The big Corvette news for 1985 was new L98 power plant. The “Cross-Fire Injection” of 1984 and 1982 was gone and replaced, the new engine had a 230 horsepower tuned port fuel injection (TPI) system from Bosch. Torque also increased from 290 lb-ft of torque to 330 lb-ft. 

Customers complained the 1984 C4 Corvette’s ride was too harsh so GM lowered spring rates so riding in a Corvette was a little more comfortable for 1985. The softer suspension also meant fewer rattles and squeaks. The Performance Handling Package option (Z51) saw reduced spring rates but anti-sway bar diameters were increased to keep that handling edge. This new set up gave the 1985 Corvette a slightly lower stance and helped make up the difference caused by the softer springs.

The 1985 C4 Corvette interior did not change from the 1984 C4 Corvette but the instrument panel display was improved for better readability. During the 1985 production run, the overdrive defeat switch was moved from the console to the shifter. My 1985 C4 Corvette that I will refer to a lot on this page still has it on the console. My VIN build number is 20359 and my car was born on March 12, 1985, so the switch happened sometime after that. The sport seat was available in leather along with cloth. 

Final production numbers for the 1985 Corvette showed 39,729 rolled off the showroom floor. Down from 1984’s number of 51,547 but still the second highest number sold of all the C4 generation. Of those 25% or 10,424 were Bright Red, almost 20% were Black at 7,603 and 9,576 were purchased with a manual transmission.

Below are a list of the 1985 C4 Corvette RPO codes

1985 C4 Chevrolet Corvette Options and colors

1985 C4 Corvette Brochure from Chevrolet

What do you think about this page and its layout? My plan is to do one for all the C4’s. Give me some feedback for future pages by leaving a comment below.