Well I may have to delete my post about a 1988 Calais in another members thread. As that is a work of art compared to this 1987 shitbox.

The Chevette is the exclamation spawn of the worst era in US car production. I don't know if its social media manipulation, or maybe purchases like this are done for future content creation, or people just don't know what to do with their money. But giving value to the valueless is funny business.

 

I remember seeing this, but I'm glad for it. Yes the Chevette was a distinctly unimpressive design, but value is relative. Consider this: in the event of a major systemic collapse, something Uncle Tony has been talking about several times, the Chevette is far more valuable than any premium gas guzzling show car. Even short of that, more and more people are waking up to the techno hellscape that modern automotive has become. Not everyone needs or wants a 500hp drag racer to go to the grocery store.

I think it's good that more average people type cars are gaining value, the car industry needs to go back to its roots and more people need to learn how to fix their own stuff, myself especially.

 

My first new car was a twin this one. I bought it my final year of high school. And I had no help from my parents! Paid 80% in cash financed the rest to build credit.

Pat

 

My 6’ 6” college roommate had one, very comical to watch him climb in or out of it. He enjoyed referring to his “vette” at parties and out at local bars.

 

as long as we never see a 30k yugo.

 

Wait for it!….😂

 

33k hell no.
Would I take one over a Prius, hell yes. Both are junk. Marginally better than walking.
It does have simplicity going for it.

A set of Cragar SS wheels, a small block 265/283//302/237 V8, a 4.3L or 3.8 GN turbo V6, 2000lb car. Gotta be fun.
At least it will put endless 11s down... down to the rims!

 

A Prius is like driving a toaster at 60 mpg. If all you care about is mileage and getting from point A to B, then it's for you. Otherwise, no.

 

There is a A.. >>> for every seat.

 

As is typical with the General, the Chevette was a pretty decent car just in time for it to be cancelled. I worked at two Chevy places and it was a big seller. I would have loved to have one, but I just wasn't comfortable in them. They are fairly narrow and I'm not.

 

Wifes first car was an 81, bought it new, it was her first manual trans car, she learned to drive, I replaced the TO bearing, less then 20 k on it, she rode the clutch pedal all the time, didn't know better.

 

My mother got a new one in '76 (first year of them) and it was a 4-speed. This ended up being the car I learned to drive on in 1980 (and took my driving test). Well, that and the '74 Ford van. I wanted to do a small block Chevy install into the Chevette. Mom said hell no. LOL So in 1981 I bought a 1970 Impala with a 454 in it. I didn't know how rare that combo was, but I got a good deal on it and drove it through high school.

That Chevette was simple, cheap and reliable. Simplicity is something I want this country to get back to...

 

Unfortunately, things are moving in the opposite direction.

 

A fool and his money soon parted... The other question is how many other idiots were bidding against each other to drive the price that high.

 

It's funny to think of how simplistic cars were only 30-40 years ago compared to today.

I have a 2024 Dodge Ram 4x4 with the anemic Pentastar 3.6. We got a little snow yesterday morning so I threw the 4WD on. I pulled out of a side street a little too soon into the path of an oncoming vehicle traveling the same direction as I was going. Instinctively I gunned the accelerator to speed up (it was only a 30 mph zone) and as I did so the traction control kicked it braked the truck to a slow crawl in front of the oncoming car. Fortunately the car behind me was able to slow and not hit me.

I had a similar experience in late 1992 when ABS brakes were relatively new with a brand new 93 Saab 900. I was traveling on a foggy night on a road I drove almost every day. Because the fog was so bad I was driving about 15-20 mph. I knew I was coming to a T intersection and was looking for the stop sign. The road widened a lot at the T and the stop sign was so far to the right I never saw it. As I came to the opposite side of the intersection I finally saw the edge of the road maybe 20-30' in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and was probably traveling 2-3 mph when my front tires went off the edge of the far side of the road. The ABS kicked in and I careened down an embankment and slammed into a rock, bending he K frame under the engine so hard, the motor dented the hood of the car. The car was nearly totaled.

I'm sure every generation says this but it's too bad that most young people will never appreciate simplicity...

 

Many young people will never be able to afford a new modern car and frankly the vast majority of those new cars arent going to make it long enough to be a worthwhile used car given how high used car prices are too and how increasingly unreliable newer cars are; you'll be lucky to get 10 years out of many of them before a catastrophic engine or electrical problem bricks it. If you want something good that's full sized these days you're looking at at least $40k, and with high inflation and stagnant wages that makes it more out of reach than it was even 20 years ago. Housing and healthcare costs weren't out of control in the 70s like they are today which adds to the pressure on other things like cars.

 

When I also see Pintos, Mustang II's, and Vegas now bringing money is crazy. All three were (are) junk in my view. Just my worthless two cents...

 

That reminds me of my grandmother, who knew how to use a real clutch because when she learned how to drive, that's all there was. In her later years (when I was around to witness), in an AT car she would use the brake pedal as if it was a clutch, which resulted in a lot of brake wear and power-braking everywhere she went. Most notably in dad's gravel driveway. I cleaned a lot of gravel out of the yard in those years.

 

Ditto. My wife and I have been looking at getting a new car. Every (and I mean EVERY) new car that we've looked at is too tech driven. We do not need or want a big flat screen monitor sticking out of the dash. A speedo, tach and gas gauge are good enough for us. Why would I want all of this touch screen stuff in my car, when the software for it is most likely out of date by the time you drive it off of the lot.

I thought that it was a pain years ago when I bought a used Jetta and then found out that I had to buy VW specific tools to do any of the work myself. This is 10 times worse.

 

Youre going to have to go back 15, maybe 20 years to get what you need. The last car I had that didn't have too much extraneous tech crap was a 2005 Mazda Tribute.

 

I bought a 2016 Hyundai Accent new. It's a straight commuter car. No bells and whistles. AC, AT and a radio. It doesn't even have a sunroof. What it does have was a price tag of only $12,500 after haggling and 40mpg. I've had no issues with it for going on 9 years now (knock on wood).

 

We have a 2023 Acura "Technology Package" that we bought new for my wife's daily driver. I rarely drive it and when I do it causes constant bickering between us. The problem being, my wife isn't tech all all, I'm tech enough to get by with what little I own. I look to her to tell me how to use the BASIC functions of the car, which she has no idea how to operate.

Other than riding in her car we get along great......lol

 

This is why I recently bought a 1993 Grand Prix with the LQ-1 from the original owners with 48K miles. Love this car! No reason to spend 40-50K on a new car. And I agree, the software won't last on any newer car more than 5-8 years.

 

Tend to agree ... 1990-2005 was kind of a sweet spot for technology in cars. Less of it, and what there was seemed to work reliably.

 

I need a nice car. My work truck is still moving along at 300k, but it is not for nice company and is a single cab. I was thinking about a nice used Chevy SS.

 

I can't say what's going on with some people's car's where they are having software related issues, but I can say I've never had a software issue any vehicle I've ever owned.

I usually buy new cars and keep them for roughly ten years before I want something different.. Since 2000 I've owned these cars:
2000 Mercury Cougar
2003 Buick Rendezvous (traded in the Cougar for more space)
2008 Pontiac Grand Prix (traded 1998 Intrigue)
2011 Chevy Traverse (traded the Rendezvous for more space)
2017 Ford Fusion (expanded the car pool)
2018 Nissan Rogue Sport (expansion)
2020 Chevy Traverse (traded previous Traverse)
2022 Honda Civic (expansion)

So a variety of vehicles from various manufacturers. All the issues I've had were always mechanical failures or recalls, but luckily only one major roadside issue (Nissan CVT transmission, who'd a thunk, dealer replaced for free) that was, of course, 200 miles from home.

 

The problem with that is parts for this era are getting tougher to find, or so I've heard.

I think that was the last year of the decent Hyundai engine, I have a 2017 Sonata for my current daily with an oil guzzling GDI. Other than its sophisticated powertrain it's a reasonably basic car, but the refresh that came a couple years later is almost like driving a shuttle from Star Trek, I drove it once and God willing never again. I'm in the process of transitioning out of it in favor of my 98 from Project Impossible.

Yeah, go with a classic and give it a mechanical refresh for reliability.

 

I'm building a 72 Chevy C10 on an 05 GMC Denali AWD frame and drivetrain for my DD when I retire in a couple years. It will be modern technology with a classic look. It's drive by wire and I'm going with a stand-alone harness. You basically strip the technology down to the absolute minimum to run the engine and tranny.

I'll probably buy a beater for December-March for these Upstate NY winters.

 

In 1991 or 92 I bought a new Hyundai Excell barebones car for like 5 grand. No radio, manual windows, no A/C, no nothing. It was a great commuter car for me getting mileage in the mid 30's which I think was great for that time. I never had any technology issures with it because it had no technology. The four cylinder engine did crap out on my a few months after the warranty ran out though but that was a different inssue altogether. I have refered to a '73 Maverick that was our first "married" car in 1975-77. It was barebones as well and served us well. Simple, cheap, economical, easy to maintain. What more could you ask of a basic transporter?

 

Interesting project, but what I really want to know is: what qualifies as a "beater" these days in your part of the world?

 

Vehicles are going the same way everything is, like double or triple the money from 5 years ago. (disgust). Twice the price 1/4 life expectancy, built-in obsolesce. (further disgust).
You simply can buy anything durable no matter how much you spend....Reasons china, US Bean counters & greed. (past disgust to pissed off).

What was once a durable good, a washer, dryer, fridge, is merely a disposable POS space taker upper, total junk within 10 years. Doesnt matter how much you spend. Open up an $800 and $2500 washer... same guts but with lipstick. Same 7-8 year failure rate.
Older is better.

I have to get a new gas (oh heavens) down draft stove. I'm dreading trading it for my 30-year perfectly good unit. In fact, it might go into the basement and be put on the black market after 2029.(hochultard)

Older is better. Tools, appliances, furniture, cars, trucks, except for pintos, mustang II, mavericks, chevettes, et al. Junk then Junk now.....except for the simplicity factor.

33K for a Chevette, though older is better, man's got to know his limitations.

 

My Hotpoint 3 cycle heavy duty large capacity automatic clothes dryer is 47 yrs. old. Can't kill this beast. No plastic, nothing digital, entirely mechanical. I installed a new motor two years ago. Should be good another 40+ yrs.

 

Cheap/affordable alternative transportation is no longer going to be cheap, unfortunately. All of the 1980s & 1990s GM fwd or other (Chevettes are rwd if I remember correctly) compact/smaller cars always sort of filled this role, it seems. Hopefully Aleros & Intrigues never get to be this expensive. However, the trend of more and more people awakening to the understanding of preferring older vehicle with less complex electronics is putting an ever increasing demand on a shrinking pool of available cars. There are people talking about turbocharging the GM Vortec 4200 inline 6 engines in the GMT360 SUVs (such as the last generation Bravada). Those SUVs have always been very cheap, but with this development, prices have been increasing on them ever so slightly. So some people think that just because it is rarer, its price should go up, even though they really shouldn't. The 1988 Calais in the other article is also a good example, too.

 

02-06 Chevy pickup with high miles bought from anywhere south of the Pocono mountains; ie: southern PA, MD, VA. Parts are plentiful, they are relatively simple and engines and trannys are fairly easy to replace.

I bought my daughter’s 04 Accord in DE 6 years ago and it’s still relatively rust free 40k miles later

 

Given a choice I'd take the Vega or any one of those other GM H cars over the Chevette. At least the styling is a little better. But you'd have to breake my arm before you can get me to own any of those.