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

[Larry Goss]

When I was car shopping around 1980, I looked briefly at the Chevette.  It was the only car "in its class" that came with a factory-issued set of tools.  And then it hit me -- What are they trying to tell me here?

Larry

----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Sloane <mikesloane at verizon.net>
Date: Monday, January 3, 2011 10:28
Subject: [AT] OT: Chevy Chevette (was Re: Yellow Farmall now cold starting
To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>

> 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.
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