The other day I was gassing up my wife's beloved 1995 Lexus SC400 at Costco when an employee working the gas station asked me what year my car was. When I told him it was a '95, he laughed and said, "I've got a '95 too!" Taken back by the absurd coincidence that someone else could have the same make, model and year Lexus SC that my wife and I have, they're not exactly common place, I nervously blurted out, "it's a great car, isn't it?". Only thing was, he wasn't referring to a 1995 Lexus that he had but his 1995 Chevrolet Corsica; the only thing in common between our cars was the model year. I told my son the story later that night and he laughed out loud, "haha, a Corsica!" His was red just like this and in similar condition to this '95 I found somewhere on line.
Haha. A Corsica. Indeed. Somewhat indignant that someone would ask what year our Lexus was, we don't look at it and see a twenty-five year old car but rather one that is a timeless beauty, I must admit the guy's Corsica appeared to be in great shape too. Someone was pulling in behind me and needed my pump so I couldn't continue the conversation. I waved at the guy giving him a thumbs up and a smile as I was suddenly catapulted back to 1988-1996 and all of the memories I have of Corsica's came rushing back. I can't say any of them are bad but much like the car itself, they just are very memorable.
Named after the beautiful French governed Mediterranean island of Corsica, Chevrolet's Corsica was their compact sedan offering that replaced their infamous Citation. To give you an idea of the lineage, Citation replaced the Nova for 1980 and the Malibu in 1997 replaced the Corsica. While the Corsica carried over the Citation's 60 degree V-6 as an option and Chevrolet's on again, off again tendency for alliteration, it was all but a clean sheet design when GM rolled it out early in 1987 as an '88. While it's sister coupe, the Berretta, was a memorable design and stood out at the auto show, the Corsica didn't wow anyone with its "modern" but still dowdy sheet metal. If the Church Lady drove a 1988 domestic, she probably drove a Corsica. Things got even worse inside.
Injection molded plastic automobile interiors were a cost saving rage in the late 1960's and they really took off in the 1970's. While there's still a lot of that even today, they've come a long way in terms of fit, finish and texture but in the late '80's, the Corsica's joyless insides epitomized GM '80's craptacularness. I can't imagine how any one purchasing an automobile back then to a price point would buy a Corsica when for not much more money they could have had a Honda Civic. Or any compact Japanese sedan for the matter. Yeah, "buy American" was a powerful sentiment even back then but still. Folks gave up a lot of refinement and reliability for the Red, White and Blue.
My time spent in a Corsica boiled down to a ten day period in summer of 1988 when I rented one while my shitty 1982 Buick Riviera's transmission was being replaced. It was competent enough but amazingly unremarkable. Nothing like the zippy Toyota Corolla FX that I had rented not six months prior when I was between my Cordoba and the Riviera. My buying the Riv and not buying something like the FX one of a handful of seriously bad automobile buying decisions I've made in my life. Don't hold your breath, I don't plan on making any better ones in the near future.
While the specialness of our 1995 Lexus has been somewhat eroded by a mass of other cars that have seemingly come up to reach it's awesomeness if not somehow surpassed it, the contrast between the two '95's is really startling. Where our Lexus is refined in every single way imaginable, the Corsica is crude, cheap and primitive. It's also ugly. Granted it's not fair to compare a Japanese luxury car that stickered originally for more than $53,000 to a Chevrolet economy sedan that cost under $20,000 back then, but today, you really don't sacrifice that much in overall road going vehicle dynamics if you drive a modern Malibu versus the spiritual successor of our SC, the Lexus LC.
Back to that guy's Corsica, the most interesting thing is why and how such an ordinary if mundane automobile has survived as long as it has. I doubt I'll ever see that guy again seeing how Costco cycles through employees faster than they do "48 packs" of toilet paper but I would like to ask him more about it. Just as well as is most often the case, any story I could come up with would probably be a lot more interesting than the truth. That said, if I do see him again, I'll be sure to ask him so stay tuned.
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