Imagine a time when there are no more Chevettes tootling down the street. I’d rather not, as I know that day is coming, all too soon. In the meantime, I’ll give every Chevette still at it a hearty greeting: All hail the all-time classic shitbox!
When I first started shooting CCs in 2009, there were probably close to twenty of these still in town. I shot at least half a dozen of them, including a rather rare Scooter. Where have they all gone? This is the first one I’ve shot since April of 2014, and it’s a new one to me. Welcome to Eugene!
In a sea of Prii, the Chevette makes a refreshing contrast, and a reminder of a time when an economy car required certain sacrifices. That day is long over; even the cheapest car is a luxury car compared to a basic Chevette. There are no more shitboxes being made.
The Chevette was one of the most polarizing cars ever; folks either hated or loved them. Or more like it earned their grudging respect, if they got a good one. That wasn’t always the case, to put it lightly. This must have been one of the good ones.
Related:
CC 1980 Chevette Scooter – It Created A New Class Of Vehicle
It is indeed saddening to think about the upcoming disappearing of most Curbside Classic. Maybe we should just take as much photos as we can, trying to save as many cars as we can, but not always write about them reminding us about that depressing reality.
In California, the largest car market in America, this Chevette would have to pass a smog emissions test on a routine basis, and if it failed the state would give you $1000 to crush it. That creates very long odds for the survival of older cars.
Probably before the state wants to crush it, it’s shipped to rust belt already, in whole car or for parts, and the profit is worth it.
California doesn’t waive the emissions inspection after the car turns 25?
” California doesn’t waive the emissions inspection after the car turns 25? ” .
No ~ it’s 1976 and newer still need smog testing .
Not very difficult to make anything pass though .
-Nate
I know a woman that spent a few thousand dollars trying unsuccessfully to get her 36K mile Buick smogged that would disagree with you. I know someone else that only was able to get her 6 year old Nissan Sentra smogged because she had ties to people that are above the law in CA.
Oregon is the same way, only is ’74 and they don’t offer you anything for it. Oregon’s testing is for only the populated urban areas. The one’s that don’t pass usually go to the coastal areas where they look like a midwestern 15 year old car in 5 years.
I recall we rented one once on a family vacation in the early 80s. The gear whine was epic, that’s about all I remember about it. That and compared to our ’72 Corolla wagon, I recall thinking the interior was relatively luxurious. Thick carpeting, wood grain dash, and even air conditioning! You don’t know the meaning of “slow” until you’ve driven an automatic Chevette with the A/C on.
The only thing slower was the same car….with a diesel! An Isuzu unit about 1.8 cc’s me thinks. Black, w/o A/C!
In high school we use to joke that the worst car to own had to be a 4-door Chevette diesel automatic with an AM radio. We decided that it was actually worse to have one with an AM rather than no radio at all. At least the radio delete option showed there was some faint hope that someone might stick in an aftermarket Kenwood or other suitable 80s era sound system.
But by God, if dad chose the 4-door with a diesel engine chained to a 3 speed slushbox AND specifically ordered the AM radio your teenage years were doomed to a life of painfully practical family transportation until you finally saved up enough money from your burger flipping job to get that ’74 Monte Carlo you’d had your eye on. Visions of Centerline mag wheels, side pipes, and a lift kit for the rear danced in your head.
Sure, it had a sad smog choked 350 under that endless hood, but you had plans to wake it up with some headers, dual exhausts, maybe even a ‘hot’ cam. Wait, was this post supposed to be about Chevettes?
Wasn’t much better with a 5-speed and a/c. My ex-in laws had one with that combo. Their Super Six-powered Volare was a screamer compared to that thing!
Duh,
I hope so, it had TWO more cylinders.
Ever drive a slant six Mopar F-body? Excruciatingly slow even by late ’70s standards,
The Hyundai Accent was the last shitbox built. Looks like it’s upped its game in the current generation.
Forgot about the Yugo? The s-it box to end all s-it boxes. A joke on wheels.
The new, craptacular Mitsubishi Mirage seems to be carrying the shitbox torch rather well, with the not that long gone Chevy Aveo being its predecessor. Ironically, the Aveo’s replacement, the Sonic, is getting good reviews.
Still, the Chevette does seem to have a rather endearing place in the hearts of those who remember when they were new, particularly as the last gasp of the smallest RWD subcompact. Even now, their longevity as a ‘cockroach of the road’ is approaching legend status to the point that it may reach the ultimate pinnacle of being a vehicle choice for rudimentary-lifestyle hipsters, maybe even supplanting the early sixties Ford Falcon.
Not sure why people love to hate on the Mirage so much. I haven’t driven one, but by most accounts, it’s a well-designed, inexpensive, efficient, reliable, honest little car that does what it says and is exactly what most people need for 90% of whatever it is they need to do. I imagine it could be quite fun with the stick-shift, assuming you’re not looking to win any drag races.
Nothing like the car it used to be two or three generations ago.
+1
The Mirage used to be a Civic and Corolla competitor, with some hot hatch versions, like it’s twin the Colt GT, from the 80’s.
There were even some nice JDM versions, I wish the US got.
I had a 89 ex JDM Mirage 1500cc automatic, bought it for the GF but ended up driving it, every concieveable extra was fitted it was a VIE X model but gutless and very mushy JDM suspension tune it wallowed like a barge 5 times its size but a lovely ride and climate air con, Nice car in town but completely out of its depth at 100 kmh with the overspeed gong ringing.
Ironically, for all the negative press it receives, the Mirage has turned out to be a surprise hit for Mitsubishi. If I were on a tight budget for a new car, it would be a tough call between a Mirage and the Chevy Spork (I’d pass on the Nissan Versa, which also doesn’t get much love). I guess it would come down to whichever dealer gave the best deal.
Or maybe, as a lot of reviewers suggest, a two-year-old Corolla or Civic…
The new Chevy Spark is a shitbox.
It’s the Chevette for the new Millenium.
I find it difficult to believe that anyone who compares a Chevy Spark to the Chevette has any experience with either.
We rented a Chevette around 1979 or so when our ’77 Rabbit was in the shop. Think of a crappy version of the Rabbit with half the back seat taken up by the driveshaft tunnel. That car made the Rabbit look good.
Not only was the Chevette a bad car compared to present-day cars, it was a bad car for the ’70s. Put in a time machine and taken back to the ’70s, the Spark would be on par as far as smoothness, comfort, convenience, and power with anything BMW or Audi was putting out in those days and would run circles around them in reliability, durability, and safety.
I had a 2004 Accent, and it was a Rolls-Royce compared to the Chevy Cavalier I rented in 2005. The Accent was actually screwed together quite well.
I said the Accent was a Rolls COMPARED TO the Cavalier I rented. This was an attempt to state, in a somewhat artful way, that the Accent was of much higher build quality than the Cavalier. If it makes you feel better, no, I do not feel that the Accent was actually the equal of a $250,000 car, if one were to compare them directly to each other on their individual merits. I think most people would find such a comparison laughable, as would I.
Looks like a 1980 BMW 733i did 0-60 in about 10 seconds, and got 16mpg around town and 23 on the highway. The Spark is faster and of course gets much better mileage.
I will admit that the 733i was probably a little roomier.
I read your, Reading Is Fundamental, quip… Nice to see there is someone who is as old ass as I am to remember those commercials from the 70’s and early 80’s. lol
Yes, cars have gotten safer, more comfortable AND faster. Back in the 80’s cars like the Iroc Z, Daytona Turbo, and Nissan 300zx got 0-60 at around 7.9… Which was the norm, or quick back then.
Wow, that is slow or archaic, today. The doors on cars like the VW Rabbit and my Mercury Zephyr were scarily paper thin. What were we thinking, risking our lives in those rattle cans?
I hear what your saying, LS… but, please tell me wouldn’t take a Spark over a 733i? Lol
Had a friend in Houston who made great money as an air traffic controller, but lived in a modest apartment and drove a new (this was circa ’07-’08) Accent so he could save up to buy a vintage Piper Cub. The Accent seemed to be screwed together OK, but the sheetmetal on that car was the thinnest I’d ever seen. I dented it by just lightly leaning on it. Fortunately the dent popped right back out.
Speaking of modern cars with a shitbox reputation, SWMBO had some recent experience with a rental Nissan Versa on a recent trip to Arizona. She was rather impressed with it for what it is. particularly the amount of power as the elevation increased heading north on I-17.
PS: good find, a transitional Chevette: rectangular headlights with the old-style tail lights.
And it’s a pretty unusual color combination, as well — that light pastel green with contrasting dark green interior and stripe. The non-basic colors probably helped this car look like much less of a sacrifice when it was new(er).
Right, Jim! This must be a ’79.
(Amazing find, Paul.)
You know, something about it struck me as a little “off”….
Yea, I guess that is Pitsatchio Green instead of Buttercup Yellow, the lighting and dirt were throwing me off. Don’t know if I like the stripes on the side or not.
Amazing there were still nearly two dozen Chevettes around 22 years after they went out of production. I saw a Chevette last year up I-5 in Portland but none since. The Recession and the subsequent uptick in New vehicle sales might have killed off most of the remaining survivors.
I remember the Chevette. Although I was too young to have driven the car, I remember admiring its simple lines and styling.
The Chevette was not that bad,they were just not that good.Lets face it folks, these were economy cars,not Cadillacs. What you saw is what you got.El cheapo,strippo economy at its best-or worst. It all depended on how you looked at it.
While I have had worse cars (think Vega), they were not very good either. Perspective is a lot. Keeping in mind there were other cars around at the time in it’s size and price range that were much better made. However cars like the Chevette were more … uuummm … American car-like, especially the interiors. Then there’s that transmission hump…
And let’s not forget the catalytic converter hump, which left no space for the rear passenger-side occupant’s left foot.
European engineering, ohc engine, 4 speeds, could go without back seat to enhance cheapskate cred, front disc brakes, tight turn circle, RWD, simple steel wheels with blackwalls, crazy 70s trim packages. If they had just mounted the 4sp on the tree… This would seem to check a lot of the boxes around here. Brock Yates, your outhouse is the shitbox, not this car, which will probably outlive you.
Indeed, there’s something just so American about a small, crappy RWD car with rudimentary engineering that, while unsophisticated, is easy to fix and long-lived.
I mean, how can you do proper donuts in the snow with an efficient FWD Japanese car?
When America puts it’s mind to it, it can do anything. Even build an entry level Euro car. Except ours have AC. Remember excepting a still small Honda and Subaru, our Japanese friends were still serving up RWD when these came out.
Biggest problem with the Chevette was TMA Syndrome; Too Many Automatics.
Facelifted front end and small quarterlights and taillights make this, what, an ’80?
Either way, I just love Chevettes–I wish there were still cars that reflected an honest, hard-working ethos like this one.
From what I gather, the basic bones of the car aren’t too too bad. The Kadett C wasn’t known to be a bad car, and Isuzu managed to make something decent in the Impulse and Gemini ZZ-R. For the mechanically inclined, the Chevette offers a lot of resto-mod possibilities. For that reason alone, I don’t think they’ll exactly go extinct.
It’s a ’79 – the first year of the conventional grille and rectangular headlights, and the last for the original rear quarter panels. The ’80 and later had new rear quarter and hatch sheetmetal, with sharper-edged side and rear glass and a small spoiler built into the hatch door.
I’d love a CC on the first-gen (’83) Impulse, which had to be the most modern looking car of its time, even though it was already two years old when it arrived in the States (it was called the Piazza elsewhere). A great-looking car inside and out. They weren’t ever popular and I haven’t seen one in over 10 years.
With the tens of thousands, make that hundreds of thousands of automobiles in the Houston metropolitan area ( ~ 5 million people, relatively benign climate for cars) I cannot remember the last time I saw a Chevette in this area and I drive around a lot during the course of a week. I drove one once in Minnesota during the summer. It belonged to an aunt of my wife. I remember it being a crappy little car and I owned a GM FWD X-body at the time!
I have never seen a Chevette with the later front and early tail lights, is it a US only combination? Seems to me that Canadian models got the new front and big blobby tail lights in the same model year.
The ’79 got the new front but still had the old rear styling (different rear quarter panels, glass, and hatch door as well as tallights). What the US didn’t get was the Pontiac Acadian. Pontiac didn’t get a Chevette clone until 1981 IIRC and it was called T1000 (or just 1000 from about ’83 onward).
Definitely a highly unusual combo. One-year only version of a 35 year old economy car equals definite rarity!
Here in Brazil the Chevettes (1974 – 1993) are living some kind of revival. It’s the perfect car for the gear heads with little dough in their pockets.
It’s RWD construction allows many kinds of engine swaps, from the more powerful VW to the 4.6 V6 Chevy…
It interesting how much happened in Brazil early with Chevette. I think it might have been the first time Brazil was considered a major market for a new model.
Was the1.6 ohc in the Chevette related to the later ohc 1.8 USA got from Brazil in the J car starting in 1983?
my biggest memory of them and their upscale sisters- the t-1000 pontiac was the amazing- scary illusion of speed. something about the side window layout/ beltline made riding at 55 feel like 85.
I cannot look at one of these without thinking of massive shimmy in the steering wheel. I spent some time in two of these. One was in college when I used to toss a lawnmower into the back to cut grass at a place in the next town, and the other was a rental in the mid to late 80s. Both of them suffered from (at least) horribly unbalanced front wheels that made the steering wheel do a dance around 50-60 mph. I always wondered what one felt like to drive without that maddening front end shimmy.
What I best remember about Chevette steering was that the steering column was canted inward at the base and not quite parallel to the sides of the car, so to compensate for the off-kilter shaft, the steering wheel itself was slightly bent so it would look normal when in the straight-ahead position. But this meant that when the wheel was turned, the steering wheel rim flopped back and forth a couple of inches. When the wheel was turned 180 degrees, facing down, the left side of the rim moved back almost an inch and the right side moved an equal amound forward.
No redeeming values whatsoever. Extinct for a reason. Suffered through owning 2 hand me down Chevettes as a kid. Have you ever seen another vehicle that requires removing the a/c compressor to access the spark plugs?
Well, you had to remove the brake master cylinder to get to the last spark plug on a Hemi-Cuda. It was also required to jack-up the engine on a Boss 429 Mustang to get to one of the plugs on those.
So, I guess the Chevette could be considered in the same league as one of the ultimate musclecars by the standards of how difficult it was to change all the spark plugs…
They shoehorned the small block V-8 into the 3rd generation Camaro IIRC. You had to do the motor mount thing with them, too.
The only Hemi Cuda I saw in the day had it’s PB booster & master cylinder mounted on the core support and a long rod that came out the firewall. Of course it was 3rd generation one, might have been in response to 2nd generation problem,
As a New Englander, I’ve hardly ever seen a Chevette with a/c!
Don’t forget the Northstar. Yet another where you had to loosen the mounts and rock the entire engine to one side to get to one bank of plugs.
I actually saw a purplish “late production” 4 door Chevette about a week ago, and I’ve seen a white 4 door a few times at my favorite Target.
I thought these cars were fairly decent, until I found my 1st gen Fiesta. Except for the drive wheels, a Chevette and Fiesta were fairly close….on specs, but miles apart to drive.
I like the Chevette. It was an honest little car. It screamed cheapness because it was cheap. There was no pretension about it being a better car then it was. In 1976 when it was first offered in the USA, the base price was under $3000(making it among the cheapest new cars available that year.) In 1987(its last year)the base modelcost under $5000 (still one of the cheapest new cars to buy new that year). It was a car for those that wanted a new car and were on a strict budget or was mindful of gas prices or needed a second car. This is what the car was geared for. It was not a car that was trying to snag Benz customers. The car sold very well.
GM did think highly of the “Vette” enough to create a electric Chevette as a concept car and might have put it in to production had gas gotten higher at that point in the 1970’s. The car was called the Electrovette
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/autos/0809/gallery.gm_electric_cars/5.html
I had a 1983 Chevette for about 2 years while in school and I had no issues with it at all. It was slow and if you turned the AC, it would not go above 30mph without making the engine cry(I used to use the AC on/off switch as my instant turbo button for off ramps) The interior was spartan but the seats were comfortable to me. In the time I had it I only needed to change the plugs and wires and to get regular oil changes. It did not leak and started up every time (even below freezing). I actually miss that car.
Motorweek tested a Pontiac 1000 with automatic in ’82. 0-60 time: 30 seconds!
Thanks for sharing this video. That car would be scary in modern highway situations. 0-60 in 30 seconds and 1/4 mile time of 23 seconds at 59 MPH. Total mixed MPG was 25 MPG. Pretty underwhelming. At least by today’s standards.
Depends on where to live and how fast to drive. It’s still alright to drive 55 on interstate in some areas while doing 85 is slow on the other.
This was a 1.6 liter OHC T-car with 65 HP. The first US Chevettes had 1.4 liter OHV engines with 52 HP. They could be equipped with automatics too. My friend had a transition year Chevette, probably a 1979. It was a 4-door automatic and felt just as slow as the numbers here reflect. On the hilly highways of my hometown, it could hardly maintain 55 mph.
The video was out of order, so i’ll post it as I found it again on youtube. They said it took 23.3 seconds to 59mph, in the quarter mile, and 30 to 60mph; how can a car take 6.4 seconds to increase speed one mile per hour! That’s not accelerating; that’s snailerating. My mother had a Opel Kadettee, back in the 70s and I thought there was something wrong with the engine as it had so little power and took forever to get to highway speeds; but she had taken it to a mechanic, and he said there was nothing wrong with it; now, thanks to CC I find out…the rest of the story; that it’s related to the Chevette . That car also had the loosest shifter (4 speed); kind of like it was a piece stiff rope.
Remember they said the engine wasn’t broken in. The 76 C&D test, (where Brock Yates was all proud to call it a shitbox ala Opel wagon) of a 4sp AC 59hp 1.6 Chevette was 15.2 sec to 60 and a top speed of 81. They said it settled down nicely at 55 but got strained above it. This was one of the cheapest car sold pre Yugo, despite being made in USA. The Yugo, the early Civic, the Le Car, the GLC, the Datsun 210 all had less than 60hp net. The Beetle was under 50hp.
If you want shit boxes come to merry England morris marina austin allegro austin maxi austin princess the list is virtually endless anything by BL would qualify talbot solara hillman hunter HA viva triumph dolomite reliant scimiter a posh kit car made strong men cry please add to the list of horrers
As much as I hate to admit it , these were true ‘ penalty boxes ‘ ~ I don’t think shit boxes because they started up and ran , and ran and ran and…..
You get the picture .
Few modern strippers will give the same long term reliable service these tiny things did .
I certainly don’t want one ! .
-Nate
“Shit box” does not necessarily mean bad. It’s almost a term of endearment for me; I call my Xbox a shit box, size XL. 🙂
Keep me in mind if you ever want to sell the Xbox, Paul. Roommates are looking to replace their auto Subaru with something manual and roomy enough for dogs.
I may keep it forever….it would make a good coffin to be buried in. 🙂
How about we bury you in the Subaru and keep the xBox?
How about we just flush him. 🙂
Should have hung on to the Forester for that. Truly a “Eugene” way of going out in style.
Glad to hear this as whenever the Mechanics are jawing around the shop and they use that word , they’re always sneering , they’re so far above driving a ‘shit’ or ‘penalty’ box .
The Chevette was obsolete the day is was released being RWD and so on but they were Road Roaches (TM) par excellance .
They made a bunch of them for the U.S.P.S. , right hand drive of course .
There will always be a niche for a well made stripper , some may never want one but they’re necessary in the big transportation picture and strippers were my bread and butter as a Mechanic for decades so I don’t hate them so much .
-Nate
I haven’t seen a Chevette (let alone T1000) for so long I honestly can’t remember. As someone else noted, I think the smog regulations and cash-for-clunkers programs in California, or even inflated tax deductions for donated cars, have permanently removed certain cars from our roads. Still see quite a few rwd Celicas, early Civics and Accords, some fwd A-bodies and of course Corollas and even the occasional Corona; but K-Cars, Chevettes, early J-bodies and their ilk are pretty much gone, at least up here. I never thought I’d live to see a day when there were more Peugeot 403’s than Pintos in my neighborhood. By the way, even though the Chevette was a barely Americanized Kadett and Isuzu, I think it was a game changer for the domestic industry and enabled the domestic Escort and Omni, as it was a true small, space-efficient car and not just a shrunken 2 door coupe with a big four-banger like the Pinto (in its 2.0 and 2.3 versions) and Vega.
They were not exactly reviled when new, but certainly considered entry-level and fodder for jokes. I had a friend who was nearly killed in one in 1984 when he dozed off on the Palisades Parkway and hit a tree in the center divider. Though seriously injured, he may have been saved by a most “un-Chevettey” luxo touch his car had, as the impact sent him out through the optional sunroof.
Had a friend that had an automatic version as a college car in the mid ’80’s. It was a durable shitbox. And not bad in the snow as long as you used chains. And the heater was powerful. Have to respect it for being cheap to buy and cheap to own. Do I want one? No.
A couple friends of mine have about 30 Chevettes, half of them believe it or not are diesels. Most are parts cars, but there are a few decent ones though. I’ll see if I can’t post some pictures.
Those “carbon tax credits” are whats leading to those govt. scrapping programs. In Ca. they can be 1,000 to 1,500 dollars. The worst thing is that the only cars that qualify have to be currently registered, currently insured, cars that can pass the smog test. So the cars getting crushed are the best examples. I sold a 96 F250 for my brother and took it to get smogged. The shop owner asked me how much i wanted for it. When I told him 1500 bucks he said,”Why bother just get it scrapped” I looked on CL and found that there is a shortage of used trucks and the prices are starting to climb to reflect this. My Mother in law had a Chevette that she bought new. I remember it snapped the timing belt in my driveway. It was easy for me to fix and she kept it for a couple more years.
Interesting write-up and photos. My parents had one of these. A 1979 manual transmission 4 door model. A very basic car, they bought it as a run around town only car to replace a gas guzzling Oldsmobile and to complement their Volvo. I drove it numerous times. A very primitive car with no power as I recall, but it was very reliable and they kept it for 10 or 12 years (and amazingly to me they sold it within just a few hours of an ad appearing in the paper). Also have to consider the times. There were gas shortages and a recession going on, and these were cheap and really not that terrible relative to other econo-boxes at the time. Chevy sold a lot of them. This is in the “grudging respect” category for me.
I’m guessing this is a 78/79 from the rounded rear window. I don’t think the 5 door appeared at the beginning of the Chevette’s life. In that year, you could do worse than the Chevette; I know, because at one point we had an ’81 AMC Spirit nee Gremlin. That was a Hornet with all the useful space chopped out of it, but used big car Hornet/Matador parts, so it combined all the thirst and weight of a big car with the cramped misery of a tiny rwd car. At least the spirit was better to look at than the Gremlin.
Corollas, colts, Subarus, Civics, and Datsuns and such would have been priced much higher than the Chevette. Dealers didn’t discount Hondas and Toyotas; there were waiting lists in ’79. You could have gotten a Datsun in 78 possibly for the same price, but they were hideous too. The Rabbit was quite a bit pricier.
Small cars didn’t get better until FWD came along in the Corollas and Tercels and GLCs and Omnirizons and Escorts. Even then, the Chevette was possibly more durable.
But who would choose to drive this car for this long? I believe what you are seeing is Roger Smith doing penance in the afterlife for the multiple sins he inflicted upon GM during his tenure.
I forgot all about the AMC Spirit. Back in 85 my parents rented one when our fairly new 84 Cavalier was in the shop. I still remember how awful that AMC was…cheap and cramped. I couldn’t wait to get out Cavalier back!
The 5-door was introduced in 1978. The square headlights the subject car is wearing appeared in 1979. Other posts elsewhere in this thread peg this as a ’79, because the ’79s apparently had the new front-end styling but still had the original rear-end styling.
I found one at the junkyard not too long ago: http://phxjunkyarding.blogspot.com/2015/06/1980-chevorlet-chevette.html
I thought the interior was pretty nice actually.
The pride of Lakewood (Atlanta) Assembly. Rode in lots of them during my high school and college years as they were among the most common beaters in the ’80s and early ’90s. Another one of those cars that managed to rust a bit even in Houston, but mechanically they were quite hard to kill. A college buddy put his up for sale with a bulletin board ad that simply read –
“1979 CHEVETTE. POS. $500 OBO.”
With what did he replace said POS? A newer Chevette!
There’s a later model Chevette (CHMSL-equipped) still running around our town. The owner works nights at a local McDonald’s as I see it parked there most evenings.
The yellow plates suggest it’s a native. Last one I saw was in Roseburg at a bank a month back.
Total crap carts I agree and we got them in two flavours Vauxhall Chevette and Isuzu/Holden Gemini, Very rare cars nowdays Ive see two recently and there is a Gemini coupe roaming around here too with a 471 blower poking out of the bonnet attached to a 3.5 Rover V8, Spotted this Vauxhall sedan version on my way to the Peugeot/Citroen store last week.
I still see a decent number of Chevette’s in Walla Walla, Washington and I always thought they were decent cars of that era, my mother used to own a 1980 Chevette 5 door with automatic and it was a slow but pretty reliable car.
When I was younger I used to get the Chevette’s and the Chevy Citation’s mixed up because they both looked a lot, between these two I’ll gladly take the Chevette because it has RWD and they were better built cars.
Eugene is like the zombie junkyard of forgotten cars.
Sorry, to tell ya, Paulie but in Massachusetts, that guy exited the building LONG time ago.
I used to see plenty of Chevettes and their Pontiac cousins used as daily drivers. My friend’s dad had a yellow sedan, my friend had a yellow coupe both in 91, a co-worker had a black 82 Scooter coupe with a V8 and 15×8 Cragars in the back around 94, and my ex girlfriend’s friend had a light blue 87 Pontiac T-1000 back in 92.
Well, this car can’t be a shitbox if it’s still running, right? A lot of cars have been produced AFTER this car… and they have already left the planet. So…
Also, this is a 79… New rectangular headlights, egg crate grille, and older tail lights. The 80-87 had the nice square elongated tail lights…. IMO, the best body style of Chevette and T1000.
While I haven’t seen it anytime lately, within the past five years or so I used to see a green, pre-1979 2-door Chevette around downtown Worcester a lot. It was in nice shape; either it migrated from elsewhere in the country, or was put aside and preserved for some reason.
MCT
Some guy a few months ago had a white 87 Chevette for sale on CL, I think I saved the ad to my files, on my PC.
He wanted $4000… I was like, no way. Did they even cost that much new? 😛
I was looking for a get around town beater,…… but for that price, I can find a decent $2500 Corolla, Civic, Sentra, or early 90’s Escort and pocket $1500, to boot.
I still see a few Chevettes and Acadians (1000) driving around. My wife had an 80 Acadian 4 door hatch with manual transmission And it was a very durable car.
I recently appraised a 1987 Acadian Scooter with only 6,000 kms on the odometer. Although the Scooter was the bottom feeder of the model range, this car was nicely equipped with cloth interior, auto and whitewall tires. Back in the day I wouldn’t give such a car a second glance. In 2015 I have a different perspective.
Well maintained and properly driven the Chevette and Acadian could be very reliable and economical.
Hot Rod magazine shoved a Caddy 500 in one of these. April Fool’s issue ’99, I think. The car is still around, I guess.
I think that’s a very true statement – there are no more small cars that could accurately be called “little shitboxes” – a phrase most know was coined by the always erudite Brock Yates. I think a better statement may be there are no more “crude” small cars.
Having spent quite a bit of my military career on the road, or TDY, I had lots of experience with rentals – rentals as in gov’t lowest bidder rentals. I dreaded getting a Cavalier which in my estimate topped the crudeness scale. The engine sounded crude, the interior was crude and it drove crude. I also agree with Pat Bedard who once said putting a key in a Cavalier ignition felt and sounded like sticking in a rat tail file.
Here is a photo of a Pontiac 1000 from July, 25th 2015. The tabs are from 2013 though so not sure what is going on with this vehicle.
None left ? .
Here’s a Scooter : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevrolet-Other-Scooter-Hatchback-2-Door-/311409733997?forcerrptr=true&hash=item488177716d&item=311409733997
Looking at those door cards gives new meaning to ‘ Spartan ‘ .
-Nate
That’s how II remember the scooters. Absolutely spartan inside with next to no options. So finding one nicely optioned earlier this summer with only 6,000 Kim’s was an eye opener.
I have never had much time for the Chevette, frankly. I understand them, and I understand why people love them, but I honestly believe that they should count as a GM deadly sin.
Here’s why: The Chevette was built as a direct reaction to the Vega fiasco. The Vega was all new technology – all of the future in one box. Somewhere in Detroit, on the top floor of an executive building, in the most executive of executive suites, somebody got his ass ripped right off over the Vega. “No more of this fancy-smancy futuristic crap! Build me a cheap reliable car with no nuthin that can break, and I want it next week! I wanna undersell those Japanese so much that their profits will crash through the bottom of the earth and come out in China! Think CHEAP!”
So the Chevette was the car with the oldest, cheapest, most reliable design possible. They really were the cockroaches of the car world – a design dating back millions of years, yes, but impossible to kill. In terms of performance, comfort, and engineering excellence they were s***, but reliable they were and that’s what people wanted and needed at the time. You could say they were NOT everything the Vega was.
I had a 75 Civic which was five times better a car in terms of design, comfort, and performance. I am confident though that a Chevette bought on the same day I got my Civic lasted five times longer. Stumbling, smoking, and rusting away perhaps but still ticking long after the Civic had returned to the gum wrappers from which it was made.
What you’re saying is the Chevette is the Chevy II to the Vega’s Corvair.
Interesting thought. I still feel the H bodies were the most logical successor to the Vega, as there was little you could really do to “dress-up” the Chevette. The Vega and the H bodies could be as Spartan as you could stand, or come equipped with a V8 (at least the Chevy) and enough equipment to go road racing. Even the Chevy II (nee, Nova) eventually came with a SS model and a stonking V8… No such animal (or analog) ever existed for the Chevette.
One of the things we seem to forget there was a huge nostalgia movement back in the mid 1970’s, people were hungry for “simpler times”, I think this most simplistic of Chevys fell in line with that. Actually, the original Pinto (and Maverick) were advertised that way, too. In current times, the cheapest cars come with all of the former “luxury” features as standard that Caddys and Benzes used to be known for. We dump a lot of derision on cheapo cars like the Mitsu Mirage, when in reality these are the entry level cars of our past (and many other developing nations).
Roll back 30-35 years and the Mirage would be what the Chevette was, a simple small car that was cheap to buy and cheap to own. Even now, the Spark (in some trims) has more equipment standard than my 2006 Malibu Maxx!
And I would agree that the Chevette would probably outlast the Civic; I’m guessing everyone here has heard the old saw about GM cars running badly longer than most cars run…
Apparently, no one has yet mentioned it’s nickname, “shove-it”.
This brings back memories. In 1981 I bought a ’79 Chevette, well, because I was young and needed a reliable car and it was all I could temporarily afford. Granted, with it being a less-than two year old car in “endless summer” SoCal it was an extremely clean Chevette, and yes, it was reliable, but yikes was it dangerously underpowered. Not only was it a Chevette, it was an automatic Chevette. Double whammy.
I lived in the ‘burbs at the time, and to go into the city required a trip down a steep, twisty grade on the freeway. Going down wasn’t much of a problem, but coming back home was downright dangerous. With all 70 horses (gross) screaming for all they were worth, the ‘Vette couldn’t even maintain the speed limit up the hill even in the days of the national double nickle. Loaded trucks would impatiently bear down on me and were sometimes able to pass me coming UP the grade. It got so unnerving I would sometimes take the long way home and come up the hill on surface streets where the speed limit was “only” 45, and even that was a struggle.
And btw, being next to brand new, there wasn’t a thing wrong with it mechanically other than the fact it was a ’79 Chevette automatic.
As soon as I could afford it, I traded it in on a new ’83 Dodge Charger 2.2, which felt like a rocket ship compared to the ‘Vette. That little Dodge would climb the grade at freeway speed with the a/c blazing, no problem.
It’s been ages since I’ve seen a Chevette. Even though I don’t remember them with any special fondness and don’t want to own one, I would like to see one again just to know they’re still out there.
Snapped this lil excerpt, from one of my old Consumer Reports, July 1978… When the Chevette was new.
Seems like it had more cons, then pros in the preview box. Who knows if that all changed a year or two after ownership.
Sorry for the sucky camera phone pic. ?
I have posted before about my first car, purchased brand new in 1987 – Pontiac Acadian, 2 door hatchback, two tone paint, dark gray on silver, automatic. It also had dual mirrors, still not a standard feature on many vehicles at that time, AM/FM stereo radio – 3 speakers the one in the dash and 2 in the sides of the rear hatch area and a cargo security cover – a roller blind like device over the rear cargo area. Although the car was sluggish (great in my parents eyes) it was super reliable and fun to drive with the rear wheel drive and upgraded to some decent tires. I had that car until 1995 when I let it go due to under carriage rust and it had around 400,000 km`s on the original engine & transmission – no rebuilds. That car provided what I expected out of it – cheap to buy & maintain, good on gas and reliability. It always started in the harsh Canadian winters and never broke down on me. Would I want to drive one today, probably not as I have gotten used to power everything, keyless entry,etc. But it was a good car for it`s time and served me very well.