Chevrolet Chevette |
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Wikipedia: Chevrolet Chevette
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History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Chevrolet Chevette page on 11 January 2018, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Chevrolet Chevette is a front-engine-rear drive subcompact manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet for the model years 1976-1987 in three-door and five-door hatchback body styles. Introduced in September 1975, the Chevette superseded the Vega as Chevrolet's entry-level subcompact and sold 2.8 million units over twelve years. The Chevette was the best-selling small car in the U.S. for model years 1979 and 1980.
The Chevette employed General Motors' global T platform. Worldwide, GM manufactured and marketed more than 7 million T-cars — rebadged variants using the T platform — including the Pontiac Acadian in Canada, Pontiac T1000/1000 in the United States (1981-1987), K-180 in Argentina, Vauxhall Chevette, Opel Kadett, Isuzu Gemini, Holden Gemini and, as a coupe utility (pickup), the Chevy 500. A T-car variant remained in production in South America through 1998.
Under the direction of chief engineer John Mowrey Chevrolet began developing the Chevette on December 24, 1973, in response to the federal CAFE standards and the 1973 oil crisis and GM's Energy Task Force, arising out of the crisis and the resultant shift in consumer demand to smaller, foreign vehicles boasting greater fuel-efficiency.
The Chevette used as its basis GM's World Car, "Project 909" — what would become the T-car program, so named because the vehicles shared GM's T platform. With the well-known problems of its predecessor, the Vega — which included production issues, reliability problems and a serious propensity for corrosion — the team reworked the international platform such that the Chevette shared not a single body panel with another T-car and reworked the underbody extensively to enhance corrosion protection. The Chevette's 1.4 liter base iron-block engine weighed 59 lbs less than the Vega's much-heralded aluminum-block engine.
The Chevette was officially launched on September 16, 1975, in Washington, D.C., just after new legislation mandated Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. With initial projected sales of 275,000 units in its first year, numbers were cut in half as the price of oil stabilized. The Chevette would ultimately reach 2,793,353 sales for its entire production across the 12 model years 1976-1988. and global T-car sales would surpass 7 million. The last Chevette was manufactured on December 23, 1986, at Lakewood Assembly — following the end of production at Wilmington Assembly in September, 1985. The last Chevette manufactured was a light-blue two-door hatchback shipped to a Chevrolet dealer in Springdale, Ohio.
The T-car had been launched internationally in Brazil under the Chevette name in 1973, as a two-door sedan and ultimately a four-door sedan, a two-door hatchback, and a two-door station wagon (named "Marajó"), as well as a pickup (named the "Chevy 500"), produced until 1994.
Reference Desk
The Crittenden Automotive Library's "Reference Desk" is a collection of materials that cannot be shared due to copyright restrictions. Information from these resources, however, can be shared. Go to the Reference Desk page for more information.
| Type | Title |
|---|---|
1989  Book | Chilton Repair Manual: Chevette/Pontiac 1000 1976-1988; Chilton Book Company |
| Type & Item # | Name | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Die Cast - Fresh Cherries 73600L | 1978 Chevy Chevette | Small scale, brown |