Well, now I HAVE seen everything....

[studegary]

I owned a 1976 Chevette that was "loaded" from automatic transmission to vinyl top. I could hardly wait the months for the title to arrive so that I could sell the car. I remember that it slowed down noticeably when the A/C compressor cut in.
A guy at work had a diesel version.
I haven't seen one on the road in a long time.
What is antique (25 years old) is a moving target. Even an early Acura is now an antique.

[Orestudeguy]

Ah, the Chevette,, You either loved them or hated them. I had a freind that had the diesel version and loved it. I got to drive them as I worked for GM dealerships and it was a step up from the Buick Opel that I had driven.
My neighbor up the road still has her Chevette and she won't sell it. As for the LUV (light Utility Vehicle) truck, a fellow chapter member has one and he has been very happy with it.

[Bob Bryant]

Ms son and I bought a used LUV. The seller was somewhat deceiving and we should have had it checked our prior to the purchase. Had to have some engine work done and the timing system had been bandaided prior to sale. Should have evaluated it more prior to buying it.

Years ago Carol and I flew to San Diego and we were on one of our low overhead vacations. We picked up the rented Chevette and had a fun time. In San Francisco area with the hills it was a little anemic in performance. When we were going over the pass and into Nevada we were in the slow lane on the inclines and the semi's were passing us! I needed to pedal faster. A former co-worker had one in Michigan and it worked out very well for the use it received in the local level terrain.

[bob40]

My Dad was offered a Pontiac T-1000 as a company car.
Drove it 2 days,home from work then back to work the next day.40 mile round trip.
Had my Mom pick him up from the office and left the Pontiac there.
Thanks but no thanks!

[8E45E]

My mom owned one of the last T-body GM's, a 1988 Pontiac Acadian. GM was only too happy to unload the things, that she got a $1500 trade-in allowance on her 1981 Lada that she only paid just over $5K for brand new seven years before. She had it for nearly 14 years, but then, she never drove it everyday as she retired from her job in 1990. In 2003, she traded it in on a brand new Hyundai Accent which she still owns, and probably will keep for the remainder of her driving years. To be honest, the T-body was hardly an improvment over her Lada for ride and looks, etc. Ironically, GM has since partnered with Autovaz, and are now making 'Chevrolet Lada's'

Craig

[Sdude]

We used to have a Chevette GSA car in the car pool. It was a certified POS and we used to scramble to get a good car so as not to end up with what we called the "Vette". Whenever someone new would come in to the unit that needed a staff car, we would ask them if they wanted the Vette. They would giggle and say "no really" to which we would, with a straight face, tell them it really was a Vette. The newby would always say "sure" and we would all get a good laugh as they left for the motor pool with the keys.

[Bill Pressler]

When I married my wife in 1989, she was driving a four-door '78 Chevette 4-speed which had lived its entire life in salty NE OH. It wasn't too bad, but smelled like gas inside...I remember that!

When I bought her a new '90 Corsica 4-cyl. 5-speed, she was very excited!

When the Chevette came out, it was priced identically in two-door hatchback form to the '76 Vega hatchback. By '76, I'd have taken a Vega in a NY-minute over a Chevette.

[BobPalma]

Actually, Chevettes weren't all that bad for what they were. I probably had 40 or 50 of them through the years in the Used Car business. You could make fair money on them if you knew the market. (At least when the timing belt broke, it didn't ruin the engine, and was easily replaced.)

But they suffered the same genetic malady as any cheap car; they were bought by people who had little money and often did not care for them. Unfortunately, too many of our Studebakers originally suffered the same fate....how often do you think the oil was changed in the average 1957/1958 Scotsman?

I've got a dozen Chevette stories from those days, but the oddest one, I think, was a couple over here at nearby Indianapolis Raceway Park (4 miles east on U.S.136) for the MoPar Nationals or some other collector-car event, in a rump-rump Plymouth Road Runner. Nice car. They were over here from Peoria IL, fully 200 miles NW of Brownsburg.

I had a garden-variety Chevette 4-door for sale 'out front of the motorcycle shop here in Brownsburg right on U.S. 136 where I used to sell my cars. The Chevette was nice enough but nothing special as to equipment, miles, or price. As they left the show to go home, they passed in front of the shop and saw the Chevette. They thought it might be a good car for their son, so they drove it, liked it, and left a deposit on it. (It was Saturday afternoon and the banks were closed, so I wasn't about to let them have the car on a personal, out-of-state check after hours.)

No problem. They drove 200 miles back home to Peoria, got a cashier's check Monday morning, then drove 200 miles back to get the Chevette and drove both cars 200 miles back to Peoria!

At the time, Chevettes were a dime a dozen and common as all get out. 'Couldn't help but wonder, "Why on earth would you drive 400 miles RT to buy a car like that when there had to be dozens of similar cars within a 50-mile radius of home?

You never know. BP

[Avantidon]

It must have been because of the seller and the smile on his face along with the warm and friendly conversation that he held with the buyer. -

[Jeff_H]

Once in a while I will see a ratty beater Chevette around this area. I think I even saw a ratty Citation once last year!

I actually drove one once. My aunt came over to visit my mom once with her (new to her) '78 2dr chevette when the clutch went out about 5 miles from our place. This was in about 1990 or so I think. My dad and I went out with the pickup and a tow rope and brought it in. I was in the Chevette. Then we somehow got it to a local mechanic to do the clutch. My aunt was and still is always pretty short of funds so I think my mom paid for the repairs. After it was fixed, I remember driving it a bit to check it out and it had a pretty bad brake chatter. None of the 4 plug wires matched and were obviously used from some other cars. But, the engine ran good and wasnt smoking. We tarred up the tin that a prior owner had "fixed" the floors with, changed the oil and I think she drove it a couple years before it died.

What I remember about them is the steering wheels were offset from the driver seat. Beater ones usually had saggy front springs so the tires were leaning in at the top. They were a car designed for the 55mph speed limits that were everywhere back then, I think driving one at 70 today would not be good. A different aunt and uncle (from above) had a '80 or maybe a '81 4dr one they bought new. My cousins pretty much beat it to death when they were in HS. Then again, those guys never met a car they couldn't kill somehow.

2004 I was at a car show and someone had a diesel chevette there. It was certainly not mint or show shape, just as it was when the owners father stopped using it as a commuter car. Definately unusual and Id never heard of one before.

[bob40]

Passed a 1978-9 Plymouth Horizon today.Must have been the farmers summer car
Thought of this thread when I passed it.

[markansas]

I almost bought a 1980 Citation 4-door in 1987.. Cinnabar (red) and cream 2 tone 4-door.

I only had $1500 to spend.. the guy wouldn't come down from $1750.

ended up with a 1977 Ford LTD Landau.. triple dark jade green, tilt wheel, but no cruise..

power locks, but no power windows

a friend's uncle was selling it.. He special ordered it that way. And he was more than happy to get $1500 for it. 78,000 miles

I had it three years, 2 years it delivered pizza.. new tires, full brake job, and transmission.. sold it for $800 in 1990..

lady drove it 40 miles round trip to work for 18 months, until her husband wrecked it

and a couple weeks ago, my girlfriend and I were in Texarkana, and saw a 1972 or so Ford Courier (Mazda) pickup .. looked good, and in the popular butterscotch tan color that was one of the common colors.

[rockinhawk]

My wife had a dissagreeable old uncle who lived across the road from us. He bought a Chevette and a LUV truck new. All 3 of them are gone now and I don't miss any of them.

[Johnnywiffer]

...At the time, Chevettes were a dime a dozen ...

They are PROBABLY not that low-priced, but at our local Pick-N-Pull, there are several, many almost complete. So you can PICK one out N PULL it home and be the 1st on YOUR block to have a CHEVETTE planter. Don't need no stinkin' Yugo!

John

[qsanford]

My cousin's husband had a YUGO and he had good service from it ,somehow! It was remarkable because when he sold it, while still fairly new, he got his full purchase price back. The new buyer was a recent immigrant from Eastern Europe and was absolutely thrilled to get it! We used to have a joke about why all the YUGOs came standard with electric rear window defrosters; it was so your hands wouldn't freeze to the glass as you pushed the car when it broke down in winter!(ggg)