The Chevette was the successor to the subcompact Vega. It was less controversial than its predecessor (but boring) and saw variants offered by Pontiac in the U.S. and Canada. Nearly 2.8 million copies were built over a dozen years and are seldom seen nowadays because they were cheap transportation. This 1984 edition is a rough but running survivor and comes with a rare (so they say) 5-speed manual transmission. Located in Hudson, Wisconsin, this cheap wheels project is available here on eBay for $2,750 OBO. A shoutout goes to “Mason” for the tip!
As Chevrolet’s second attempt at the subcompact market, the Chevette didn’t have the same negative baggage as the Vega (poor workmanship, premature rust, overheating engines, etc.). Yet mechanically it didn’t differ much, but the past ills had been corrected. It was standard fare with a front-mounted I-4 engine and rear-wheel drive. Though hardly an exciting automobile, it went on to become the best-selling small car in the United States mid-way through its run.
As the story goes, this Chevette sat outdoors for about 15 years before being saved. The blue paint is badly faded and there is corrosion in several places that will require replacement parts rather than patches. The seller describes it as a running/driving project with lots of new parts. And the acquisition price is low. But does the car warrant the buyer spending far more than its purchase price to fix all its ills? Maybe this is one of those “drive it until it falls apart” cars.
New to the Chevy are the gas tank, battery, hatch struts, and tires. The interior is okay except for a spot on the driver’s bucket seat and the carpeting in the front needs replacing. This edition is the Sport model, which meant it came with some stripes and a few appearance extras but was a regular Chevette mechanically. A 5-speed manual transmission was optional, but at this stage, it may be just “mildly interesting” in terms of the appeal of the Chevette. If you bought this car, would you just do the minimum to keep it going or would you treat it to a restoration?
That rust would scare me off – $500 would be more reasonable.
Unlike the Vega, I seldom saw Chevettes rusted out her in Ohio. They were little, underappreciated tanks. Seeing the rust on this one, I think I’d pass.
I had a buddy in high school with one of these with a 5 speed. We used to have fun running around in it on the backroads. These actually are kind of fun to drive, they’re rear wheel drive, and bullet proof.
Were the engines Brazillian made Izuzus? That kind of rings a bell in my senile old brain. I agree, they were fun to drive. Nice little units that got little respect.
I’d pass. I drove one of these when I was a meter reader for a utility company many years ago. It took forever to get started in the morning, their weak in-tank fuel pumps caused that. It had no power, could barely reach 55 mph. I knew someone who had one of these with the optional diesel engine, that must’ve been even worse than the one I had at my job.
Can’t remember how many times back in the day when I finally got around a car on the freeway that was causing traffic to slow, it was a diesel Chevette.
Check your facts- Chevettes had an engine-mounted mechanical fuel pump, not an in-tank pump…
Zen,
You’ve got the wrong vehicle. The Chevette had a mechanical pump, mounted on the side of the block. You probably had a Vega/Monza with the 2.3, that car had an in tank pump.
Yeah, they were boring but reliable cars in my experience.
My girlfriend soon to be wife in 1979 had a Acadian in bright yellow with 4 doors. The car was ideal around the city and even good for highway travel. Many Chevettes and Acadians were on the road in western Canada for over a decade or more. They can still be found on the streets from time to time.
The car you never wanted to get behind on a two lane road. Later replaced by the PT Cruiser.
You left out VW microbuses.
Funny, I STILL remember the time I passed a bus on a two lane road!!
Those PT GT’s with the high output turbo four are no slouches.
A couple things to mention. The Chevette wasn’t really a successor to the Vega (that’s more what the Monza and later Cavalier was).
The Chevette was a new “level” for Chevrolet all-together, considered a mini-compact when it first came out, one size down from Vega.
As for this particular Chevette, it would be an ambitious project for anyone without a gain in the end, other than having an unusual, rare econobox.
But kudos to the seller for actually showing the rot, instead of only including pictures that showed it’s best sides.
It was a cheap way to tell people you had a “Vette.”
That’s so true!! I actually knew a guy in the ’80s who used to call his Chevette a “vette”.
Large chunks of missing floorpan are never a good thing on a unibody car.
LOL at the prices people are asking for junk these days.
Reading the ad on eBay, it sounds like this Chevette was basically “junk” when they bought it. But it is now a running/driving car. Far from junk imo…but of course I’m the type that can step away from the computer and actually tinker on cars like this and make them better as I see fit. And in the meantime, you can drive a highway-legal go-kart around. I bet it gets more thumbs up and conversations started than any Mustang or Camaro.
Indeed, many have stories about these. Most wanted a high performance pony car, but few could habdle the insurance, so most drove stuff like this. At a show, these draw crowds because people can relate to them.
A few years ago, this would have been a $500 car… if that…
It still is, if that…
I test drove a new one in ’79 with an automatic. The salesman said to get it on the freeway and “dry it out”. Seemed to do alright for the time. Hot Rod and others were recommending swapping in the 60° V6 from the S-10 as a fairly straightforward install.
Birth of child #1 in ‘83 caused replacement of a ‘65 mustang with anew 4 speed manual tranny ‘83/84 Chevette which cost about $2,300. Eventually sold lit to an uncle for $500.00. Fun for tooling around San Diego back then.
James P.
No chance you got a new 83/84 Chevette for 2300 dollars. Unless you got it for more than 50% off MSRP, which I doubt.
It was a big deal when this car was introduced in 1975 to have the stripped down “Scooter” model (which didn’t even have a back seat, cigarette lighter, or a glove box door), have an MSRP of $2995
A niece of mine had one of these new. She had a bumper sticker on the back that said “ Thank you for not laughing at this car.”
It was perfect.
Restore a Chevette? These cars were disposable then, and they’re disposable today as far as I’m concerned. But my nephew had one, drove it for years, and even managed to get a few speeding tickets in it. So maybe I’ve got it wrong.
We bought a new 4door with an automatic trans in ’83 as a daily commuter for my wife. It then went through 5 kids and back to me at 25 years old and 100,000 kilometers as my daily driver. Never had drive-train problems, could easily cruise at 110 kph (70 mph for you southern guys — man I hate the metric system), got great milage and was easy on tires. When it finally started having ignition problems the guys at the shop that maintained it asked to buy it. It was back on the road the next week. Oh, and it started every time at -20 degrees celsius.
Scraping the bottom of the barrel. I got stuck with one of these as a rental back in the day. It would go 70- but I couldn’t bear all the racket coming from under the hood- so I didn’t go over 60.
Major engineering requirement for this car was that it weighed under 2000#
It weighed 1996#. Success! Lousy car, but hey, it doesn’t weigh much- which is actually a shame, because when they all got scrapped they didn’t bring much money.
I remember a Chevette that one of my brothers had as a 2nd car… the “Scooter” package. Paper bag brown. I believe that may have been the base version, or at least close to it. Very basic car, no frills at all. I think it had the 4 speed manual… with the heaviest clutch action of any vehicle I’ve driven before or since… and that includes trucks. Annoying to drive any length of time in traffic.
Scooter was the sub-base model “stripper” spec as a price leader. No chrome, no glovebox door, no door armrests, non-adjustable passenger seat, and could even delete-option the rear seat entirely to knock a few more bucks off.
The ones I want are all on the other side (either one) of the country. This one, in my backyard, wouldn’t want. At first I was thinking if not rusty, for the right price, would be cool. Then I saw the rust. No thanks. This was one of the first cars I ever drove back in the day.
After the FWD X-Car fiasco, but before the almost as bad J-Cars, Chevy dropped back fifteen yards and punted, returning to its roots with a sub-compact as a shrunken big car with RWD in the Chevette. Meanwhile, the FoMoCo Escort/Mercury Lynx and the Chrysler Omni/Horizon twins and their derivatives were both far superior automobiles, having successfully started both Chrysler and Ford down the FWD path that would later consume GM, who went way too far in the other direction, when they made the Sedan DeVille a FWD car!
Before Ford had the Escort they had the Fiesta. Arguably a better car than all in this conversation.
True. First Ford had the Maverick/Comet (compact), then came the Pinto (subcompact). The Escort replaced the Pinto as the subcompact, and a stretched Escort became the compact car as a Ford Tempo & Mercury Topaz. The mid-size car was the ex-Ford Torino, re-badged as an LTD II, with the Panther-platform derivatives (Crown Vic, Police Interceptor, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Marquis) holding court in the full-size castle. Ford, unlike GM, thankfully resisted the temptation to make its full-size cars FWD. The Fiesta actually was smaller than the Escort, so it could arguably be called Ford’s first microcar, as later editions of the Fiesta sported a 1.0L three-cylinder engine under the hood.
These cars are real dogs. Mine actually had a cable instead of hydraulic clutch which of course broke. In my ignorance I actually drove one from Florida to California pulling a trailer, so I guess thats something.
I don’t understand comments about it being slow. Uh, yeah… it’s a Chevette. An absolutely great car that excelled at everything is was intended for. “Oh no, somebody drove away from a traffic light more quickly than I could. This car must be garbage.” I must be old
Well… I wouldn’t say that it “excelled”… but I get your point.
In my day it would be a hundred dollar beater, today it should be a thousand dollar beater
Chevette and restoration…two words that don’t belong in the same sentence! I had a few of these. I would love the diesel version to accompany my Oldsmobile diesels! Only GM product I had that blew the pinion and side gears out the cover on ice!!
Was selling Chevy in the late ‘70’s and sold my GF at the time a new red ‘78. Also sold my sister a used ‘76. At the time they weren’t bad little cars for someone tooling around in a small town without much highway driving. Cheap to buy and own.