(first posted 9/8/2014) If you grew up in the ’80s, you will most definitely remember the Chevrolet Celebrity. The General’s most affordable A-body, they were seemingly everywhere, in every flavor: sedan, wagon, woody wagon, Eurosport. And then, one day, they were all gone.
I still see Cutlass Cieras and Centurys on a regular basis here in the heartland, but the Celebrity is a rare bird in 2014. True, there are a couple. I have pics of a solid 1986 sedan seen here in town and another one found in Kewanee, IL that is a bit of a unicorn–the rare two-door sedan–whose final year was also 1988, the year of today’s find.
Even in the mid-’90s, Celebritys were getting scarce, and as a teen, it seemed every single one had the bark beaten off of it. I regularly saw late-model ones with major rust in the ’90s, when production had only ended in 1990. Odd, as there were still plenty of Buick and Olds ones running around in good shape. Now, the Century and Ciera were still in production then, granted, but it still didn’t explain how seemingly three-quarters of Celebritys were trashed by 1993-95. Different clientele, perhaps?
I have found a couple of Celebrities in the past; in fact, one of my first CCs featured a white one and a light blue one (CC here). But one night driving home past this little car lot, I was stunned by what appeared to be a brand-new Celebrity CL just sitting there. Wow!
While the Chevrolet Celebrity was the best-selling car in America in 1986, the new jellybean Taurus soon knocked it from that spot, though the car remained a good seller through its final year in 1990. Oddly enough, only the station wagon was available in ’90.
I remember these cars well, as our pastor drove one. His was a navy blue base model with full wheel covers and blue interior. It was a rather appropriate mode of transportation for a Lutheran minister: domestic, unpretentious, and roomy. It was later traded in on a navy blue Corsica.
The CL was the “Brougham” trim level in Celebrity-land, specifying plusher seating with velour upholstery, choice of 55/45 divided bench seat or 45/45 seating with a console, and velour door panel trim–not to mention CL badging on the trunk lid. Gotta let the neighbors know you spiffed for the fancy interior, dontcha know! Just don’t get that Tru-Coat.
As the basic Celebrity had a rather, well, basic interior style, the CL was much more Oldsmobile-like. Looks like you could just sink into those seats!
I miss interiors color-keyed to the exterior paint too. Though I guess you can still do black/black or gray/gray in your 2014 Soap Bar LS. But I really miss the blue/blue, burgundy/burgundy and green/green options. Or how about a Coupe de Ville or Mark IV in triple white? Now you’re talking!
Whoops, fell down the Brougham rabbit hole there for a minute. Sorry, where was I? Oh yes, this Celebrity was just in amazing shape. I am quite sure it has been garaged from new, and with only 46,000 on the clock, it had to be someone’s aunt’s or grandmother’s car, wouldn’t you say? I only hope it goes to someone who will take care of it, as these do not exactly grow on trees any more.
Yes, I know it isn’t a Duesenberg or even a ’75 Camaro, but it’s nice to see a car exactly like it was when I was in grade school, and to remember when cars had a little bit of style and squared-off formality, unlike many of the pseudo-fastback steel and plastic blobs now plying our roads. Good luck, little A-body!
It’s very Volvo looking .I’m afraid I never paid any attention to these when new and know nothing about them,the Camaro was the only Chevy to interest me back then
As you say ” it is nice to see a car exactly as it was” and whether it is this Celebrity or another car from that era (80’s-early 90’s) that has survived the aging process, it is always an enjoyable reflective experience.
I was somewhat excited about these when they came out, but wasn’t about to go back to GM for years to come. I was firmly in Chrysler’s camp through the 80s & 90s, and except for my 1996 Ford Ranger, I didn’t return to GM until 2004.
I guess the best thing I have to day about the Celebrity is this: It had three (count ’em) tail lights! Something My Impala wished it had, although, technically, my 2012 Impala does have three tail lights in a cluster: Two tail lights and a backup light per side, so…
You are right about the dearth of Celebs on the ground in the midwest. Funny though, as well as they sold, I cannot think of anyone I knew who bought one new. I knew lots of folks who bought the Olds or Buick versions, and even one who bought a Pontiac 6000.
I think you are right about buyer demographics. The old-timers who went into a Chevy dealer for their last new car probably trended towards the Caprice. I’ll bet an awful lot of these were fleet cars, too. Or maybe Olds and Buick buyers just lived longer?
Even though one of these is not all that appealing to me, I do love the time-capsule quality about it. Excellent find!
In our shop we saw many old timers, loyal GM folks, bring in their Celebs for service and often a lot more than that. These cars were rife with problems, from head gaskets, to electrical, to transmission failure. For many, it was their last GM car.
I almost bought a station wagon in exactly these colors and about this year. The problems and reliability you mention is exactly why I did not. It was at the shop of a mechanic I trust about a mile from my house. The attraction that almost snared me was the conversion to dual fuel. It had both a gas tank and a large propane tank in the back. Change with a switch. Start on gas and switch to propane.
Your comments and those of others affirm my decision to go with the S10 I drove for about 3 years.
Funny but in all the years we have been selling these I don’t ever recall blown head gaskets on any Tech IV or Chevy 2.8. And the 125C trans axle was one of the better units of the time with the one failure item the lockup torque converter solenoid which was replaceable and not hard to do or as many customers did just unplug the darn thing. If anything the early examples had issues with the steering racks which we resolved on many by replacing the old fluid with fresh fluid and some trans X and the 84-87 THM 440 overdrive transaxle could give trouble if you didn’t get a good one. Also brake warpage was common unless one sprang for the higher end pads and rotors. Most any other issues were more minor that other cars of the time suffered and overall many customers were pretty happy with the 85 on up versions of this car.
I worked for a company who had a fair number of these vehicles in their motor pool back in the day. The early carbureted 4 cylinder models were dogs, the V6’s were peppier, but I seem to remember the fleet manager not being happy with the cars. That company was a Tier 1 supplier to GM, so I’m sure we got a huge discount on our leases, but they made up for it with repairs. Worst of all, these cars replaced our fleet of B-bodies, only to add insult to injury.
I knew a number of people who owned these, the early ones (1982-1984) and they were troublesome. The folks who I knew that had the later ones, (post-1986) seemed to get cars with much better reliability and assembly.
After 1986, when port fuel injection became standard, these were much better cars. The 4 cylinder ones were peppier than the previous V6 cars, and the V6 cars were (relative) rockets. Like many things GM at the time, the early cars were the beta versions, once we got to version 2.0 they were much better cars. Unfortunately, I think they released the FWD A’s about the same time the whole debacle with the X cars were in the public consciousness and it was a really bad time to have yet another car with problems right out of the gate.
In 1984, my much older sister replaced her 77 Monte Carlo with a one year old 2 door model from the local Chrysler dealer that was a lemon and a half. Mainly starting and drivabiltiy problems. Her’s was an 83 V6 with the fancy wire wheel covers! I have no idea if it was fuel injected or not. She kept getting stranded while out and about and having to have the car towed in – probably why someone ate the depreciation and traded it in for a Chrysler after only one year. Neither the Chrysler or Chevy dealer could get things sorted despite throwing parts at it repeatedly. Like a lot of folks, no more GM’s for her ever again. It was replaced with a Nissan Sentra that gave good service for 13 years and she’s just got her third Sentra. She sticks with what works and when Chevy’s quit working she went to Nissans. My mother did the same. My dad just keeps buying them and paying the repair bills. At 78, he’s probably on his last and that’s one more dependable customer they have lost.
I think it’s probably a combination of those factors. Adding to the fact was the continued production of the Century/Ciera through 1996. By that time most of the bugs had probably been worked out as well.
I like the writing on the side window, 46,000 actual miles.Are there any miles that are not “actual”? I like the look of this car and usually not a big fan of the square shaped USA or Euro vehicles.
Well, there are ‘original’ miles.
Most of my miles have been pretty unoriginal… My Vega did had a lot of virtual miles, though.
If I remember correctly, the Celebrity did not have a 100,000 mile odometer, so when the car hit 99,999 miles it simply rolled over to 00000 so on a car this old, many folks might assume that 46,000 miles really is 146,000 miles. the writing on the window seems to indicate the dealer has documented proof that the car has low miles.
You gotta love when manufactures just assume that their car won’t make it past 100k and outfit it with a odometer that only goes up to 99,999 miles.
I’m not certain about the mid 80’s, but back in the 70’s, Volvo was just about the only car that gave you a six digit odometer. And made a big deal about it in their print advertising.
Cars that you expect to last well into the six figures are something that’s only been around for the last 25 years. And pretty much EVERY manufacturer only expected their cars to last thru five figures, not just GM.
Maybe the very earliest Celebrities but the one featured most certainly does have an odometer that will count up to 999,999 miles
my 86 6000-STE had a 6 digit digital odometer, but since it was digital GM cheaped out on the leading digit and only made it read 1 instead lf 8. So it was done recording miles at 199,999.9 miles or kilometers.
The 2.8 was blown up by me, and the TH-125 I discovered didn’t like shifting at 7,000 rpm.
Actually it does have the 5 digit Odometer as the 6 digit odometer was only offered with the gauge package (battery and temp gauges) for the Celebrity in all 1988. The non gauge package cluster looked the same as the one with the gauges but had dummy lights in the battery and temp pods.
the same for the trip odometer as it was only offered as an option
In looking at our featured car, I can only see a gauge needle in one of the pods (the gas gauge) the rest look like lights and it has no trip odometer It also has only a FM-AM radio without a cassette but has power locks and windows so it might have been a fleet spec car? my 2006 taurus was a fleet car with power windows and locks and wood trim but just a am-fm radio.
Anyway here is the two gauges offered in 1988, the one at the bottom is the standard and the one on the top is optional. The bottom one has a 5 digit odometer and no trip. The one at the top has the gauge package, 6 digit odometer and trip odometer.
and THIS is why I love this site.
Why the hate for these? I had TWO – an ’88 2.8L V-6 wagon and a ’90 3.1 V-6 wagon. The ’88 I gave away with 144K on the clock – ran great. Both had no problems. Water pump replaced around 105K on the ’88. Great cars that pulled well through the snow and very good fuel economy, especially on the highway. They did have an odometer that rolled past 100K. I was still active duty with the USCG living in Cleveland when I had both Celebrity wagons. If I was there in the Midwest right now, I’d snap up that sedan, drive it Oakland or San Diego, stick it on a Pasha or Matson ship and bring it out here to the Aloha State. No problems with “A” body GM’s (better to stick w/’86 or later with fuel injection).
Yes, I would agree that the Celebrities seemed to wind up in the hands of those who abused them the most and by 1997/98, many I saw in Cleveland had huge rust bubbles on them, but these were the choice for most people to use as their winter beaters (snow cars). Great traction on the snow and ice.
Maybe it means, “We haven’t rolled back the odometer, honest!” 🙂
Or maybe it means “Hey guys, we didn’t even NEED to roll this one back!”
My best friend drove an Eurosport version during our uni years. Crank windows and no hubcaps. He got the ECU stolen, and then we could learn about MEM-CALs and other stuff.
I still remember the sound of the 2.8 MPFI V6 (el motor que piensa acoording to GM) and how he rebuilt it following GM’s factory manual to a T.
Dad had a 88 Century at some point, and the interior of the Buick was far “plusher” than the Chevy.
Some neighbors of ours own this generation Celebrity in blue. Guy is a mechanic, car’s been thru him, his wife and now his teenage daughter drives it. Amazingly rust free.
Sorry, like Zackman, I too was somewhat excited when they came out. But what an abortion they turned out to be. Poor fit and finish, loosey-goosey steering unless you bought the Eurosport…very cheap feeling overall. I’ve driven several GM FWD A-bodies. And a few Tauruses. It’s like an automotive NFL, where Ford put a championship team on the field…and GM fielded the local high-school varsity squad, and hoped we wouldn’t see the difference.
I’m assuming the 90’s Olds/Buick versions of these were far better sorted out and if there was one thing about these cars on which you could rely, it would be the powertrain. Guess for some people that was enough.
Personally I’m glad those days are over at the Silver Silos. As for the Celeb, if only the quality had matched the sharp styling…
Did all of these come with the red velour interior? I’m sure that they didn’t but it certainly seems that way. Statistically some of the Celebs must have had some other color scheme but practically every photo you see of them now looks like the subject car. I suspect the reason that Celebritys are thin on the ground is that they were inexpensive cars and got passed down the food chain until they were no longer worth what it would cost to keep them running. As they were hardly the stuff of automotive dreams, few were willing to spend $1000 to repair a $500 car.
A friend of mine in high school drove his parents Eurosport wagon. It was purple with a purple velour interior.
You may be onto something. A friend in high school had one, of similar vintage to the featured car with the composite lamps. Silver, 2.8 V6…and I’m pretty sure red interior.
Seemed a pretty pedestrian car at the time, and sometime during senior year she traded up to a slightly newer Corolla SR-5 coupe. But today it is rare indeed to find one that’s been well kept.
There are 2 of these for sale on CLs near me (about 85 miles apart), both are wagons. The closer one has been mildly hit in the right front corner while the other has under 100K miles but has A LOT of surface rust. The rusted one is technically a 1 owner as part of a college’s fleet. But while it’s claimed to be well maintained, apparently maintenance did not extend to the paint job.
Both are inexpensive and unfortunately the fixes will double the purchase price.
What catches my eye is the aftermarket vinyl steering wheel grip. I purchased this exact same covering for several skinny-steering-wheel GM cars, carefully wrapping and securing it in place with the supplied strip of gimp.
Try finding one of those now at a parts store. I lucked into one on clearance for my Ford Taurus a few months ago.
Even J.C. Whitney doesn’t seem to stock them any longer.
Those steering wheel covers were superb! That was the very first thing I bought for our cars until our 1990 Acclaim – it had a nice, thick wheel, and I guess that was when all cars’ wheels gained “weight”, if you will.
Not to boast, but I was an expert at lacing those things and always got compliments on how nice they looked!
Oh yes – the steering wheel cover AND those 25¢ cheap plastic cup holders you hung on the top of the door panel along the window sill, too! Built-in cup holders replaced them as well.
I completely forgot about those window sill clip-in cup holders! My mom put one of those in the back of her Jeep (which didn’t have rear cup holders) for me when I was little. It was half cup holder/half storage box, that I used for my matchbox cars.
You’re so right that they just vanished, seemingly all at once, one day in, like, 2000. Perhaps the millennium was the apocalypse as far as Celebrities were concerned. Now that I’ve said that I’m sure I’ll see one tomorrow, or this afternoon.
The last I remember was in the ubiquitous grey color. An acquaintance of mine at our college, a small, extremely preppy school, had one, with bumper sticker “Sorry, My Daddy Didn’t Pay For My Car”. This was in the early 2000s. In a campus full of old and new Volvos, BMWs, and hand me down Grand Cherokees, plus some expensive toys various daddies had bought for their offspring, it stuck out, in a fun way.
I didn’t realize these came with the same steering wheel as the Caprice, but then, I’ve often thought these were kind of intended to be the FWD replacement for a RWD Caprice cancellation that never occurred.
Not sure about that point. Apparently GM considered killing off the B-bodies in ’82, and actually did for a year at Pontiac. But over there, the former A-body LeMans was given a significant refresh into the Bonneville Model G, and that took over as the top of the line. I get the feeling that if the other divisions cancelled the B-body, the same sort of thing would have happened and the Regal, Cutlass Supreme, and Malibu (probably with a more significant reskin thatn it actually received) would have become the top models.
Who knows though, with the confusion within GM at the time. These cars were originally intended to replace the RWD A-bodies, hence the theft of their platform designation. And the Celebrity did in fact replace the Malibu as that car was cancelled after ’83. But as we know, the RWD Regal sedan made it until ’84, the Bonneville until ’86, and the RWD Cutlass Supreme sedan all the way into 1987. (The coupes were really their own thing by then…)
I spotted some photos of a clean 1989 Celebrity on this forum http://www.a-body.net/forums/showthread.php?34320-1989-Chevy-Celebrity
and another who give a 2nd life to a Celebrity wagon http://www.a-body.net/forums/showthread.php?32179-1987-Chevrolet-Celebrity-Wagon-quot-Gramps-quot
Looks like the 1982-96 A-bodies (including the very rare 1988-91 Pontiac 6000 STE AWD) begin to have more fans over the years.
It is amazing how fast these cars disappeared, even here in the Wet Coast and our mild climate. The fact of the matter is, the Celebrity was the prime example of a throwaway car. Have a look at this one: in the showroom, they look great. But after a few years, the cars literally fall apart and rust to pieces. The paint would flake off after a few years, which is where the rusting problem came from. The interior plastics will disintegrate to chalk if left in any sun for any length of time. They are simply not good cars and many buyers (and these cars were NOT cheap) simply went to the Toyonda store for their next wheels.
I remember GM car buyers of this era. Many were WW2 vets, or early Boomers. They were raised to believe that GM was as great as the Greatest Generation and it seemed to case a lot of angst when GM sold them cars that were absolute junk. GM’s car days passed with them, too.
You do realize that most of these problems were industry wide when these were introduced. Toyotas and Hondas also suffered paint and horrible rust issues. Hondas with there famous head gasket problems and clunky shifting automatics that vibrated one’s teeth when the mounts failed. All big three companies suffered paint peel issues with certain paint colors and headliner’s dropped after a good 5-7 years in hot climates unless they were made of vinyl. Dashes faded and turned to dust in many cars even Lincolns and Cadillacs. We have been selling car’s since the early 90’s and have seen literally ever make and model go through. The Junk Chrysler and Ford were putting out in the early 80’s was no better in the FWD throw away car era.
And for the record I still see more Celebrities driving around the rust belt of Upstate, Ny than any Camry or Accord from the 80’s time era. And I’m hardly a big Celebrity fan for the record as the Ciera appealed much more to me at the time.
Then how do you explain the demise of the US car industry, and its replacement by Japanese brands, if Japanese cars were equally as bad?
I worked in the car repair business years. It was the Camry and Accord that put us out of business, not the Celebrity.
Demise? Out of business? Someone better tell all those people showing up at all those GM plants still cranking cars out in the US, Canada and Mexico to go home then huh?
Damn, I wonder who built my Camaro in 2012? Do I even own the car? Or am I hallucinating it? Maybe I really drive a Camry and I just can’t come to grips with it, I obviously wouldn’t have been able to buy a new Chevrolet if they “were out of business”.
I guess that Chevrolet dealer I drove past today with all those new cars on the lot must have been a movie set or a figment of my imagination.
Technically and legally, the current GM (“new GM”) is a new legal entity as of the bankruptcy of the “old GM”, which still exists, sort of. It’s not the same company, strictly speaking.
Carmine, now I’m really worried. I test drove a Cadillac XTS about a month ago, and now I’m wondering, what did I do? Was I actually running down John Deere Road, making vroom! vroom! sounds?
Its still GM, same HQ, same logo, still making the same cars, selling them at the same dealers, “out of business” and “demise” are a bit of hyperbole, Studebaker, Packard, Hudson is “out of business”
Actually, all of your examples are still in business as well, under this line of reasoning. Cooper Industries, LLC is paying cleanup costs for some of the old Studebaker-Packard plants in South Bend, and Hudson’s successor is still turning out Jeeps. I think that some of the former GM’s bondholders might be pleasantly surprised to hear that the company is still in business. 🙂
Doggone! Now you ruined my day. I have no clue what I’m driving. Is it an Impala like it says on the body, or is it a Toyota/Honda? Only my phantom car dealership knows for sure!
Can I buy a Cooper LLCmobie?
Carmine, with all do respect, GM North America is making its money on trucks and SUV’s. The only reason they sell cars at all is to show they are “in the game.” They have nowhere near the volumes they had when the Celebrity was being sold. Something like 400,000 plus of these things went out the door year, and similar numbers of the other models such as the Malibu and Cavalier. Now, the Cruze is their number one car seller, at less than 250,000 units a year, or half what the Silverado does, and one third when the GMC trucks are added it.
After the bankruptcy and bailout, I wouldn’t be surprised if GM is once again making money on its passenger cars. The Cruze, for example, is only available in one body style (which reduces costs), and sells over 200,000 units annually. GM should be able to make a profit on that car.
The Accord and Civic were very profitable for me in the late 80’s and early 90’s, they were the second most profitable mfg after GM. It was roughly 50% GM and 25% Honda despite the fact that there were about 5 GMs on the road for every 1 Honda. The fact is that Honda dealers were quite proficient in convincing their customers that independents didn’t know how to properly work on Honda vehicles, so many independents didn’t see that many Hondas. Then once they had the customer in their grips they were also very skilled in making the customer believe that the failures were the customer’s fault or that it was just “normal” required maintenance.
You’re lying, Honda dealers employ no mechanics, duh, because the cars never break. I’m on to you, GM fanboy shill, go back to Detroit Roger Smith!
Eric; I’m not going to get into a pissing match here, but will just say that anecdotal experiences like yours are what they are, but are not statistically significant. Better to go back and read some old CR Reliability Rankings from the era.
I’ve heard that story, too.
I think it’s like old story I heard in high school where a gentleman’s Rolls-Royce “broke down” – an axle broke. When they came to repair it on the spot, the owner, quite surprised, asked why it broke. The reply? “Sir; Rolls-Royces do not “break down”, you just needed a tire change!”
When one guy has a story about one vehicle it is anecdotal evidence, but when someone who spends all day every day working on vehicles sees the same failures over and over it is reality. Consumer Reports does a poor job at showing the real world. The only survey original owners and then they only ask them about things that the owner thinks were problems. Once it gets to the second owner they have zero data and if the dealership is successful in convincing the owner that they were in fact the cause of the problem that doesn’t get reported to CR.
Hondas of that era were very profitable for mechanics period. Failed ignitors, main relays, radiators, imploded distributors, seized cams, head gaskets, CV joints are all well documented pattern failures for some or all of the Hondas of that era and you’ll find the evidence on the Honda forums.
Yes, Eric, I tend not to believe and statistical analysis that does not confirm my prejudices.
I can’t buy the contention that a sly service advisor at the dealer can talk the owner into accepting blame for a problem, and that this will make the owner somehow “forget” about it. And that Honda owners are especially susceptible to this sort of sweet-talking by dealership personnel.
If there is a problem, people remember that their vehicle was out of commission. They definitely remember the problem if it required them to make other arrangements – haggle with the dealer for a loaner, get a ride from someone else, etc. This is the case even if the problem was successfully fixed.
A friend of mine worked at Pennsylvania’s largest law firm specializing in vehicular lemon law cases. He said that Toyota and Honda were the easiest companies to work with on lemon law cases, and that both had the fewest number of cases in relation to their total sales. He also said that owners of both brands were the quickest to complain, as they really did believe that their vehicles should be perfect.
What are the worst companies, both in the number of cases and the difficulty in dealing with the company? All of the German manufacturers and Chrysler. Ford and GM were just below Honda and Toyota – not the best, but not the worst, either.
Geeber just google Honda Accord premature brake wear or failure and you’ll see many instances of people who were told that the reason that they were the cause of the rear brakes wearing out in as little as 12K miles. Now figure how many of those cars were sold and the number of owners that didn’t complain and you’ll understand just how gullible people who buy a Honda are. After the class action lawsuit they stopped using that line quite as much. Honda also loves to just fix things and call it “normal maintenance” and the gullible owners accept it.
I stopped taking everything CR says at face value when I was shopping and they recommended the Volvo S40, but said the V50 was one to avoid. It is the exact same car built in the same Ghent, Belgium facility and with the same engines and transmissions. The only difference is one is a sedan and one is a wagon.
CR can be useful, but take their rankings with a grain of salt.
Eric, your own post undermines your belief that Honda owners are uniquely gullible. If there was a class action suit over weak Accord brakes, it means that a bunch of Honda owners banded together and sued Honda over this issue. People who sue are not satisfied, nor are they swallowing the official “line” from the dealer.
During my time working at a Toyota store south of Atlanta, GA, I witnessed similar shenanigans from service writers and other personnel. I worked for a dealer group who sold all brands over three states. I got to work in different stores on occasion and it was enlightening to see how things worked. I mostly worked the Toyota store, so my recollections are from that one, but the Nissan, Honda, Buick and Chevy/Plymouth stores had similar ones…
I can clearly remember a middle-aged woman who brought in a fairly new at the time Celica who was having some issue I no longer remember, but it seemed minor. The service writer told the woman that she was “driving her car wrong”. The woman went ballistic. She stormed out of there, never to be seen again, at least during my time there.
Another incident that amused me was the fact that in Central Georgia, exhaust systems would rust out on early 90’s Toyotas. On a daily basis, there were at least one or two fairly new Toyotas of any model (my FIL’s car being one of them) getting mufflers or pipes replaced.
Finally, after the second muffler in four years, my FIL got one from Sears, it lasted until he traded that Camry in. And, if you’re thinking he only did short hops in that car, no. His daily commute was 50 miles, plenty of time for the whole car to warm up.
Again, I witnessed the same thing, folks being told they were driving their cars “wrong”. Thankfully, I’ve not heard of such behavior in the last 10 years or so. I guess times do change.
This conversation seems pretty funny in hindsight, now that ‘New’ GM has discontinued virtually all of their cars lines. I guess spinning yarns on the internet didn’t turn out to be as effective as making good cars would have been. Sadly, Honda’s efforts at meeting CAFE have taken them off the good car list in the intervening years.
My Dad had an ’87 wagon in beige over beige vinyl with a chrome luggage rack that started to rust around the mounting holes (and this was a Southern CA car!). Looking back on it the styling appeals to me but not much else. Our had a problem with the brakes that was never fixed wherein during a medium-hard stop the rear would lock up very easily. Annoying.
I was an owner of an ’84 Celebrity 4 door for four years, spanning from 91-95.
It was decently equipped….automatic, 2.8L, A?C, tilt power locks, cassette, buckets seats with a vinyl interior. The car was originally gray on gray but a previous owner had it painted nice shade of blue to where it was sporting the colors of the University of Memphis.
I wasn’t overly impressed but I got for $2K in Spring of ’91. I had issues with a fuel pump, the starter,the brakes, steering always pulled to the right, and the check engine light that came on for no apparent reason. Interior room was good but fuel economy barely hit over 20 MPG on the highway.
Come April of ’95, the headliner was sagging like crazy and it would die at every stoplight. I went to my fiancé’s (now ex wife’s) parent house the day after Easter Sunday and there was a note on the door telling me to go get the title and to meet her at parkway Chevrolet in Tomball. We left the lot that night in a brand purple Geo Prizm that gave us nine years of great service. I wish I had that Prizm back or even better, my ’77 Impala.
I hope somebody preserves this so people remember Chevy made something besides hopped up Camaros and trucks in the 80s.
Collectors generally focus on high performance and luxury models and tend to neglect the ordinary, giving a distorted view of what people actually drove. Right now there are probably more 1988 Corvettes around than Celebrities, certainly on a percentage basis Corvettes and Camaros outnumber Celebrities or Corsicas
Right. Despite these being pretty average, one like this needs to be preserved as a good example of the kind of car people actually bought in that day. If this thing were closer to me I’d consider being that guy who preserved it.
+1
Exactly how I feel (other brands too). Real car people know what’s truly special.
I believe the last year for the sedan was ’89, only the wagon carried on for 1990. I’m not sure if this was because the Lumina APV van (the de facto replacement) wasn’t ready yet, or whether perhaps there were bodyshells to run out.
I drove a used base version with the 2.5 Iron Duke engine in college which I had bought with savings from my summer job. It was a rather spartan car and did not have what I did not need. However, I would have appreciated a light in the trunk compartment, a seat back that reclined and a passenger’s side door mirror. While I liked the styling and no-nonsense nature of the car, things kept breaking on it one after another.
1) The radiator had to be replaced.
2) The heater core had to be replaced (it was leaking antifreeze into the passenger footwell)
3) One of the front brake hoses became frayed.
4) The fuel pump had rusted through and was leaking fuel.
5) The turn signal did not cancel anymore.
6) The front bench seat only moved back and forth on the driver’s side.
7) The engine would sometimes cut out when I turned on the A/C.
8) The foot-actuated parking brake stopped working.
9) The distributor had to be replaced and the mechanic charged me extra because it was extremely difficult to access.
10) The defective steering rack made the steering very stiff when starting the car on cold mornings.
11) The transmission started to slip at around 125K miles.
I took it on many road trips to northern Michigan, to Chicago and even to New York once. I left the car sitting for a while on a side street in Evanston and when I inquired to the city when I saw it was gone, they said they had towed and crushed it…
All pretty normal for FWD GM stuff of the era. The steering rack problem persisted right up to 2005.
As a cheap way of getting to California and seeing new sights along the way, I drove a first-year (1982?) Celebrity two-door from Minneapolis to Newport Beach, CA, where the auction winner lived, in the summer of 1985. I liked it a lot; it was the first FWD car I’d had any experience with, other than small rentals (e.g., Tercel) in Hawaii. The back seat was roomy enough to curl up on for occasional naps.
I like the original front and rear styling (full-width grille pattern, all-caps style for Celebrity on the trunk lid, etc.) much better than the later versions such as the pictured car.
The reason that the Celebrity fell off of the face of the earth while the Buicks and Olds continue to hang around mainly boils down to the engines. The Celebrity was saddled with the hideous Iron Duke or 2.8 POS. The Iron Duke was underpowered and represents the lowest of lows of GM’s quality control. The 2.8 was only slightly better in the durability dept and it’s gruff nature didn’t endure it to the owners.
The other brands could be had with one of the versions of the Buick V6 and those are the ones that make up the vast majority of those we still see prowling the streets today. It was a much more durable engine as well as being much more refined.
Probably not so much “could be had” as “were ordered with”. I had two mid 80’s Buick Centurys, both inherited. The first was an ’86 wagon, full zoot, wood paneling, bordello velour interior, fake wire wheel covers, factory AM/FM/cassette, V-6 with four speed auto. Inherited from mom, I hated it (will always consider it mom’s last chance to embarrass me) but it was such a good reliable car it took me years to finally justify trading it in. The other was an ’84 base model, I-4 with three speed auto, AM/FM, crank windows. Seemed to be solid, and the elderly couple I sold it to were still driving it ten years later.
Both cars left me with a very good feeling regarding Buick’s, which still stays with me.
The two elderly sisters whom I used to live houses down from both owned A-body Centurys. One drove a gray 1989, the other a beige later model (’94-’96 facelift version). Although they didn’t drive much at that point in their lives, both Centurys served them seemingly trouble-free until their deaths, both during the mid-’00s.
These Centurys always seemed like fine cars to me. Nothing exciting, but good enough cars.
The Century is indeed a very good car, having owned a ’93 for over 2.5 years.
The Buick and Olds hang around because they were built for nearly twice as long as the Celebrity.
Not exactly true insofar as the engines as originally they ALL had the same engines (at first); 2.5 Iron Duke, and the all-iron, carb’d 2.8L V-6. Eventually, the Buicks and Olds got a scaled down Buick V-6 (3.0 V-6), but towards the end the started sharing a CHEVY 2.0L OHV four (I remember seeing one on a ’96 Buick Century as the base engine) . . . .
My lower back is hurting from just looking at those seats…3 days in a rental and it was to the doctor and some Flexeril and those ‘horse pill’, orange Motrin; 800 mg baby!
These were terrible cars, our fleet had a mess of them and after the mass failures in the first couple of years, they disappeared off the list of choices. I wanted a Eurosport wagon in dark silver,red trim, and no chrome. Too racy for our fleet, so I got an ’85 LTD. Put 100K on that one and other than servicing and tires, the sum total of parts failure was 2 heater hoses that split. Ford knew about them and had a recall going when they popped.
I had a 1986 Celebrity for a several years. The first thing ai noticed the most was how further the seat backs leaned back. My back hurted a lot every time I drove the Celebrity.
One day, I was trying to fish out the keys that fell through the gap between seats, and I made a discovery. The seat backs were anchored to the seat bottoms by the elongated V-shaped bracklets. I would take the two from the right seat and install them in the left seat and vice versa, i.e. the bracklet from right side of right seat to left side of left side, and left side of right seat to right side of left seat.
The seat backs were more upright and more comfortable.
Saw one Saturday in the back parking lot as I left my office. Drove by it in my 91 Mazda and then stopped to back up and take another look. Celebrity? Chevrolet? Huh, when was that? You see the 80’s and 90’s, to me, are a black hole when it comes to most cars particularly American cars. The only cars where I can actually recognize and get the model year close are the Panther Crown Vic, Marquis, Town Car, Thunderbird and Cougar. Being a Ford guy I wasn’t so oblivious to their cars as I was with GM and Chrysler. This site has brought me up to date some as I can now go “oh, so that was what it was.” I pretty much went on a car sabbatical by 1975. Back to the Celebrity the body was in good shape in a light cream tan color. No camera with me that day.
That featured car does look good. I have always liked the A Body cars. As mentioned above the Celebrity seems to have disappeared off the roads. The ones I have seen over the past 10 years always seem to have rust on the hind quarters. By contrast i always see several Buick Century and Olds Cutlass Cieras about and all look good still. I wonder if the fact that the Celebrity had a different kind of clientele(fleet owners and folks looking for a cheap reasonably nice driving car that was disposable) is the reason there are hardly any left on the road and those left suffer the effects of the tin worm?
The Buick and Oldsmobile offerings seem to have attracted the kind of folks that both plan to keep the car for years and take care of it.
Of course I also notice that most of the Century and Cutlass Cieras still around are of the 89-96 era. That could be a key reason that the Buick and Oldsmobile A Body cars are still driving around. In 1989 the Cutlass Ciera and Century got both a refresh and a new engine(the 3300 V6) that engine is one of GM’s finest and is a high mileage engine. The Celebrity by contrast got the 2.8 V6 and in 1990 got the 3.1 V6. Both engines were unreliable and tended to have intake, head gasket and timing cover leaks due to a poorly designed cooling system(and this was before Dex-cool) and they were harder to work on as it looked like it was crammed into the engine bay. In the end a lot of the Celebrities most likely were junked due to the engine repairs being costly.
The iron duke engine only had a couple of issues(besides being slow and noisy) and those were that after 80,000 miles or so, the Cam gear would fragment and need to be replaced. The engine was non interference so it would not kill it if this part broke while running. The other is that they(especially the older ones) had a issue with the head bolts breaking. But new bolts and had gasket and all would be good again. The Duke is an easy engine to work on.
By any chance did anybody spot the white Cutlass Ciera in the same sales lot?
I used to notice these cars before but the road salt in Ontario would have taken care of most of them. The car above should be in a museum. One morning during the end of high school around 2002, a classmate had pulled up in the student parking lot in an old tired looking. close to purple in colour, Chevy Celebrity sedan. His previous car was a (’91-’94) Tercel. Apparently he had an accident with the Tercel and it was his fault, so he ended up with the replacement Celeb because it was the only car he could afford.
I had also seen a pizza delivery guy long ago (10+ years) who drove an old silver Chevy Celeb. He had painted the enormous headlights and taillights with black paint so that there were 3 clear horizontal circles visible on each of the four lenses.
I bought a ’88 Celebrity wagon (4 Cyl) with 63000 miles from a GSA auction. It was immaculate & turned out to be one of the best cars I ever had. I sold it with 108,000 miles and saw it driving around my neighborhood for 2 more years. Only the paint & body rust forced me to get something else.
My college roommate (back in the mid-80’s) got one of these from his father, a real-estate agent, after he was done with it. A rather base model with the four-cylinder. I swear it was slower and noisier than the VW bug he used to drive.
There is a somber black plain jane Celebrity sedan, similar to the feature car that I see every once in a while, I have never been able to grab a photo of it, but there are a few of these still around down here in Miami.
Tom, I will echo your observation as well as most others’ here, that Celebrities are essentially nonexistent anymore, and haven’t been for a long time. The very few I’ve seen in recent years are in far worse condition than this featured car you photographed.
But then again, the lifespans of celebrities are usually shorter than the average person. All the drugs and partying leads to bad things!
Clean car. Makes me want to get pics of the nearly spotless Lumina coupe for sale near my apartment.
Echoing what was said above, I hope a few of these get well preserved so folks in the future know what we really drove in the past.
I saw an interview with the curator at the Henry Ford Museum and he said the car that was hardest to obtain for the Driving America exhibit was the 1978 Dodge Omni (maybe it was the Plymouth) – there’s just not any around anymore. Bear in mind the Henry Ford has cars like one of the 6 Bugatti Royales ever made, Mustang serial number one, the first Honda Accord produced in the US, etc, and a presentable Dodge Omni is what they have trouble obtaining. It wasn’t a matter of money, it was just finding one.
I assume Cash for Clunkers and similar programs got a lot of these. It’s the usual problem of strictly utilitarian cars — they aren’t the sort of thing that inspires a lot of loyalty, so they just keep slugging it out as long as they run or until there’s an incentive program that makes it more lucrative to junk it than keep it.
This is one of those cars that provokes absolutely no strong feelings whatsoever, positive or negative. It’s like the living embodiment of a little kid’s drawing of a car or the cars from the less realistic variety of cartoon art: It is a box with a roof and some doors and four wheels that goes from point A to point B without any particular consideration of style or verve.
I don’t know that there’s anything wrong with that — not everyone wants their car to be an in-your-face lifestyle statement or a rolling caricature — but it also doesn’t inspire any real sentiment.
I doubt that these qualified for C4C. My 93 Crown Victoria missed the cut – the gas mileage was too good!?!
Depends what you wanted to buy. You had to get a Focus or something with high gas mileage, not another 20-22 mpg vehicle.
They got too good of MPG to qualify for C4C and they were long gone by then anyway.
Judging by the commercials I’ve seen for 80s cars on youtube, this one probably got about 45 mpg! YMMV!
From what I remember, it was mostly SUVs/Minivans that qualified and got traded in with Cash For Clunkers, due to their poor fuel economy. At least in my area, most Celebrities were already off the roads by then.
There were oodles of V8-powered cars traded in. Lincolns, Cadillacs, etc.
+1. Most of the Celebs were already gone and I remember some of the most commonly traded vehicles (figures were floating around during and after) were things like Explorers, Windstars, S-Blazers, V6 Caravans/Voyagers, and the like.
I just saw a Celebrity about a week ago. It actually had the license plate that indicated it was a “classic” car. It was light blue in color.
As a person who grew up in the 80’s, I saw the Celebrity, in all of its iterations, on a regular basis. Seeing a “classic” plate on one reminded me that I’m no longer young. HA HA.
Personally, I think the person who realized the Celebrity is a classic is very smart. I’ve been to many car shows, and there usually aren’t too many cars from the 1980’s. Really, the simple passenger car such as a Celebrity, is the one that evokes a lot of memories from those who attend car shows.
While walking my dog this weekend I came across what must be one of the last of the breed of these. From the trim, lights etc.. it looked like an 89 or 90 in what appeared to be pristine condition. Pleasantly surprised, even more so when I opened this page to see this. They still exist, in more numbers than the Pontiac 6000 from what I can tell here in car climate friendly Colorado.
Here’s a rather nice-looking example I’ve seen around.
Nice write up on a great for its time, but largely forgotten car. Seeing these “average joe” survivor cars does more for me than a restored old Camaro/Chevelle etc..those are just too common. It’s far less common for someone to take the time and care to keep a normal car looking showroom quality for nearly 30 years.
However..I can attest to the fact that these must’ve had rust included as a dealer installed add-on. My parents for a very brief time in 1991 owned one of these, a silver & black ’84 CL sedan with the 2.8 V6, after totaling our ’86 Thunderbird (also a rust bucket by ’91). The Celebrity had rust on the fenders as well as the lower edge of the trunk lid..not something one would expect from a 7 year old car. We live in road salt hell, but a car still shouldn’t have major rust issues at such a young age. My dad decided it wasn’t worth keeping around with so much rust, so they went to auction & bought an ’88 LeSabre & sold the Celebrity while they were there. He still speaks highly of the way the Celebrity drove, but it didn’t hold a candle to the LeSabre.
I don’t think the owners of this type of vehicle “took the time and care”—rather, it was probably parked and forgotten about. Considering it’s the Midwest, it was probably even parked 6 months a year because of snow. I know many older women who didn’t drive when the weather turned cold; albeit, if at all! I remember an old couple who had a Celebrity…he died shortly after buying it, and it stayed parked in the garage until she died fifteen years later.
You are correct about that, these cars were considered disposable cheap cars, which were bought new for cheap and driven into the ground and then dumped. The Buick and Oldsmobile A-Bodies were just as disposable but because the folks that bought them brand new were older folks who most likely thought this was the last car they would ever buy due to advancing age, they took really good care of the cars, which is why most Buick Centuries and Oldsmobile Cutlass Cieras that are still out on the road look like they were pampered.
I have not seen a Pontiac 6000 in years(and I lusted after a fully equipped 6000STE with all the gadgets and AWD) even though it was made until 1991 but that might be because for the most part the 6000 was forgettable due to the fact that it followed the Cutlass Ciera and Buick Century in its revisions and gained the rounded rear end that they did in 1989 where as the Celebrity was boxy from the beginning to the end.
One of the best friends I ever had, her name was Amanda and her mom drove a gray Eurosport Celebrity. This was in the mid-late-90’s. I remember a bunch of us 13-14 year olds piling into her mom’s Celeb and going to the movies. I also remember how there were little push pins with starts attached to them stuck into the sagging headliner.
Maybe I missed it, but, do you know what they were asking for it?
Is it just me or are the badges on the trunk lid up too high? Telltale sign of a repaint.
These things were EVERYWHERE during my high school and college years. The only one I see regularly is a plain white Iron Duke-powered Celebrity coupe driven by an elderly lady in a neighboring town. A little rusty but still going strong.
I can’t make out the engine callout. If it was the 2.5L Iron Duke, I’d take it in a Heartbeat of America. 😉 Our family had good luck with several Duke-powered A and N bodies.
If it was the 2.8L MPFI, then that was a good engine, but too much for a 3 speed THM-125. (My 2.8L ’89 Beretta ate two of them.)
To my recollection, the intake manifold coolant leak issues didn’t start until the General enlarged the V6 to 3.1L.
I was assigned a ’82 Celebrity as a pool car for field work. The car had a V6 with Automatic and A/C. The best it could do was 17-18 MPG on the highway. I was so disappointed in how the car handled and the noise level. My ’83 Cutlass Supreme rear wheel drive (231 V6 with Auto & Air) managed 19-21 MPG on the highway and was far more comfortable. I stayed away from GM small cars when it came to purchasing my personal car. The General could never get its formula correct for small cars.
I have a 1986 red celebrity 4 door I love that car but I think I had to part with it
1988 vr 39,000 all original
Stumbled across this car on CL…. looks like the new owner didn’t take good care of it… Note missing window and dent in right quarter:
https://quadcities.craigslist.org/cto/5418869031.html
My 84 custom conv by Hess and Eisenhardt rides like a Cad and the 2.8 gets 30 mpg highway best classic I have ever had
Here it is
if anyone got a 87 chevy celebrity forsale let me knw 334 200 6308 are dink.woodham@yahoo.com
1988 vr all original 39,000 miles
Would be nice if it has a cassette player. I could play my Annie Lennox tapes with the A/C full blast.
Ha! Another eurythmics fan!
They were nice looking cars just not durable with light-weight components. No surprise many dropped out of sight by the early nineties if not sooner depending on where one lived.
This CL Eurosport showed up at a shopping centre near my house a couple years ago. Dirty, but no serious rust and the interior looked good. It had older series plates which makes me think the owners might be seniors.
I used to see a pre facelifted Celebrity wagon that regularly parks at Texas Roadhouse in Kennewick, WA, I’m not sure if that car is still there or not, this was like a year or so ago the last time I saw the vehicle parked there.
To think: These are now well over the age of qualifying them for antique status, but who is collecting them?
Mines nicer and only has 90,000 original miles.
There is so much nonsense posted in the comments above. The Celebrity is a great car and workmanship is above average. I am driving a 1983 4-door with V6 which is in great condition. It is white with a white vinyl roof and a maroon tweedy looking cloth interior. It’s originally from Idaho but is now with me in Phoenix, Arizona. I park it outside and the original paint and interior is still holding up. I keep sunshades in the windows whenever it is parked. It has zero rust. My car originally had 13″ wheels but I upgraded to 14″ Chevy Z24 alloys. I hope to have this car for many years to come.
I had an ’86 Celebrity Eurosport CL …Nice car I had until about 2008…. I eventually swapped out the O.D. transmission to a 3speed due to the O.D. hub constantly wearing out ..bought another 85 at the same time I had the 86 and kept them both for years. . was in great shape when I got rid of it
My 88 celebrity eurosport vr 41,000 original miles