CC reader Ian K. sent me this ad asking “seen a Chevette lately”? Actually, yes, this morning even. There’s one that’s been in an alley driveway on my early morning walk since 2016. Lately (the last two years), it’s been up on a jack, with a rear wheel off. I’m not very hopeful.
But back to the matter at hand. I may have seen one, but quite likely you haven’t. So it’s time for you to do something about that, and grace your neighborhood with a genuine Chevette. Every neighborhood should have one, running or not, as part of the scenery. And this 1980 looks just about right for the job. It is running, even after 181k miles, but who knows how much longer that will continue. But having a Chevette as a piece of garden statuary would undoubtedly please the neighbors, like that one does me, every morning.
Here’s the text to the ad, which says it all much more eloquently than I could:
1980 CHEVROLET CHEVETTE HATCH-BACK – SURVIVOR !
AMAZING CONDITION – ALL STOCK. 181,XXX miles (HONEST!!)
It starts easy – runs well – does not smoke – does drip some oil.
ONE OWNER/ DRIVER for 39 years. I’ve owned it two years. I have original brochure – owner’s manual – factory shop manual – sales window sheet – sales contract – and original owner’s maintenance records for 39 years! ALWAYS GARAGED – NOT RUSTED!
ALL ORIGINAL : PAINT – CHROME BUMPERS – CHROME GRILLE – HUB CAPS AND TRIM RINGS – TRIM AND BADGES –
UPHOLSTERY – HEADLINER – CARPET – DASH – AM RADIO PLAYS – TINTED GLASS. REAR SIDE WINDOWS TIP OUT FOR VENTILATION.
ALL SWITCHES – GAUGES – LIGHTS – WIPERS – HEATER WORK.
1.6L overhead cam 4 cylinder – 2 BBL CARB – 4 speed manual transmission – rear wheel drive – disc/drum brakes. NO power steering – NO power brakes – NO A/C
Fun car to take to car shows or as a Sunday driver.
A great candidate to UPGRADE with a modern turbo 4 cylinder or a conversion to ELECTRIC POWER.
I have a CLEAR TITLE in my name. I drove it TODAY to take photos. SEE THE PHOTOS.
PRICE IS A REALISTIC $3,500.00 CASH ONLY.
NO EMAIL – NO TEXT – JUST CALL BOB @208/2four9-45six7
Photo notes: Odometer reads 81841 but original owner’s records show 100,000 in first 10 years, so actually 181,843. Yes, the photos show wear and tear on upholstery and door panels, rock chips in paint but great condition for 41 YEARS OLD! Seat cushion pads on front seats to preserve original seat covering.
The ultimate drift car – right?
My family had a number of these over the years. Good honest transportation. Not fast, not refined, not safe by 2021 standards. Not particularly comfortable as I recall. Still, a good car for its intended purpose.
$3,500?
somebody has a big sense of humor
huge
Yeah, speaking as a former owner, a can of gasoline and a match would only cost about $3.50. Still bitter…
Yes and with “only ” 181 000 miles two. Just run in then?. Still cheaper than the Kia with 4000 000 miles n the C10 with 219000 featured recently on these pages. Due to COVID suddenly a $500 car becomes a $3500 car!.
Just when I started to nod along and think how much fun a little minimalist 4 speed ‘Vette would be, I got an eyeful of the GM interior plastics I remember so well. I will just move along and give someone else a crack at this one.
I thought exactly the same thing.
But then, you don’t necessarily need the soft furnishings.
https://youtu.be/KOZiKO3BvHc
I like it! It’s a good thing it’s too far away because I just might go there and fan out 25 hundred dollar bills on the hood to see if the seller would go for it.
In my opinion, the 1980 models were just on the cusp of being sorted out. I’d really prefer a slightly newer model like my trusty ‘84. At least this one follows the winning formula of “four speeds and power nothing” that served me well with my ‘84.
If the body is solid, this isn’t so bad. It even has the original wheelcovers and matching whitewall tires. This seems like a great candidate for a conversion to a 2.8L V6 out of an S10.
I’m seeing rust start to peek out from behind the front wheels…. this one is rougher than it looks. It’s great that it’s a 4spd though, this is as close as you can get to an American Lada IMO (I say that in a good way).
Agreed. Often, cars that look okay in pics turn out to be quite different in the metal. I’m going to guess the seller is hoping someone pays the money and has it shipped, only to find out, too late, they paid way too much.
In fact, this business about the seat cushion covers to ‘preserve the OEM fabric’ sounds a bit too much like BS for torn seats.
I’m going to go with the commenters that say top dollar for this one would be a grand.
It’s even got the authentic GM chalk-o-matic degradable door panels! Sweet!
I’d better keep that listing away from Mrs DougD, she dearly misses the Vette of her teen years.
Weren’t you looking for a student first car recently? Just thinking…..
Hmm, yeah. Donuts in the snow with a Chevette, that should be on every student’s learning plan…
Clean and detail this car, and you’ll have something that is guaranteed to attract lots of attention at the local car show. People love seeing well-preserved examples of cars that they – or their parents – actually drove on a daily basis.
Not all that glitters is gold. And not all cars that survive 41 years are worth a premium. I’ve seen a well-preserved Cimarron and mint SC2 on BAT and nodded in approval at those, but this may be a bridge too far.
But a small realignment of perspective may help. In a world of CUVs, how many RWD manual transmission turbo-ready hot hatchbacks are there anymore?
Looks like it needs an LS engine swap.
I drove one of these for many years, decent beater, needed more than three gears. I pitting the fool that had to drive one of these in the mountains. I did one road trip to Colorado in ours. Couldn’t pull any hill in 3rd gear, yet would scream right to redline in 2nd. If the gear splits weren’t so wide it might have been better.
I still like a rear wheel drive car with the hand brake between the seats for doing donuts. Used to drive the wife crazy as I would slide around corners thru the neighborhood. A little turn on the wheel to start the turn, a quick yank to swing around the rear, add a little counter steer and we are on the way.
I try not to crap on the Chevette too badly, for when it was designed back in the seventies it had coil sprung rear suspension with a sorta torque arm/tube that was miles ahead of the leaf sprung crap of it’s rear drive competitors. The British version with a larger engine won some rallies I believe.
Yes, they did win some until FIA found out the rally cars had different heads from Lotus and the rear wasn’t what one could buy. They promptly were booted from the WRC in rally Portugal 1978 before it started when it was found out.
I was dumb enough to buy one just like it in 1976. Without a doubt it was a COMPLETE POS! The 2 Pintos I had were not very good, but compared to 1 of these…..they were GR8!!! The worst car I ever owned………..DFO
Of course it drips oil. It’s a Chevrolet.
“I drove it TODAY”
As to opposed any day? Hard pass.
Some GM engineers, just for fun, put the V6 engine and rear axle from GM’s light truck (a touch of senility is making me forget the name) and tightened up the suspension a bit, and lent it to the guys at Car and Driver. They in turn went out for the day looking for unsuspecting BMWs, also just for fun, and had plenty. That was of course in the ’70s. As the only Chevette I’d ever occupied had the automatic, and was being driven (quite badly) by an elderly professor from Vanderbilt’s Divinity School, I was very much taken by the possibilities of such a vehicle.
Still am, too. Boise, you say? Okay, that’s kinda far …
That’s the one. Imagine if Chevrolet hadn’t devoted all the time, effort, and expense on the Cosworth Vega and, instead, had just dropped the S10’s 2.8L V6 drivetrain into the Chevette. Could have been a legitimate eighties version of the Road Runner and a real contender.
It was a rebadged opel kadette. It didnt take any brains to make it a hotrod. It already was a hotrod as the kadette. It did take effort to bring the kadette down to chevette level.
PPBBBBTTTT! My dream come true! At least we know that the seller is an optimist.
There’s nostalgia, and then there’s just old cars. I have no doubt that some Chevettes served their owners faithfully but there’s good reason why the Chevette name didn’t make it out of the 1980s to grace another vehicle.
This might be enjoyable for about five minutes and then you’d be looking to get your $3,500 (or $2,500, or $1,500 or whatever you bargained it down to) back somehow that you spent on a car with (best case) 181,843 miles on it.
Better to enjoy the pictures from here or walk around it if you see it on the lawn at the next car show you attend and offer the proud new owner congratulations.
This. ^^^^
My wife’s family had one when she was a teenager. She always refers to it as “that damn Chevette” without fail. It left her, or her mother, or her aunt stranded more than a few times.
This is a almost a carbon copy of the family 1978 Chevette we had from 1985-1986 that was my first car to use as my very own. Upgrades that would of been nice over ours aside from the new front and rear light design: cloth vs vinyl seats (nasty sticky in the summer w/no AC) , fabric in the door inserts vs. vinyl. If I recall there also was no interior joystick to control the side view mirror, which this one has. Some folks had tremendous luck with these as basic transport….some (like us) not so much. But I remember mine fondly,from a much happier, simpler time.
Looking today at an old car it is often hard to put it into perspective against its contemporaries when it was new. Below is a link to a car which was one of its competitors.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/curbside-classic-1980-toyota-corolla-liftback-the-shockingly-boring-and-cheap-details-of-41-years-of-corolla-ownership/
Is the used car market affecting this type of car? I thought it was confined to more contemporary cars.
No. What you are seeing is what I call original owneritis where the owner’s attachment clouds their perspective some. I would say the car is about $1000 over priced to start.
My buddy and I did a 20+ hour road trip from Norfolk VA to Copper Harbor Michigan, at the top of the UP, in one just like this (were they all this color?) in 1985. As soon as we arrived we got onto the ferry to Isle Royale National Park. Let’s just say that a day in a Chevette followed immediately by several hours on. 50′ boat in 8′ seas doesn’t make for a pleasant start to a vacation. Very much type 2 fun I guess as that ended up being one of my favorite backpacking trips.
My parents had a ’79 Chevette four-door, with the same front clip as this one, but with the original tailights (which were changed to the configuration shown here in 1980). It was a far better car than the ’74 Vega it replaced, more durable, better gas mileage, and more comfortable for four (higher seating position and four doors helped tremendously) and pretty good handling. Still, $3500 for this 181k mile example? No way. I am thinking Dad paid something just under $4500 for his, brand new, in the midst of the second energy crisis, when small fuel-efficient cars were selling at or above MSRP.
Cute little car, I remember these slugs fondly .
Super basic transportation .
I can’t see it being worth much $ either but it’d be a fun little runabout in town .
-Nate
Seeing that shifter knob takes me right back to memories of our ‘79 Chevette. On very hot days, the glue that held it on would turn to goo, and it would come right off in your hand on the 1-2 shift.
As others have said this car is worth $1,500.00 at best and that is a real stretch. I have spoken about my 1st car here before 1987 Pontiac Acadian. In my opinion the 1983 models and later were the best with the color keyed bumpers, black trim and nicer interior fabrics. By 1986 and 1987 these cars had all the bugs long worked out of them and served their purpose as a cheap city or second car. Cheap to buy and maintain and cheap on gas. Whenever I see a Chevette or Acadian out there it makes me fondly remember my first car. Would I want to drive one now, not likely. lol I have become accustomed to power windows, locks, keyless entry, etc. They served their purpose and were a much better buy than their closest competitor the Hyundai Pony.
The GM employee that came up with the name should have been tossed out of the building. Chevette = Shove It.
One benefit of owning it would be going to car shows, you might be the only car in your class, cheap plastic trophy or plaque for the man cave.
The name wasn’t the problem; the car was.
The name was fun back in the day to entice/tease girls you were interested in…..”Hey, wanna go outside and check out my ‘Vette???” 🙂
They would think you had a Corvette….
Indeed, these anti-classic, old survivor cars are the ones that I’m drawn to at car shows. It’s similar to seeing an original, sixties’, six-cylinder compact (Valiant, Falcon, Corvair, et al) with little to no power accessories. These were the truly disposable cars and it’s rare to see one that’s been preserved and well-maintained over all these years.
Agreed. Yes, this is a lot of money for a Chevette—but it’s cars like this that bring is all to CC, isn’t it? For me too, I would be the guy fawning over this one at a car show, completely ignoring the tarted up Mustangs and Camaros parked all around it.
That’s an incredible number of miles. Kudos to this lowly but well traveled chevette. Someone certainly got their money’s worth. Everyone says the chevette was awful but it was a top seller in 1980 and I believe the number 1 in sales in 1981. Datsun 210s and toyota corollas were still rwd in 1980 and not much more space efficient. If the chevette was bad, the lemans replacement was infinitely worse.
These were not terrible cars, just really cheap and that’s why they were so popular .
These was one base model that only had cardboard door cards .
similar if very different from the 1950’s VW Beetles I and many other, lob=ve so much .
-Nate
All in all, it’s a decent looking car. With some (a lot) money, it could make a screaming hot hatch
I vividly remember these being referred to as “shove-its” back in the day. They were actually fairly good cars if you didnt live in the rust belt and you got the right drive train and never tried to use more than the two front seats and only used it in mild weather and you werent more than 5’-8″ tall and 160lbs or over 35 years old and only drove short distances in town.