Junkyard Find: Fully Loaded 1979 Chevrolet Chevette
Back in the grimmest part of the Malaise Era, most Chevette shoppers knew exactly what they wanted: a really, really cheap car. You don’t find many Chevettes with a factory AM/FM radio, or remote mirrors, or even an automatic transmission. A Chevette with all those options and air conditioning to boot? This is a junkyard first for me.
The base Chevette engine in ’79 came with 70 horsepower, which seemed like enough only if you were upgrading from a Rabbit Diesel (the optional “high performance” Chevette engine packed an additional four horses). I don’t know how much power this AC compressor gobbled up (knowing The General’s penchant for overkill HVAC systems, probably plenty), but I’ll bet it added plenty of drama to freeway onramps on hot days.
Naturally, the money-is-no-object buyer of this car went for the sporty stripe option.
There’s not a whole lot of luxury you can pack into a Chevette, but the pleather door panels, cloth seats, and door-pull straps make this car the Cadillac of Chevettes.
I’ll bet Chevette restorers (there must be such a thing) would pay at least a dozen genuine American dollars for this factory AM/FM radio. The small size of the dash opening probably ruled out factory 8-track players, but there were always under-dash aftermarket units available (at great cost).
Check it out: a Chevette with a map light!
This car is so weird that I’m not going to write my usual “good riddance, bring on The Crusher” screed. I’m just going to think it.
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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My first wife had an 85 4 door chevette that she bought new. It didn't have a/c, and was a 4 speed. The only options it had were the am/fm radio and dual sport mirrors. The sport mirrors were pretty common on those cars by the 80's. All chevettes came with dome lights, and all 4 door models had the pull straps on the rear doors because there were no rear armrests. Lighters were standard except on the scooter.
If this were close enough to me I'd seriously think about purchasing it for myself. Please, where is this?