[AT] OT: Chevy Chevette (was Re: Yellow Farmall now cold starting

[Will Powell]

Hard to believe fond memories of a Chevette posted here... My sister had a Chevette, what a piece of junk. I remember replacing the main bearings on the standard transmission for her. What a pain. I think it had about 50k at the time. 

I guess it was a step up from the Vega, which I had also repaired for a friend. Burned a lot of oil. Chevy had made such great cars up until the Vega. I owned a 68 chevelle with a 6 cyclinder 250. What a great dependable car. GM missed the boat with the Vega. Then, the Chevette, which was only a little better. It was not constructed well. Steering wheel was out of round, everything fell apart in the interior. I recall the brakes were not so great. 

My father then owned a Citation, not too bad, lots of computer issues. The iron Duke did run well. 

And now with the 6 cylinder Chevy's around 1999. Every one of the engines have weak intake manifold gaskets. I have replaced the gaskets on my Fathers 1999 blazer and 1996 Monte Carlo. He also had to replace the same gaskets on a buick le sabre he used to own. In manufacturing there is no isolated incedence... If one fails, they all fail. In my opinion that gasket should not fail. My father is still loyal to GM... I don't know why... Maybe its because his 1999 blazer has brought us closer together? I repair something on it practicly every weekend... 






----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Sloane" <mikesloane at verizon.net> 
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com> 
Sent: Monday, January 3, 2011 11:22:45 AM 
Subject: [AT] OT: Chevy Chevette (was Re: Yellow Farmall now cold starting 

I don't know about your terrain, but when I worked for NJ Bell back 
about then, we quickly found out that a Chevette with auto transmission 
and 4 people in the car wouldn't make it up the steep hills. Drivers had 
to either plan different routes or drop off two people, top the hill, 
discharge the passenger, and then go back to fetch the other two! For a 
single driver just going around town they were OK but taking them out on 
the Interstates was always a challenge. When there were Chevettes in the 
vehicle pools, employees would cheat, bribe, and lie to avoid having to 
take one out. Bell used to keep cars and trucks almost forever, but the 
Chevettes' life cycle was the shortest I ever saw. :-) That is not to 
say that the other cars Bell bought were perfect - there were Chevy 
Vega's that died on the side of the road, Ford Pinto's, Rambler 
American's, and some other rolling disasters that time has kindly erased 
from my memory. And people wonder why the Japanese car companies ended 
up with 55% US market share after a while... 

Mike 

On 1/3/2011 8:36 AM, charlie hill wrote: 
> That should have read '80 Chevette. 
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: charlie hill 
> Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 8:10 AM 
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group 
> Subject: Re: [AT] Yellow Farmall now cold starting 
> 
> Rob I had an 8- Chevette. It was the standard gasoline version, 2 door and 
> stripped down. I bought it to commute to a construction project. People 
> laugh at them but that was one tough little car. I hauled 3 other guys with 
> me every day. All but one of us over 200 lbs and a lot of times we had 
> heavy tool boxes in the back. It wasn't unusual for someone to be late 
> coming out of the house and I'd have to hustle because if you didn't get 
> through the "brass" gate by 7 am you had to go back home and miss a day of 
> work. It would cruise along at 80 mph or better with all that load and 
> never complained. 
_______________________________________________ 
AT mailing list 
http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at