Junkyard Find: 1983 Chevrolet Citation

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

We’ve seen an ’81 Citation and an ’82 Citation in this series, so let’s continue down GM’s Bad Memory Lane with a 1983 version of the car that damaged The General’s image even more than the Vega. Somehow, this car stayed on the street— or at least out of the wrecking yard— for 29 years, but now it awaits crushing in a Denver self-serve wrecking yard.

The Citation hung on until the 1985 model year, and… wait a minute, is that a choke warning light on the dash of a 1983 car?

This one has the same 2.8 V6 that went into the Fiero.

Yep, those are molded-in stitches in the maroon vinyl seat upholstery.







Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • And003 And003 on Feb 18, 2013

    I wonder if the Citation has room for a V-8.

    • -Nate -Nate on Feb 19, 2013

      Not unles it was a tiny V-8 ! . Our Undercover X Car was that fancy - schmancy Chevy model I no longer remember the designation of , it came with alloy wheels and one newbie Narco - Cop who must have watched Starsky & Hutch , smacked a curb with it and broke a wheel , Chevy wanted $850 (!) fir a new wheel on that POS $200 car.... -Nate

  • 1981X-11 1981X-11 on Apr 03, 2015

    GM X-Body – Citation X-11 Facebook page. Almost 500 members, over 1000 pics, and every-year X-car dealer brochure in the Photo Albums section. Ha! https://www.facebook.com/groups/chevycitations/

  • ToolGuy Why would they change the grille?
  • Oberkanone Nissan proved it can skillfully put new frosting on an old cake with Frontier and Z. Yet, Nissan dealers are so broken they are not good at selling the Frontier. Z production is so minimal I've yet to see one. Could Nissan boost sales? Sure. I've heard Nissan plans to regain share at the low end of the market. Kicks, Versa and lower priced trims of their mainstream SUV's. I just don't see dealerships being motivated to support this effort. Nissan is just about as exciting and compelling as a CVT.
  • ToolGuy Anyone who knows, is this the (preliminary) work of the Ford Skunk Works?
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X I will drive my Frontier into the ground, but for a daily, I'd go with a perfectly fine Versa SR or Mazda3.
  • Zerofoo The green arguments for EVs here are interesting...lithium, cobalt and nickel mines are some of the most polluting things on this planet - even more so when they are operated in 3rd world countries.
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