The Clue for the Jensen Healey generated several guesses for the 280ZX. Which made me realize that I have several of them shot, awaiting their day in the sun. And Cavaliers, and literally hundreds (well over a thousand actually) of cars hiding in my files. And I keep shooting more almost every day. So if you think you could say something interesting about a 280ZX (regular or turbo), or any other car that inspires you, but don’t have pictures, do let me know. Otherwise, just enjoy this nice two-fer I shot on the UO campus, and eventually I’ll get around to them, sooner or later.
Could I possibly do a positive spin on a Cavalier Z-24 V6. I probably could. Just Maybe.
Don’t force it too hard. Negative spins are allowed too 🙂
Any 88-90 Z-24 coupes or convertibles? Or any Escort Wagons to compare a J-Wagon to?
No Z-24s. They’ve all been trashed by the kids that ended up with them.
I have just a single shot of a gen1 Escort wagon, and a couple shots of a Cavalier wagon. You don’t make it easy.
I didn’t shoot complete sets of them because I figured they would just be to augment the sedan basic story. Sorry.
What I have is Cavalier sedan, coupe, and a convertible with “gold” trim.
You drive a hard bargain. If I tackle the basic J car this is gonna be uuuuuuuugly.
I always felt there was a lot of positive with the V6 Cavs.
For one the actually did something when you stepped on the gas. Well besides pulling hard to the left. And made fun noises too.
My high school Art teacher (in her 50s and never married) had a Cavalier V6 wagon in that blue above same wheel covers and the black door rub strips with the red stripe through it. I lusted hard after that car. I knew it would have been quite a bit faster and more useful than my Iron Duke powered Celebrity.
Very true. I’m a bit partial to the first gen cars. The hatchback was pretty attractive.
I always wondered if the “Dual Twin” 3.4 could have been shoehorned into one.
Ah, the Cavalier! The perfect Winter Car – cheap, plentiful, forgettable, and oh, so disposable!
Long time ago, I did a piece celebrating the Winter Car for a long-ago blog. I was going to rewrite it for CC, but time didn’t allow – so far this fall. But a Cav would be a perfect personification of the qualities I refer to…
Let me know…I’ve got a few beaters in the can.
I Myself had a 84 Cavalier for a Daily Driver ONLY because it was a Convertible,
that it was a triple Brown, 5 Speed, just made it be an even 5-6000$ trade for my 1985 Grand Am V6…. to them anyway, and I…tired of the GAm and wanting a convertible went 4 it.
I’d love to read what Laurence has to say about them.
Yea get on it folks! There are so many cars I’ve seen mentioned in the comments that I want to see as a future feature.
I would write one myself, but I’m a person of few words. And even fewer good ones.
Oddly, I have quite fond memories of both an ’82 280 zx and a ’91 Cavalier RS v6 convertible — I think by then all the convertibles had the 3.1 v6, except the z24 — and the z24 only sounded appealing, IRL the torque steer was so severe there was really no fun in it (ISTR a DOHC 3.4L in those? Not sure anymore…).
That 280zx wasn’t a sports car anymore, but it surely was a lovely GT car. And the Cavalier RS was a pleasant enough cruiser, but handling was horrendous when pushed. Having a top that goes down does compensate for a multitude of sins, of course. 🙂
Sadly the DOHC 3.4 never made it into the J body. 210hp and 215ft/lbs in a “little” J car would have been serious fun.
The 3.1 already dished out more torque than the car could handle, so I think it was a wise decision not to use the 3.4 then. The handling of the J-bodies was actually so bad it’s amazing they ever got built at all, much less built with the 3.1. The 4cyl Sunbird I had for awhile was ridiculously underpowered, so I didn’t really notice how bad the handling was, but the v6 Cavalier convertible that replaced it could wrap itself around a telephone pole in a about 2 seconds if you didn’t keep an iron grip on the wheel when stomping the accelerator. Certainly made hi performance driving quite a challenge in the twisties…
I might have misremembered the 3.4 from sales lit for the Lumina (I sold Chevies for awhile in ’91-’92).
My current supervisor once owned a turbo Sunbird, I’m amazed she never wrapped around a pole as big of a dofus as she is.
Having a top that goes down does compensate for a multitude of sins, of course. 🙂
That says it all for me. Truth is, I thought I was at least “Pontiac” on the sloan- meter at GM, Going Back To an 84 Chevy 4 Manual J FROM a 1985 Pontiac 6 Auto JN, It seemed like a backward move, a Bad Trade, Except for the Mere fact that Its Power Top Worked, I wanted a Convertible being young in Southern Ca. & there were few used recent convertibles on the market that I could afford. For All these reasons, and that it was 3 way BROWN, I talked the Chevy Salesman into a Trade, and We both were happy, to a Point…
When I angrily came back with a list of complaints, ie. Tilt Wheel falling in lap occasionally, horn not working, etc… he proclaimed ” Well You werent exactly honest Either! The Grand Am Had been in a wreck, but no one had asked me …. Who would offer that up w/o being asked?
After about $2000 in 300 here, 200 there, it lasted me about 9 years, and got me there except about 10 times…AAA was worth the premium in those days for me. I usually used my 3 annual occurances, says more about GM at the time than I Could.
Why couldn’t I just have had a Honda Civic, say a 1986… I might still be driving it?