I’d long given up hope on ever finding a diesel Chevette; it’s a genuine unicorn. But there’s always Christmas, or Christmas Valley, in this case. It’s a hot and dusty one-gas station town that was famous for a land scam in the 1960s, and is now populated by “desert rats” and alfalfa growers. On our second day of EXBRO6, we headed down there from Green Mountain, in order gas up before heading south on Burma Road.
I instantly noticed the Chevette sitting in front of The Trail next to the gas station and store, and planned to take a few shots after filling up and getting ice. A Chevette still on the road is always deserving of a bit of CC love. When I walked up to it, I spotted the DIESEL badge on its bobbed rear end. Yowza!
It’s a pretty modest-sized badge, and there’s none on the front or sides, so it’s easily overlooked. The Isuzu 1.9 L diesel became optional on the Chevette during the 1981 model year, in the throes of the second energy crisis and the heart of the Great American Diesel Boom.
I looked inside the open window and noticed that the keys were in the ignition. Does it not run, or is this just a Xmas Valley thing?
I went over to the store and asked the cashier if she knew who it belonged to. “That’s Rick’s car; he’s the pump attendant”.
Rick, in the safety vest, was filling up a number of big propane tanks being hauled by this vintage Dodge truck. He confirmed it was his and said he’d be over shortly.
I noticed the wheels while waiting for him. They are another version of those composite wheels we talked about here recently, with an aluminum center and a steel rim. I’m not sure what car they’re from; it’s a bit hard to imagine them having come from the factory with this diesel Chevette.
Some of my EXBRO cohorts thought they were wheel covers, because the steel rim is so obviously visible, but no, these are alloy centers.
The most recent license plate sticker is from 2019; well, it is Christmas Valley, so who cares?
Rick sauntered over, popped the hood, and told me that he’d bought it a year ago from a guy in Lebanon, OR for $600. And that it’s his daily driver, and he’s thrilled with the 60 mpg he’s getting, given current fuel prices. That sounds a wee bit optimistic, but then Christmas Valley is essentially an ancient lake bed, and if you’re rolling along at 45 mph or, 60 mpg might well be doable.
The naturally-aspirated indirect-injection 1.9 L Isuzu four was rated at 51 hp. Just about perfect for Christmas Valley traffic, since there isn’t any whatsoever.
These Isuzu diesels are legendary for their immortality. I’ve been a witness to that, in the form of an Isuzu I-Mark diesel coupe that I’ve shot repeatedly in Eugene since 2010, and last shot and wrote up in 2020. I haven’t seen it for a while, so maybe…
Not much in terms of emission controls; but then that was a big part of the appeal of the diesel, until the feds started cranking down on its NOX and particulate emissions.
That sounds a bit alarmist. Nothing can damage these Isuzus.
Rick said that getting parts is a bit iffy. He’s been looking for syncros for the B/W T5 transmission. I was a bit surprised to hear that. He also said he regrets not buying the other diesel Chevette the seller had; would have made a fine parts car.
Leave it to a gas station attendant to appreciate the finer qualities of a diesel Chevette.
Obviously a far better CHOVette than my ’76 1,6L, 4 spd was! Without a doubt THE worst “car” I’ve ever owned, including the Olds Cutlass Supreme diesel I made the mi$take of buying!!
Good to see that somebody did get a durable Chevette! 🙂 DFO
And with a Landau roof as well!
In the Spring of 1983, I drove a Chevette diesel just like that on a 26 hour road trip (round trip) between Western MA and Fort Bragg, NC…to attend a colleague’s daughter’s Army basic training graduation. That trip (and accompanying Kodachromes) should get its own writeup; but I’ll leave the story for the moment by saying that was one of the most miserable drives I can recall. Flogging that tiny underpowered thing down I95 made one feel just about every single mile.
Maybe we did get close to 60mpg (doubtful, given my keeping the pedal to the floor for most of the drive)…but in this case, stopping for fuel would have been a blessing just to get outside of car.
🤣 I can picture you emerging from the car and letting out a massive sigh each time
It would be hilarious to see road test numbers on that buggy. I’m guessing 0-60 takes at least 20 seconds. Top speed of maybe 75 mph achievable tomorrow if you start now. Good to see it still kicking around, though 👍
This would have won the big prize for Max Malaise if he had been able to get it to your recent show.
I had the same thought–I hope you told Rick about Max Malaise–next year!
Very cool car, perfect patina, I wonder how many miles
He’d probably feel like he would have to get a current registration tag to come all the way to heathen Eugene. That might be off-putting. As well as the drive over Willamette Pass.
Remarkable condition. The dashboard badge is equally discreet. Chevrolet badging, generally being on the small-side during this era.
I’ve always wondered what a Pontiac T1000 2D with a swapped 2.5L Iron Duke mated to a manual transmission would be like. It might make it peppy enough to live with, and still economical and probably more reliable than the stock gasoline engine.
My impression has always been that the stock engine was pretty reliable. It’s actually an Isuzu block with a new OHC head designed by GM.
Given that the Chevette was more or less an Opel Kadet C, I would imagine it would be as quick as a Kadet fitted with GM Europe’s cam-in-head 1.9L four, that is, more than enough even in 2022.
PAUL – you have uncovered an amazing poetic moment here.
This car was made for the post-apocalypse. It was made for the world of MAD MAX. When GM assembled this vehicle, they were putting a written plea in a bottle and launching it into the void.
“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD – SAVE US!”
We did not know what the future held, but we were looking into the abyss of Malaise. A bleak, post-industrial nightmare of Soylent Green, “Escape from New York”, with a soundtrack performed by The Sex Pistols, X, and The Gang of Four. We ate the cattle, and wore their skins. The China Syndrome happened and Jack Lemmon was elected president. We bartered in Coors Banquet six packs. This world cried out for a car that could pull us through, so GM gave us the Chevette Diesel.
GM advertised it with the catch phrase, “Better than walking!” Dealers sold them along with a DEVO unisex HazMat suit. Kurt Russell advised us to get our Chevette Diesel now before supplies were halted by Soviets in Afghanistan. We knew we were facing bleak prospects when it was announced that Coca-Cola was preparing for a replacement that tasted like Pepsi. GM could not keep the Chevette Diesel in stock as mobs awaited each new shipment at K-Mart stores for “Suddenly Spaghetti”. GM had one secret cache of these road roaches located in CHRISTMAS VALLEY. These fossils were buried deep within the earth next to Pentagon-selected future MX Peacekeeper Silos.
Where have they gone? It appears you have captured one. Thanks to the cell phone you used when you captured this image, the CCP has sent out an elite group of ninjas to hunt them down. If you hear your cell phone vibrate without notification – these ninjas are pinging into you.
If we don’t hear from you again – we salute you!
One of the best comments ever!!! I sort of wondered why Chevrolet did not make a “Monza” version like they did with the original Corvair which was a dull car until Chevy just tarted it up into one of the most popular cars (in memory anyway) of the era.
Might be a perfectly adequate car for commuting on flat, two lane roads with little traffic at 50mph. The air’s starting to thin out there, though. 4300′ or so?
Yes; 4300′. It feels lower, because it’s the low spot in the whole general area. It’s a former giant lake bed or inland sea, I assume. And it gets quite toasty there in the summer.
Back in the day when I was just 12, my parents wanted to buy one of these for my one brother to drive. You know, because gas was almost $1.00 per gallon!! haha. My brother wasn’t having anything to do with it because he wanted his own car (a Chevelle or Camaro). So that plan went down the tubes. However, my sister was just getting her DL, so my parents ended up picking up a one year old Toyota Corolla Deluxe Liftback with the automatic. After a few years and hard miles on that car, I inherited it when I go my DL. I drove it for a year and then my parents decided it was time to upgrade. My dad had a friend with the new Renault Alliance and he convinced dad to take a look at one. So we went to look at one, but the dealer wouldn’t even look at me let alone talk with me even though I was going to be the main driver. So I went across the street to a Chevrolet dealer do see if by chance they had any Chevette Diesels around. They didn’t but they had the recently introduced Cavalier and I immediately loved it. Went back and told dad that we needed to look at the Chevrolet and that it was less money. So away we went and ended up ordering a brand new 1985 Cavalier CL sedan.
To this day, I still look in the car ads for that one Chevette Diesel just because I’d love to have one.
If anyone wants a sedan, you may come and pick it up in Uruguay
https://auto.mercadolibre.com.uy/MLU-614076996-chevrolet-chevette-diesel-izusu-_JM#position=24&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=d37e8281-2f03-4c4e-a4f0-ab5ab349c9e1
Paul, you were meant to find this car. It’s your density, err, destiny…
It’s good to know there are still places people feel comfortable enough to leave the keys in the ignition. Or maybe it’s just that even as a 41 year old “classic”, it’s obvious no one but no one would ever, ever steal a Diesel Chevette.
Stock or not, those wheels work well on the Chevette. Question is: would it look better with its desert-blast patina or a nice, shiny paint job?
And a manual transmission, to boot. A car thief might get a hundred feet down the road and quickly return to being on foot. Not to mention that in such a sparsely populated area, not exactly easy to be inconspicuous.
Ian Fleming wrote a kid’s book about Chevette Diesels. It was titled “Knocka Knocka Bang Bang”.
GM saved almost $2 per car by deleting the horn and horn wiring. Folks could hear them rattling two blocks away.
I had a friend in Connecticut that had one (Chevette Diesel). He called it his “penalty box”. Now he drives a Spark in Joplin, Missouri. I guess he will never learn.
Oh, I was moving to California at that time (late 1981) and I had a 1980 Impala wagon, diesel, of course. Worst car I have ever owned, and I once had a Jensen Healey.
In the context of today’s typical cars, yeah, the Spark isn’t too terrific.
But compared with a Chevette diesel, the Spark is virtually a Lexus.
Interesting that the Vauxhall chevette, and Opel kadett sold here that shared the platform were never offered in 5 door.. or diesel spec in the UK, we got three door hatches, and 2 and 4 door sedans (the kadett also got a pretty coupe) almost all in 1.3l petrol form.
We did get the 2.3l HS and HSR proto-hot hatches and the neat looking vans so that made up for it somewhat.
A Ford Model A would be the bee’s knees anywhere a Chevette Diesel is a good idea.
Dad had bought into the Chevettes (another story elsewhere), first in ’79, followed by an ’81. He thought about the diesel but could not justify the $1000 extra ( he needed the auto). A guy in school bought one, was a commuter student, last time I talked with him in the late 90’s, his kids were driving it but parts were getting non existent save for the engine, well north of 400K. Slow but steady….
My nephew had a Chevette (not a diesel) back in post-college, pre-married days. Drove it for years, and managed to get a whole fistful of speeding tickets in it. I’ve always wondered how he managed that.
School zones? 🙂
Amazing how many vehicular oddities are found way out in the desert….
-Nate
This is the sort of cars many Europeans used to live with on an everyday basis back when. You just accepted you will not do over 55 MPH going uphill or overtake many trucks and plodded on. I had Ford’s variation on the theme, a 1992 Ford Escort CLX diesel; it had more “power” than the Chevette (59 v 51 hp) but was heavier so I’d imagine performance was the same. It served me well after spending 2 weeks welding its rotten floor and replacing the odd worn out or damaged bits. I don’t know about 60 MPG but 40-45 combined was no problem, regardless of how you drove, and that heavy iron engine driving the front wheels meant it good in the snow, I never had to put the snow chains on it. I took it from Vienna to Innsbruck and it did not miss a beat, I even hit 70 MPH going back (!). Sold it to a Transylvanian (yes) when I finished uni and got a job, I would not be surprised to find out it’s still alive somewhere in Romania.
I drove a company car back in those days. Not a diesel, but a Chevette Scooter (I think). Absolutely the worst, cheapest pile of goop ever. Actually had door panels made out of cardboard. But, it was a company car, not mine!
The “not Scooter” versions had a lot a cardboard as well..
I liked myjunker ’76, first year with typical teething problems. It was just pure cheap, nothing on it pretended otherwise. Except the rear taillights. They had separate amber T/Ss, but some accountant must have got stuck behind one and realized that they could save two wires by going all red the next year. Like I said, teething problems, they almost let that 1.5 cents per unit get away.
A learning experience. You can only shrink a GM car so far, and this was farther than that. And, more importantly, RWD was forever obsolete on small stuff.
The Chevette actually retained the tail lamps with separate amber turn signals through 1979, going to larger ones that wrapped around the side and combined the turn/brake function for 1980-87. The rear side marker migrated into the tail lamp at this time, too, though the bean counters managed to find a couple extra cents to still have it illuminated by its own bulb.
The 1976-77 Vagrant err… Vega had an empty amber compartment that was never occupied with a bulb- perhaps they spent too much money on the big new Dura-Built engine to fully indulge buyers with world class turn signals? Now on the Citation, you actually had a choice to pony up a few bucks for amber turn signals out back. If you didn’t, the center portion of the lamp got a red lens (still with the turn signal optics molded in) that didn’t light up. Not sure where the Chevette fell in this culture of squeezing pennies until they screamed, but I did know someone with a 1979 that flashed amber to the rear. Not hard to imagine the Scooterized model eschewing anything beyond the barest bare minimum, though.
All that garbage over what was clearly a huge safety improvement, especially with 4-ways. Optional, blanking, un-used. I worship the god $$$ above all others.
My grey Chevette has a similar paint fade all over it just like this one, which is odd because it has been here in Holland since 1989. I’d like to have those rims on my black Chevette, it would look good I think.
Probably the 5th time I’ve went through this contribution. I should mention that the transmission is not a B/W T5 . It’s an Isuzu produced transmission, the same one as used in the Isuzu I-Mark. .
I was there with Paul and heard the owner say T5, which surprised me as A, I thought that was a pretty high-torque trans, overkill for this car; and B, I assumed T5 parts would be readily available. But maybe he can’t find parts because he’s asking for something that doesn’t exist, Chevette T5 parts.
Probably the owner didn’t know. Both the Chevette and Chevy Luv diesels used Isuzu transmissions, the Chevette used the MSG-5K. The Chevette diesel automatic did use a GM THM 200. It’s also likely that this particular car could have been low on transmission fluid, or had the wrong fluid, or improper clutch adjustment causing his difficulty.
NOT a T5. First use of T5 was ’82 by AMC. That is a Isuzu transmission, made by Hitachi. And you can damn near buy T5 parts at 7-11. As a side note, Mercury Marine offered a marine version of that engine
Motorweek did a review of the 82 T1000 which was essentially the same car, but gasoline powered like most. It broke their record for slow acceleration. A full 30 seconds from 0-60. I wonder how the diesel would compare.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oMsXLYFU0pU
Also, I’ve never seen those wheels before. But they look similar to a 4 bolt version of those used on the early Cavalier.
http://www.wheelcollision.com/wccpix/1267.jp
Maybe they’re an alloy wheel cover, if there is such a thing? It looks like the rusty steel rim lip surrounds it, which is where the balancing weight is attached.
Vanilla Dude, I’ll have two, of whatever you’re taking.
Sorry for being late to the conversation. I had a Diesel Chevette back in the day. I mostly used it for my 40 mile commute. It had about 250,000 miles on it when I sold it to a friend for $100 and a Kawasaki KD175.
I managed to squeeze 57mpg on a trip one time, but usually got in the mid 40s.
It was also the car I was driving when I received my only speeding ticket.
I bought one right out of the show room. We lived in New York about one mile north of the city. We would visit relatives in Fairfax VA , cost of fuel was $10.00.
I drove it until 2003 . Than gave it to a young man who loved it.