It makes parallel parking such a breeze.
Curbside Outtake: The Very Rare Chevrolet Cavalier With Optional Rear Wheel Steering
– Posted on November 3, 2020
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Curbside Classics Archives
It makes parallel parking such a breeze.
It is that “Curbside Classic Effect” – again!
You spotted one of the few Cavaliers of this generation on the road, AND it has the even rarer option – the “Bow-Tie Reverse Master Steer”. This option was first shown on the Crapalier show car in 1995, wowing audiences that demanded GM bring the Bow-Tie Reverse Master Steer to the entire line. During auto shows, the GM Dynamic Auto Tricksters would put on the “Red-Hot Bow-Tie Rodeo” and show off the spectacular rear steering option. The Tricksters would speed around an indoor track, with an over head loop, spinning the Crapaliers in amazing stunts.
At the end of the 1995 auto show circuit, GM had over 200,000 orders for the Crapaliers. Honda quickly followed suit with a similar option in their Prelude, but couldn’t quite make their cars perform with the swiftness the Crapaliers offered buyers.
Sadly, the Bow-Tie Revere Master Steer had production issues. GM bean counters discovered that the Master Steer option would cost GM a nickle for each 100 cars, so they put a halt on the availability after 50 1996 Crapaliers, saving GM millions in recalls.
I’m jealous. These folks got a keeper!
Such a cavalier attitude…I wonder if the paint scrapes match a certain tree-parked RAV4.
What a shame, the rest of the car appears to be in decent shape except for a few dings in the paint. None of the plastic trim has fallen off. Is this the last straw? Will it be scrapped to become a refrigerator in China and sent back here? Or will the hapless owner continue this abusive relationship?
Tune in next month, same Chevy time, same Chevy channel!
Amazing! I had never seen this. The description of this as a “”Crapalier” is accurate. What a dog for acceleration! Yet, the idea could have been sold on many a higher-priced GM model. Oh,well.
I didn’t know that GM installed Swing Axles on Cavaliers.
Oh good! It moved! The parking brake isn’t seized up after all!
Time for an alignment. 🙂
The above happened to my neighbor’s pickup truck parked on the street one night. A driver was texting on his cell phone and sideswiped the front fender of the pickup truck, snagging the front left wheel which was twisted 90 degrees from forward alignment. The driver then smashed into the rear of a second truck parked two houses further up the street.
I wish I’d photographed the Cavalier I saw yesterday. Rattle can black, with a Peterbilt badge on the front and a gear shifter about 2 feet tall which resembled an old fashioned British beer tap.
Call it what you will, I drive an 05 Cavalier and am off at jump street at every light. I have no terrible with talos acceleration at all and drive 75 mph or so 50 miles round trip daily to work and back. It’s been maintained, and has 107K miles on it. I get tires at 40K need them or not, great car and 30mpg pretty consistently 👍
No trouble with rapid acceleration, that should read
This is a common site on similar year Toyota’s and Honda’s but on the front wheels. As in one wheel is normal and one is turned out because a tie rod or ball joint gave away on our bumpy streets. It happened right in front of my house one day. This horrible clanking sound followed by screeching brakes. I looked out and saw a 2005 vintage Accord with the right front wheel sitting at an awful looking angle. The woman behind the the wheel was clearly terrified. Plenty of break downs on the highways of many other makes and models too. The salt is a suspension killer!