Sub-Compact Survivor: 1985 Chevrolet Chevette
The Chevy Chevette was the more conventional successor to the company’s troubled Vega sub-compact. It ran for 12 model years, spanning 1976-87, and would see production reach 2.8 million units in the process. The seller of this 1985 edition purchased the car a few years ago but has added little to the mileage since and it needs to find a new home. It looks good at first but has some wear and tear as would be expected after 36 years. Located in Hudson, Wisconsin, this Chevette is available here on eBay where the bidding is hovering at $3,402.
This car spent a lot of time out in the desert, which is good for abating rust, but not so good on paint. This one was fitted with the RPO Z13 “S” sport package which was an appearance option that added a cool look to the rather ordinary Chevette. Some of the items, such as special decals and black wheels with trim rings, are no longer part of the car. Over the years, the little Chevy received a rather amateurish paint job which has not held up, having been scorched by the Nevada sun where it stayed for a long time. And the paint on the back half of the car doesn’t really match up with the front half. Unlike so many Chevettes, this one has been spared the corrosion bug.
The interior is in good shape overall, but it will need a new headliner, at the very least. Several items have stopped working, like the factory AM radio and the cigarette lighter. The gas gauge works sometimes, and not others. The rear side windows have been put in a fixed position, no longer hinging open as they once did.
Under the hood of this Chevette is a 1.6-liter inline 4-cylinder engine paired with a 5-speed manual, which we’re told was somewhat uncommon back in the day. The car starts, runs, drives and stops but could use some carburetor tuning and a flush of the gas tank as the fuel in it could be 10 years old. The tires are certainly that old and need replacing.
The Chevette wasn’t a revolutionary design of a car. But it gave General Motors a mass-produced car to compete with the imports and domestics that had been a thorn in their side. They’re not a common sight today because they were built to be used and then discarded. These cars are priced in used car territory because a collector following hasn’t developed – and probably won’t.
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Comments
Side stripes need to make a comeback, looks so jaunty!
Not to mention good looking mirrors propery attached to the DOORSKINS. & good visibility all around.
Most of today’s plastic mirrors could not look more cheap, ugly & ungainly. & they are way too oversized & stick out way too far on many cars.
You can thank federal regulations for most of that mirror thing.
First time I hopped into my Chevette a few years ago I was shocked at how itty bitty the mirror was.
Andy, i do agree the GM & even kewler Ford racing mirrors
back in the day were a bit too small – used on many many models, but the std driver’s door chrome mirror, say, on a 1st gen camaro is the perfect size & looks good too.
I believe the reason they now mount the (ugly) mirrors where GLASS should be is that car makers are too lazy to route wires or cables(for mirror adjustment) in an “exotic fashion” if there was full door glass. Plus drivers these days are just too lazy to adjust the mirror on the outside – by hand, let alone roll down windows by hand.
I need to look at a schematic to see how in the world GM routed the cable for the optional remote control driver’s door racing mirror in a 2nd gen f-body.
Oh yeah…..jaunty……………
It sorta hurts me to say this but….. it’s kinda cool. I bet it would start a conversation anywhere you parked it.
I owned one for 3 years back in the 80’s. It was a 4 speed and fun to drive. Never had a problem with it and it was clean. Sold it for 300.00 and within a week it was totaled. A lot of memories from my teens in that car.
Back in the day GM sold alot of these chevettes….very common car
Just about everyone over 40 has a Chevette story, and no one has seen one since cash for clunkers. You go to a gas station and you’ll get to hear someone tell their story. People flock to them at cruise ins to the point that corvette guys leave, and muscle car guys get ticked.
Funny cause true.
Go to a car-show pre-Covid with the Chevette and you have more people interested in it than almost everything else… Instant smile and a nice Chevette story… Car gets more looks and waves than you’d expect. Everyone had one or maybe more! I have 3 currently running about!
Grab that Cosworth out of that rusted Vega and spice things up a bit.
Good idea. Take a clean running Chevette and add a Cosworth Vega engine then make it NOT run. 90% of Cosworth Vegas featured on here are non running.
I would leave it alone. It is NOT my cup of tea but wouldn’t mind it.
The period custom wheels are spot on and with a stick! This would be fun bombing around in. It is unique today and would get great economy. Which is needed with rising fuel prices in this “woke” state of affairs we are in now.
Had the identical vehicle new. Put 50k on it without turning a screw. Got 29 MPG and although the power was marginal, it was good transport
Do you know why the Chevette came with a rear window defroster as standard equipment? To keep your hands warm while you’re pushing it.
Funny. No really….that’s so funny.
I never heard that one before..
Ok…maybe a couple thousand times, but what’s once more right?
The joke actually applies to the Yugo, which DID have rear window defrost as standard equipment. It was never standard on the Chevette.
Before PT Cruisers, Chevettes were the cars you got stuck behind on two lane roads going 40mph.
Never happened to me in my PT. I opted for the turbo engine lifted from the SRT4. Had a stock PT and many Neons. Still have a NYG ACR.
Although the stock PT felt a little heavy were not slugs. Sorry. You must have confused the PT for the K car, Omni or Escort which were all way better than a Chevette.
AMC: Nope. No confusion. Simply based on many, many PT Cruiser drivers and their observed driving habits. I’m sure yours was/is not a slug.
However, years ago when these cars were still in rental fleets, I had the “pleasure” of driving one for a week in Northern New Mexico. With only the two of us, even without luggage, that car would downshift and whine on long gradual inclines sounding like it was ready to bit the shed.
Now the Left Lane Bandits are Corollas and Prius
370zzp those PT drivers were obviously driving slow looking for yard sales or buffets haha
I am amazed at some of the cars people keep hiding away for years.
I bought this same car in Black as my first car at 16. Drove it through thigh school and college despite buying and selling 4 other cars during that time. I learned to work on cars using my ‘Vette’, I had that motor stripped down to the pistons in auto-mech class…fond memories…
5 speeds was an option on gas Chevettes, 4-speed manual was standard. And it was an option you could only get on a 3-door, the 5-door had a longer wheelbase so every powertrain option meant a different driveshaft for both body styles (yes, these are RWD!)
Would suit a studio-rental company.
Our 79 4 door Chevette was manual trans.
My sister had the same thing in four door but she opted for the automatic. It couldn’t get out of it’s own way. It was reliable though.
Ex BIL had a Poncho version. Underwhelming but dependable. Like Depends on an old guy. After a while it was full of cr@p.
This one looks like the rare Eurosport model sold in very limited numbers. But every buyer that wanted one, got two.
Ar least its a manual…….that is one fugly steering wheel.
Have you seen most air bag steering wheels, especially the ones in the early ’90s? Or the ones on the 3rd gen Belinetta Camaros? & the 1 on the new vette wins no beauty contests & may not be very safe either. The std IMO old person’s steering wheel even on the superbird! & ’68 shelby! both look out of place.
I would rather have this steering wheel on a 2nd gen camaro than the silly 4 spoke factory one that blocks all the gage. I would have ordered this slow car with the fewest of heavy options, & no back seat – in the early days.
Is there a 5 speed that will swap in?
That terribly restrictive pellet cat conv is not helping matters.
Here you go, Joe. It was called the Scooter, really helped GM’s bottom line.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2018/03/junkyard-find-1976-chevrolet-chevette-scooter/
(Can’t believe I’ve made three comments on a CHEVETTE!)
The pop out rear windows were always a plus, I wonder what happened to cause these to be fixed into place?? Otherwise, a nice looking car AND a manual too!! GLWTA!! :-)
My niece had a Chevette when it was new. Best part was the bumper sticker reading
“ Thank you for not laughing at this car”.
Wow. We start with an article about the Chevette and it goes off into Vegas, PT Cruisers, K-cars, Omni’s, Escorts, Neons, Yugo’s….Anyone want to add a Gremlin-X to complete this pile of automotive litter??
How about an Austin Marina?
Took one in trade from my not yet wife back in 89 and we paid her $1,900 in trade. Compared to the Honda Accord she bought they were a very crude mode of transportation.The steering slants to the left on all of them.Looks like two fools met here with that bidding.
I bought a new Chevette two-door coupe at the local Chevrolet store in 1983. It was black with a Sand Gray interior. It was the standard 1.6 Liter engine with a 4-speed manual trans. Let me start by saying I am absolutely insane about maintenance on all my cars. And this Chevette was no different. Additionally, I always hand wash all my cars and NEVER go thru a car wash. Besides that, it was always garaged from the day I bought it.
And as a result, it looked and ran like a new car until I sold it in 1990. It was sold to a couple who wanted it for their daughter to drive back and forth to college. They knew me in a roundabout way and knew how I cared for my cars. I had kept a complete maintenance/repair log on this car along with all of the receipts for each entry to verify everything in the log book.
When they bought it in 1990, the car had close to 80,000 miles. Their daughter drove the car to college her entire four years and only got rid of it after she graduated because her parents bought her a brand-new car as a graduation gift. By then, this little Chevette had well over 100,000 miles.
But her parents would see me occasionally and they would say that Chevette was one of the best cars they had ever had. I told them it was among the best cars I ever had too.
I had one of these. I wouldn.t wish it on my worst enemy.
I’d have it, I have a Miata engine that would improve drivability, durability, and not hurt MPG. LS swaps and all that are cool but sometimes just a little more power (in this case about 30HP) goes a long way especially when you have an 11 gallon gas tank. Improve the brakes and handling by raiding the GM parts bin and you’d have a fun and useful hot hatch.
@steve-you had me almost spewing my coffee all over my laptop keyboard.
My wife and I had two of these after my daughter was born and we had to get practical. They were the first cars I kept for any length of time. Their job was to provide cheap reliable transportation for as long as they could. I found many of their parts were actual Opel parts and many were direct bolt-ups. I used Opel wheels for snow tires and for a replacement panhard rod in the back after the original found a parking lot bumper. The little car’s motor was built in South America, Brazil if I remember. They had a strange air cleaner which did not take an element but rather, required a replacement of the entire air filter canister at a cost of about $60. They got after-market units after one replacement. The only issue we ever had was a rusted gas tank which caused a fuel leak at a very inopportune moment. We kept both of them for about 8 years and they did their jobs admirably racking up well over 100K miles in the process. They were both manual transmissions and, while not fast (understatement), they made it to the top of Pikes Peak on numerous occasions. In their own clumsy way, they were fun to drive. They allowed us to save enough money to be able to pay cash for their replacements. I can’t see $3400, but this little car could very well be a fun commuter. I’d buy it for a reasonable price.
I never understood how Europeans can take the same little turd boxes we Americans buy and turn them into neat little cars. When we got the first Escorts, it was the same story.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Chevette-Hsr-Rally-Car-Redtop-C20xe-245bhp/164786017931?hash=item265e03168b:g:YwQAAOSwGRFgYKtZ
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Chevette-1-3/164784865671?hash=item265df18187:g:dRoAAOSwh8NgX16d
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1990-FORD-ESCORT-1-6-RS-TURBO/303933173622?hash=item46c3d42f76:g:oDoAAOSwMHZgXXEq
I think you have it backwards when you say “…Europeans can take the same little turd boxes we Americans buy and turn them into neat little cars.”
I can’t think of a single small car designed and built in the United States where the design was ” shipped ” overseas and improved upon by the Europeans. The reverse of your statement (good European designs are ruined by the American car companies) has always, unfortunately, been the case.
The original T-Car, the basis for this Chevrolet product, was originally designed and built in Europe. The J-Cars, the basis for the Cavalier…a European design exported to the U.S. The original Ford Escort: first built in Europe, for 2 generations before the 3rd generation was Americanized to mediocre results. The 1st generation of the Focus: a joint Europe and American design was botched by Ford America when Europe got the 2nd generation and the American market got a clumsy facelift of the 1st generation.
The Ford Contour: not a bad joint effort, however, Europe got a 4 door AND a 5 door sedan and a station wagon, the U.S. just the 4 door sedan.
The 1st and 2nd generation of Escape: European Ford sold a re-badged Nissan SUV before developing the Kuga. When it was time for a second generation Kuga, Ford of Europe and America finally co-designed a small SUV.
So no, Europe doesn’t take American designs and improve them, America takes good European designs…and makes them mediocre.
I bought one on eBay a year ago for $200 as a gaff(lemons racer). Put a 2.8lv6 that everyone laughs at with 5spd from camaro. It scoots crazy well now. Really surprises people at the auto cross. I have a couple of suspension tricks in it but all junk yard stuff. Best of $800 in it fun you can have. Plus the questions are hilarious
My brother had a 2 door silver 1984 Pontiac Acadian, the Chevette clone. He used it to commute to class at the University of Manitoba. Chevettes were common amongst students so in winter there were a lot of Ice Road Chevette races down Pembina Highway !!
Interesting, the Pontiac version in the States was called the T1000. Did your cars have the iron duke 2.5 or the regular 1.3/1.6? Only made it to Manitoba once, driving up from Grand Forks AFB. Lovely city!
Had an 81 4 door 4 speed and put 80,000 miles on it. Pretty much trouble free. Pieces of the front springs broke while it was sitting in the garage. Believe it or not, I actually got a speeding ticket – 60 in a 45 coming home at night – and yes I was going down a hill.
We had one. Sold it to Fred Flintstone. He loved the brakes.
Build quality on these was horrendous. GM never learned the difference inexpensive and cheap.
My dad worked at GM and built those Chevettes. I remember when they were first starting to get built, they had a raffle for the employees and relatives to name it. I never owned a Chevette but I did own a 77 Vega. I paid 1,000 for it in 81.Hated getting rid of it but bought an IROC in 1990
I had a 1980 model for 17 years…It was so much fun to drive….You could park it anywhere……Mine was a 4 speed……the best mileage that I remember ever getting was…..37 mpg,….on a trip to Texas……..I had to change a lot of timing belts on it…..They did not last as long as they did on cars later on……but I was able to change them myself.
Hmmm Pontiac taillights.
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I think these are one of those cars that everyone of a certain age has a story. My wife’s first car was a brown early model and I had a buddy in high school who stuffed a v6 from his brother’s wrecked Regal T-Type.
I never got to see my wife’s car as it had long rusted to dust before we met. But I have some crazy stores about the Chevette Turbo. It was a total death trap. The torque of the motor would almost twist the front subframe when you revved it up and you could barely keep the wheels on the pavement.
We drove it one day from Santa Monica to Mojave to check out the aircraft boneyard (My buddy and I were in flight school). We hit an unmarked railroad crossing at about 75 and the whole rear end got left behind. He did manage to fix it and put it back on the road.
It finally met it’s maker on Sunset one night in the rain. He put too much foot into it (easy to do) and spun into a brick wall and cut it in half. Luckily he was ok.
What I remember about these was that they were so tinny and had no refinement.
But this one actually looks pretty cool. In a perfect world I would do something fun with it
I had an 81 2 door automatic, I got around 1989 for $300,lasted until around 1992,unsure of mileage, odometer/speedometer broke right after 100k,carburetor was junky,just kept a j bolt in it to hold choke open,got 20 mpg even on highway, made it thru a road trip to w.v.from Chicago, and delivered pizzas part time,but during that time, had to replace springs in back,rear brake hardware breaking off from the harsh Chicago streets,and a transmission, a little turbo 200 I got used for $100,overall despite the issues, I got my money’s worth out of it,usually I remember what I did with every car ive owned, and I can’t remember selling or scrapping that one!
Only buy this if the price is reasonable enough and you have a cheap source for a V6 engine to swap into this.
I actually like the silver and red color combination, but those door mirrors need to be replaced with body colored mirrors or mirrors with chrome bodies (and yes, I realize chrome mirrors would be a bit retro…so what?)
SOLD for $4,050.
Ha, memories! I drove one in high school when we played football. When I first got it I’d tell a buddy, “I’ll pick you up in the ‘Vette’, they were soooo disappointed!
We’d screech to a space front first at an angle, get out and pick up the back end to finish the parking. Priceless
Hi Howard,
Nice to meet you. I’ll agree with you – to a certain extent. I was under the impression (correct me if I’m wrong), that companies by the Eighties had decided to market “world cars”, designed jointly by American and European staffs. I believe Ford advertised our first Escorts with a row of country flags on the bottom of the ads. It was never my contention that American companies foisted their designs on Europeans, only that the Euro versions looked and ran so much better than what we got. It was enough to make one think our economy cars were designed ugly, so a person would be persuaded to buy a different, more expensive model. When my growing family outgrew our ’91 Escort, we looked at the Contour, less backseat room than the Escort, simply not suitable for us. In Texas, I saw a Mexican plated second gen Focus RS coupe, beautiful. But when I started looking for a daily driver coupe with a five speed, I had to settle for a “clumsy facelift of the 1st generation.” Hence, part of my frustration. Great driver, but ugly as sin!
Nope, those are Chevette lights . The Pontiacs originally had different taillights, but later on they had the same as the Chevy. ,My 85 Pontiac had Pontiac lights, I think that was the last year for that style
My grandmother bought a brand new one in 82 when she was 78-79 years old. It was the last new car she ever owned but she wouldn’t drive it. It had a/c and an automatic but she made the Chevy dealer disconnect the radio before delivery because cars were for “transportation not entertainment”. My mom would take her to run errands every other Saturday and grandmother would make her drive the Chevette at that time. 14 years later she allowed it to be sold with 11,000 miles on it and it still had plastic delivery protection on the rear seat and carpet and had never spent a night(or day for that matter) outside. She put it up for sale and wanted, I believe, $1100 cash for it. I told a friend about it who needed a car for his 18yr old son who was absolutely ecstatic about it and made his dad drive up that day to buy the car before someone else got it. The look on that kid’s face when he realized it wasn’t that kind of ‘vette was absolutely priceless. Still makes me laugh.