@auto-owner. I knew several.Chevette owners back.in the mid 70s to the early 80s. None of them had any big mechanical problems. One friend bought an old Chevette and used the engine and drivetrain, bought a body kit and built himself a sports car. That car was fun to ride around in. It was more reliable than MGs of that time period.
My brother had a couple of apartment buildings back then. One tenant owed back rent and left him a Toyota Corolla with a broken piston ring. My brother advertised the car and half a dozen people were outbidding each other for that car. My brother got way more than the back rent he was owed.
$4700 is more then the vehicle cost when new. This is NOT a classic car. This is a piece-of-crap small cheap car. Rear seat and carpeting was an option with this vehicle.
If it runs, then it MIGHT be worth $200. But I wouldn’t pay even that.
There’s one listed in Hemmings at the moment for $7,000 or best offer that looks like it was pulled out of the yard and given a 350 transplant (no pictures under the hood though) otherwise a faded paint 5dr automatic with a pep boys tachometer bolted on top of the instrument cluster.
I wouldn’t have paid $5400 for it the day it rolled off the assembly line. We used to call them “Shove It” because when they broke down, that’s how the owner got them to their destination. I can’t imagine anyone asking that kind of money with a straight face. I would have gut laughed in their face. I’m with the majority, I wouldn’t take it for free…
On the other hand, I worked with a guy who got stuck on a bridge with no shoulder when his nearly-new Chevette’s rear axle decided that it no longer wanted to be connected to the car. Of course, all of our recollections of the experiences of friends and associates merely represents anecdotal information, rather than actual reliability/durability stats.
@MikeInNH. Only the Scooter model of the Chevette was the rear seat optional. The Scooter model was short-lived. Fewer than 10,000 were made. Over its 10 year run, over 2 1/2 million Chevettes were sold. I drove one and didn’t like it.
This was back in 1978 when the nation was in the middle of the contrived gasoline shortage. I decided after driving a couple of econoboxes, I didn’t want a small car.
I agree with you about the Chevette. It wasn’t much of a car. I didn’t think it was any worse than the little Datsuns and the Mazda GLC that I drove back then.
Personally, if I’m gonna get a 3-4 decade old compact car, it’s gonna be a 1986 Dodge Omni GLHs.
You have to make the car interesting or cool in order for me to want something that old.
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I would say they were right behind the Chevy Vega .
I didnt have a GLS but I had a Dodge Charger 2+2 . Was a great little car and fun to drive . Never had any serious issues with the two I owned . Wish they still made them .
Just out of curiosity, how many of you that responded to this post actually drove a Chevette?
I tried out small cars in 1978. I drove a Datsun F-10, a Honda Civic, a VW Rabbit diesel and a Mazda GLC, as well as a Chevette. I didn’t like any of them. I had a 1971 Ford Maverick Grabber. It was during the contrived gasoline shortage, and I thought I wanted a car with high mpg. I finally bought a new 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon. It had the 260 V-8 engine and it got better mileage than the Maverick with its 250 cubic inch inline 6. I drove the Oldsmobile for 33 years. I doubt that any of the small cars I tested would have lasted that long before the rust got them.
I didn’t respond earlier - I probably thought it was a troll or a joke - but we had one. Thankfully, I rarely had to drive it. Its best feature was burning oil. I wholeheartedly agree with the majority to pass at any cost.
Datsun B-210 memories. The mother of one of my best friends bought one of these in 72 or 73. We were just of driving age (licensed of course) and because this was a second car in the family he frequently was able to persuade mom to give him the car on weekends for dates etc. What I best remember about this car (it was very green for one thing) was that my friend drove the absolute bejeesus out of it (we “ralleyed” it in a non competitive sense every chance we could) and it never crapped out once. There was a unpaved road we used to take it out on. A road that was frequently flooded in the spring. This road was for all intents and purposes in the middle of nowhere. For some reason we decided that this road was a short cut to the spring prom and that our dates would not mind, long dresses and all. Anyway the memory is pushing the little green bugger literally out of the flooded creek with our pants rolled up half way past our knees while one of the gals took the wheel and tried to drive a standard for the very first time. The bubbles from the exhaust under water have stayed with me all these years…
I bought my first new car, a 76 Chevette Scooter, and it was a POS after the 1-year warranty expired. My brother’s 79 Chevette was better, perhaps a D grade. I did work with a guy who put a lot of highway miles on an early-80s Chevette with apparently few problems (at least that he admitted to). I once talked to a guy with a Chevette Diesel (Isuzu motor) and he seemed to consider it acceptable, if only barely.
I knew several people with Civics and Corollas though, and they all seemed quite a bit more satisfied with their vehicles than Chevette owners.
I grew up with a 1978 VW Rabbit Diesel that was the family car until my brother totaled it in 1990. Got 46mpg in mixed driving and with the help of our former VW dealer tech that opened his own shop the car was very reliable and we took it on many road trips and camping trips and while it wasn’t as roomy as the minivan we later bought it worked for us.
With a set of winter tires it was unstoppable in snow (you did have to wait a couple minutes for the glow plugs to warm up in the winter)
It was replaced with a 1990 Mazda Protoge SE that had the optional radio and optional power steering. It had FM radio and you didn’t have to roll down the windows to adjust the mirrors. 40mpg on highway trips even going 70mph in 5th gear. Mom had it for 19yrs before the driving position and lack of AC put her into a new 2010 Prius.
How much for a Chevette?
Depends on how much gas is in the tank.
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Driven one several times. Good friend of mine owned one. I was NOT impressed with the Chevette at all. It was cheap and decent gas mileage for it’s day. I’s sure glad I never got in an accident when in that thing.
My sister bought one new then, to be used as a second car. It was gutless, even with a stick shift, noisy and handling was so-so. The Mazda GLC was a much better car in many respects.
GM’s orders to the design guys was to warm over this Brazilian/German obsolescent car and “Keep the weight under 2000 lbs”.
Other than Americanizing it to meet safety and emission specs, nothing was done to improve it.
In Canada it was also sold by Pontiac dealers as the Acadian.
… and in The US, it was sold by Pontiac dealers as the T-1000.
A neighbor of mine owned one, and she bought it because she “didn’t want one of those tinny Chevettes”.
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Before we trash the Chevette too much, I will say that after riding in a 1948 Crosley, s Chevette seems like a luxury car. The shape of the Chevette sort of reminded me of a Crosley.
My uncle had a stick shift Chevette that was a good Washington D.C. commuter car. For the two of them with a tight driveway and garage (under the house) they mostly used it to go to Baltimore and used the transit system to get to work and back. I think they only drove 2,000 miles a year on average. Replaced it with a cavalier wagon in the 90’s.