Woody (Forum Supportum) said:David S. Wallens said:I think my friend’s dad had a Scooter model. It was beige.
The Scooter was so basic that the passenger seat wasn't even adjustable front to back, it was just solidly mounted to the floor. Every one that I saw was beige.
Mine was dark blue, and did not have the rear seat.
RacerBoy75 said:Although it's nice that this car exists in as-new condition, my reaction is similar to hearing about a 45 year-old garbage can that has never been used.
QFT.
My best friend had the Pontiac version of this car, the T-1000. What a crap box.
We drove his Pontiac from Chicago down to Daytona one year because my crap box, a Ford Fairmont, likely wouldn't have made it to Indiana.
In reply to Coniglio Rampante :
They were crap boxes, but everyone I know that had one says the same thing. "It was horrible to be in, but never left me stranded". I had 0 issues with the 3 I had.
In reply to Steve_Jones :
I had five of them at various times and two left me stranded - the rubber bands broke. (timing belt) If I had a place for this one I'd be watching this auction a little too seriously. Not sure what I'd do with it though, it's a shame to hack a 47 mile old car, even a Chevette.
European version looks different but the team at Retropower did an amazing restomod: https://retropower.co.uk/2020/10/19/project-vader-vauxhall-chevette-hsreplica/
PS: Tried adding an image but GRM forum software does not seem to like Safari anymore
I know a guy who was a GM dealer mechanic.
He drove a bunch of these (Cavaliers too) over the years. Just buy whatever E36 M3box got traded in as cheap as possible, run it till it dies and repeat.
Cheaper than new cars.
In reply to newold_m (Forum Supporter) :
Oh yeah, that's rad as heck.
I'll take two.
TJ Motorsport: Vauxhall Chevette HSR Complete Kit Fibreglass, Panels (Fibreglass), CHEV001.....about $1500 plus shipping from Great Britain.
Car salesmen would recommend this car to buyers with poor credit so they could improve their credit score by making the low payments and then move to something better in a few years. Yeah, highly desirable.
Lowered on salad spinners is cool, right?
Though I still think it needs wider fenders.
Needs a 3.8SC swap
Wow ... those pics bring back childhood memories of the '76 vette (purchased new) that my Dad commuted in for alot of years. Not a Scooter, but not much farther up the chain from it. Vinyl seats (but did have a back seat), and stick-on side Chevetted badges that fell off at some point. Dad slugged out 70 miles a day round trip in WI, 12 months out of the year. Snow tires in the rear plus a few concrete blocks in the trunk in winter made it usable. That, or he was just a pretty decent snow driver. He put more than 150k on that rig before passing it on to my older sister, who put another 50k on it before it died for good. It was parked out behind her barn until just a couple of years ago, when it was finally hauled away for scrap. Pretty sure a variety of wildlife used it as a refuge during its 'static' years. All in all, it was pretty reliable from what I recall, but did strip the teeth off of the timing belt once while in use. Guessing it had a non-inteference engine, since the repair was pretty straight forward and didn't include any cylinder head work. The replacement was an equally inspiring Dodge Aries.
Horrid bloody cars (we had them up here in Canada but called Pontiac Acadians). My wife inherited one from her grandfather (who I expect shuffled off this mortal coil when some friend saw him driving the thing). She used it for a short while until our dog (who was shut up in the car but with the windows cracked before any SPCA types object) and apparently being bored, ripped out all the carpeting in the car.
Shortly thereafter, she parked it in an open car lot in the sun at a ferry terminal, for a couple of days while she went off to see someone. All would have been well had she not bought groceries earlier that day using the car and a carton of milk hadn't spilled on what remained of the carpets, and had it not been a hot summer for the days it was parked there.
When I opened the door the smell nearly physically repelled you. I had to find an elderly gentleman with a yen for a deal and lacking a sense of smell to sell it to.
They were horrid little cars, with little power and handling. Best forgotten, even if that example is as new. IIRC they were not safe on highways at speed, and were likely attractive only to would be Lotharios who wanted to be able to say "I drive a Vette" to get dates.
In reply to wspohn :
My parents bought a new beige 4dr/4sp Chevette about the time I got my driver's license. Horrid is being kind.
Perfect LS swap sleeper candidate!
Colin Wood said:Lowered on salad spinners is cool, right?
Though I still think it needs wider fenders.
Not bad, Colin, not bad.
My wife had on with the smaller motor and an automatic transmission and NO AC. Drove that baby from Chicago to Houston packed with wedding gifts in July 1978! Other than having to put TUBES in all four tire to hold air and the floor pan rusting out after ONLY 3 winter in Chicago( car renamed the Flintsone mobile) and a sheet of 3/8" plywood used for the floor, it was a serviceable car(LOL)
The backstory on these always fascinates me. Why did it make it to 47 miles? Who buys this and then doesn't drive it? Not perfectly preserved but also not left unprotected.
Oh, and post 1986 so it includes the quickly engineered, stuck on third brake light.
Before my stepfather did the "instant family, just add money" thing, he had a good run of cool cars including a couple of Chevelles and Monte Carlos. When my sister and I came along as part of a package deal, things changed. He got rid of his nearly new '76 Monte Carlo and replaced it with a two door base model Chevette. A couple of years later he upgraded to a four door Chevette with AC. I didn't recognize the sacrifice as a six year old, but I respected it later. Those Chevettes treated our family well.
Completely unrelated: Over the last 20 years or so, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a ridiculously rich and very humble man (big legacy money, you know his last name) who had an eclectic collection of cars. One of those cars was a Chevette. In his later years when he was no longer driving on public roads, he'd tool around his estate in his Chevette - which still looked new.
wspohn said:
They were horrid little cars, with little power and handling. Best forgotten, even if that example is as new. IIRC they were not safe on highways at speed, and were likely attractive only to would be Lotharios who wanted to be able to say "I drive a Vette" to get dates.
For clarity, are you speaking of late 70s/early 80s C3 Corvettes, or Chevettes above? 
David S. Wallens said:It’s perfect.
“Wanna see my Vette?”
One with miles that low wouldn't be my first choice to build a what-if Z06 package though.
glueguy (Forum Supporter) said:The backstory on these always fascinates me. Why did it make it to 47 miles? Who buys this and then doesn't drive it? Not perfectly preserved but also not left unprotected.
Exactly. Was it not driven because they thought it would be valuable some day? Was it a gift for someone who didn't want it?
My father had the Pontiac equivalent when I was super young. It certainly took up less space than the Caddy in the garage.
In reply to J.A. Ackley :
You could probably fit it inside the Caddy–and still have room for you and your friends.
Colin Wood said:glueguy (Forum Supporter) said:The backstory on these always fascinates me. Why did it make it to 47 miles? Who buys this and then doesn't drive it? Not perfectly preserved but also not left unprotected.
Exactly. Was it not driven because they thought it would be valuable some day? Was it a gift for someone who didn't want it?
My first thought was someone won it on The Price Is Right and couldn't drive stick. Isn't 87 the last year they made them? That's gotta add $100 to the collector value....
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