Every Day Iron - Chevrolet Sprint
Hi, I'm Big Chris. I'm the last of the current contributors to crawl out of his cave and post something. I'll continue on with this week's unintentional GM theme, but will go a bit of a different direction with my first post.
A while back I hatched an idea for a new ongoing series of posts that everyone will be contributing to--Everyday Iron. The idea behind these posts is to showcase the cars we encounter in our everyday lives. They don't have to be special cars; rather they are cars that are special to someone. These are the cars we see driving our local streets, the work horses of life.
To kick things off I'll offer up the 1985 Chevrolet Sprint parked across the street from where I work. Because it is a three-door hatchback I do expect our drooling leader to pine on in the comments about how he lusts for one of these for his own! Towels at the ready!
The first-gen Sprint had a curb weight of 1,565 pounds and a wheelbase of 88.4 inches. For comparison, a Honda Goldwing GL1800 motorcycle has a wheelbase of 66.4 inches! But as the commercial below says, it's a four passenger car! And how it likes to run! It comes equipped with a 3-cylinder, 1.0-liter engine. So while you can get 50 miles to a gallon, you'll struggle to get over 50 miles per hour. Its window stickers listed 47 mpg in town and 53 mpg on the highway, which beats the referenced Honda Goldwing by a large margin.
This car is being featured today because it is a daily driver and a
workhorse even after 23 years of use. The exhaust quit functioning many
years ago, so every time it fires to life all three cylinders let you
know they are working. It rides low to the ground, has virtually no
power, and no weight, yet it manages to move around through the rough
Minnesota winters. It starts on thefirst turn every time, and
surprisingly requires very little maintenance.
In the dead of winter, when it is so cold that time nearly stands still (negative teens last winter here in Minnesota) it starts right up. I know the defroster barely works, because on many a cold day I've seen the owner driving using the windshield scraper on the inside of the windows.
I honestly don't know of another Sprint of this vintage still
operating in our region. In the early days Sprints were not known for
their long life spans, but this one refuses to die. While this car is
showing signs of age, it still carries the groceries and anything else
the owner chooses to put into it. I've seen it come home so loaded down
with things in the back that the bumper was nearly dragging on the
street, and I saw sparks when it drove over an upraised manhole cover.
Yet the car goes on, and in this world of disposable build quality, that says something. I solute this example of Every Day Iron--job well done!
--Big Chris
Slick on September 11, 2008 at 04:05 PM
Nice, if GM introduced one of those now they would make a mint.
David Colborne on September 13, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Slick - I wouldn't be so sure of that. The Aveo is in roughly the same market space as the Sprint was, built about as "solidly", and though it's selling moderately well, it's not exactly seeing best-seller status. The trouble with those little cars is they just aren't profitable enough to justify selling in the quantities that Americans buy them in. With an SUV, if you sell 40,000 of them a year, you're still making some serious cash. With small cars like that, 40,000 will barely earn you $1 mil in gross profit. Worse yet, most people don't buy them as primary cars, and the ones that do are very price sensitive (college students, single parents, etc.).
I'd love to see more of them, and I'd love to see cars that actually get over 40 MPG again without the use of huge, complex battery systems, but I doubt we'll be willing to put up with the compromises to make that happen anymore.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on September 13, 2008 at 08:07 PM
'Everyday Iron' indeed. It starts when you turn the key, it gets you there and home again; what more can you ask of it?
Slick on September 14, 2008 at 12:22 AM
David: I am sorry if you misunderstood me, I meant something small and cheap with epic gas mileage, not simply something small and cheap. Small cars can be quite profitable, you just need a long options list and a totally stripped out base model (I believe AMC holds the title for most stripped out base model, with a model where the back seats were optional). The Aveo, small and cheap that it is, does not get particularly good mileage and even so it is quite profitable for GM. Maybe mint was the wrong word, perhaps rather large amounts of money would be more suitable.
Cam on September 15, 2008 at 07:59 AM
I used to have a sprint just like the one in your first shot, but with less rust (it was 12 years ago). It was my first car, I was 16, it cost $800 and was one of the best cars I ever owned. I still miss it now, it fell victim to a slow oil leak that I didn't monitor well. After a rod bearing started to go my dad gave it away to a mechanically inclined neighbor that needed a car. I got his Celica as part of the bargain (which made me happy at the time).
I do miss filling up for &10 and fully expecting that amount to last me 2 weeks of driving.
RocketRobinHood on September 16, 2008 at 01:28 AM
My buddy in high school (picture a taller, more stoned Jeff Spicoli) had one, probably an '86. It was a Suzuki Forsa, but it was the same car. Great for delivering pizzas; peppy enough with the 5-speed.
He said to me: "You know what, sure it only has 3 cylinders, but what people don't realize is that those 3 cylinders work reeeaaally hard."
He left the perfectly straight, 60 km/h roadway doing a "california lane-change" and landed flat on the roof. Not a scratch on him; Jeebus watches over the stoners. He would talk about how, hanging upside down while belted in, he couldn't figure out which way to turn down the volume knob, and Van Halen (NOT Van Hagar) just got louder and louder...
new yorker wrecker on September 16, 2008 at 09:53 AM
Speaking of stoners, I had a coworker who had the exact model shown, same color even, bought new. He told me he could roll a joint, and steer with his knees on his annual road trip to California. I usually did the rolling when I was a passenger. Peppy little car. He liked it very much.
Steve Bergman on August 17, 2009 at 11:39 PM
I take issue with the "struggle to get over 50mph" remark. The rated top speed is actually in the low 90s. 65 is not a problem even into a headwind and up a hill (within reason). It will run along at 75mph happily under most conditions, but hills and headwinds can be a problem. I like 65.
Mine is a 1988 Sprint Metro model. It's in great shape, at 308,500 miles, 231,000 of which I put on it myself. Lot's of good times and memories! And fun to drive, with its 5 spd manual overdrive transmission.
I broke a piston at at 308,400, and just got it back from an engine rebuild. The Metro model had a number of refinements to optimize fuel economy (different cam, final drive, etc.) and the window sticker was 54/58. The 1986 Sprint "ER" (the 1986 equivalent of the Metro) did slightly better, at 55/60. Mine actually does 52mpg at a steady 65mph with no wind and relatively level road. Around 44-46 or so in the city. I love my Sprint Metro!
BTW, there was a Turbo version of the car, if you can believe it. Most of them were red, with a smart looking sport trim package.
Just-Joan on January 07, 2010 at 12:14 PM
While stationed on Guam in 95 I paid a Machinist Mate $800 for a lt blue 85, like the photo. They were divers, there was so much sand in it I bought real estate as well! The guys had taken good care of it while they owned it. Guam has beater cars that pass from one Sailor to the other they transfer in and out.
It was as great little car! Though the speed limit on the island was/is 45 MPH, I dashed about 75 miles an our without it even breathing hard. It merely hummed a bit louder! I passed it on to a shop mate when I left. Several others owned it after me who knew me and it was running great when last sold.
They don't make 'em like they used to!
Steve Bergman on November 20, 2010 at 01:41 AM
Since I made my previous comment in this thread 15 months ago, I've put another 40,000 on my Sprint, for a total of 348,000 odometer miles. Of course, since it's mostly run p155/80R12 tires rather than the standard P145/80R12's, that really works out to a true 358,000. I'm posting this from beautiful Montrose Colorado, 750 miles from home, with a nice view of the Sprint out my motel room window. :-)
kristina on February 05, 2011 at 03:37 PM
hey i just want to say this is a cute car i just bought a 1988 sprint and yes the parts r hard to find to fix but i found them and lets just say i luv my bubbie thats what i call her