Ever get the urge to build a Chevette?

One like this........

Four linked rear live axle, independent double A-arm front, some modern 4 cylinder, and a 5 or 6 speed trans.  Because of my age, I tend to like 70s cars and I've always liked stage rallying. The Vauxhall body kit can still be purchased in Great Britain, finding a shell in North America is getting harder, but not impossible. I have no idea how much you would have to do to attach the British panels to an American shell, but it would be a cool car if you could.

Edit: I'm in the February doldrums with little else to do but daydream and surf the web. Can you tell?

Only every time I see the word Chevette.

We did, ish?

Except we stuck a Subaru engine in the back, widened it as much as we could and still fit on the trailer and added some wicked heavy duty flares. It's survived 6x? LeMons races, hoping to come back this year.

When I moved to this area of BC back in the 80's, I was surprised that Chevettes were frequently stolen.

Then one night the local news showcased "Chevettes on Ice," an ice-racing group, and then it all made sense.  Turns out they STILL have a Chevette class in ice-racing, although the lakes here rarely (if ever) freeze thick enough any more.

In reply to Brotus7 :

Now that's cool !!

The box flare version.....

I've seen the Lemons Chevette that Brotus posted and that's the one that has sold me on this idea previously.  But not enough to do anything like that myself.  

I'm thinking more along the lines of Steve Magnante's "Bad Seed."

You beat me to it.

I still have that magazine and I don't generally save stuff like that.

In the 80's I was newly married and when our first son was born I decided that we needed at least one dependable car in the driveway. But I was poor so it wasn't going to be what I wanted, and since there were deals we bought a  brand new 87 Chevette Scooter. It wasn't pretty, it was a base model Chevette, but I commuted for 5 completely trouble free years in that car and grew to like it.

But I always daydreamed about Vega rallies, 205 60 13's and a Quad 4

I have a friend who won a mini stock championship in a Chevette, never winning a single feature that season

We had some growing up, even a diesel auto. A friend of mine stuffed a 2.8V6/5spd into one. That was a hoot. 

MadScientistMatt said:

I'm thinking more along the lines of Steve Magnante's "Bad Seed."

I remember reading how in a Bangshift article how he got in major trouble with that thing because he said he was going to take it street to David Freiburger, who had just taken over from Ro McGonegal. Ro McGonegal encouraged hooliganism and and a reckless vibe to the magazine, David Freiburger was not so keen on that sort of stuff, at the time, and they got into a big argument over the situation. He also recounts how, the car honestly kind of sucked. It wasn't that fast, the time he took it down the dragstrip, the track required that they have a fully-staffed ambulance on hand, the issue it was in was a sales bomb, and then he ended up breaking a piston in it while street racing and lost interest and parked it. He traded it for a transmission build from a friend, then that guy sold it to someone else. It did show up at the Hot Rod Mag reunion, so it does still exist.

https://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/bangshift1320-drag-racing-feature/death-of-the-bad-seed-how-i-almost-fired-myself-for-street-racing-the-bad-seed-chevette-part-3/

My wife owned one  - not a Shove-it, but rather a Pontiac Accordion, which is what we got in Canada.  Neither the power (modest) nor handling (very modest) endeared it to me, although I did think the reliability  was admirable at the time.

There is one in a backyard near me.  With a modern FI 4 cyl I imagine ic could be fun.

https://www.holdengemini.net/feature_isuzu_david_imark.php

That is basically a Chevette with a different body.  At least as of a few years ago it was still around, because I saw it in person.

DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

One like this........

Four linked rear live axle, independent double A-arm front, some modern 4 cylinder, and a 5 or 6 speed trans.  Because of my age, I tend to like 70s cars and I've always liked stage rallying. The Vauxhall body kit can still be purchased in Great Britain, finding a shell in North America is getting harder, but not impossible. I have no idea how much you would have to do to attach the British panels to an American shell, but it would be a cool car if you could.

Edit: I'm in the February doldrums with little else to do but daydream and surf the web. Can you tell?

I was hoping you'd show a picture of the original Chevette  A rear engine race car from the early 60's with a Chevy V8.  

Probably be faster with a jag motor in it 

Here in the midwest they all rusted and the front suspension failed.

In reply to wspohn :

Reliability was defintely not it's strong suit for us. we an engine, carb, 2 distributors in the aunt's 87. It was an auto with p/s AND a/c. When it needed a tune up if you turned the steering wheel at a stoplight with the AC on in the summer it would kill the car.

I ordered a new Chevy Monza Spyder from my uncles dealership in late '79 when my '68 Camaro was stolen. The Spyder was a special order because I wanted certain things and my uncle let me take a brand new Chevette to use till the Spyder came in which took like 6 months. The Chevette couldn't even maintain the 55 MPH speed limit up certain hills on the highway. I'd have my foot on the floor doing 45MPH at the top of a hill sometimes.

I have owned 5 at various times and can think of more than a few cars that I'd rather spend time and money on.  They're also pretty hard to find given how many of them were on the road.

Funny you bring this up now. I made an offer on one Saturday via FB Marketplace. Never heard back from him, I hope he wasn't insulted.

I had a yellow 79 that I paid $75 for in about 95 or 96. Had plans to put a 231 Buick V6 in it but a guy at work offered me $200 for it so I  called the wife and had her bring the title and pick me up.  

Say one at a dragstrip one time that had a 500 inch Cadillac engine in it. That was probably the scariest thing I've ever seen make a pass. 

The McKee Chevette 

There's a 78 or 79 up the corner from me. Been sitting for about ten years. The 70 something owner stopped driving it and got herself a modern subaru legacy wagon. Probably late 90s model! She passed and the evil daughter ended up with the property (farm and land) and now the car sits forlornly on the property surrounded by geese, ducks, goats, and cows. Yes I've thought of dropping a SBC in it.

They were common in the parking lot at high school in the early nineties, including one or two of the former USPS ones.  Never thought much of them other than maybe a good platform for a drag car.  Now, with them pretty much gone, I think one would be fun to have to mess with.  
 

Regarding highway speeds, I seem to recall multiple domestic compacts, like Omnis and early Escorts, had issues keeping to the speed limit on long uphills.