The site was feeling a bit neglected, and since no less than 3 people mentioned the Fairmont reminded them of a Corsica, here’s a Corsica!
Do I treat you people great or what?! You can thank me later.
(Thanks to Andrew T. for treating us to this Cohort shot of the lovely Chevy.)
Andrew had some pretty spiffy commentary about this car:
“The Chevrolet Corsica and Beretta. By the calendar, these cars are old enough to tread onto the realm of nostalgia. In practice, though, the cars were a spectacular example of GM anonymity and averageness at its best…not the sort of thing that sets minds and memories ablaze. They offered no surprises, good or bad. They barely changed, too: A 1996 Corsica looks almost identical to a 1988; on the outside, anyway. I don’t consider these cars photo-worthy unless either a) they’re one of those elusive 89-91 Corsica hatchbacks, or b) they’re a very early model.
So, how to spot a very early model? The key to look for is in the safety equipment. 94-96 Corsica/Berettas had door-mounted seat belts and a driver’s side airbag. 91-93 models had conventional seat belts and an airbag, while most 88-90 models had door-mounted belts and no airbag. Only 87 and early 88 models…the earliest of the early…were equipped the way this one was: No airbag, no door-mounted belts; just conventional pillar-mounted 3-point goodness. And since legitimate ’87 models are rare (supposedly, they were released only to fleets as a means of “beta-testing” the car while civilian models debuted as early ’88s), you’d be hard-pressed to find a Corsica any older than this.”
As of 2012 , 1987 is considered Eligible for Classic Car /Antique Status.
in california, From what I Understand.
Styling is similar but only half size.
I took drivers education in one of those suckers, but thank god it wasn’t the Caviler the school owned prior to that!
FYI the Corsica is the only car that made my Celebrity feel luxurious.
I also took driver’s ed in these things. The high school had a small fleet of 2 or 3 of them. If I recall correctly, they were the ’91-’93 models with the standard seat belts and the airbag.
Agreed about it making the Celebrity feel luxurious. Shoot, it made my parents’ ’81 Dodge Aires feel like a luxury car in ride, handling, and dare I say, power (they had the 2.2L with the M/T).
I have a story about the Corsica. In 1987, I was starting a new tv station in San Jose, and my boss from NY flew in to visit. I went out to greet him at the front desk, and he said that he forgot his briefcase in his rental car. I walked out the door with him and…Holy Shit!! what is that car you’re driving??? I’d never seen a picture of one before! A Corsica; what the hell is that??
I was reading car magazines then, and kept pretty up to date on all new cars and such. I might have read that something like the Corsica was on the way, but this caught me completely off guard. Imagine yourself in the same situation: a guy shows up in a rental you’ve never seen before. Are you a test driver for GM in your spare time?
Well, wikipedia confirms what happened: “The Corsica was first sold as fleet cars to rental agencies and to large companies in 1987, prior to mainstream release.”
Perhaps the only car designed by GM to specifically be a fleet queen?
That’s funny, in this era it seemed like they all were!
Yes. The very first thought I had when I saw this thread, was, “Another amorphous blob from GM.” Which it was; completely nondescript. A Toyota before Toyota cornered the market there; and without Toyota quality.
Then, it comes out, it was sold to its target market FIRST: RENTAL FLEETS!! Damned if they didn’t seem to be aiming for that market, first and foremost…consumers be damned, we’ll make the money with Budget and National.
With 25 years’ hindsight, it doesn’t seem to have been a very clever marketing strategy.
They never promoted that in their ads, “yea! We sell it to feets!” They used it to test the cars out before they sold them to retail customers, though it could have had a negative effect if a renter got a bad early Corsica/Beretta and that soured them on the car.
I think they didn’t even badge them with Corsica or Beretta nameplates when they the early ones were sold to fleets, I remember seeing a Beretta in traffic as a kid before they were out, it had Chevrolet bowties but no model nameplates.
FWIW, many car companies do beta testing in rental fleets. Before new car launches were global, many of the foreign cars spent a year or two in the home market before coming over to the States, to work the bugs out. VW did this repeatedly.
Not a bad strategy if you ask me. Who could care less about a car than the average renter? They’ll beat it mercilessly and then they help you find the weak spots in a given design. Whether the weak spots are addressed is another issue entirely.
Never heard of them until the misidentification with the Falcon yesterday
IIRC, the Corsica and Beretta were initially sold to fleet customers late in calendar year 1986 (i.e., the early part of the 1987 model year) as 1987 models, then went on sale to the general public early in calendar year 1987 (i.e., the middle to later part of 1987 model year) as “early” 1988 models.
At the time I remember reading that GM built it to a National Rent-A-Car spec. I had one as a rental once and it was a real POS.
Up until about a year a colleague of mine had a Corsica hatchback in the same color as this. Not many Corsicas to start with up here in northern europe. No pictures of it unfortunately. He then upgraded to a Kia Magentis V6.
In all fairness, the Corsica was not a bad car at all, at least in V-6 form, as most of them were. The 3.1 V-6 did not have the intake manifold gasket issues the later 3.4 had and the 4 speed auto was also very reliable. Yes, most were fleets or rentals but man-o-man could you pick these babies up cheap. I remember being at auctions looking for taxis and seeing 1991-1992 models off rental wholesaling at like $3800. I half considered buying for myself as a run around car, you simply couldn’t go wrong.
That is until, in 1992, I snagged a 9C1a loaded detective car. It was Canauckistani-spec, meaning the hot 350 and big duals and no emission controls. Running on LPG, no less. Man I loved that car until it got totaled a year and a half later.
A friend had a Corsica. I don’t recall too much about it, except that we took it when we went hiking at Crabtree Falls once. On the way back, I was sitting in the back seat and I brushed something that was caught between my knee and the seat. It turned out to be a large angry bee, and we all wound up bailing out of the car on the side of the highway. The girls were a bit frantic, and I was not having my finest moment either. A cop pulled up and asked us what we were doing in a very business-like way. Someone said, “there’s a bee!” The cop rolled up his window and drove away.
So that actually does work! LOL! I was wondering if it really did work after watching Tommy Boy.
The incident happened within a year or two of Tommy Boy being released, but I hadn’t seen it yet. I suppose if too many people copied the antics from the film then some police may have become suspicious and investigated bee attacks more carefully.
Driving on the Alaska Highway once, I had my arm out the window and a bee flew up my short sleeve and went down my back. My father, riding with me, couldn’t figure out what I was thrashing around for. I hurriedly stopped and somehow managed to get the thing out of my shirt before it stung me.
During a brief stint at a Chevy store I was lucky enough to take one of these in on trade for a Cavalier. From my father in law.. I want to say it was a 93 with around 230k on the clock, blue with a blue interior.
It held up well to the abuse of a traveling salesman. And I learned a valuable lesson in (never)doing business with relatives!
I Lived here when this and the Beretta were introduced, I drove up the Coast In My New to me Grand Am in 1987 and The New Chevys were all Ove PCH 1 over the Pacific – Rental AvisOnly, Not Yet Available in Chevy Showrooms, as a Way Of CRAZY INTRODUCTION To the California Market. …. My Grand Am Was Barely Capable of Round trip to SF and Back to LA
Later Perhaps 1992 , I was Disapointed to discover This Maroon Corsica rental in Boston as what they had for me. /us…. it worked, but was not as nice as the 97-98 buick century i was given the next east coast trip.rental
I was working for a Chevy dealer in ’87 and I remember we got a very early one on the used lot. The one thing I remember is the drivers window falling into the door.
I think that was a GM ‘feature’, my aunt’s ’86 Park Avenue did the same thing. Fortunately my uncle was a mechanic and could fix it himself.
Bummer of a car. The two I knew sure held up to abuse though. Good first car for a kid, if you don’t like your children all that much.
I too get to drive one once as a rental. You know, back then it seem like such a dog of a car, just didn’t get any respect at all, like Mickey Rooney. We (at least people I know) seem to think only the fool and the desperate would own one of those. You’d get yourself ridiculed and your car-buying sense questioned if you drive one of these. Now looking at it again after so many years, these were actually a nice, attractive design.
A Canadian oddity with the L-body Corsica, the staff of GM of Canada had dusted-off the Tempest nameplate for Pontiac’s own version of the L-body who was sold from 1988 to 1991. I spotted a vintage ad broadcasted in Quebec, Canada
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szbcTMfv70Y
as well as some pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmbrown/6018920587/
I got hold of a GM book on Corsica/Beretta back about the time the cars went on sale and was fascinated enough to want one.
Pinching pennies as many young families do, we bought a stripper special in summer ’88…base stereo, no A/C…under $10K out the door.
The four-banger had plenty of power and returned as high as 34 MPG highway. Of course all the 4-lanes around Pittsburgh were still marked “55”.
About a year and 18,000 miles later, a distant slapping sound began developing that was really obvious during engine braking. It was the thrust bearing.
One motor rebuild under GM warranty.
The following year, the ignition module quit. In the passing lane of the Parkway West, Pittsburgh’s major route west to the Airport. Yes, it had 40,000 some miles on it but the car was still only two years old, and ignition parts were supposed to last 100,000 miles. That repair left us $260 poorer.
Not long after that, the slap was back…and we had our second motor rebuild under GM warranty.
This was also the era when GM was melting down Crayola crayons, mixing some solvent in and calling that “paint”. My Corsica was part of that GM recall for peeling paint. Kudos to the dealer for knowing how to work the GM warranty system, instead of the three panels that were actually peeling, the service manager said “makes no sense to just paint those panels when the whole car will be peeling soon”, and I got the entire car repainted.
We were racking up the miles – 88,000 in just over three years – and the slap was back. This time we just traded it in on an ’84 GMC Jimmy. Got $1300 for the Corsica.
Lessons learned:
1) “New” doesn’t always mean “reliable”. (especially GM FWD cars in those years)
2) NEVER, EVER buy a stripper special. A V6 A/C car would’ve brought twice as much – even in that condition and miles.
I’ve heard/read that Corsica/Beretta became very reliable over the years. I enjoyed driving mine, especially with that 5-speed, and thought the design was pretty cool. But it was yet another example of a GM vehicle rushed to market half-baked.
Lesson #3: Never but anything from GM early in its product cycle. If you get a late one, especially used, the cars will be, in most cases, not bad. An added bonus is the reputation will be so awful by the time you buy one the prices will be dirt cheap.
Lesson #4. GM made pretty good V6 engines at the time. The fours were not good. Avoid.
I hardly recognize this one. Every Corsica I ever saw had huge sheets of paint missing. It takes a special gift to be able to design a car that made a Tempo or an Acclaim look appealing.
Id rather have The Dodge Spirit, Or The Acclaim, Forget The Tempo/No Topaz for Me either…Id Much Rather have a 2.8 Celebrity though.
I worked for Alamo Car Rental in this cars era. Lets say I am glad that era is behind me and leave it at that. Alamo had 1000’s of these and the Cutlass Ciera as well. One day I was t-boned while driving a Ciera. Long before side impact air bags. It hurt…
I remember seeing one of these on the street in Bridgeport, Connecticut about six months before they were released. Had on minimal camo and a test-car interior (white and black houndtooth seats and full of test instruments). I had to cross the street to get a better look because at the time it looked so sleek and modern. It was a sharp contrast to the boxy Celebrities of the day.
As GM cars of the day were concerned, these were nice looking, still look decent today – especially the Beretta.
A good long time friend to my sisters and former neighbor of ours bought a maroon Beretta with the pop up sunroof new and had it when we came to visit us once (this was long after he’d moved out of the house and we moved out of the neighborhood) but at the time, still lived in Seattle and this was in the 1990’s.
I remember he and I jumping into it to make a quick run to the store for something and that was my only experience riding in one.
I have always liked the general styling of the Beretta myself but it didn’t seem to be anything special otherwise.
My father had always bought the cars in our family. In 1991 he told my mother to buy what ever car she wanted – she could pick it out without any interference from him. She was ready to buy a Corsica until she read about the reliability in Consumer’s Reports and changed her mind. She ended up with an Acura Integra.
I bought an ’89 Beretta new. I sold it eight years later with 150,000 miles on the clock. The 2L four had lots of life in it when I sold it — and the only reason I sold it was because my third child was on the way and there was no way the whole family would fit in it anymore.
I liked this car. It was comfortable, reached 60 in about 9-10 seconds (not a speed demon but not dog slow either), and was capable of 100 mph. I took all kinds of long road trips in it perfectly happily.
Cosmetically, the car was a disaster. Clear coat started chipping off the doors in about year four, the headliner started coming down on my head in year six, the trim kept peeling off, etc.
Back in 1988, I was working in advertising for a Tier 1 supplier, we all got discounts on new cars from our clients. I remember when I first saw pix of the Corsica, I thought it was the poorest copy of the then groundbreaking Taurus.
In an office with 400+ people, even the folks you know well at the office you don’t always see every day. One day when a bunch of us were in the smoking area, we were discussing new cars. I went off on this diatribe about how the new Corsica was the ugliest, worst copy of the Taurus, I’d ever seen. Of course, to my chagrin, the guy I’m telling this to had just bought one…
Fortunately for me, he knew I was a blowhard and just let it roll off his back, and I shut myself up and never said anything like that again.
Here’s a fun fact: the 1991 Corsica was the first car to have airbags and anti-lock brakes standard on a lower priced car. Weird trivia I remember from back then.
As Zackman has his predilection for hardtops, I have mine for a mid-sized hatchback, this was one of the cars on my shortlist when we knew we were going to have to ferry kids around. But no V6 Corsica could have matched my Lancer Turbo…
Hah. That’s some foot-in-mouth I could see myself doing.
My uncle has never had a problem with self-aggrandizement and when he was deemed important enough by his employer to merit a company car in 1995-96, he made sure everybody in the family knew about it. My grandfather overly impressed, as usual. My father, who had his fill of Detroit-built company cars during the ’80s (and more than his fill of his little brother’s boasting), struggled to hide his disinterest.
At the next big family gathering about a month later, there was a new car in the driveway…a deep purple, four cylinder 1996 Corsica. I was stunned that they were still being produced. My uncle was outside droning on and on about the little crapbox. My grandfather was checking out the car and droning on about my uncle’s success. My dad, meanwhile, had the most priceless smirk on his face while he watched the whole ridiculous spectacle.
After a succession of similarly pathetic GMs, this driveway scene played out again about a decade later, when my uncle showed up with a new Camry. This time, my grandfather was so impressed he bought one for himself within a year. My father, after realizing how comically oblivious those two blowhards were to the fact that his own late model Camry (his third one, no less) that was also parked in the driveway, just shrugged and went back in the house.
Families are fun.
The Corsica/Beretta are Deadly Sin candidates. Not so much for any style/engineering deficiencies, but just the fact that it appears to have been designed for the commercial market first and the domestic consumer was a secondary consideration.
In effect, the Corsica was confirmation that GM had completely given up on the consumer market or, worse, that they were taking it for granted.
My buddy had one of these in high school. He bet the hell out of it but it just kept going. I think it was an early 90’s model as it looked similar to this one. It finally died when he was pulling into a parking lot a little too fast. The driver’s side ball joint popped and the whole front spindle assembly, wheel included decided it was time to leave the car. Tore the front fender up good and set the ugly thing to the crusher.
After these came out, something really bothered me about them, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. One showed up at the company I worked for at the time, so I went out to take a look-see. Peripheral fingertip controls! OK, they were “in” at the time. I kept looking…then it hit me…no wheel well flanges! The wheel openings looked as if they were styled by Sawzall! Sorry, no deal…
The rest of the car? Fine. Seemed economical enough – we were all about fuel economy and smaller cars then.
When my aunt died and my uncle had to go into a home, their sons offered us first pick to buy one of their cars. My uncle’s car? A bright yellow Corsica. Nope, I decided to keep our K-Cars.
Educator Dan is going to slap me silly for not at least considering the other car: A Chevy Celebrity Station Wagon! (ouch, ouch, stop, Dan!)
THAT I do regret. It would have really come in handy during and after our move to Ohio, which was in the works at the time.
When I was in 6th grade, someone’s parents had a hatchback Corsica, I’m pretty sure it was burgundy. The hatchbacks must have been rare, I never saw many at the time. Our pastor traded his navy blue late ’80s Celebrity for a navy blue Corsica sedan in about 1991, and a lady who worked at my dad’s office had a two-tone red and silver Beretta, an ’89 I believe. The only other memory I have of these is in 1993 my cousin was looking at new cars. She really liked the looks of the Beretta but was disappointed with the plain interior. She wound up with a black Cavalier RS coupe instead.
That’s my car
Back in January 1987 I rented a Corsica with just 200 miles on its odometer. As I was driving home I heard a strange clunking sound coming from the rear of the car. When I got home I looked under the Corsica and noticed that the right rear shock absorber wasn’t bolted to the lower control arm from the factory! Ah… that great GM feeling….. I called the rental agency immediately and they sent a tow truck to have the car retrieved. They even gave me a free rental car to use for three days, an ’87 Ford Taurus four cylinder that was a pos!
My first car was a 1988 Chevrolet Corsica, Black.
It was given to me by my parents when the car was already 12 years old
and had exactly 99,000 miles on it, in the year 2000, and when I was 18 years young.
I put more than 30,000 miles on it in my first year to year and a half
of driving it before totaling the car when I ran over a very high curb in the median
and ripped out the entire oil pan and broke the front axle in two different places.
At the time, the cost to buy replacement parts and to fix the car would have cost
MUCH more money than what the total worth of the car would have been
and so my parents made the decision for me to donate the car to some unknown
charity (probably the Federal Government) so that they could get a tax break
come next season. Long story short, that car used to have a certain kind of a per to it when ever I stepped on the gas and the pistons moved back and forth
at a hundred miles a minute through that brand new fresh brown and thick, yet liquidy, oil and I would like to get another one someday, an exact carbon copy,
of the one that I used to have, second hand of course,
and fix it up to look brand new again so I can put another glorious
830 thousand miles on it and then some.