Repair-It

http://providence.craigslist.org/cto/4569761938.html

This is actually really clean. But I chuckled at the car show comment.

I will say it.

He was the only Cavalier there not because of their rarity but because nobody takes Cavaliers to car shows.

I hate these cars with a passion. I just got the car equivalent of "tub girled". Queue the vomitting.

But these cars were sweet and very popular. They had V6 power in an era of no power at all, got decent fuel economy, were reasonably reliable, and in Z24 trim, handled alright. Nothing to get excited about in 2014 of course. Though this one IS quite clean, and that's a novelty in and of itself. Plus ice cold GM A/C.

I imagine the chassis rigidity is pretty bad in the convertible. This is from the era where they simply cut the roof off

I had one in 1999 and it was a 1989. No digital dash, mine looked way better.

It had 92,000 miles on it, auto, 6 cyl 2.8. It handled "awesome", compared to anything that I drove at the time (nothing worth talking about). It wasn't super fast, but was really fun on windy back roads because of the handling and the low center of gravity.

I was just out of high school, changed the oil every 3000 miles religiously, and beat the hell out of it religiously.

I had zero mechanical problems with the car until the engine block cracked when it overheated at 158,000 miles. (Probably 2002 or 3)
There was a point that I thought the transmission was going, but the fluid just needed to be changed. It ran great after that.
Only issues I can think of:
Alternators - I had an aftermarket radio
I think the computer went(or part of it, I can't remember), it wasn't super expensive
I had the plugs and wires changed and they messed a couple of the plugs so I had to have 2 helicoiled. (Aluminum heads)

It even survived being in the junk yard for 7 months with no windows and ran just as good when it came out.

I should specify that I did NOT have a convertible.

I love the gauge cluster! Probably invisible in direct sunlight, but very vintage 80s.

My friend had digital, it never worked right. I had the analog which I think looked a lot better.

Here is a pic from the net: Here is pretty much exactly what mine looked like:

A friend of mine in high school had that exact color combination. I think all the Z-24's of that era had that paint scheme.