I will state right off the bat that I cannot say with certainty that this is car is an ’83, though the grille and taillamp lenses indicate it’s an ’83, or newer. GM’s “Excitement Division” produced these through ’87, completing seven whole model years before being replaced in Pontiac’s lineup for ’88 by a LeMans-badged Daewoo. I had gotten out of our rental Ford Fusion to snap a few, closer photos of this car, when I heard a booming voice coming from the front porch. Being in an unfamiliar town in Trumbull Co., Ohio, not feeling particularly brave, and truly unable to decipher if the voice was friendly or not, I darted back into the Fusion and took off. Yup. I chickened, maybe unnecessarily.
I could’ve just as easily titled this a “CC Capsule”, but I felt respect must be paid to the fact that not only is this is a running GM T-Car in 2015, but it’s the Pontiac variant – and it was for sale. I remember being shocked as a first grader by how little was done to differentiate the T1000 from the Chevette – on the first-year 1981 models, even the grille and taillamp lenses were basically the same on both cars. I won’t go into production figures or a bunch of factual stuff (since there was no “T1000 Scooter”, the best 0-60 time would have been something like 14.5 seconds with the 1.6L 4-cyl. and a 4-sp. manual, all the way up to 23 seconds to 60 with the 1.8L diesel and 3-sp. auto), but I do have a story to tell.
In 1985, when I was ten years old, the Dennis family went car shopping for a second car to replace our ’77 Plymouth Volaré that Mom and Dad had given to my sister. This replacement car would primarily be the one my dad, the professor, would drive to and from the university. We went to Superior Pontiac-Cadillac located off I-69 and Dort Hwy. in Flint, Michigan (where we lived) just to make sure we had checked all of the subcompact boxes in our search. We had looked at a 1985 1/2 Ford Escort L at Al Bennett Ford, and were underwhelmed. I don’t remember us test-driving a Chevette. Actually, I don’t know why the Pontiac version of a Chevette would have somehow been acceptable if an actual Chevette wasn’t in the running. I also don’t know why we didn’t look at an Omnirizon, which also would have been a good candidate. But I digress.
Our list of criteria for this second car was actually pretty short. It needed to be small, economical, fit five of us in a pinch, have an automatic transmission so Mom could drive it, and be something of a penalty box lest it betray our ultra-conservative-Lutheran credo of “deny thyself”. For the record, I am not dissing Lutheranism. But you have to understand the context in which I grew up to appreciate how and why this test-drive even happened in the first place. We found ourselves at Superior in the fall of 1985 speaking with a saleswoman named Shelley Green. (Don’t ask me how I remember such trivial details from thirty years ago. Just trust me on this.) Below is a picture of my younger brother, Peter, and me around the time of this test drive. The matching, off-brand Members Only jackets should give you some indication of how much cost-cutting was done by our family in the 80’s.
Our ’85 1000 (the “T” had been dropped from the car’s model name for ’84) test-car was a yellow, five-door hatchback. Aside from feeling extremely cramped in the back seat alongside my two brothers, I remember seeing the painted metal surfaces of the inner door panels and thinking to myself, this thing looks so cheap. Mom stayed at the dealership since our saleswoman had to ride with us, and Dad drove since this would basically be his car.
Peter and I used to regularly crack each other up like young versions of the Tappet Brothers, Click & Clack on National Public Radio’s “Car Talk” (RIP Tom Magliozzi). He and I must have been cutting up back there, dissing this “janky” Pontiac, when Ms. Green (who was riding in the front passenger’s seat) leaned back toward us and said something in a fake-joking voice like, “You know, if you boys don’t behave, we can always toss you out the window…” (with a wink). What was that woman thinking? She probably had a right to be irritated, but subtle digs at my parents’ presumed lack of disciplining us probably didn’t earn this Tweety-bird of a hatchback any extra points with my dad, who already seemed disgusted.
We ended up buying a strippo, beige ’85 Renault Encore three-door hatchback from Country Motors in nearby Owosso, a car we loved, and which ran mostly reliably through the late-1990’s (which must have set some kind of record for one of these). The only options on that Encore were an automatic transmission, a rear window defroster, and power brakes. It had a vinyl interior, manual steering, non-reclining front seats, and didn’t even have an AM radio, but it was peppy and actually fun to drive. My older brother got that car when he left for college, and he took great care of it. I couldn’t find any decent pictures of our Encore, but I did find the below TV spot on YouTube. I remember seeing Renault commercials from that time featuring what looked like self-automated cars doing all kinds of wacky things.
Thanks for staying with me on what started as a much shorter post. I’ll summarize by saying the sight of this T1000/1000 by the side of the road reminded me of a very memorable, if unsuccessful, family test-drive when I was growing up. I wonder if that yellow 1000 would have outlived the Encore. Our subject car did, though I wonder also if it had ever been regularly subjected over the years to use by a boisterous, tight-fisted, but well-intentioned family like the Dennises.
The subject car was photographed by the author in Brookfield, Ohio.
Sunday, August 30, 2015.
Interesting story. It must really stink for a salesperson when the demonstration goes badly. Remember she knows this means she is not going to be paid for her time. Glad your family found a car that worked out well for them.
As an aside, is it just me of does that 1000 look awfully foreign in front of that very traditional house.
I remembered the 1000, in Canada we called it the legendary Acadian, or on the west coast the Pontiac Beagle T. My late uncle had a souped-up 1000 that he entered in CASC-sponsored races in the mid ’80’s. Boy, could that car take on the Datsuns, Alfas, Colts and RX-3s!
For all the hate it got, wasn’t the suspension pretty close in design to that of the Manta A. Once race prepped, I can see how it would hold it’s own.
Or for that matter the Rover SD1’s, if memory serves.
Did the Acadian get renamed the T1000 or 1000 when Pontiac started selling them in the US? I can’t imagine the need for both an Acadian and a 1000.
I think it was 1983, not ’84, when the “T” was dropped. At least that was the case for the J2000 (which I owned) which became the 2000 in ’83 (and the 2000 Sunbird in ’84, and just Sunbird in ’85. Four names in four years!)
I buddy of mine bought a Encore new in the mid 80’s and drove the crap out of it, in fact he let me drive the crap out of it on occasion. I mostly remember the great gas mileage and the horn was on the turn signal stalk.
Joseph, I always enjoy your stories – the digressions are just part of the charm. Thanks for another good article!
Joseph, that was a great story. Thanks for sharing. Even though The Pontiac is a beater, that fact that is has survived would me me interested in such an oddball vehicle.
As for the Reneult, that is amazing!!! What a survivor that was. What happened to it after your brother got it? Did it die? Trade it in?
Also, that commercial. Wow. Anyone notice the car was “driverless.” That probably means there was an intern hiding on the floor, steering and giving it gas with his or her hands.
Sebring Fan, please pardon my (very!) late response to your question. My brother’s Encore was finally abandoned by a friend when the homemade engine fan switch somehow stopped working, the car overheated, and there was just no bringing it back for any trouble that would have been worth. A somewhat sad end to a car that had been given the nine lives of a cat and gave many great years of service. If a car could “earn its wings”, this one sure would have.
Pontiac sure didn`t build any excitement in this badge engineered Chevette. Possibly the least interesting GM car of all time.
Naah, THAT title goes to the ’98 Olds Cutlass clone of the ’97 Malibu.
Baaaaaddddd….
At least you could hot rod a Chevette/T-1000 by dropping a V6 in it.
Especially a turbo V-6 from a wrecked GNX.
Or a 350.
Great job of writing a story I enjoyed about a car that I didn’t really want to read about.
HAH! That sums up my thoughts as well.
And that’s why this site is so great!
And that goes for me as well, thanks! Context is everything.
Thanks, all! Glad you read and enjoyed it.
I always giggled shamelessly at the very thought of the Pontiac Chevette. What was it supposed to be? An upscale version of the
mostsecond most cynical car GM ever produced? A performance version? Nope, it was just a grill and badge change. Sad, sad, sad.To me, the Chevette-cum-T1000 was built in direct response to the Vega fiasco. It was 1950’s era Soviet-quality engineering, cheap and crude with a tractor engine : but it would never, ever, break down -the cockroach of the car world. So obvious a cockroach that the kids in the backseat can recognize it for what it is. A Pizza delivery car in waiting.
The Encore on the other hand was a real car and worlds more comfortable than these cans. Nobody does seats like the French. I always suspected that given a good dealership with a trained mechanic the Encore would be a good car.
I understand about the conservatism of a religious family – we were Methodists, and I suspect that the implied extravagance of a French vehicle would have been too much for us. We were SAAB people -the three-cylinder two-cycle blue-smoke SAABS. Now there’s a humble hair-shirt car for you. *
*They were really pretty good cars and comfortable in the backseat, but they sure marked you as ‘the wierd kid’ when all the other mom’s were driving Country Squire wagons and Dad’s odd and tiny car came smoking up to school to pick you up.
GM did build performance versions of the Chevette but not GM NA only Vauxhall bothered, they stuck a 2.3L OHC Bedford van engine into them.
As rallied by Jimmy McRae https://www.flickr.com/photos/74mex/4809186189
And the most powerful Opel Kadett C had a 2.0 liter injection engine.
Check out as well the related Opel OSV40 http://www.opel.com/news/index/2014/09/40_years_of_opel_safety_vehicle.html…and of course the Latin-American Chevrolet San Remo https://japarzam1337.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/sanremo.jpg,
Aymes Cóndor http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/vauxhall-t-car—chevette-variations-in-ecuador
Chevrolet Chevette/Marajó and GMC Chevette http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/vauxhall-t-car—opel-k180-gmc-chevette-in-argentina…
Holden/Isuzu Gemini http://www.holdengemini.net/feature_isuzu_rick_pf60.php
Buick Opel
Chevy’s skunkworks stuck a 2.8 V6 in a Chevette and let Car and Driver loose in it. The verdict was along the lines of “You should build this car”. They didn’t.
The ’80s. religious parents, and off-brand clothes…my mom would only shop for shoes at Kmart. I went to Catholic school; shoes were the only thing worn in school not regulated by the uniform. Having the “wrong” sneakers was A Big Deal.
It took me a good minute or so to think of what the most cynical car GM ever produced was. Then I remembered the Cimarron….
(though in my opinion, the first-gen Escalade was equally cynical, even if it sold well.)
Great find –particularly since you have a personal experience with a T1000.
Like you, I remember from my occasional rides in Chevettes being unimpressed by the painted metal upper door panels. That one detail still sticks in my mind – and I remember thinking that it was a constant reminder that you were in a cheap-o car.
Incidentally, last year, I saw a T1000 at a service station near my house. I couldn’t photograph it at the time, but every time I drive by that place, I still look to see if it’s returned.
We had Volkswagens when I was growing up (68, 74, 78 van, 79 Rabbit) and I always hated the body color metal on the doors, especially on the Rabbit. I felt like we didn’t have a real car. Now, of course, I think it’s kind of cool because I can’t imagine a new car being sold in the US today that would have that. I don’t think there is even an automobile available without power windows today.
The cheapest Ford Fiestas in 2015 still had manual window winders. I don’t know about the 2016 models, though. Can’t say about any other brands, but would bet the cheapest Toyota Corollas and 1 or Scions are available with manual windows, too.
I haven’t seen a new car with manual windows since 2010, when I had a very basic Chevy Aveo as a rental. Supposedly the cost of sourcing and stocking both types of window mechanisms, manual and power, outweighs what can be gained by making power windows standard, so no more manual windows. Maybe on some basic work trucks/vans?
Base model pickups have crank windows standard, but power windows are usually available on the lowest-cost upgrade package. I can’t speak for the newer Euro-style vans.
I think it’s not just the parts cost, but that each window configuration has to complete separate side impact crash tests. Sort of the same thing that did in having multiple axle ratio options, each of which I think also had to be certified separately.
Ironic that new Beetles actually go out of their way, using plastic trim, to imitate the look of the body-colored inside door tops on old Beetles.
Ford Super Duty pickups, being on the same platform since 1999, still have a little bit of painted metal on the doors visible from inside the vehicle. I don’t think it’s intentional, though, and when the Super Duty moves to the F-150 body in ’17 it’ll be invisible.
Historically, pickup trucks were usually the last vehicles to make the painted metal invisible from inside, because it’s a work vehicle and nobody really cares. I think the GMT400 pickups were the first to cover up the metal completely, even on the most basic work truck.
Odd. I LIKE painted metal interior bits. Better than a sea of grey plastic.
My family had a ’76 Chevette when I was a kid. This one had the optional deluxe interior which still had painted metal door sills, but they were color-matched to the upholstery rather than the exterior body color so at least it wasn’t as noticeable. It also had the one-year-only woodgrain trim which couldn’t have looked more fake.
Nice story. The Encore was a much better choice. Great ride; great seats, and yours behaved well too.
I understand your caution about cars parked out in the country, but if it has a For Sale sign, you really are ok with stopping to look. That’s what the owner wants you to do, I assume 🙂
Almost certainly he was saying something like “Let me get the keys!” But when you’re black, you often react a bit differently to people shouting to you, especially when they’re too far away to make out the words. I’ve probably made some perfectly nice people wonder why I left so quickly in my life.
Brilliantly stated, Dan. I will say ethnicity probably played less of a role in my discomfort than generally just being an outsider to this area, but to your point, and as I was driving away, I had the passing thought (and sinking sensation) I might have inadvertently reinforced something not-good by bolting like I did instead of hanging around like an otherwise-rational, potential buyer (or curiosity-seeker).
Had I been thinking more clearly, I probably would have ended up just enjoying a closer look at this old Pontiac and chatting up the owner. Live and learn. I’m sure I’ll be back there before too long. 🙂
Wow, throwing over a GM product for a AMC/Renault product…your folks were (are?) very free thinking folks.
I wouldn’t buy anything from anyone who even jokingly threatens to throw my children out of a speeding car…perhaps that’s why you remember her name? My guess is that Ms. Greene didn’t sell many cars before changing careers.
To digress, my cousin’s husband owned 2 or 3 of the Alliances and Encores, replacing a VW Rabbit.
Count me as another who enjoys your stories. Isn’t it funny how we remember those family test-drives when someone was shopping for a new car? Wow, you have gigged my memory, and I remember so many of those car salesmen’s names from the 1970s.
As for the Chev – er- 1000, one look at that car and my hands start vibrating, remembering the horrible shimmy in the Chevette I got as a rental when I flew to Connecticut to attend a friend’s wedding.
I don’t remember my parents ever test driving a car, except when they once considered a used Volvo 340.
Otherwise, they bought new, and just walked in and paid the full sticker price for the absolute base model with no options. I tell a lie, I think they paid for a parcel shelf and heated rear window on a 1988 Fiesta. (still had no radio and only one door mirror)
I owned one of these Pontiac Acadians…bought it off a little old lady… It came with one of her jars of preserved strawberry jam. I think the jam was worth more. We put in a jvc stereo cassette..which sucked as much as the car…then we put on a windshield PONTIAC sign across the top of the wind shield…talk about cool….(haha). Well, it did its job of motoring me and my girl around town for a few years…not much power back then, and gas was cheap.
Usually people are reasonably chill when I look at cars for sale on their lawn, by the road and I just make sure to have a calm demenor as well as not make any sudden moves.
There are apparently at least two T1000s in Portland, OR, but have not seen a Chevette in over a year and a half.
Once more I’m stricken by the different image same cars have in different countries. In Israel the Chevette and T1000 were seen as luxury versions of the Opel Kadet / Vauxhall Chevette (they had A/C and auto transmission – not a given in smaller cars back then), cars for those who really wanted – but could not stretch to – Chevy Novas or Pontiac Venturas; the Renault 9 and 11 were frugal, reasonably reliable French cars like the 4 and 6 before them, and sold quite well…
We need more stories about the salespeople that sell us our CC cars. Great story Joseph! Both the Pontiac 1000 and Renault Encore are good choices in my book. The 1000’s had a nice purring-swirly engine sound when someone would drive by you and you could hear it. My middle cousin owned one of the 1000’s and later swapped up to a Mercury Lynx, which I loved and would one day like to get my hands on, but you all know how rare that Escort variant is.
Here’s a front to a ’85 1000. A local guy in Florida is selling a 1000 with title and Chevette parts car as a combo for a few hundred bucks.
Great story. I can’t look at a still can’t look at a T1000 without thinking of Terminator 2. Of course I haven’t seen one in a long time.
Renault really splurged on the special effects in that commercial, I love seeing old car commercials.
I’ll bet dealing with rowdy customer kids is one of the tricky parts of car sales. So many ways to go wrong, and being good with kids may not tend to be a quality held by a lot of sales people, especially the younger ones. Amazing you remember her name!
I also think there is no reason why anybody would be upset with someone stopping to look at the car out front if it’s for sale.
So I have an overlapping story, sort of.
We bought an ’83 Renault Alliance in 1984. If you search around, I tell its story here in my COAL series.
I don’t remember why now, but I was probably 17 when Dad took me around to a dealership to look at buying another car. A replacement? A second car? I can’t remember.
We really loved that Renault, even though it was slow and cramped. It was so comfortable and handled so well. And we loved the front seats. And so we went to this dealer specifically to look at the Alliance they had on their used lot. Memories are so dim. Was it an ’85? Did it have the 1.7 L engine rather than the standard 1.4? This had to have happened in 1985 and I’ve slept since then.
And it was disappointing. Our ’83 was top of the line and this ’87 was entry level — but beyond that, it seemed like they’d cheaped up everything by a level or two. Even the sound of the car starting didn’t resonate, sounding like rocks scraping furiously together in a paper bag.
We were deflated. The salesman was undaunted. He brought us to a Chevette. Dad was skeptical. We got in for a test drive. Dad started the car, noticed that it had awfully high miles for its age, and that was the end of our trip to the dealer.
Dad finally bought a second car a couple years later, an entry-level ’86 Escort, his first and only new car. White, gray interior, five speed, AM/FM radio. It was something like November of 1987 and the dealer was desperate to move that sucker off his lot.
Jim, I do remember reading your Alliance post – a good one. I’m always glad to read another, positive viewpoint of a car I liked that was maligned by many. And those front seats were another strong selling point. I’m pretty sure our Encore had the base (1.4L) engine, but it still had plenty of giddy-up to get us onto expressway entrance ramps. If my memory serves me correctly, that Encore had better acceleration than our ’84 Tempo (though the Tempo was no paragon of performance).
Thanks for sharing a piece of your childhood Joseph! These more personal pieces are always among my favorites!
I agree! And the part about the off-brand Members Only jackets, he he he! Our family was so frugal we didn’t even get those!
Ah, memory lane: shopping for a new car with my dad… On one occasion the too-hungry salesman got our names mixed up and looked each of us in the eye while extolling the cars many virtues and addressing us with each others names. We never corrected him! Another time, another dealership: lunch-hour and we apparently didn’t look prosperous enough to tempt a salesman to attend us. After standing around the showroom too long, Dad and I wandered into the adjacent empty service area, and my father spotted the exact car he had in mind to test-drive. He opened the door and slid behind the wheel,imagining himself driving this fine new vehicle. And then he started it up.He didn’t realize the [manual] transmission had been left in Reverse and the fancy new car shot backwards into a workbench. The service area was still devoid of staff. The two of us walked very slowly out through the service doors and when we were safely away both convulsed with laughter!
Thanks, everyone, for reading this one and for laughing along with me. The memories were cracking me up as I wrote – and as attested by the number of revisions to the final draft (adding details as I remembered them), it all just came back to me.
As far as me freaking out in Brookfield, Paul and Teddy, you’re absolutely right. I should have stuck around and spoken with the owner, and perhaps, might have even gotten a test-drive. If Jason Shafer can do it, I too should have had no excuse not to. 🙂
As far as the Encore, it just drove so much better than anything else in our stable (save for my ’76 Malibu, but the Encore was far easier on gas). My older brother just took care of it…regular oil changes, semi-regular washing, etc.
I’m saving that Encore for a post detailing a one-way, non-stop, 18-hour drive I made in that car as a 16 year old, from between Brendan Saur’s neck of the woods (Boston) through Canada (on the QEW) and back to Flint. That car finally died around 1997 when it overheated. My brother’s pal had rigged a switch onto the dashboard to turn the engine cooling fan on and off when the thermometer / regulator finally busted, and I think the car came to an end when Ben lent the car to someone who let it overheat. It still had only minor rust when it died.
You have made a very interesting observation. I have no quibbles about stopping in the middle of nowhere to take pictures of a car; in more metropolitan areas I will hesitate for a few seconds. You have the opposite on your resume. It must all be in what we get accustomed to!
This was a good catch. I have seen exactly one of these in the past decade or so, and it was parked next to the entrance of a salvage yard.
Don’t worry about taking literary diversions. I’m quite guilty of it at times and have something on Friday that is a major diversion. I also figure if Paul hasn’t had issues with them, all is good.
People can say what they like, but the 11/Encore was a good handling car and – as the turbo – fast Group A rally car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J2qu4BvCPM
Motorweek reviewed an ’82 T-1000, and it was one of the worst cars they ever tested. 0-60 in 30 seconds and 25 mpg.
Thanks for linking this! Host Jon Davis’ statement around 6:01 is so telling:
“…Why does the world’s largest automaker persist in selling us a car that’s not only outdated when compared to its competition, but has been eclipsed several times by cars made by GM in Europe? The reason is that the Chevette…is the second-best selling small car design in America.”
My sister bought a T1000 for her first car. She only chose it over a Chevette because pop beat up the Pontiac salesman worse than he could beat up the Chevy salesman. that’s because he went to a Pontiac dealer in a very fancy part of Connecticut, where there was no business in cheap Pontiacs.
Within the first two weeks, the shift linkage disconnected itself from the transmission. A few weeks after the warranty was up, the RR coil spring snapped in two.
She kept it anyway. Seven years!
Had to love Renault. “the one to watch, The One To Watch, THE ONE TO WATCH!”
Not drive – much less own, just watch.
That made me laugh! Thank you.
Another wonderful story–I’m a few years younger than you, but it speaks to a way of life I have fond memories of. For me it wasn’t faux Members Only jackets, but Kmart special “Zips” branded versions of Converse All-Stars in the late 80’s. When I finally got a pair of legit Chucks instead of the ersatz versions, how excited I was…
My folks have never bought a new car in my lifetime, but I do remember going along for test drives of the various used cars we looked at. The box 9C1 Caprice with a 350 and fat goodyear eagles…the Audi 5000 that seemed like such a cool car for the money (Dad actually bought that one, much to his later financial chagrin)…the Volvo 240 wagon where the yuppie housewife owner merely handed us the keys and told us to take as long of a test drive as we needed. Good times.
Never did ride in a Chevette though. Dad did, at one point, end up with a Renault Alliance as a rental car of all things. I was not impressed with the amount of room in the back seat despite the fact that I was 6 or 7 years old. It was beige, perhaps the same shade as the Encore your family bought?
I’ve always preferred the Pontiac T1000 over the Chevette.
What’s the asking price? What would be the appropriate asking price? I cannot tell you. I’d say a negative figure- you give me $500 and I’ll burden myself with it. Also- how did these owners come by it? And why do they want to sell it? (I always ask that question of prospective sellers). So many questions. If you can stop back and have the temerity to ask, I’d love to know the answers!
I won’t recap here, but this little beast’s noxious doppelganger is at the nexus of one of the most embarrassing (and formative) experiences of my young adulthood.
I have some personal experience both with a ~1981 Chevette and a 1986 Alliance.
The Chevette was my mom’s. How she ended up in that thing I have no idea. I think it was used, with low miles, cheap. 4-speed and A/C. I drove it once or twice. Recall being underwhelmed at how very little space there was for my legs & feet. I recall the A/C compressor worked loose & made a terrible thrashing sound, easy to fix by tightening the bolts.
The 1986 Alliance was my 1st new car. Bought in part for hometown pride – some of my H.S. classmates went to ‘The Motors’ & assembled the things — but if I’d known them at the time they might’ve warned me away. The trunk was wet – not unusual for AMC assembly. Base model, quick manual steering (why can’t we have that any more?), 1.4, 4-speed, power disc/drum good brakes. I think power brakes were standard. Super comfortable seats and cockpit, great visibility, soft ride and surprisingly sharp handling given that, slow but not too slow with the 4-speed, 38 mpg iirc. No tachometer in mine. Cable clutch self-adjuster ratchet would occasionally fail to grab, kind-of unsafe. Around 60,000 miles I started hearing a twanging noise that rose & fell with throttle application, given the reputation of them I supposed an engine bearing was going out, traded it away, got next to nothing for it.
Too bad it’s not a two-door. Those four-door Chevettes/T1000s just aren’t sporty enough for spirited driving and picking up the hot chicks.
I doubt you’d have any better luck, picking up chicks in a two door version, also.
If you can pick up a chick in a Chevette/T1000, who wants to be picked up… She must be:
A) Sick of riding the city bus
B) Tired of walking
C) Have a VERY low self esteem
D) Is legally blind
E) Is a prostitute
Had a coworker with one of these. One day they called him out to the parking lot because his car was on fire. Strangely enough he didn’t seem to be bothered very much. Replaced it with a Dodge Ramcharger within a couple days.
My parents test-drove an Encore in 1986, to replace their rusty ’78 Aspen wagon. It broke down on the test drive, yet my parents – mostly my dad – ended up buying an Alliance. It had a lot of issues, mostly electrical, to the point where my dad ended up buying a stripper ’93 Eagle Summit and parking the Alliance in the garage. When my brother got his learner’s permit, the Alliance was supposed to be his car to learn to drive on. A few days later, the timing belt broke and took out a couple valves, and the Alliance went away.
In a strange twist, a few years later, my dad had replaced the Eagle, which he hated, with a base ’95 Plymouth Neon. Three years later, it ended up getting totalled when what had to be the last running Encore on the East Coast made a left hand turn into it.
So much cruel irony. (I was laughing *with* you just now. 🙂 )
Speaking of Renault Alliance/Encores, anyone seen any lately as a CC?
superb
my 84 T1000 was one of the best cars ever… 18 years and 345K miles. All you had to do was maintain it and drive it within the parameters it was designed for, which very few did. Shame on all of you who didnt. Next: anyone want to discuss my 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 410K miles and still has never had a single transmission problem?