We’ve seen nine 1980 Chevrolet Chevettes here on Barn Finds over the years, and I must really like them as I wrote up eight of them, with the other one being written by Russ Dixon. I’m an unapologetic lover of small and unusual cars, “throwaway” cars for a lot of people, and “worthless junk” to many others but not to me. This “4-Door Hatchback Sedan” can be found here on craigslist in Pompano Beach, Florida and the seller is asking $5,900. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Rocco B. for the tip!
For the “Yeah, but, but, but, it didn’t cost that much new!!!!!” people, you’re right, it was about $4,500 – which with inflation would be about $17,200 today. Can you even get a new car today for $17 grand? Whatever it cost 44 years ago is inconsequential, of course, we’ve beaten that tired old argument to death. It only matters what it’s worth today. A Lamborghini Miura was about $20,000 new, and which one would you rather have today?! Wait, let’s start that over again…
This car looks like new with very few visible flaws and that’s amazing after 44 years on planet Earth, or wherever it spent most of its time. It looks like it has been sitting in someone’s living room for 40 of those years. I believe the color is Light Blue Metallic and it almost looks like a two-tone in the photo above, but it’s not.
We don’t get a photo of the back seat, which is somewhat rare for even a craigslist ad, but I have to believe it looks even nicer than the front seats, which basically look like new. It’s a cool disco-era patchwork denim look in vinyl, I love it. I’m not sure what’s hanging down in the back of the steering wheel? The rear cargo area looks big enough for a cross-country road trip but could use some cosmetic help, unlike everything else in this car.
Even the engine looks super clean and should be a Chevrolet 1.6-liter OHC inline-four with 70 horsepower and 82 lb-ft of torque when new. Backed by a Turbo-Hydramatic three-speed sending power to the rear wheels, the seller says this one has 40,000 miles and they don’t say how it runs but I have to believe it runs as good as it looks. Let’s hear those Chevette stories!
Nice Vette.
Zzzzzzz
The exterior looks like 40k miles. The interior looks like 140k miles.
@ Jim Grey, Agreed, and I have to believe the floor mat was purposely skewed to hide some carpet damage. That rear hatch looks like it’s getting pretty crusty as well.
One of these ran through a stop sign in front of my dad’s 76 Gran Torino. It took a nice heavy grille shot from the Torino, being struck in the mid section at about 35mph. The poor Torino had a scuffed bumper, missing piece of black bumper trim and two “teeth” missing from the grille. After the Chevette was pulled out of a nearby tree, we thankfully saw that the young girl driver was ok, minus some bumps and bruises. I have to say I was impressed, even as a kid, that she faired as well as she did. The poor Chevette on the other hand was u-shaped and done for. Needless to say, years later, I still prefer being in a much larger car.
This looks just like my in-laws car. I had a 77 2 door and even with auto and air, it could cruise all day at 35 mpg.
Didn’t you mean 35MPH!?
Is it desirable? No, but It would certainly be worth a look if spotted in a parking lot today.
You nailed it, TimS, that’s exactly how I feel. I mean, how many muscle cars can a person see without falling asleep, or maybe that literally is just me? Give me the oddball vehicles every time.
My old man had one of these, equipped similarly, that he used as a commuter car. I’m 6′ tall and (besides being extremely slow) it was the most uncomfortable car I’ve ever driven. PoS, IMO. Good luck!
I think we can already can guess how it runs, we don’t need to hear it.
I believe it was Car and Driver that reviewed this car in 1980. Lets just say that they were less than kind.
Car and Driver doesn’t review cars from the standpoint of transportation, dependability, and practicality. Never have.
JDC, try reading the 1976 Car and Driver long term 26,000 mile test of the Chevette, where they test the car for transportation, dependability, and practicality.
I remember. Brock Yates wrote it and was proud of himself for getting four paragraphs in before using the word “sh*tbox.” 😂
Really miss that guy.
Timmy, Was one of the absolute best magazines around for a long time. Still pretty good too. 👍
Looks like this accelerated so quickly at some point that it snapped the needle right off the speedometer.
I hadn’t caught that. One has to wonder how it broke off!
When my local Chevrolet dealer received their first Chevette (a red Scooter) in late 1975 I was amazed how much smaller it was compared to the then smallest car Vega. I bet the interior volume is better on the Chevette.
⁹My aunt had one of these back in the day and I have to say, it was an enjoyable little commuter. Not sure why they have such a bad rap. It is one of the few cars from that era that was like a little tank and not prone to cancer. Hers never had a speck of rust. Which is more than I can say for the Dart that preceded it or the Tempo that succeeded it.
My preference is for the earlier models before the rectangular headlights, but this one is really sharp. Would draw a crowd at a car show.
The American Trabant.
Now THAT’S funny, comrade….
In 1982, my girlfriend’s mom had this same car but in yellow. She would not let her daughter and I go to the beach unless she drove us there then wait around to take us home. Going to the beach meant going on the highway; she merges on then proceeds to cut across into the left lane. Then stays there for about 50 miles, maxed out at about 53 mph, at best. Bedlam behind us. When we are almost at the exit, she cuts across three lanes just in time to take the off ramp. At the beach, I told my girlfriend that her mom is a terrible driver and let’s take a taxi home. “Oh no, mom is a good driver – she just stays to the left because she is blind in her left eye and can only see to her right.”
No, I did not marry this young lady.
1.6 liters and a turbo hydromatic. Experience the feeling of being in one of the slowest cars cars on your local freeway.
Second-slowest. They made a diesel version of the Chevette, remember?
My coworker had a diesel, one with a five speed manual, he got close to 50 miles to the gallon with that thing! Funny how I took 40 years for cars to achieve that again, except a few years later, the Ford escort did it but they’re diesel escort.
I had a 1983 Chevette with Isuzu diesel and 5 speed manual transmission. Fun car to drive. I used off road diesel fuel which was cheap on my farm. Had plenty of power because of the higher RPM’s. Climbed the hills on my farm with ease. It was a gray hatchback with red interior. Sharp car and I miss it. You could park it in the smallest of places.
We had an 86. I told my wife we needed to get in the illicit drug business as it needed 3 pushers to get it up the hill. She saw no humor in that comment. :-(
Chevrolet was so proud of this car that they didn’t even put a bowtie emblem on it. Seriously, I don’t see a single one on this car. Usually there is one, at least on the grille. And I agree with Jim Grey, the interior does look like it has 140k miles of abuse. And the left front headlight looks like it’s ready to fall out.
It left the factory with a small (as was the style of the era) bowtie centered on the grille which has been lost or removed from this car sometime over the last 45 years. For the money being asked, replacing it along with the side moldings all non-Scooter Chevettes had by this time would be a reasonable ask.
Looks like a great $2000 winter beater car.
Our family had a ’78, thankfully a 4spd, in my HS days & I liked it then. Because: ’70s/early ’80s was low tide for everything, & any car w/ a radio when you’re young.
I sold my CA 92 Civic Si, in better condition, a year ago for less money. It had 235k miles on it & did everything better than this car did when new.
It’s nice to see survivors, but let’s not go crazy.
My younger sister had the Pontiac Version of this as a first car, but with a 4 speed, first week or 2 she had it she kept stalling it and it rolled back into a ditch, she ended up as an Airline pilot
Wasn’t the Pontiac called a T1000? A fair guess. the Chevettes with the sport shifter were actually kinda fun, drove many at the dealer I worked for right out of high school in ’78.
I bought an ‘81 two door with automatic brand new for about $5,000. Drove it for 12 years and 140,000 mi. About every 20k a little sign would come around on odometer that said check emissions. (The first year for CCC computer command control) Every couple of years it would need a brake job & new muffler. Never burned oil, ran great but extremely slow. It only got 28mpg. with the auto. Finally sold it for $100 when the drivers seat fell through the floor due to Wisconsin salted roads.
Underneath it was somewhat based on the Opel Kadett. I had one of those as beater for a couple of years, it was a solid little car. I don’t think these were as well made. I guess the bean counters outranked the engineers at that time. I drove one of these once and seemed like the steering wheel was crooked, like it was in an accident. Other people have said the same thing. But at the time these were better than a Pinto or a Vega and seemed to be a good around town or second car. If I was looking to buy a classic I just don’t think this would do it for me, but as they say there’s an a** for every seat.
Chevette? Shove it!
Went to a local car show last summer and one of these showed up with an Ls1 in it. I never expected that! These cars were great for what they were designed for “cheap transportation”. I sold these faster than I could buy them back in the 80’s and buyers loved them. One of Chevrolet’s rare success stories from the late 70’s & 80’s.
Speaking of no photos of the rear seat, if this was the base “Scooter” model, it didn’t have one! And one might look at these cars as being cheap and tinny econo-boxes, but when you consider the car they replaced, the Vega, you can appreciate them a little more.
I too like to see well-preserved economy cars. They will always get poked at because they are (fill in the blank: slow, cheap, simply styled, use basic technology, have low-rent interiors, et al). But they filled a role, and often sold well.
Was selling Chevy’s in ‘77 and sold my girlfriend at the time a new cherry red ‘78. Shortly afterwards my sister bought used ‘76. These were popular entry level cars and filled a need for a cheap commuter car especially for those who mostly did local driving, they were out of their element on the highway. The gas shortages of the early 70’s were still fresh in a lot of minds so cars like the Sh*tVette received a lot of interest, sold a ton of them.
Such harsh opinions, and that was Chevettes issue all along, they lived in the shadows of the Vega. As geezerglide says, they were basically an Opel,and Opel made great cars. It probably should have had the Opel motor, as it didn’t burn oil like a Vega, but still had the belt cam. Being an “interference motor”, once they puked, not many fixed them. Besides, once again, the Chevette had big shoes to fill, as the Asians offered a much better car, for less.
Be that as it may be, an astonishing 2.8 MILLION Chevettes were sold, so not everyone bought Toyotas. I believe the “Scooter” was the lowest priced car in America( $2899) almost $400 less than a Civic. You didn’t get much with a Scooter, and catered to small package delivery. Few survived.
I had a ’82 Scooter, great little car! Perfect for to-and-from work, never had an issue with it.
The dealer I worked for had a sale in ’79, a Scooter for 99 down and 99 per month. Total price! A crapload of ’em sold that month, mostly beige in color.
Chevettes proved that GM could deliver on a reliable budget commuter. My parents’ only new car ever was an ’80 Chevette 4 speed.
My wife and I bought one of these ,exactly the same color as the one for sale , It was the first new car we ever bought ! We bought it because at the time it was the only ” NEW CAR ” we could afford ! It was a fantastic little car and we drove it pretty much trouble free for nearly 250,000 Miles ! The floorboards and under body finally rusted to the point we had to get rid of it
I had a 80 ‘Vette (as I called it). 4 speed manual. Awesome car and with snow tires in the back and a couple of Paul’s of sand never got stuck ever (I live in Mn and lots of snow back then). A real workhorse too, hauled a 6.5’ wide snowmobile trailer with 2 ski doo elans and a Santa Claus sleigh on it, with two kids and all our winter gear to northern Wi many times over the years. Many great memories created due to that cars reliability! Vette was dark brown with deluxe fabric interior❤️❤️ I think this car is a steal at this price for the condition- if it was a manual I’d be thinking about it for sure!!!
Nice little cars for what they were this one the odometer has obviously rolled at least once
Oh, boy. Had a ’79 lime green Chevette. Wanted a stick but had to be an automatic, dad said, in case mom had to drive it some day which, of course, she never did.
Compared to the ’73 Kingswood Estate Wagon with a 454 I drove before the ‘vette, it was dog-slow but handled like a sports car with manual steering. Only fun part was drifting in the snow. Memories, but not good ones.
No rust, I’ll give it points for that. The crew cab Chevette… Chevy’s answer to what to do with left over Vega parts.
I remember not wanting to fill or keep a full gas tank if expected to get up to a reasonable speed trudging uphill on the expressway ramp. Floored, the roar of rushing air and no propulsion was a common GM economic-fused characteristic.
Check this out against a Honda Civic of the same year and you will know how/why the Japanese got such a foothold on the American market and have never been dislodged. I rented a Chevette during a 1977 Florida trip and nearly got first degree burns on my legs from the engine heat transferred through the firewall. Chevettes are a P.O.S. down to their very grommets, or as New Yorkers say: GAHBAGE!
I remember my family having a few of these econobox cars when I was a kid. Chevettes, Escorts, Tercels, etc. When they had AC, we called it the “turbo button” because when you pushed the button to turn the AC off you got a sudden boost of movement/energy. What piles of crap they were.
When junk yards where were you took your cars, there was a guy who had a Chevette that he put a 231 Buick V6 in.
It could light up the back tire like nobody’s business!!!!
Had one same year, just for a field bomb,rolled at over many times, bounced off trees,many eight of us with different bombers,the drivetrain never faulted,thing even ran sitting on its roof
Chevy chevette it will drive you happy that was the ad jingle
You sure it’s NOT two tone blue sure looks it from all, angles especially behind the rear wheels where the is no moulding
My wife had a round headlight two door stick her mother bought her in high school it was like green she called it the frog way before I met her thank goodness
In 1982 I purchased a new Pontiac T-1000 ( same basic car as Chevette) for my daughter to take off to college. It was punished miserably by kept on keeping on. She was home from college one weekend and we had a bad hail storm. This little Pontiac, my wife’s Volkswagen Rabbit and my 300D Mercedes were all parked side by side. Both the Volkswagen and Mercedes were damaged badly. What I found unbelieveable there wasn’t a sign of any damage on the Pontiac.
Pity those who won 1 of these, or an asian Lemans, or Yugo or … on the old Concentration game show. Or worse, an early Vega on the old Lets Make a Deal – i think.
I believe all those “winners” still had to pay sales tax.
In 1979 my sister bought a new Chevette. A few months later my now ex-wife and I bought a new Toyota Corolla. Both cars were 2 doors, hers had a hatchback ours a coupe. We bought from the same dealer. In 1979 this dealer sold every GM car and Toyota. My sister was very happy with her car so we went there to buy one. The salesman told us to compare the 2 cars. Closing the doors on the Chevette they sounded tinny, closing the doors on the Corolla they had a nice solid sound. I stuck a piston in 1988 and bought a different car instead of repairing the car. My sister drove her car until 1991 and the passenger floor rusted completely out.
Auto with AC = Get out and push when you get to a hill.
Our 86 would cut out the AC compressor when you needed extra power. Or, maybe we did it with the button..IDK, it’s only be 38 years. LOL
I get a kick out of the sellers description, “3 DOOR HATCHBACK”. “THESE CARS POPULAR AMOUNGST DRAG RACING VERY EASY V8 CONVERSION”. “VERY COOL AFFORDALBE CLASSIC CAR” Classic car? You can’t possibly equate a Chevette with classic…
This car prompts a memory from my childhood. When I was still in grade school, maybe 5th or 6th grade, my Dad and I would go to Watkins Glen in July to see the Can Am and 6 hours of endurance races over a weekend. Terrific display of loud, aluminum block, open exhaust cars that would light your soul on fire : ) This particular year, we needed a car, since ours was laid up, so he rented a Chevette, the 2 door. It was small, but it was new, so it wasn’t bad. I remember that we were going to watch a movie that was free at the track site, ala drive in style. That particular evening, as we approached the movie viewing location, we were greeted by the sound of rocks hitting our car. It seems that some of the “bog” animal types didn’t appreciate our headlights as we were a little late for the movie. My Dad got spooked so we left quickly. If you recall the history of the track, the bog, a muddy gulch on the track property, prompted a lot of interesting behavior, that was usually fueled by alcohol or weed or whatever was the status quo to get the party started. The one year, the bog animals burned a full size bus, so Dad had a good reason to split. The Chevette ran fine for our trip, but it’s malaise came out when we couldn’t get the left turn signal to cancel. I remember Dad doing some tight left/K turns until it finally cancelled the turn signal. That was my introduction to small cars and was the only time we ever had one in our midst. Dad ended up liking the Lincolns, with the couch like seating and smooth 281 V8 (1996). I miss him and those awesome Glen races.
Did you hear about the guy who wanted to date a real Classey chick, she was fine with it till he showed up in guess what instead of the ‘vette he had said he was driving. LOL
This car has a special place for me. In 1981 I met a girl at work. Unbeknownst to her, I was a car guy and I asked her what kind of car she had. She said a Vet. then there was a pause and she said that is a Chevette.
We are now married for 40 years.
get a look at the odometer, looks like it was tampered with and how do you break a speedo needle?
Administrator, does anyone know why I typed in two lengthy replies and they’re not posted? Glad to fix it if I made a mistake