The "T"-Body Cars: Chevrolet Chevette and Pontiac T1000
As you all very well know, General Motors and other car companies use an alphabet letter to denote a body style, usually used by two or more divisions. When the unreliability of the "H"-body Vega became obvious, GM went looking globally to replace the Vega by rebadging a "T"-body from elsewhere in the world. First built in Brazil in 1974, the "T" car was eventually made as the Vauxhall Chevette, Opel Kadett, Isuzu Gemini, and Holden Gemini. It was also called the Pontiac Acadian in Canada. Briefy, it was even made as a pickup truck, the Chevy 500.
Launched by the Chevrolet Division in 1976 as the Chevette and in 1981 as Pontiac's T1000, this is a truly "love-it-or-hate-it" car. I bought this then-new 1978 model for reliable transportation and easy campus parking, as well as something to remember my 21st birthday by. Originally available in America only as a 2-door, "Rally" and "Woody" packages were also offered. A 4-door came along in 1978, and those two trim packages were dropped. All were hatchbacks. There was a station wagon that was never available here, but I think it would have been a hit at that time. In 1978, the Pinto and Monza wagons were still available and selling strong--though their days were ultimately numbered.
The Chevette/T1000 interior was, well, "sparse" at best. Vinyl seats were standard; the optional plaid cloth pattern featured in my car was both comfy and stylishly indicative of when Disco ruled the land. In fact, this was the first set of cloth seats I ever had. They convinced me that cloth seats are the way to go, since vinyl or leather seats are hot in the summer, cold in the winter, and usually don't last as long unless, of course, they are fine Corinthian. This was the standard interior; the upgraded digs were as scarce as hens' teeth.
All Chevettes had the exposed, hard, painted metal upper door edges to bang your arm on, a trait common to cheap cars and trucks. The one-piece plastic door panels were deceiving. At first they looked like stitched and padded panels, but any touch would find them almost as hard as the aforementioned door edges. The carpeting was nice enough, even covering the hatch load floor.
The mini console was handy, but the dash was a disaster. Only one size radio was allowed, and DIN-sized choices were very limited in 1978. Under-dash FM converters combined with the standard AM radio were the cheapest fix. How else could you hear "Funkytown" with no static? Gauges were also virtually non-existent. All "T" cars had the 85-mph speedometer, fuel gauge, and smaller holes for idiot lights and a place for a clock. There was an optional tachometer and volt gauge, but again, try to find a car with those options. Amazingly, on the 2-doors, the rear side windows were hinged and latched! So what was in the cabin seemed to be done fairly well. Squeaks and rattles were few except for the noisy, poorly fitted hatch area.
Driving my T1000 was fun, but not exactly exciting. Very soon after buying the car, we put a set of Michelin radials on. From then on, I looked forward to a certain set of "S" curves on the way to work each day, as the "T" was one of the first GM cars to have rack-and-pinion steering ... basically the same unit that went into the "P"-body Pontiac Fiero.
I have to say that the T-body cars' traction in snow was amazing, especially considering they were real wheel drive. During "The Great Blizzard of 1978", I drove the first car with snow pounding the floor pan. The car made it up a steep driveway that a friend's Jeep would not conquer ... with bias-ply tires, no less! (These are not typical results, your traction may vary.) Please don't adjust your sets, that's a black & white picture I took of an ice-encrusted hubcap on the '78 Chevette. Powered by a 1.6-liter I-4, they made all of 70 horsepower at the rear wheels. Power steering and power brakes just weren't needed, as the cars were light enough to steer and stop easily without them.
In 1979, the Chevette received a front-end freshening that would last till the end of production in 1987, including a new hood, rectangular headlights, and a chrome grille. The 1980 model year, the beginning of the Al Franken Decade, brought new rear quarter panels, hatch, and a tail light change, all very attractive for the time. In fact, I'm going to say it here ... the lines were quite similar to the first-generation VW Scirocco, and neither was a bad-looking car back then. As mentioned, in 1981 the Pontiac version was released, gussying up the Chevette by using Pontiac badges, a dark painted grille, lowered body side moldings, and the Chevette's "Custom Exterior" option of extra bright side window trim with matte black painted accents. In 1982, a much-improved hard cloth-covered headliner was used. The pinstripes on the silver car were my doing.
Yes, we owned three of the cars cars shown here. For years we lived frugally, and have seen some payoffs lately by doing so. The two-tone 4-door here belonged to my mother; she drove the car for years, even with a peculiar shudder in the drivetrain. Between 25 and 35 mph, the car had a strange vibration, probably in the driveshaft. We never had it fixed because it was not chronic, and we didn't want to put a penny more into the car than we had to. We just lived with it. Hers was a three-speed automatic, both of mine had four-speed manuals.
All three cars had air conditioning; the heaters worked all right, except there wasn't a bi-level vent and floor setting ... it was either one or the other. So your tootsies froze while your upper body and face were warm or visa-versa, unless you fiddled with the air flow controls every few minutes. But at least her car had rear doors! Getting in and out of any 2-door coupe is tough; try it in one of these microbes. I have avoided buying any 2-door car that has a back seat since I owned a Chevette--even my last pickup truck has four full-sized doors.
OK, that's the good news. So, how could a car that was the best selling car in America in 1979 and 1980 take such a fall from grace? Simple ... in America, GM did virtually nothing to improve or update this car as the Europeans did (a Vauxhall Chevette is shown at left), and the competition simply overran it.
The "T" was hardly cutting-edge when it was new. Other than relocating nameplates, body-coloring bumpers, and adding the mandatory Central High-Mounted Stop Light (CHMSL) third brake light, almost nothing was done. In 1984, Pontiac dropped the "T" designation and simply called the car the "1000".
Dealers also carried only poorly-equipped models on their lots. Goodies like a 5-speed manual, tilt steering wheel, remote control mirror, intermittent wipers, rear defroster, rear wiper, roof rack, nicer interior packages, AM/FM radio, and better wheels were available, but have you ever seen them? If you got air conditioning, tinted glass, and a radio in your "T" car, feel lucky.
Had Chevy and Pontiac updated the cabin and used the items already available in their parts bin to upgrade the cars, the Chevette and T1000 cars would surely have gained more respect in the market. But, sadly, GM's strategy of chopping the price in 1987 to $4,995 to compete with the Hyundai Excel and Yugo GV only placed the "T" cars lower on the automotive food chain.
Then there was the Chevette Scooter. As if the regular Chevette wasn't spartan enough, GM decided to take off all of the exterior trim, cheaply paint the bumpers, limit colors and equipment, remove the glove box door, use unbelievably flat interior door trim, install vinyl flooring and vinyl hatch floor covers, and remove any plastic chrome from the dash. Mechanically the Scooter was identical with other Chevettes, but many options were not available. In 1976, the first year, a back seat was optional. Sigh, what were they thinking? Has a more plain-looking car ever been offered? Thankfully, Chevrolet dropped the Scooter in the 1984 model year.
Quality was another issue. I really enjoyed and occasionally miss the little brown car ... enough that its memories prompted me to buy a T1000 as soon as Pontiac released them. What a mistake! From poor assembly and bad materials to criminally stupid dealer service, this is the car I've most regretted owning in my life.
Almost immediately after getting the car, I had to go to a dealer and receive a fender badge the factory forgot to put on--my first recall! There was not enough material in the headliner to fold over and finish. The dealer scratched the driver's inner door panel, then repaired it by painting the hard molded burgundy plastic which, of course, immediately flaked off. The carpet had a flaw, so the dealer replaced it--the new rug was installed crooked, and the dealer did not reconnect the hand brake lever when they gave me back the car. A strange dent appeared in the hood while at the dealer--it's as if somebody sat on it. The passenger's door had a wind noise, so the idiot at the dealer rolled down the window, put his knee inside the door, pulled the window frame in a bit, thus cracking the paint, and left a dent in the door where his knee was. The list goes on.
Maybe the increase in production volume between 1978 and 1981 explains why the second car was not as good as the first. Just spit 'em out, and we'll fix 'em later. Again, sigh.
So, in my usually worthless opinion, with more standard equipment and a new interior, a "T" car could have been almost fun to own, maybe even springing a cult following. It drove well, was good on gas, and was sold incredibly cheaply. But with options difficult to find and dealers treating their customers and the cars like unwanted stepchildren, it seems like GM wasted a golden opportunity here.
My little brown car was a mountain climber. It's pictured here parked at Newfound Gap in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. You can see the stickers in the window if you look closely. The silver Chevette next to me is a 1976 or 1977 model.
Sorry about the multitude of pictures here, but these things came in a lot of different varieties! Wikipedia supplied the European Vauxhall Chevette photo. The Scooter and 1976 Woody are from The Chevette Photo Gallery. Also at the Chevette Photo Gallery, you can see pictures of Australian Holden Geminis, the Down Under Chevettes. It's fascinating to see how they are both familiar and foreign.
--That Car Guy (Chuck)
Chris Hafner on February 03, 2009 at 09:15 AM
I agree, Chuck - it was definitely a wasted opportunity. When the Chevette debuted, it was not a bad little piece. It was cruder, less refined, and vastly less advanced than the Rabbit, and it wasn't as well-engineered as the Fiesta, but it was a credible little car.
But, like the Cutlass Ciera, what was a decent though unspectacular car was left to languish for a decade and was so hopelessly out-of-date by the end of its life that it became a laughing stock.
Unsurprisingly, I've always thought Chevettes weren't bad looking cars. There was an early little blue mint Chevette that was parked across the street from our old house. Looking at that car always put a smile on my face.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on February 03, 2009 at 09:30 AM
My infamous Monza Wagon had the same arrangement on the doors: plastic panels with fake stitches, and body-color painted metal upper door edges.
Also like the Monza, the Chevette was a classic example of wasted potential, a decent basic design ruined by a lack of refinement and a major lack of build quality and reliability. Being RWD when everything else in that market segment was going to FWD didn't help because it made the car seem outdated.
That Car Guy on February 03, 2009 at 09:46 AM
...er, I forgot to mention one thing... the cars became so unpopular for a while that their nickname became the "Shove-it".
Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame on February 03, 2009 at 09:50 AM
I saw a Chevette on the road in San Antonio a few weeks ago. It was in great shape...I considered forcing the guy over to the side of the road and asking him how much he'd take for it. I'm not writing from jail at the moment because I resisted the impulse.
You hit upon two of the reasons GM is in such bad shape these days:
1) They failed to update the Chevette; they failed to update the Ciera; they failed to update the Cavalier, too, and will probably fail to update the Cobalt.
2) "You want a cheap car?!? I'll give you a cheap car!!!" ...and then they proceed to cheapen it beyond the point anyone would buy it. They seem to think that cheap, badly-equipped cars with no upgrade options will push buyers up into a higher bracket where the profit margin is higher, but all it does is push customers out the door, never to return. I think/hope they've learned their lesson on that, but we'll see...
B3NN3TT on February 03, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Great article!
My first car was a 1980 Chevette 4-door, with the 4-speed manual. I bought it in 1988 from a life insurance salesman for $200. I drove that heap for 7 years, and sold it, just when it was rolling over 200,000 miles, for $200. No depreciation! :)
V8Dan on February 03, 2009 at 11:27 AM
We bought a used 4 door Chevette and I used it for basic work transportation to drive back and forth to work in the late 80s for several years. The climax of my daily 2 mile commute was driving over a badly maintained railroad crossing. As the years rolled by my hands increasly tightned on the steering wheel because I was positive that sooner or later the seat would go crashing through the rusting out floorboards. Finally common sense prevailed and we parked the $hitvette (though it was still starting faithfully each and every morning) in the driveway in the 90s where it found another used as a greenhouse for my wife’s spring annuals for another several years. Then for reasons still unknown, a stranger walked up our driveway and offered to pay me money for it. My wife was totally against it, I on the other hand knew that opportunities like this didn’t come along very often. I told him I didn’t consider it a safe car, but he persevered and gave me cash so he could drive it away a few days later. And even though that happened over 15 years ago, each and every spring she still apparently delights in reminding me how she wished we hadn’t sold her greenhouse...
John B on February 03, 2009 at 11:29 AM
In the summer of 1978 a co-worker bought one new. As fitting our employer and our meger wagers ((I was getting $800 a month), his was the basest base model you cold imagine.
White, no options. But what struck me was no chrome or stainless trim anywhere except perhaps the hub caps. Everything else was painted silver..bumpers, mirror, door handles and locks.
Miserable little car to look at, not much fun to ride in (for my one time only ride).
Made my 3 year-old Mustang II seem like a Mercedes.
David Colborne on February 03, 2009 at 12:04 PM
My parents had a T1000 in the early '80s. I have no idea if it was a good car or not and, to be honest, neither do my parents. All they know is that, every time they went to the dealer to do a warranty repair, they never, EVER fixed the problem. Finally, a couple of years later, they broke down and replaced the T1000 with a Dodge Colt Turbo. That experience ruined GM for both of them for the rest of their lives.
Steaming Pile on February 03, 2009 at 12:17 PM
1980 4-door, in brown "paint." I put quotes around that because the paint on most 1980 model GM cars had this nasty habit of crazing to the point where you wondered why they bothered painting the cars at all. The South Carolina heat didn't help.
I bought my '80 Chevette in, oh, about 1988 and drove it for two years. It was a tough little car that was fairly hard to kill. I even delivered pizza in it for awhile at a second job (a friend talked me into it), and one day the crankshaft bolt sheared off, leaving the gear it had fastened to the crankshaft on the road somewhere. Amazingly, the car still ran long enough to get it to the repair shop, where I found out there was a recall (since expired, so I was screwed) on that very part. $400 later, I was back on the road, and I never had another bit of trouble with the little bugger until I sold it because I had orders for Germany (which the Army canceled because the Cold War ended). Pissed me off. I might still be driving that car.
Rob the SVX guy on February 03, 2009 at 12:51 PM
Interesting article about one of the biggest automotive punchlines in history. "Hey you wanna go out for a ride in my 'vette?". Well written, though I'm not sure if it was a Scooter or Scotter (typo?). However... I don't know. I've read the whole article, and I'm just not feeling any love for this car, at all. Zero lust. You definitely seem to respect the way it drove, for the time, but... ultimately I think the reason this car was such a piece of crap was because it elicited almost no emotion from you, the owner. Although it was adequate, it was nothing that anybody seemed to bond with, and in the end, I just don't care at all what happens to any of them.
Chris Hafner on February 03, 2009 at 01:00 PM
By the way, I did a double-take on those wheels--I wish they came stock that way, those are fantastic!
That Car Guy on February 03, 2009 at 01:06 PM
Rob the SVX guy: "I really enjoyed and occasionally miss the little brown car ... enough that its memories prompted me to buy a T1000 as soon as Pontiac released them." That's called emotion. And yes, it was the Scooter.
Anthony Cagle on February 03, 2009 at 01:47 PM
"Unsurprisingly, I've always thought Chevettes weren't bad looking cars"
Y'know, I agree. They exude something like a cute functionality. Not fancy, nor too dull, nor an attempt to be sporty; just a simple small car.
That interior shot at first glance looks almost just like my Mustang II. . . . .
That Car Guy on February 03, 2009 at 02:05 PM
Anthony, I recently ran across some pics of my Mustang II when it was new - wish I could share them with you. There is an interior shot from the same angle... maybe the tan color reminds you of the M II. Like John B said above, going from a small GM car to a Ford is like stepping into a Mercedes. The expression "Standard is good enough" pertained to a small Ford back then, and when I saw that the Mustang II had carpet on the padded door panels, real fake wood, and lots of gauges, all standard, a hard plastic and metal GM door and gaugeless dash just never looked the same again.
Anthony Cagle on February 03, 2009 at 03:31 PM
Here's what mine looks like:
http://archaeoblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/car-blogging-update-well-restoration-of.html
Kinda the sport version of the M-II.
Big Chris on February 03, 2009 at 03:48 PM
A friend of mine had one of these in the early 90's as his first car. I designed and helped build a subwoofer box that filled the entire rear hatch. We used two 10 inch subs and this little car pounded. The only problem was that the bumper nearly dragged on the ground with the extra rear end weight! The one plus to this was that it moved well in the snow with the weight right above the axle. I was never a fan of the car itself other than how cheap it was to operate. It was so small and flimsy I always felt we were taking a sizable risk driving it in traffic. But you could park it just about anywhere - not quite Euro/Kei car, but pretty close in parking ability.
Another funny thing about these cars is that very few had passenger side mirrors. Another option that was often left off.
--Big Chris
That Car Guy on February 03, 2009 at 03:57 PM
Wow, your car is really loaded! You have the Sport steering wheel, center console, automatic, digital clock, A/C, and apparently a stereo due to the door speakers. The first few years, carpet ran up the door panels and the dash had real fake burled plastic wood. I have a '75 Mustang II brochure that offers the Silver Ghia option... hood ornament, half vinyl roof, and thickly padded burgundy luxury interior (Ever the rear compartment side panels were padded) with shag carpet and opera windows. I miss those cars!
That Car GuyThat Car Guy on February 03, 2009 at 04:01 PM
Big Chris, good observation! There was an available remote control (Cable) driver's mirror, and a passenger mirror just screwed on. But again, try to find one. :(
Shawn on February 03, 2009 at 05:05 PM
I don't have any firsthand experience with the Chevette, mostly because they've nearly all left our roadways ages ago. However, my next door neighbor growing up had an ugly brown Chevy Citation. I can't remember if it was my dad or someone else who nicknamed it the "Pregnant Chevette". And while I'm sidetracking this post, I'll add that Citation is one of the worst names for a car model ever.
ray_d_eightor on February 03, 2009 at 05:08 PM
You could also get a diesel engine as an option. It was an Isuzu diesel. It's 0-60mph time was like 20 seconds.
That Car GuyThat Car Guy on February 03, 2009 at 07:35 PM
Good point, Ray_D_Eightor! In 1981, the diesel was first offered, and a 5-speed was standard (With the diesel). In 1982, the 5-speed was available for the gas 'vettes, as well as a 4-door Scooter.
Wish I could find a bunch of these cars and build a Frankensvette. The car would be a 4-door, have four factory bucket seats, gauges, a 5-speed, more power, and Fiero brakes and wheels. The best thing about this project is that you can only improve these cars!
Big Chris on February 04, 2009 at 01:24 PM
True story. Today in Mankato, MN, I saw in a grocery store parking lot a PRISTINE diesel Chevette. The body was clean, paint was very good. Rear end was JACKED way up in the air with some yellow air shocks (up so high I could see the shocks) and the guy had collector's plates on it. Hilarious! I knew it was a diesel because he left it running, and it sounded like an old tractor.
--Big Chris
educatordan on February 07, 2009 at 07:16 PM
Holy Cow! My grandmother had one of these as a grocery getter. It was a two door Chevette from about 85. Was still running strong in the early 90s when we went to visit her in Florida. My dad loaded 4 of us into it and drove to the beach. It was like driving a glorified lawnmower. Loud, buzzy, my 150cc scooter rides better.
I will testify however to its great traction. It went much farther on the sand than I expected and didn't get stuck.
meccano on February 09, 2009 at 05:50 PM
Good looking? A Chevette? I throw up in my mouth when I think them. My dad & I test drove one on "The World's Largest Test Track" at Reedman's Langhorne, PA. Needless to say the Chevette did not end up being my first new car. I like the looks of that Vauxhall pictured. What a minute, I just thought about that for a moment. A British made Chevette? Oh dear god, I just throw up again.
That Car Guy on February 19, 2009 at 12:16 PM
Oh, my dream Chevette would also have the later model rear end with the '78 front end. They never made one of those!