Chevette - To a "T".

If we count the four "Y-body" offerings from General Motors introduced in 1960 and 1961 as being completely separate models, (Chevrolet Corvair, Pontiac Tempest, Oldsmobile F85 and Buick Special) the original Chevrolet Nova and Vega, GM tried a half dozen times to come up with a small car before they rolled out the Chevrolet Chevette in 1976. And...they were all terrible. Some worse than others but generally speaking they were dreadful. The Chevette, however, was GM's first stab at a small car that really wasn't that bad. Our subject is a 1984. 

Given how bad GM's first attempts were it's understandable to those of us who lived through ignominy of the Chevette that we would think it was just another half assed attempt by GM to push out an economy car. To those of us who wouldn't be caught dead in one no matter how good or less bad it was, it was half assed. I mean, c'mon. Look-at-this-thing! However, the Chevette was really different and in a good way different from GM's past attempts at small cars that were either scaled down versions of larger automobiles or worse, were wonky engineering projects gone oh-so-wrong. 



It was different because GM used a new platform that they had developed in conjunction with Isuzu and their European affiliate Opel; two companies that had a more than a fair amount of experience building small automobiles. GM finally realizing that they needed help building a small car or their bean counters surmized that they could save a ton by using the same platform or chassis around the world as they used here in the United States. What became known as the "T-car" underpined a number of small automobiles around the world beginning in 1973 before GM launched the Chevrolet Chevette on it for model year 1976.

What's curious is that most if not all of the Opels, Holdens, Isuzus, Vauxhalls and even Daewoos, subjectively, were far more handsome than any Chevette ever was. Take this 1983 Seahan (Daewoo) Maepsy for instance - not  too shabby looking and all of her bones are the same as you'd find in a boxy and not so good looking Chevette. Five bolt rims too. 

Our subject here has five bolt rims out back because the owner had the rear end rebuilt and along with the repacking of the pumpkin came five bolt spindles. Makes this car look almost sporty. Anyway, with all those pretty designs off the same platform scattered around the world, makes you wonder why we got stuck with this, does it not? 

The least of Chevette's design issues was its functional interior. Everything you need and nothing that you don't right there in front of you. Look, a change holder. 

Chevette had ample cargo space that would make buyers of some of today's "cute utes" green with envy. Seat back folds down too. 1976-77 Chevettes, incidentally, came only as coupes. 

My biggest takeaway on my time behind the wheel of several of these years ago was Chevette's handling prowess. Good brakes too. Didn't take too much to steer or stop one of these 2000 pound near micro cars but Opel's deft hand at engineering handling paid off nicely. It went exactly where you pointed it. Damning by faint praise? Not at all. And if these cars were better looking younger me might not have been as off put by them as I was. These cars kind of like that 98 pound weakling in high school who was quite the athlete. 

If Chevette had an achilles heel, aside from the styling (or lack thereof), it was its lack of poke. We take the performance of today's cars for granted - even the least expensive and least powerful of today's automobiles have a modicum of performance that compared to what a Chevette had would seem out and out decadent. The trade off was superior than average fuel economy. Even compared to the most miserly of today's non hybrid vehicles, Chevette's mileage rating of 40 miles per gallon highway was impressive. All Chevettes were powered by Isuzu sourced engines. Even the 55 MPG highway rated diesels. 

The Chevette was the perfect car at the right time for General Motors; it literally fit the country to a "T". Within a couple of years after it was introduced we were embroiled in another gas crunch and the Chevette became the best selling small car in America in 1979 and 1980. As the economy improved and gas prices finally stabilized and actually fell through the '80's, sales of the Chevette and it's clone, the Pontiac T-1000 declined sharply as well. Low gas prices and an onslaught of far superior vehicles coming ashore from Asia and Europe doing no favors for the "T". GM finally pulling the plug on them after 1987 with more than 2.8 million of them sold world wide. 

Ask any car savvy millenial (good luck finding one) what they think of GM's first "good" small car and you'll get an obstinate "are you kidding"? Which is really telling in a world where many small cars have about as much pizzaz as a Chevette; another reason cross overs are selling so well today is because they're just flat out better looking than cars. If they were to drive a Chevette they'd be even more obstinate given how crude a Chevette is compared to a new Chevrolet Sonic for instance. However, if they'd give you the time of day and allow you to explain how historically significant the Chevette was, as boring as the envelope was that it came in, they'd perhaps come to the understanding that everything has to start somewhere and the road to GM building "good small cars" started with the Chevette.