla D and D-1 Grand Prix.
This old school sport compact will always be a favorite of JDM enthusiasts. Art’s 85 Hachi is super clean and features many imported JDM parts to keep his GT-S in true JDM spirit. However, Bernard’s 86 AE86 is pure sex. He swapped in a potent supercharged motor from an MR2, as well as a long laundry list of other mods. But I have to give big props to burm697 for his amazing Levin sporting a rare TRD wide-body kit! Want to see more of these hot JDM sport compacts? Try searching the Levins, Truenos, and Corollas on CarDomain.

Chevy’s Caprice has been around since the mid ’60s, and it’s been marketed as everything from a luxury car to a police cruiser, under virtually every badge in the General’s stable. But in the high-riser scene, the ’80s Caprice defines the "box." Both Rides and King of the Street brought tricked-out versions to SEMA, and  plenty of CarDomain members have Caprice projects too. The first one which caught my eye was David’s twin turbo coupe—just look at the awesome job he’s done under the hood. What a sick sleeper! I also liked the sweet Chanel interior on Chanely’s—get it—candy red ’89 and the Burberry paint treatment on Keith’s ’85. But my favorite Caprice was Mike’s ’89. I just really dug the orange paint and interior on this Dolphins-themed box. He says he’s got big plans for next year, so stay tuned!

You can’t talk about the 80s without mentioning the IROC Camaro. First introduced in 1985, the IROC came with a beefed up suspension, a new Tuned Port Injection (TPI) 305 cubic inch V-8, and of course the cool wheels and graphics. These cars are still plentiful and cheap–CaliChevyLover bought his IROC for $2,500 with only 57k miles–but I doubt it will stay that way for long. Brian’s black beauty (pictured below) is bone stock with only 32k. Darryl searched for a long time before finding his IROC. James performed an LT1 swap on his IROC. And Bob has beautiful ’89 vert.

Sure, the RX-7 is a pretty sweet looking car, but it’s also rear-wheel drive and came equipped with a light-weight, high-revving rotary engine. So in this case, beauty is more than skin deep. The public and the automotive press both loved these sporty little cars, and Mazda made tons of them, in naturally aspirated and turbo forms. Of course, there are plenty of killer examples on CarDomain. I love how clean the engine bay on Todd’s ’85 model is, and I was seriously blown away by the V8 conversion Chris did on his ’86. That baby must have torn up the autocross! Of course, not everyone is concerned with lap times—just check out Greg’s ’88! That sub install is seriously wicked! I also really dug Bob’s ’85—probably because I’m a sucker for engine bays which look trick—and Daniel’s ’80, which easily has the one of the sickest paint jobs I’ve seen on an RX-7. Nice man!