I know for a fact that I have never driven a Chevette, and I can’t recall even having ever ridden in one either. I have however ridden in the T-car’s transatlantic sibling Opel Kadett as a kid and as a proud European firmly believe the Chevette doesn’t hold a candle to that car but of course have no actual comparative experiences to draw on. Yes, the Chevette was America’s best-selling small car for 1979 as well as 1980 but that doesn’t mean it was particularly good, just cheap and with less baggage than the local competition. Chevettes are mostly all gone nowadays but this one stopped me as it’s rare to see a bumper sticker on the front bumper of a car, so it was worth exploring a bit more.
Well then. Somebody likes their stickers. It’s kind of hard to see the car underneath but that’s okay, with 451,000 of these sold in 1979 alone and a total of 2.8 million units over the Chevette’s 1976-1972 lifespan, everyone is likely familiar with it already. Combine that with another 4.2 million of the other worldwide T-car variants (Opel Kadett, Isuzu Gemini, Pontiac T-1000, Pontiac Acadian amongst a couple of others also named Chevette but different branding) even those from elsewhere will likely find it sort of familiar looking as well.
The Nader/LaDuke (Ralph and Winona) ticket in 2000 was not a winning one, the honors obviously went to George W. Bush although it was a controversial and close finish. No, not close against Nader and LaDuke but rather Al Gore and the whole Florida “hanging chad” fiasco. Nader and LaDuke (the nominees of the Green Party that year) appeared on the ballots of 43 states and the District of Columbia and ended up with 2.7% of the popular vote and zero electoral votes which is more than I would have guessed prior to looking it up.
The owner of this car didn’t seem to have a winning record as far as supporting presidential candidates goes, as far as I can see the oldest is Mondale in ’84 (on the bumper), then Dukakis in ’88, Clinton in ’92 (a winner!), then Nader in 2000, Kerry in 2004 followed by Obama in 2008 (the second winner!) and finally Romney in 2016. I have a feeling a Biden sticker would be adorning this car if it wasn’t here currently. It’s also possible this is a one-owner car, perhaps it wasn’t sold until after the election in late 1979, although my money would be on it having been a Jimmy Carter sticker had there been one.
But enough of that overall misery, let’s get back to the car itself!
I guess I can say that the shape isn’t offensive or objectionable, the front refresh for 1979 helped a lot in that regard, the grille looks purposeful, the bowtie kind of works too (my, how these have grown over the years), and maybe the Air Force blue color isn’t unattractive either.
This car even still wears all four of its hubcaps with the “All Climate Radial” tires measuring in at 155/80-13. These tires were even made in the USA, any idea who sold these? We do get all the climates here in Colorado so perhaps it was a good choice, not that the rear-driven wheels would have been overmatched by the raw power from the engine.
That’s a 1.6 liter 4-cylinder fed by a 2-barrel Holley carburetor producing a whopping 70hp and 82lb-ft of torque when new. At sea level. Somewhat less up here and less as it aged. There was supposedly a “high-output” version available as well, perhaps that was sold in mountain states such as ours but I do not know how to tell the difference. It doesn’t look like anyone has been by to scrounge any parts for their own 1979 Chevette either so far.
Looking inside reveals a fairly spartan interior with a somewhat sporting silver bezel on the instrument cluster and a manual transmission. I didn’t realize they made saddle blanket covers for bucket seats, I thought that was just a pickup truck thing, who knew? The door panels look like that molded GM plastic stuff that wears weird though. There’s also no clock but there are several monthly calendar pads affixed to the dash with the most current dating to 2004 to perhaps give the most ever extremely rough approximation of the time of day.
A four-speed with a push to engage reverse, like an older watercooled VW. The little cubby in front of the shifter is handy, I’m surprised the shifter isn’t just coming out of the floor. No A/C and an AM-only radio for tunes, but compared to the VW Rabbit’s dash, this one is actually fairly contemporary looking.
Round and round she goes, where she’ll stop, nobody knows. Is that 66,518 miles or 166,518? Or maybe even 266,518? I have no idea but I’d wager it’s probably missing an initial “1”. Gotta love the typical GM el cheapo blank gauge at the center bottom and a couple of warning lights up top, no trip odometer either. Visible Phillips screw heads in the instrument panel to hold it on is also something that’s long gone now.
The backseat looks none too comfortable either with more molded plastic side panels. But the rear windows have that nifty pop-out feature that stops being so nifty when your passenger leaves it open and you then have to climb back there to close it after they get out of the car.
I have no idea if there used to be carpeting back here but that’s a ribbed metal panel with a thumb hook. It lays in there a bit on the high side or maybe the low whiplash-special rear seatback just makes the load floor look higher. Interesting though to see a metal panel, nowadays that’d always be plastic or a carpeted board of some sort.
It turns out that it’s very light, I suppose aluminum and the spare tire is below. I don’t think it’s ever seen the light of day but there’s the base plate for a bumper jack (shudder) and room for all kind of things that you want kept away from prying eyes.
Proudly proclaiming its identity on the front fenders, even at this late stage in the game.
You know, I’m kind of warming up to this one. It was clearly a survivor for over four decades which is impressive for around here, as much grief as GM gets, every once in a while they built a good one, and this looks to have been one of them. But I still don’t want to drive one.
Is that Peter Tomarken from “Press Your Luck” in that ad? No whammies!
The Chevette could be the biggest “Whammy” of them all… 🙂
Jim, what’s funny is that on “PYT”, the car that contestants had a chance to win was a totally stripped, ’84 or so Nissan Sentra with just “California emission” as an option. By comparison, I’d have picked a Chevette like this one (if new).
Don’t knock the Sentra! We have one of those to compare…
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/junkyard/curbside-recycling-1986-nissan-sentra-b11-full-circle/
Indeed! Bit of a surprising/cool choice for a commercial host, though Casey Kasem did do voice overs for some Chevrolet commercials in the 70s.
I recall Casey once mentioned his brother ran a pizzeria in Flint. Did you know of this pizzeria? Of course, Casey was born in Detroit.
Daniel, I didn’t actually know of that pizzeria, and a brief internet search this afternoon didn’t provide any other clues. I’m sure it existed / may still.
Thanks for checking Joseph. I’m sure Casey mentioned it in the mid 80s. So, the pizza shop may not have existed into the Internet era.
my best friend’s family bought a first gen one with the horizontal slat front end. it was bought during the malaise era out of economic necessity but it proved so useful that they held on to it for many years after their finances improved. their three sons learned to drive on it and the “lawnmower” didn’t let us down. we got where we were going pedal to the metal everytime. it pulled small tralilers to swap meets, crossed the country and the ac always worked. it was a very simple car, cheap and easy to maintain. lasted about 20 years. no complaints. rest in peace chevette.
Here’s a REAL green voter for you (The owner has to be over 18 to drive it, and over 18, it’s compulsory to vote here. Well, compulsory to get a ballot from a voting booth and write “Cheese R Us” on it if you like, but you get the idea). Yes, it is the same car, give or take a roof panel.
https://www.shannons.com.au/club/enthusiasts/greg_dumbrell/garage/1977-holden-gemini-sl-tc/#vehicle-gallery
Nothing here happens without money so I’m mildly surprised that there isn’t an incentive to vote such as an extra 1% back on your tax return (As distinct from paying an extra 1% if you don’t vote as that would be an unpopular tax versus a much appreciated incentive bonus!) or a $100 bill if you don’t need to file taxes.
The cynic in me says those that have the means to institute such an incentive don’t want high voter turnouts. Not to get political, I firmly believe both our parties prefer it when more than half the electorate doesn’t show up.
Personally I’d love to see that happen.
I can’t say I disagree, both are hoping and trying to convince the other half to not show…If only Nader/LaDuke could have capitalized on that! 🙂 But as Greens likely didn’t want people using paper ballots either.
There’’s a small dirt track in South Central Kentucky that sponsors Chevette racing. There are always a dozen or so Chevettes in their lot awaiting racing conversion. They’d snap this one up in a minute!
The She-Vette or the Shove-It as I’ve heard them called. Like Jim, I’ve neither driven nor ridden in one.
A college acquaintance had had two different ‘vettes but had graduated to a Tempo by the time I knew him. As an aside, the Tempo was, as he claimed, so fast it scared him.
Anyway, he always managed to worm his Chevette ownership into many conversations along with his pride of having had some gal deflower him in one of those Chevettes. So I have trouble looking at any Chevette without that bad mental picture coming to mind!
Looking at the bumper stickers makes me wonder if GM did stop animal crash tests.
“…perhaps it wasn’t sold until after the election in late 1979, although my money would be on it having been a Jimmy Carter sticker had there been one.”
This car definitely could have worn a Carter/Mondale sticker; that election was in November 1980.
I remember cross-shopping the Chevette when I bought my Escort at the end of 1984, during my junior year of college. By that time the Chevette was in its ninth model year, and the transmission tunnel seemed huge. Despite the Chevette having a reputation for being simple and having relatively bulletproof reliability, I went with the Escort largely due to my dad’s relationship with the Ford dealer and what Consumer Reports was saying at the time.
Maybe the car was too new and shiny at the time, so she didn’t want to defile it with a political bumper sticker. But by the next election, she said, “What the heck? The car it old now.”
But then I do not like stickers on my cars, so it’s a biased thought.
My stepson dated a girl one time that had similar green leanings (she was also a Beatles fan), and had stickers ALL OVER her Toyota Corolla like this, and that car was fairly new, so my assessment of why it’s missing a Carter/Mondale sticker may be wrong.
Maybe she was a new 16 year old driver, and not yet eligible to vote.
Not a fan of stickers, either, despite thinking it might be funny to put our ranch brand on the left rear flank of my Mustang, which is where it is on the horses… 😂
I would SO do that….. 🙂
I doubt it was on the lot that long. The second gas shortage began in February/March of 1979. Small cars sold quite briskly for the remainder of the calendar year.
Oops, I was off a year! I was 11 so can’t recall it.
While 1980 was a recession year, it’s unlikely this car would be on the dealer lot in November of 1980. Small, cheap, ‘efficient’ cars were selling well enough.
This is a model year 1979.
The 1980 has the same front end, but the tail lamps are larger, and incorporate the rear side lamps, so there is not side marker light.
I never said it was unsold in November of 1980. I said that, as a ‘79, it was around when the Presidential election took place in 1980, and probably in the hands of an owner who could apply a political sticker.
Consumer Reports recommended the Chevette and recommended not buying the Omni/Horizon because it failed a strange handling test that they contrived. I rented both for long weekend trips and my conclusion afterwards was never to trust Consumer Reports again. The Chevette was greatly inferior.
By 1984, the Escort’s reliability was deemed “average” by Consumer Reports and it performed in the middle of the pack in testing, but that didn’t stop them from adding it to “Used Cars to Avoid” by the late ‘80s. By that time, the Chevette was at or near the bottom of the pack; by then it was crude and rough as a cob, compared to the competition.
I don’t necessarily trust or distrust CR completely (heck, I own a Suzuki Samurai!), but I do find some of their car testing to have useful information on interior comfort and ergonomics. If you use their information with that of other sources and your own experience with test drives, you can get a fairly balanced picture of what you’re buying.
It was no strange handling test that they contrived it was a simple accident avoidance maneuver like you do when avoiding a car that has merged into your lane. My Uncle bought an Omnirizon when introduced and went back a few weeks later for a second one. I was with him cruising down the freeway when someone swerved into our lane. His quick reaction kept the other person from hitting us but we were soon looking at traffic coming at us before ending up in the median. Later he said it wasn’t the first time he spun it on a dry straight road.
Even without that, it likely would’ve seemed sage advice to avoid a first-model-year Chrysler product showcasing radically new engineering from them – far more radical a departure than the Aspen/Volare, and look how that went?
Back in the mid-eighties, there was a Chevy dealer in Dundalk Maryland (just east/southeast of Baltimore) that was selling leftover inventory of “brand new” Chevettes for a couple of hundred bucks if I recall correctly.
I suppose if you needed a new car on the cheap, this wasn’t too bad of an idea. But even new, by like 1985 or 1986, wouldn’t a 1982 Chevette be a “ran when parked” situation? I personally would not have wanted to buy a car that sat that long, even a new one.
Well, you did get a 12 month/12,000 mike warranty. But you’re right, buying a car that has sat on the lot can be a gamble.
I bought the ‘84 Escort in December with a few miles on it; it had a March inspection sticker, so it sat for nine months. One thing went wrong that I suspect to be due to its sitting on the lot: During Hurricane Elena the following September, I evacuated New Orleans to my parents’ house and my car refused to restart shortly after I completed my 80-mile drive…dead battery, wouldn’t take a charge, and replaced under warranty.
There was one of these in my family briefly when I was growing up. I barely remember it. It was white and a 2-door. It originally belonged to my Grandpa, who drove it until it was about done due to terminal rust. He replaced it with a 1989 Camry, which must have been a significant upgrade for him. The Chevette was essentially worthless as a trade-in, so he gave it to my Dad who got a few months more use out of it until my Dad traded it in on a 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calias. The dealer gave him some trade-in money for it to make the sale, but said they were going to scrap it. About the only memory I have of it is when we all piled into the Chevette for that last trip to the Oldsmobile dealer to pick up Dad’s new car.
My mom had a used one for a while, a 4 door with 4 speed and a/c. Was this year or similar styling. The only thing I recall us having trouble with, was the a/c compressor bracket bolts loosened & had to be tightened.
A Chevette with lots of political stickers really ought to have a Ron Paul sticker too, since Representative Paul owned what became for a while the most famous Chevette in Washington.
The picture below was taken by Rep. Paul’s chief of staff in 1979 on the US Capitol grounds. The Lincoln belonged to House Speaker Tip O’Neill. At the time, Paul was a newly-elected Representative (from Texas), and O’Neill (probably the most powerful member of Congress) was advocating for national gas rationing, a concept to which Rep. Paul objected.
Ron Paul thought O’Neill’s stance to be hypocritical, since O’Neill rode around Washington in a gas-hogging, chauffeur-driven Lincoln, and as a member of Congress would have been exempt from rationing anyway. And he knew just how to drive this point home with the public.
Paul waited for the Speaker’s Lincoln to be parked in a prominent space at the Capitol, and then asked his chief of staff to park the Chevette next to O’Neill’s Lincoln and take a picture. The resulting photo was then published in Paul’s constituent newsletter.
This was a gutsy move, of course, for no one crossed the powerful House Speaker without repercussions… and as one would expect, these two politicians were never exactly friends. But Paul succeeded with this photo stunt. The picture went viral (or whatever the 1970s equivalent of that was), as Paul successfully portrayed O’Neill as an out-of-touch hyopcrite, and O’Neill dropped the rationing idea. Gas rationing may not have succeeded politically anyway, but undoubtedly this photo played a role.
Incidentally, Rep. Paul kept his bright green Chevette for many years, eventually passing it along to one of his kids. He still owned it in 2013, when he auctioned it off, with the proceeds benefiting a foundation of his.
Fascinating! I could imagine that Chevette being a Prius today. I wonder if that’s what ultimately replaced this car for the owner.
It’d never be a Prius, can’t be seen in the foreign invader. Escape Hybrids were en vogue for a while, and I think someone had a C-Max Hybrid or Energi. I assume there are at least several Teslas on the hill now.
I came across the green Chevette when researching this post though, thanks Eric for the backstory with O’Neill’s Lincoln!
Maybe not then, but definitely today.
The Prius is made in Japan at their Tsutsumi plant. Few politicians would risk the appearance of not supporting the American worker, especially when there are so many American made electric or hybrid cars available.
https://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/75years/data/automotive_business/production/production/japan/general_status/tsutsumi.html
All the bumper stickers remind me of my stepfather’s cars, except his bumper stickers tell you who he wants OUT of office rather than who he wants in.
The former owner seems to have had a pretty independent political mind. He or she was also ecological, humane towards animals, and socially conscious. Definitely an idealist.
Somebody loved this old penalty box, and I’ll bet letting go was hard to do.
This is the year my friend had, although his was a 5-door, automatic. I’m guessing the 4-speed contributed to this car still being on the road in 2016, since it would have been beyond unpleasant to drive one as slow as my friend’s automatic now that slow traffic moves at 70 MPH.
It has been a while since I’ve seen a Chevette, but there are people of legal drinking age who’ve been born since I saw one with small tail-lights. Seems a shame to let it go now, and remarkable for a car to survive being owned by a political bumper sticker obsessive for decades. I knew perfectly normal people who covered the backs of their family cars with family vacation destination stickers, but that practice seemed to die out in the ’80s.
“I have a feeling a Biden sticker would be adorning this car if it wasn’t here currently”
Oh no, this one has “Bernie” written all over it. That Romney sticker is a puzzler, though. And I see there are no climate change stickers. But maybe with the “All Climate” radial tires, that was no longer a concern for the owner.
I drove a few of these back when they were still in production, and they were not horrible. Except for one I got as a rental for a weekend wedding in Connecticut, which had a terrible highway shimmy at 60-65 mph. But for someone who was looking for cheap, basic wheels you could do a lot worse.
But for someone who was looking for cheap, basic wheels you could do a lot worse.
Such as?
Vega
Lada
Hyundai Pony
Dacia 1300
For all their cheapitude they were not terrible cars. As a used car they were decent value, a Civic or Tercel would have been more expensive and rusted even faster.
Umm, the Vega was replaced by the Chevette, and the other three were never sold in the US.
I agree with you that they weren’t that bad, but in terms of new cars in the US, especially by 1979, I don’t know of what would have been “a lot worse”.
I’d have taken a Civic or Tercel over a Chevette for sure, as they were more fun to drive and even more robust. But I’ not factoring in rust.
You’re saying this with the benefit of hindsight, In 1979, one wouldn’t exactly have known what the rusting issues would be some years later, or?
I’m not slagging on the Chevette; it just represented the floor of the market, and that really wasn’t all that horrible. Which is a good thing. 🙂
I was thinking of the Chevette as a cheap beater used car, where it would have been a much better choice over a lot others that were more capable but also more complex.
A Chevette as a new car? Is that even a question? 🙂
No, I don’t think that’s even a question. The only person I know who bought a new Chevette did so because they got a decent trade in on their old Pontiac.
Somebody must have bought this new..
Well, when it first arrived in 1976, it was quite competitive, and got generally good reviews. R&T called it “An impressive new small car”.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vintage-review/vintage-rt-review-1976-chevette-technical-analysis-and-driving-impressions/
It’s just that the competition was heating up very quickly…and the Chevette never really improved.
451,000 people bought these NEW in 1979 in the U.S….That’s more than Toyota sold RAV4s last year as well as any other vehicle that is not a pickup truck.
451,000 people bought these NEW in 1979 in the U.S…
Classic panic buying, just like 1974 when the Pinto sold about that may, and the Vega almost too . Folks trading in their lovely ’77 Caprices and ’76 Cutlasses on something “with really good gas mileage”. And then two year later, they were trading them in on new Caprices or Cutlasses. 🙂
Come one!
Subaru DL
Mazda 1200
Fiat 128
Datsun B210–even the 210
Pinto
Vega
the soon to be 81 Escort
Omni/Horizon better car, but didn’t steer as well, and more trouble prone.
A little respect please. I never considered the Chevette a particularly good car (in fact, I talked my father out of buying one “….dad, you’re a manager, you can’t be seen driving a small cheap car like this” He got a bigger cheap car, lol), but I thought it was a credible car, and underappreciated.
Now that I know Ron Paul had one, kept in the family for 34 years no less, the Chevette’s brand equity approaches Rabbit/Fiesta/Civic levels.
Not to mention the ‘new’ for 1979 AMC Spirit. With factory-installed A/C!
Some more
Yugo
Subaru 360
The Omni/Horizon was a way better car, and drove better, having had both in the family. The Chevette felt like the penalty box it was, the Omni felt like a decent small car with a little pep.
Both versions we owned were mid-level trim, but the Chevette was just way cheaper in both powertrain and finish.
Someone once wrote that the Chevette was the ‘American Lada’. To a certain extent, that’s an accurate statement. The Chevette did have a few positives to offset the myriad negatives. One, as mentioned, was that they were very cheap (particularly the ultra-strippo ‘Scooter’ models).
But, more importantly, they were relatively reliable in that none of the major components were prone to breakage or malfunction (unlike the Vega). Oh, sure, lots of little stuff would break-off or quit working, but with a little bailing wire and/or duct tape, you could be on your way. At worst, a trip to the local boneyard would invariably come up with a working replacement part.
So, while the Chevette was a penalty box, at least it was a penalty box that would get your from point A to point B when you needed it to. Plus, there was the added benefit being fun to slide them around during the winter in the Snowbelt states.
To your point, my parents traded a rusty 1974 Vega running on three cylinders (most of the time) for a 1979 Chevette. The contrast between those two cars was incredible, with the Chevette offering far superior reliability and rust-proofing while handling about as well as the Vega, with both being equally uncomfortable (although the Chevette had four doors, giving it a slight advantage). Neither car was great, but as basic transportation, the Chevette trumped the Vega many times over.
I agree with you J.P. This is definitely a Bernie voter. As for Romney, perhaps they’d soured on politics in 2012. I wonder who their 2016 sticker would have been?
Wow Jim, just package that one up and send it over to my house. A “Vette” was Mrs DougD’s first car and she still has a soft spot for them.
That one looks to be in 1985-esque condition for salty Canada, aside from the interior deterioration.
It’s got a Possum Lodge sticker on it too, and since the Red Green show was produced here in Hamilton that’s a good fit.
I’d pick off all the politics/fur/cats stickers though, I think the owner would have pre-furred a long haired cat as president??
Speedometer is in kms too…
Fun write up on a survivor that deserves one more moment in the spotlight.
Yes, JPC probably has it right, this owner would be a Sanders or Jill Stein/Howie Hawkins/Jesse Ventura fan. Though Biden would be their likely choice now. Most of the owners choices here turned out somewhat to be faux lefties as they were corporatists and war mongers in office, excluding Nader of course.
If GM could have justified the spending of a few dollars more to hide all the bare metal in the interior, it would have immensely improved the quality perception of these. And a sporty/performance variant. Funny to read quotes from GM circa 1977, admitting they needed a modern front wheel drive replacement for the Chevette ASAP. As the Chevette hung around another 10 years. The Chevette may have sold, but its cheap, low tech persona helped solidify GM’s bad rep.
I think exposed painted metal was considered a small car feature due to the success of the Volkswagen Beetle deep into the planning stages for the Chevette. Here’s an interior shot of a 1975 VW Rabbit:
Perhaps it was acceptable for ’76/’77, as it competed head to head with the Rabbit. But once the Omni/Horizon became the direct competitor, GM should have addressed it. The Chrysler L body interiors could look spartan, but Chevette interiors appeared another level of downgrade.
That painted interior trim had been slowly going away since the 60s. It graced the upper interior doors of my 71 Scamp (though that was sat least interior color and not body color), and had been a part of VWdom since forever.
With that awful plastic these used, this is one car that the el-cheapo version (Scooter?) with the cardboard door panels might not have been a more or less even trade for the long term owner.
I remember my first ride in a Chevette, in the late 1980s, and the painted metal door sills really surprised me.
The Chevette belonged to my sister’s boyfriend’s family, it was about an ’84 or so. As one might suspect, they were frugal folks. I didn’t ride in that car often, but I remembered the painted interior metal, and I remember it seemed awfully loud, even by 1980s economy-car standards. His family replaced their Chevette with a similar-vintage used Mazda GLC, which seemed luxurious by comparison.
Unfortunately I purchased a new 1976 SHOV-it in Firethorn Red Met. I’ve had several GM (and Ford) cars that were bad, but this lil PO$ was the WOR$T! It was at the purchasing dealer several times for various problems. Their attitude towards the customer was appalling, and GM was no help.
I finally traded it in late ’78 for a new ’79 Nova stick 6. Now what could be more reliable? Uhhh… After several trips back to that dealer, a new short block was installed. After that, the car was reliable. DFO
I am genuinely curious at what the rationale was behind having a terrible ownership and dealership experience and yet going back for another one from the same maker (and dealer too?) right afterward. Was it location, i.e nothing else around wherever you were? Or something else? I suppose a Nova was considered a decent car but surely there were other choices to be considered as well?
I suspect Dennis was like most domestic buyers at the time – GM was as close as we got to “American Toyota” in the 70s, and it was a common belief that nobody built a better car than GM. If you got a bad one, then it was a fluke, and nobody else’s was any better. And if you were in a place where there was only one convenient dealer to get your GM car, then that was what you did.
Just before we got married, my wife bought a 4 year old Firethorn Red ’76 with the high output engine! (ha!) It was a piece of crap. Floors were rusted out by 1981. It did nothing well, and compared to a Rabbit or an Omni/Horizon, it was old tech, and poor use of space. I regret that we kept it for 4 years, but we were newlyweds, in school, and starting out in life, and broke. The new VW Rabbit diesel we bought was quite an improvement! (And much more reliable.) There’s a reason you don’t see many of these around!
My 1978 Chevette was the first car I had at my disposal as a daily driver when I was 20 and have fond memories of it. I taught myself to drive a manual in an hour, which ranks as a unique skill nowadays. A second or third hand Chevette seemed to be a very common first car for people of my generation, as it was for my wife and a college roomate. Many of the ownership stories are of abject horror and mine was close to that, but the old girl never left me stranded.
I had occasion to drive a couple of these in the late ’70s. They had 70HP? You could have fooled me. I would have liked to have gotten under the hood to count the squirrels motoring away.
For some reason I recall these were very prone to side winds. A good blast from the side when driving on the highway would move you over a few feet. A firm hand on the wheel was needed.
An acquaintance bought his daughter one of these, when he could have easily gotten her a Chevy Nova. I think he soon regretted it.
Yes, the ones I drove were automatics, and they were dreadfully slow. The stick shift in the subject car would have cured much of what I disliked about these. As it was, it was cars like these that created my bias against 4 cyl/automatic cars that was not overcome until I test drove my 2007 Honda Fit with the 5 speed auto (which I eventually discovered was a 3 speed auto with 2 overdrive gears mated to a ridiculously short axle ratio – but whatever, it works).
These were slow, but keep in mind that a 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass with the 260 V-8 tested by Consumer Reports recorded a 0-60 acceleration time of 21 seconds.
Consumer Reports times were always behind Car & Driver’s. Probably more realistic.
That same issue lauded the 1977 Chevy Caprice as the best car domestic car, and I think the 0-60 was 12.5 seconds with the 305.
The stuff I remember….
Car and Driver testers used all sorts of tricks to improve acceleration times. The Consumer Reports results were more likely to be replicated in the real world by typical drivers.
Also remember that Car and Driver relied on the manufacturers for test vehicles. That gave manufacturers the opportunity to “massage” a vehicle to achieve better results.
Consumer Reports bought its vehicles from a dealer. Their test vehicles were thus reflective of what the typical buyer actually received.
0-60 in 12.5 sounds more like the 350/4 that was available in 1977. The 425 Cadillacs couldn’t touch it.
The Chevette was also available with an Isuzu diesel engine making about 50 hp. Talk about sloooooow! I knew a guy ages ago who had one. The purchase was made solely on the basis of the Chevette Diesel having the lowest operating cost per mile.
In the mid-1980s, I carpooled to a summer intern position with a lady who owned a 1978 Chevette five-door. I’ve never ridden in a noisier car, and the ride seemed quite “bouncy,” even on an interstate highway. I do not, however, remember her complaining about any mechanical problems with it.
At last year’s Carlisle Chevrolet Nationals, someone brought an all-original, mint 1979 Chevette five-door. He had bought it from the original owner. That was the first Chevette I had seen in years.
Around here, they raced Chevettes on dirt tracks up until about 10 years ago. That one would’ve been gobbled up years ago. It looks almost race ready today, but I’m not sure they still do that.
Never driven and probably never ridden in one, but was excited when they launched, as I assumed that they would embody better dynamics and quality due to the European origin of the design and architecture. Of course, I had the same hopes when Ford launched the first FWD Escort here five years later. My other Chevette memory was that the issue of Road &Track that featured the car in its cover also included a photo I had submitted. I got photo credit and perhaps $15. And then some years later I tossed the issue without thinking …
What year was that? I’ll bet someone here still has that issue.
I’m quite sure I do. I’ll go look.
I have it. October 1975. What picture was yours?
No one has mentioned the strange angled to left steering wheel.
My brother and his wife purchased a new Chevette (circa 1979) and it wasn’t a terrible car. With the four speed manual it seemed reasonably quick and the light weight meant it was fairly nimble. They didn’t keep the car very long; once the second child arrived they decided that something bigger was in order. The Chevette was traded away for something but I no longer remember what for.
About this same time one of my sisters decided to go back to school and wanted something economical to drive back and forth. She bought a used Chevette, one with the three speed automatic. This car was a total dog, any attempt at acceleration produced noise but increased speed not so much. I drove it a few times and I seem to remember that it would not run faster than 60-65 MPH. Perhaps the car had some sort of problem or perhaps it was just a total POS. This Chevette was also banished from the family as soon as something better was possible.
I feel that the Chevette helped sell a lot of Toyondasans in the eighties. Stepping into a Corolla or a Civic after living with a Chevette had to feel like you were moviing forward in the world.
I’m going to guess that it has 266k miles on it. 166k miles over 40 years = 4k miles per year. Does anyone drive that little?
These were actually fairly robust mechanically, so I see no major obstacle to making it to 266k.
My Mother in Law does between 3-4,000 miles per year and has been doing so for the last 10 years or so. Even before she retired she didn’t drive much more because she worked only a couple of miles from home most of the time I’ve known her. Since the last calendar on the dash is from 2004 and the last political sticker appears to be from 2012 there is also a good chance that this was off the road for the last several years.
Having owned one and known many, I’d have to say that there’s probably no Chevette that covered 266k miles (and no human being crazy enough to drive one that far!) They were not especially robust. Engines weren’t bad, but clutches and automatic trannys were awful.
“and finally Romney in 2016.”
That would be 2012. Which makes it more interesting since it would seem to mean this person supported Obama in 2008, but didn’t support his reelection in 2012.
But the sticker that I found most interesting was “This is my last GM car until they stop animal crash tests.” I have only ever heard of crash test using dummies. Were animal crash tests ever a thing? How did they work?
Supposedly air bags were tested using pigs. But I’m not sure that was only a GM thing.
Right you are, once they lose, nobody remembers…you’re the first in 50-something people. 🙂
The USAF used a bear when testing the ejection capsules in the B-58 Hustler. Sadly, the bear was autopsied to look for damage to internal organs, although it was reportedly just fine afterwards.
“But the rear windows have that nifty pop-out feature that stops being so nifty when your passenger leaves it open and you then have to climb back there to close it after they get out of the car.”
Nope – You open the hatch and then just reach around the side. No need to climb over anything.
I don’t disagree that the car wasn’t bad – but I know from experience that the car wasn’t very good either. As soon as the Omnirizon appeared, the Chevette looked like yesterday’s oatmeal, something only an extremely cheap person would want.
I kind of dig this car. Seems like it led quite the colorful life. The political leanings made me laugh, especially the Mondale ‘84 sticker. Then I spied the St Olaf College crest in the lower right rear window. Now this makes sense! Located in Northfield, MN St. Olaf is a fairly prestigious private liberal arts college. That’s the style of crest they were using around the early 1980’s. I’m guessing the original owner likely got this car as a high school grad, and took it off to college here in MN.
This comment makes me think that the Chevette could be considered the anti-collectible car, sort of like the anti-hero in the movies. Frankly, I’d love to see a Chevette in ‘any’ kind of shape or configuration at a car show.
FWIW, I once read that those cheap Scooter Chevettes with the cardboard door panels were a favorite of the hotrod crowd due to how lightweight they were. I don’t think stuffing a SBC into one would be so terrific for a daily driver, but a Chevette with a 2.8L V6 out of, say, an S-10, would be kind of cool. There were even a couple prototypes built by GM.
There have been several 4.3 V-6 swaps
My parents had a 1979 Chevette four-door, ice blue, with the three-speed automatic, whitewall tires, and an AM radio being just about the only options. They felt lucky to get it, as small cars commanded a premium during the 1979 gas crunch, and most models sold as soon as they hit the dealer’s lot. The Chevette was painfully slow, but as a commuter car, it got decent mileage (high 20s mpg) on my father’s daily 80-mile round trip in the Chicago suburbs. I could have thought of at least a dozen alternatives that I liked better, but they bought it while I was away for the summer, so I had no input in the decision, not that many 17-year olds are successful in persuading their parents to buy any car. I came to respect, though not love the car, as it handled reasonably well in city traffic and was reliable, in great contrast to the 1974 Vega it replaced.
Jim, you missed nothing good by never being in a Chevette. I rode in an 87 that my mother rented to get home from a business trip once and it was pretty sad compared to our 77 Honda Accord. I suppose a Chevette Scooter would be even worse.
In fact I believe this occasion is the closest that I have ever been to a Chevette! Nothing against the car itself and zero judgment, I just have not had the opportunity.
We had a 80 Chevette, just like this one, except auto with a/c. I put many miles on it, drove it to work, loved the rear drive, yank the emergency brake turns in the snows of Minnesota. It ate alternators at first, turns out it had a defective battery. Blew a timing belt or two. Rear springs broke. Replaced valve seals when it started using more oil than gas. Crank pulley and cam drive sprocket fell off, took nearly two years to get that all ironed out. One road trip to Colorado. Fun car for a beater, lots of weird problems, thankfully I wrench for a living so it wasn’t to expensive to keep it going.
Great contrast to the XK8 from the other day, many felt it was a sad sight seeing a car of its premium luxury stature end up in a junkyard like this, but to me seeing this regular old penalty box that is twice its age end up there is more sad. It clearly had the same owner all those years, the body is remarkably straight and it managed to outlive all its other Chevette siblings that met their maker 25 years ago. The expensive cars end up here for being money pits with far off prospects of investment value usually, but when a cheap car survived 40 years and ends up unceremoniously scrapped it seems like there were more serious reasons it ended up there than issues related to the car itself, maybe the longtime owner passed away, or less heavily but still annoying, maybe they passed it onto a grandkid and they just junked it because “eew, weird old car”.
The “bumper” stickers give me a chuckle. I always found it a curious practice, am I supposed to be influenced by the stickers based on the car they’re applied to, or the courteousness of how they’re driven, or is it just simply a statement that my car obsessive mind is grossly overthinking? Unlike this Chevette I notice most cars that sport them only ever have one bumper sticker, because most people only hold onto a car through one presidential election cycle, but I have peeled a few off of a 69 Cougar bumper that were stacked meticulously atop one another like plate renewal stickers,
It looks as if with a few hours of wrenching one could drive it home. I wouldn’t mind finding one but make mine a diesel.
I owned a 1980 Chevette 4 door. There, I’ve admitted it. I bought it for $500 in 1985. What a deal on such a turd. Comfort, nope. Acceleration, nope. Power steering, nope. Great gas mileage, nope. It was a turd then and any car on the market today is infinitely better. This is one car from the past that belongs there.
Nice emblem, it is fluid and elegant, the Brazilian Chevette got one kinda boring.
My only experience was riding in my cousin’s Chevette Scooter. Cardboard door panels. I remember the ride being okay, but the auto made it noisy on the Dallas metroplex highways. She trusted it and had it a long time tho.
My parents bought an ‘85 as a second car in late ‘84. My mom wanted something smaller than the Caprice that they loved, and my father had a Datsun and then a Corolla (both rustbuckets after a few years in Buffalo) but couldn’t park them at work because they kept getting keyed. My father worked for GM and my uncle sold Chevrolets. I remember him trying to talk them into a Cavalier and us test driving a wagon because that was all they had on the lot. My parents couldn’t believe what it would cost with options. I think the Celebrity was out for the same reason (but they did end up buying a fully loaded one in ‘86 anyway). Anyway, they ordered an 85 Chevette CS 4 door, black and silver two tone with grey interior. It had am/fm, auto, a/c, rear defroster, and I don’t think anything else was available. Maybe power brakes but not power steering? The body was pristine but mechanically, it was toast in 4 years and 40k. The exact opposite of the Japanese cars before. It ran like a poorly running diesel and they parked it in the garage until 95 when I turned 16 and after an engine transplant from a T1000 that was totaled in an accident, it was mine. That lasted about a month before my mother realized just how unsafe it was and gave me her 90 Sunbird.
Hello,
Would you be willing to sell me this car? My first car was a 79 chevette and it was the best car. I’ve always wanted to get another one, but, I can’t seem to find one that someone is willing to sell for a “normal” price.
If you are interested in selling it, please let me know!!
Thank you so much,
Robin
robinmingle@comcast.net
480-232-6515
Sorry, this was in a junkyard over the summer, it’s long been scrapped and turned into a dishwasher or similar by now… Glad to hear that you had a good experience with yours! Good luck in your search.
In the mid 80’s I did summer jobs for the local real estate board, taking pictures of houses for the catalogue and delivering daily addendums to the agents’ offices (one day a week I drove a GMC van for the full catalogue printing). My own daily driver was a 77 Corolla 4spd with the 1,2 litre engine, a very slow and already rusting out car.
The real estate board had a company ‘vette with a five speed. The first time I saw it I was quite excited, it was around 7 years newer and a 5 speed! But it was terrible to drive, the clutch was super heavy, changing gears was like stirring some kind of mop stick in a bucket, the brakes were weak and at the end of each day I was glad to get out of it. Then getting in my Toyota I would floor the clutch the first time because I had got used to needing a lead foot for it. They replaced it with an automatic ‘vette which was even slower.
I hated those cars and I’m happy to see another go to the crusher. Still, a friend’s mother had the Pontiac Acadian model for decades and it was reliable for her so I guess YMMV.