The name of this Screaming Yellow Zonker paint color is “Yellow Bright” which seems backward to me but who am I to question The General. It’s a pleasure to show you this 1980 Chevrolet Chevette four-door hatchback – or, some would say five-door hatchback. It’s listed here on eBay in beautiful Chattanooga, Tennessee and the seller is asking $7,500 or you can make an offer. Thanks to DP H. for sending in this tip!
As a big fan of bright vehicle colors and also Chevettes, I would love to have this one if it had a manual transmission but it has a three-speed automatic. As if any Chevette wouldn’t stand out enough today, this canary-like color really throws a Batman-like WHAMMO! out there while you’re at a gas station or grocery store.
The gas filler door shade catches my eye as does the left rear door, although, we don’t know if this car has been repainted or if any portions of it have been repainted. The seller bought this car six years ago from an estate sale company and they didn’t provide any information about its history. This Chevette has the optional Sport Wheel Covers and the optional roof rack is great both visually and for strapping down any luggage that doesn’t fit in the hatchback space when you and three of your closest friends do the Route 66 trip that you’ve talked about since this Chevette rolled off the factory line in Wilmington, Delaware.
The seller mentions some issues with bumper filler material in the front and they show photos, and thankfully, replacements are available. As long as I mentioned photos, the seller gives us great photos overall, including underside photos. The interior looks nice to me, with some normal wear on seating fabrics and carpets. The back seat gets a B+ and this car has “COLD” factory air-conditioning.
There never was a six-cylinder option for a Chevette, unfortunately, and with emissions equipment and air-conditioning, along with 800 pounds of passengers, it could have used more power. This one has Chevrolet’s 1.6L inline-four with 70 horsepower. The gas gauge doesn’t work but otherwise, this Chevette is ready to roll to the next car show where it will, I can almost guarantee, have more people standing around it than around the brand new Ferrari and/or Lamborghini in the next row. Chevettes: yea or nay? It’s a big fat yellow yea for me!
Scotty, I see two possible courses of action: 1) plop in a SBC, in which case an auto-box will do fine; or, 2) swap in a manual transmission and go a little less slowly.
Seriously, it looks like a pretty decent car — almost to the “Best One Left?” level — but I’m too old to be able to imagine paying $7500 for a Chevette….
I’m with you on that, RayT. A handful of years ago this may have been a $3,500 car? I guess time keeps marching on and with it, so do car prices.
I’m with both RayT and ScottyG here. At $4,500. this would be a fun-silly vintage car to drive to Cars & Coffee. Time will tell if vintage car prices correct in the next 1-2 yrs, along with late model used cars. BTW — This is a Michigan car. It is not a pristine, rust-free TN car. Spent 36 years from 1980 to 2016 in MI. Think about that. I see alot of surface rust underneath.
A few years back $3,500 was $ 7,500.
Ironically, a perfect car for these times because it was built during a very similar climate of high gas prices and inflation. These were really hot back then. A buddy’s parents ordered a new ’80 in light blue metallic and a bright yellow one arrived instead and they took it and said thank you and tried to act happy. Wasn’t worth the wait for the correct color! They built over 450,000 of these things for 1980. To put that into context, that’s about the same production as the 2019 Toyota RAV4, the last normal model year before the pandemic.
I test drove a new one in 1984. Possibly the worst new vehicle I ever drove. Zero power, terrible ergonomics and shoddy workmanship. I felt sorry for the saleslady.
People love to pick on the build quality of Chevettes but I think they are kinda cool in a under-appreciated underdog kind of way. Someone in the troy ny area had a off white 2 door version and a guy I went to college with in the late 90s had a red 4 door. Wish i could find one and do just that- take it to car shows.
Wow a yellow Chevette! I guess that’s all I can say for this car.
Sorta reminds of Prince,s 1983 hit YELLOW Chevette , as opposed to Little Red Corvette, I still like the Chevette for the good ol days when my Sister inlaw had White Chevette with black interior if i remember correctly,cute little car at the time.
And it’s an Automatic!
I test drove one when they first came out.
I decided that I’d be better off,& would have
a better car (& more money) if I just kept my
1971 Corolla 1200.I also think mine was faster.
I wonder how much flak the seller took about
that front license plate ?
I have to say I enjoyed this write-up. It reminds me of an interview done with the great movie trailer voice-over actor Don LaFontaine. He put his best into every trailer, even if the movie was almost certainly a stinker. He said he worked just as hard because even the worst movie is someone’s favorite.
Scotty put a lot of love into a Chevette article, and I respect that!
You’re way too kind, Mark C, thanks much.
My parents had one, I would have to say the absolute worst car I’ve had the pleasure to drive. Vacuum hose nightmare, why is it, that Chevy could not produce a decent economy car in those days? Pretty much nowadays too. These cars didn’t earn the name, “Shovette” without really trying.
Maybe the competition was just as bad, the USA public was ignorant, or a combination of both?
“The Chevette was the best-selling small car in the U.S. for model years 1979 and 1980.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Chevette
my brother danny had one untill he gave it to my sister and brother-in-law
0 to 60 in around 30 seconds w a load of people and luggage…try to pass someone and if the head gasket does not blow then it overheats like a freight train…better forget about mountains hills, or even banked roads…it has about the same power as most lawn mowers
Not much had a lot of horsepower in 1980 , this was an econobox and like the Mode T, it was built to go from point A to point B using the least amount of gas ; they weren’t built to be an exciting car . Your comment about head gaskets and overheating aren’t’ true unless you really neglected the cooling system ,the engines in these cars were very durable and a far cry from the engines the early Vegas had. Not a nice riding fast car , just a cheap economy car
I worked on these at dealerships in the late 1990s…if it was fully loaded w ac and automatic…they were notorious for overheating…the radiators were way too small …no one ever maintained them….and they were classically driven by overweight people, as they had much more interior room than the imports….try to fit a normal 210 lb guy and his wife in a Datsun B210 of that vintage……my b210 consistently got 36 mpg…the chevette…maybe 24 mpg if you were very lucky….I had cold ac in the Datsun that would frost the windows…the chevette…w the ac on max would not even keep a soda cold….4 different water pumps, and 5 different radiators…in the same year chevette…should tell you something…my Datsun lasted well over 120k miles w no major repairs…90% of chevettes ended up on used car lots as trade in w under 50k on them…dealerships hated them…at one point a shop I worked at had 12 chevettes for sale….every single one ended up w thousands in repairs before being dumped….on new buyers….I also worked auto parts for many years…water pumps and radiators were stocked for over a decade before most of them were off the road and crushed or destroyed
I drove a 1981 vette for 2-3 years, and the only thing that was decent about that car was the engine (Isuzu diesel). The rest of the car was truly a POS. I bought 3 more for parts, because I needed their auto transmissions.
Not much had a lot of horsepower in 1980 , this was an econobox and like the Mode T, it was built to go from point A to point B using the least amount of gas ; they weren’t built to be an exciting car . Your comment about head gaskets and overheating aren’t’ true unless you really neglected the cooling system ,the engines in these cars were very durable and a far cry from the engines the early Vegas had. Not a nice riding fast car , just a cheap economy car
I worked on these and sold parts for them for close to 2 decades. The reason for the low mileage…it never ran right from day 1….these were notorious for water pump, radiator, cat convertor failure, and carburetor failure (overly rich or leaking), and very poor gas mileage…in most cases w that combo you got mid 20s at best…maybe 26mpg on the highway…many mid size and some full size cars could match or do better than that…….this is a show piece, or a museum piece, but will never be a reliable daily driver for anyone…just too unreliable to depend on as a daily driver
The only car I can think of that I’d rather have in my garage less than this is…. no, wait, this is the last car I’d ever have in my garage.
I think the only thing worse than that would have been the 4 cylinder Camaros, available from 83 to around 87.. You could get one with a 2.5 liter Iron Duke, a 4 speed 700R4 automatic, and fully loaded with AC, PS, PB and all the rest of the electronic crap…. From 2018 to 2020, you can STILL get a Camaro with a Turbo Charged 4 cylinder and a track package. I saw one recently, for sale with a 5 speed manual trans, track package (Brembo brakes), 20 inch rims,… Original owner said it wasn’t fast enough… its a 4 cylinder, NOT a V-8….
I have to agree with several others. The Chevette was a joke. Extremely poorly built. I bought one for my son many years ago & wouldn’t make that mistake twice…neither will he. There is nothing about it that qualifies it as a half-decent car, it is a joke.
Major design feature is that base Chevettes (pronounced “shove-it”) weigh less than 2000lbs. Which means that they aren’t even worth much even when you scrap them.
I bought an 81 brand new. The workmanship was worse than pathetic, my wife could put 4 fingers through the gap between the door frame and the roof.
The right front headlight was blown and I had a fight with dealership to get it replaced I was told headlights were not warranted. Transmission was so noisy you could hardly talk inside while driving. (Took dealer 4 days to rebuild trans.) This was the worse car I was ever stupid enough to buy!!!!!!Dealer tried to tell me gap in door to roof was normal.(!~@#$%^&*()_)
Although I was too young at the time to drive a car, I remember cars like the Chevy Chevette. I thought it was a cool looking car. I don’t get why it’s so hated by car enthusiasts. Was it really such a bad car? I’m sure it was a good car for the time.
The reason was very simple, the were HORRIBLY unreliable, and got poor gas mileage. The repairs were on going starting about 6 months after you bought it. The suspension was classic A arm, with regular shocks front and rear. Taken from the H body cars. Ball joints, A arm bushings, and shocks were known to go bad as early as 40K miles. Exhaust had a FULL size Cat convertor, that was “refillable” clogged up consistently as carbs were jetted too rich most of the time. Have one with AC, good luck getting it to stay cold, these systems leaked like a hole in a bucket due to badly designed rubber hoses that rubbed sharp fittings when the engine rocked due to on going bad motor mounts. These cars also had Timing Belts that went out around 45K, crippling the car. Ever try to replace one of these on one of these with AC/PS/Power Brakes, it is an all day job most of the time… Up to 10+ hours labor to replace a under $15.00 part. That means in english that if the labor rate is $100 per hour, that job would be well over $1250 with parts (timing belt, oil change, coolant change, water pump) …. in most cases far exceeding what the car was even worth…. at time of repair. I did a few of them…. 1 AC car… what a mess. 1/2 the front end of the engine has to come out to just replace the belt or water pump.
Read the comments. You’ll understand why!
Somehow I’ve owned two of these dogs in my life. Just terrible cars. You could probably find a nice used Lexus for 7.5k
In drivers ed I drove a 1980 Citation that exact same color combo.
My buddy in high school had one of these. Long running joke was he told girls he would pick them up in his Vette, and show up driving a Chevette. Think that trick only worked once out of fifty attempts.
Fun times and it was better than what I drove which was my feet.
Cheers!
“In my teenage years, I had cool Chevette posters all over my bedroom”, said no-one. Ever.
Scotty—I think you may be the only Chevette fan in the world.
Ha! That’s probably because I’ve never owned one…
I once had the pleasure of renting one of these and driving it on a 200 mile round trip.
It was slow, cramped and scary when an 18 wheeler tailgated you while trying to get up a hill.
How they ever sold more than one of these before word got out is beyond me.
The only thing worse was a Pinto
I once told a girl I was trying to date back in the day I had yellow Vette, lol.
Methinks that the best way to draw a crowd at Cars and Coffee in this little bugger would be the implantation of a FORD EcoBoost 2.3, six speed manual and suspension and brakes to match the drivetrain…
It worked when we stuck a 32 valve Mustang Cobra engine and transmission in a Chevy SS454 pickup.
Grandpa had one and he said the little devil has power:-)
Maybe the seller will list this on BaT,
then there will be nothing but “glowing praise”
posts about it!
Plus,it will probably sell for $50,000.
Hey, wait a minute fellas, let’s be fair. It’s not as bad as a Trabant.
From 1980 to 1995 I owned a 1976 Corvette that was, if I recall, was called Bright Yellow. That’s why this one had to be called Yellow Bright, so no one would get confused because they were SO much alike!
Auction update: it wasn’t me but someone grabbed it for $7,500!