Regular Cars: 1976 Chevette survivor

[kevm14]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsZ_g_9qGfo

A few thoughts

- It's ridiculously light
- It is slow but likely not the slowest car of the decade, possibly not even the slowest car in its class
- The stuff about BMW isn't quite right as the comments point out
- I'm thinking that maybe this car isn't as bad as we remember, but I'm sure the Japanese competition was more precise and more likely to make 200k
- I saw "LS swap" and "4.11" gears in the description and my brain translated this as a Corvette. Which is highly amusing. It took a good 20-30 seconds of video before I realized what it was.

[bill25]

I knew someone that drove one of these in the late 90's. It is on the list of worst cars ever made. The one he had wasn't faster than anything. Not sure what year it was.

[kevm14]

And do you know anyone who drove a 76 CVCC in the late 90s?

[bill25]

Come on, I said I didn't know the year. These things were made 1976–1987 and it was like 98. So the POS could have been an 86 making it 12 years old, and only 3 years older than my awesome Z24 and a year newer than my awesome Monte Carlo SS.

[bill25]

I also love how you defend cars you would NEVER buy, or even drive.

[Bob]

I also love how you defend cars you would NEVER buy, or even drive.

Refer to the Buick Encore thread...

[kevm14]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=suT6VfPhzNo

All the recycled parts are classic GM. I would expect this powertrain to be quite reliable. I wonder what common issues with this car were. Mechanically it should have been fine.

[kevm14]

From wiki:

The Chevette used its basis GM's World Car, "Project 909" — what would become the T-car program, so named because the vehicles shared GM's T platform. With the well-known problems of its predecessor, the Vega — which included production issues, reliability problems and a serious propensity for corrosion — the team reworked the international platform such that the Chevette shared not a single body panel with another T-car and reworked the underbody extensively to enhance corrosion protection.[2] The Chevette's 1.4 liter base iron block engine weighed 59 lbs less than the Vega's much heralded aluminum block engine.[

See what I mean? Yeah they were miserable tin cans but I am not convinced they were "junk."

[bill25]

Yeah they were miserable tin cans but I am not convinced they were "junk."

Wait...What?

So a reliable "miserable tin can" isn't still "junk"? LOL, you can't make this up. There is more to a car than having a reliable powertrain.

[kevm14]

Newsflash: 70s compact cars were ALL tin cans. And I don't think the Chevette was the worst car of the 70s. It wasn't the rustiest and probably not the slowest, nor the least reliable. I agree that doesn't make it good, and I never said the car overall was "good" but there is context for that. I didn't realize the history but GM really blew it with the Vega and the Chevette did not suffer the same fate.