That’s a Chevette
That’s a Chevelle
One is an econobox
The other is a muscle car
Because the Chevette was a POS with no redeeming qualities.
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These cars were designed in the 70’s and sold till the late 80’s. The door certainly could open in a wreck. But, before airbags the feds were desperate to get people to use their seat belts. These different forms of “Auto” seatbelts were ways they were trying to make it easier to use them.
I don’t know if we’re allowed to place links but I’ll give it a try. Here’s a sales brochure of the 1980 Chevette (PDF file). Scroll down to page 6 to see the description of the optional auto seatbelt system: https://www.xr793.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/1980-Chevrolet-Chevette.pdf
The pages are large. You also have to scroll to the right to see the whole page.
I stand corrected !
Muscle car Chevelles were a subset. I had a Malibu with a 307 V8. Definitely a family car and no tire burner. Very nice car for a college kid though.
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Even a 307 equipped Chevelle would probably be a muscle car compared to a Chevette! Plus I don’t think they offered an SS Chevette 
I suspect even the most plain jane Chevelle was much nicer than the most heavily optioned Chevette
They were both RWD Chevys
Besides that . . . they have nothing in common, imo
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I agree that the Chevette was not much of a car. Mostly my point was to say that there was more than one market segment that the Chevelle was meant to appeal to.
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?? Is there a relationship b/t a Chevelle and a Malibu? Same car, different tagging?
Malibu at that time was the high level trimline of the Chevelle model.
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Yup!
My brother had a plain jane Chevelle two door with the standard six cylinder engine. It was a decently-reliable car, but it was pretty gutless.
I’d still rather have the most bare-bones gutless Chevelle, versus a Chevette with every option checked off
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When was the last time anyone saw a Chevette on the road? I haven’t in decades. I see Chevelle’s all the time during the summer. Chevelle’s are worth restoring. Chevette is NOT.
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The last time I saw a Chevette on the road was in the early 1990s
And that was a person I knew
He was driving it to the junkyard
Where it belonged
I worked with a guy who bought a new Chevette, and when it was less than 3 years old it came to a sudden halt–on a bridge, during AM rush hour. When it was towed to his mechanic, he was told that the “plastic” differential had self-destructed. I don’t think that the diff was actually made of plastic, and most likely that was his mechanic’s term for a poor-quality component.
I have seen a Chevette on the road much more recently than that. In fact, from about 2008 to 2010, I saw a brown Chevette at the local Fry’s store fairly often. I assumed it was an employee’s car. Every now and then I see one on the road, but you are right that they are extremely rare now.
I remember Fry’s Electronics . . .
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Not Fry’s Electronics, which I also remember. Fry’s Food Stores, a subsidiary of Kroger.
In 1996 I sold a Chevette for $1800, cream colored 2-door with A/C and automatic transmission. That was the last one I drove, but they remained in circulation longer.
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Huh, guess I wasn’t really aware of the chevelle. In 1968 the girl friend ordered a new Malibu though. Stripped down and with a v8 and manual. Wasn’t a bad car at all. Couldn’t tell the difference in the two models now though.
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