Vauhall Chevette | Retro Car | Drive In | 1975
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- The new Vauxhall Chevette tries to take on Fords Escort range that is currently available. Will it succeed? Lets see what 'Drive in' thinks
14/08/1975
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Quote: VT11309
Well the Chevette may have lacked flare but the presenter certainly didn't
My brother had 1 and when you ejected the cassette it landed on the back seat!
cassette radio not part of chevette, it was your brothers cheap aftermarket radio
Love the way he feels the need to climb out of a boat before demonstrating the boot space.
Typically aimed at pirates moving their booty
I was thinking very Alan Partridge.
Yes those were the days when we weren't so anally retentive about how other people did things.
Look at him, 'cause he's on a boat.
yeah - its a test drive film in which he doesn't appear to test drive it - the art of delegation clearly ha ha ha
Wonderful little car. Very fresh clear colour video film. Just film 30 years after World War Two. And filmed 43 years ago from now!
Apparently goes backwards very well
With that hideous headlights, going backwards was for the best way to not spoil the sales.
If they had stuck the seats facing the other way round and re positioned the steering wheel the other side, it could have been driven in reverse as standard and would have made the car looked good!
Lol. I thought it went more backwards than forward in the clip
@@MrAndreCoutinho I do like the headlights. Better styling than what you find on any modern car.
But not as well as the Allegro. DC was better in reverse.
The Chevy Chevette was fairly decent car in America. My uncle drove one and he only replaced the clutch, brakes, and tires over an 8 year period. He put over 100,000 miles on it driving back forth to work. Had a long commute and saved a lot on gas.
My first car was a '78 Chevette ... I bought it at 10 years old and 33k on the clock. The salesman said it had been owned by a little old lady, but I thought that was just b/s. Then I took it to a mechanic for a service and when I picked it up he asked "Was this owned by a little old lady ? It's hardly been worn in yet !". The car served me well, but not even the pampering of a little old lady could prevent the rust from eating it away.
My pal had one .. it collapsed in the middle of the road and about 10 of us had to lift it off to the side where it had to be taken away and scrapped ..
superb
I keep hearing all sorts of stories like this from the 1960s and 1970s. It does sound like fun compared to now.
Modern cars are all rather samey and very few of them are truly terrible.
Interior carpet looks like it was taken out of a 10 ft lounge and crammed in sideways in the dark 😂🙈
I missed the 'Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em' episode where Frank Spencer was fitting interior carpets in Vauxhall Chevettes.
😂
Interesting he pointed out those recessed lights. Vauxhall managed to sort that problem out when they changed them to flush lights, other than the front glass kept falling off so they issued everyone with stainless C clips to hold the glass in.
An old work colleague had a chevette. he gave me a lift home in it only once and i've never forgot it! i'd love to own and drive one one day..
1:35 - anyone else expecting a J-turn?
yeah :( no stunt car athletics here :(
That was a long and worthwhile journey he couldn’t walk facing forwards….
Ahhhh, my mate had one of these. He called it the 'Vauxhall Shovit' as it kept breaking down that often
the only thing that went wrong on these engine in my experience where the points and dizzy, If you kept on top of that they where bombproof. They ate up points though. but only cost pennies to have a few sets spare and keep them gapped right.
MonkeyHunch1 I think most British cars ate points . They would gum up or burn on my cars after a few thousand miles . However I think some Vauxhalls were worse because they had faulty condensers fitted or they failed far too soon. The Chevette was very modern for the time although Vauxhall didn't have enough pennies to upgrade the pushrod ohv engine and the early cars had very poor headlight ability . I wonder how many bought the new Chevette over the new mark two Escort that year ?.
Glpi lpi what are ‘points’?
We had two Chevettes, 1975 and 1982 in L spec. The post 1980 ones were much better built and had Bosch distributors which were much better than the Delco ones on ealier cars which ate points and needed lots of cleaning of contacts inside the cap. The Bosch equipped engine was more tractable and combustion sounded much healthier.
same here always in the driveway never worked...
The sound quality of the recordings of Thames TV car reviews (all of them) is nothing short than astounding! How the hell did they managed to get that level of sound clarity in 1975?!
Eitan Rosenberg yes Thames TV as well as Yorkshire TV were quite innovative in the 60s and 70s with early video production. The picture and sound on early Thames colour programmes from the late 60s is very impressive.
Microphones have been very good since the 50s if you get the right thing. In those days they used to record onto Nagra field tape recorders which had really good characteristics too. Put that through a bit of EQ in the mix and you get a great result like here. Standards of audio engineering have fallen somewhat in the laptop age. It used to be taken very seriously but now not so much. I used to work for TEAC servicing reel to reel recorders often for broadcast.
All of the above and the use of quad videotape with audiotrack with a speed of 15 inch per second is part of the quality!
Just love the panel gap on the bonnet !
The indicator stick fell out on mine while driving (just push it back in), and the back drums would stick if you left the handbrake on a little too long (release with flat-bladed screwdriver through slot, while lying on road) ... I thought in 1991 it was like a Meccano car.
Air conditioning flows in from gap in bonnet.
That panel gap is beyond belief isn't it?
@@darrenwilson8042 Alas, it is common on Thames tv show, the bonnet is already released, I watched the Golf test yesterday, same routine.
Love the old era. And these car programs
The most important thing today, my Chevette was rear wheel drive. It was old when i bought it, but had enough power to slide the back in the wet. called drifting now! And the steering was much sharper than my MK1 Escort had been.
I could slide it in the dry without trying. Front double wishbone with a rear live rear axle, no guesses to which would lose grip first. When I did push it, it stuck down on 3 wheels thanks largely due to that double wishbone. I think I might have been dead with an equivalent car with front MacPhersons.
@@stingingeyes yes the Chevette was great fun to drive
My first Chevette was a 1978 GM Chevy Chevette left hand driver 2 door with a 5 speed manual, all two and four doors in the US were hatch backs. My 1978 Chevette was the best car I ever owed, so much so that when it was totaled I pick up another new, a 1984 5 speed this one had A/C, the car was very quick and nimble. Note: The Chevette was a "Real Dog" with a automatic transmission.
We had one in metallic green. Really nice practical car.
My mother in law had the saloon version.
A colleague at work had one customised with a rover v8 fitted a beast of a car, his brother had one with a fiat twin cam engine.
This was an Opel Kadett with a Viva 1256cc engine. The gearbox remote was slightly shorter than the Viva's.
Ah, the 1256cc engine - that was from the Viva --- didn't know that, cheers. Gearbox was nearly sporty apart from the gears didn't really like being changed!"
2nd gear was an animal up to 33mph!
Talking of Chevette's there is a Vauxhall Chevette estate rotting away in somebody's front garden where i live. It's not turned a wheel since the mid 80's.
Repaired hundreds of them , I worked at in a Vauxhall dealers in the 70's , he mentions the seat adjuster , I remember a owner complaining about the seat not tilting forward to get in the back , receptionist asked me to take a look , worked fine for me owner got annoyed with me tried it himself and didn't push back on seat to ease release of mechanism told him to read the bloody manual LOL .
The Chevrolet version had these clever latches that only locked the seatback when the car was decelerating. They were an improvement on the annoying electric latches on my Coup Deville, which cackled every time you opened or closed the door.
RTFM, read the fucking manual
@@pcno2832 what you talk`n`bout willis?
HVS 697N was last taxed in 1988. Pretty impressive!
not really, it was built in 1977, it only lasted 11 years
@@Grant.G.Simpson 'N' reg was 1975, so it lasted 13 years. Not bad at all for a car of that era
A friend of mine had a seventies Vauxhall, we called it the Vauxhall fiesta cause he filled the holes in the wings with a copy of fiesta and some filler!
Classic
Another Banger Bought from the Scrapyard. ? Was it FIFTY QUID ? He was Robbed, They were £20.00 upwards. for a good one.
Brilliant, bring back the old days!
One thing we had in the USA, but maybe not in other countries, was the "fun priced" Chevette Scooter, for $2,999. It had the 1.4L engine, cardboard door panels, no armrests, no glovebox and no radio. GM sold the car at a loss-leader price, but made sure you never forgot how much you saved.
My driving instructor had one of those. Easy to drive and got me through my test.
i have 2 chevettes they are brilliant cars
i have 3 so there
We had the same car here in the US (Chevy Chevette), minus the euro styling treatment. It was rubbish, even when compared to it's competition back in the day. Astoundingly, it lasted for 13 years here, while essentially remaining unchanged.
you had more engine choices tho!
amojak Yeah, but every one of them was rubbish
heh you didn't have the 1256cc engine from 1963, it looks to be an old bastardised GM engine that was bored out from its original under 1000cc size. interestingly the rockers and valve setup is very similar to the chevy v8 engine, just 4 cylinder and small :D
I run one daily here and it is remarkably reliable considering its vintage :p
I had a Pontiac Acadian, which was a Canadian version. It was a piece of crap and a menace. The driver's side door fell off and seat snapped off its supports. No power steering or brakes.
@@amojak We had an isuzu 1.4. An isuzu 1.6 in a "sport" model which despite being very rare has no collector's interest today. From 83-86 we had a diesel Chevette. Around 1200 were sold.
During its last year of availability, it was outsold by the then-novel Hyundai Excel.
OMG That Thames TV intro brings back so many memories!!
Back when ITV regional programming was something unique to every part of the UK, something to be proud of! Nothing like it exists now, in fact regions don't even have idents anymore. Kinda like how every radio station became a Heart or Capital. Local stuff bit the dust. A shame, but there sure are lots of fond memories. Check out the old idents here on TH-cam for old ITV regionals. Proper trip down memory lane.
Four words:
The Benny Hill Show
Yep classic
Love the remote presentation via a boat!
the headlight "scoops" were eventually replaced with lenses at the front so he spotted a problem early doors. Also the Chevette used a torque tube which meant the driving experience was streets ahead of the Viva - the latter felt old school by comparison.
way better than the vauxhall viva I had, my mother had one and I loved the sporty handling it seemed to have
I like the Chevette but this review is comedy :), He talks about the boot having no cover to hide what you have in there for security then immediately praises the rear quarter window you can open from the outside! :)
noticed that and laughed :)
MonkeyHunch1 Taking a break from arguing in pug1's comments are ya? ;)
Touch of the Alan Partridge about it.
It's a safety feature that allows the emergency services to access the vehicle should the doors fail to open due to inconsistent, overly tight panel gaps.
lol lob are you stalking me :) ? I never say anyhing bad about pug . But hey i don`t let BS slide! Guilty!
the car is to cars what his shirt is to shirts and his hair is to hair
mr y mysterious video lol
ooh get her!
Very 70's?
The the higher the hair, the closer to God; the larger the shirt collar, the more angellic one is?
Hahaha! I could not see why ANYONE would want any of the three!
Still a great looking car today.
Owned about 16 of these over the years and done 150,000 + miles in them and did some wheeling and dealing with them when i used to buy & mend cars and sell them for a profit.
Viscous fan,water pump & anti roll bar bushes,points misaligning common faults with them.
Loved polishing the chrome work with autosol but some chevettes used to have badly pitted chrome.
Apart from that a great car and learnt a lot from fixing them all the time and thanks to this car i can mend most things on my current car.
Got a ford escort mk3 after owning some of them and could not wait to get back to the chevette as the escort was that bad with its wining CVH engine.
150,000 miles in 16 cars is an average per car of 9,375 miles. They don't last long do they? :)
haha they are not that bad.(:-)
I was buying and selling them for a profit and made some good money back then.
There was 2.2l quad carb rally sports version that was extremely rare. That came out towards the end of the run. I would still prefer the droop-snoot Magnum, that was mentioned in the video. A hopped up Viva with an unusual nose as a styling exercise to gauge public option to the grille-less nose and hatchback design. The sloping nose was on both the Chevette and the Cavalier. The Chevette was nothing special, but I was a Ford guy with an Escort so maybe not the best judge. There were plenty on the road back in the 70's it was a very common car.
How they built a 1300 car which felt like it had run out of steam around 60mph I don't know. The older Hillman Avenger felt more competent, and was easier to work on too.
My mother had one of these. I used to drive it also and found it quite sporty. She used to tell me to keep slowing down. My eyes and coordination were much better then now I loved it!
Ah, my first car was a white 1979 V reg Chevette in 1991. Unlike 12 year old cars nowadays it had holes in the floor pan and always ran rough. Cost me the princely sum of £85 with six months MOT and when that ran out it was scrapped.
Had one of these brand new in gold or should i say 3 different shades of gold. They did handle well though, opel influence.
"What it needs is some sort of pull over tonneau cover device". You mean a parcel shelf?
... or he could just use his flares....
LOL, give John a job at Vauxhall quick! He knows his stuff :-)
I have a yellow one of these I am currently restoring. Even the stock engine gave the car quite acceptable performance over the Viva which has exactly the same engine. IMHO, the Viva was underpowered and really needed at least a 1500cc engine. The Magnum's with the 1800 and 2400 slant-four went really well, and I have seen Chevette's with the 2400cc engine in them - Jesus, they move! The bog standard engine, if pepped up a bit during rebuilding as I have done, makes the Chevette quite a fun car to drive. Thanks for uploading this video. :)
I put a 2400cc Magnum engine mated to a Vauxhall Victor gearbox and an Opel Ascona limited slip axle in my Opel Kadett and it worked a lot better
I bet it did! The power-to-weight ratio of a 2.4L in a small car like a Chevette would make it a much more fun car!
Loved the Vauxhall Viva. My Grandad had one.... a Viva SL. .... DAD 416K.
Happy days.
My dad had the Opel Kadett that this was based on. It had a proper grille and headlights, unlike the Vauxhall arrangement up front, and it was a saloon rather than a hatchback. He loved it.
No wonder why there are so many low mileage ones left.Everybody drove in reverse back then
They were Very Sharp & Nimble cars . Better than the Electronic Crap we have today.
@@A1DJPaul Rose-tinted glasses anyone ? the electronic crap we have today will easily go 300k kms reliably. The same cannot be said of British cars of the 70s. As a bonus, cars of the 70s tried to kill you with every accident more serious than a fender-bender.
The Vauxhall Chevette was introduced in 1975 as a hatchback only. The saloon, estate and van (Bedford Chevanne) appeared a year later. An Opel Kadett with a different front, but there was no coupe model of the Chevette.
The Chevette was also sold with the same name in USA and South America but in the Chevrolet brand, both had very different styling but it was essencially the same car
Loved my sister's Chevette :-) although I had a Citroën GS at the time :-)
He was right about the handling, if you could get it up to speed it would go round corners very well. But for straight line stability in reverse it still holds top slot.
I bought one for £100 in 1990. I was surprised how well it handled. Had it for six months whilst i fixed another car. Hand painted it red from chocolate metallic brown. Then sold to a friend for £60 and he drove it another 12 months up and down the m-way until the camshaft went, but still got him home.
Yeah the engine was its Achilles heel. I remember thinking at the time that if they'd put a better engine in it it would have out classed the Manta, the road holding was that good. It was fitted with double wishbone at the front and a panhard at the back, coupled to anti roll bars both front and rear it was technically a sports chassis. They did however do the HS1800 but not enough to make it really viable from an economic standpoint. Shame really, the chevette was basically a still born sports car.
The HS was 2.3, not a 1.8 & there was also a 16 valve version, which was quite a thing back then. They did very well in rallying.
I tried setting the timing on the rotor as per book and it ran poorly, until someone just said set it so that it just runs smooth as the cam lobes wear unevenly.
Most of the time, knackered cams were from either not changing the oil often enough, or over tightening the rockers.. A lot of people did this as they went out of adjustment a lot, same applied to Fords Kent/Endura engines.
When i was a kid they sold the Chevette also in Germany for a short period as a cheaper alternative to the '79 Kadett aka Astra. Back then i never understood why it looked so weird and why the front differed from "our" Kadett C.
The Chevette was withdrawn from the german pricelist when the Corsa/Nova arrived and i think no one ever missed it.
In the UK, this was considered quite an advanced car for its time and the Chevette developed a reputation for being a fairly reliable, well made car, something that wasn't true of many British cars at the time. Also unlike previous Vauxhalls, it didn't rust badly after a couple of years. Yet against the 1979 German made Kadett, the Chevette felt old.
@@Glenn1967ful To be fair, also the Kadett C (predecessor of the Kadett D, first generation "Astra" in the UK) had a really good reputation, it was a very succesful car in Germany, iirc it even outsold the Golf 1. The 3-door hatchback was called "City". Its production ended in 1979 and from there on Opel had no rival against the Polo and Fiesta. The Chevette was then imported from britain to fill up the gap.
@@Timico1000 The Chevette was a British take on your Opel Kadett City, but the range expanded in 1976 to saloons and estate cars. It also used the Viva 1256 cc engine to reduce costs, rather than import engines from Opel, and to keep jobs in the UK at a time of rising unemployment. Not a brilliant car, it was rwd when most cars this size were moving over to fwd and basic models were horrible inside, nevertheless the Chevette helped to save Vauxhall from probable closure as their other cars weren't selling enough.
@@Glenn1967ful I grew up in the 80s and always thought that Vauxhall was nothing more than an Opel with a different grille and the wheel on the wrong (joke!) side. I was actually surprised when i learned some years ago that they were completely seperate brands in the early days and that even in the 70s the cars were quite different when it came to styling and drivetrains. Same with Ford UK vs. Ford EU, i was never aware that especially the Cortina and our Taunus were THAT different.
I love how it's a brand new car that's already leaning to the right
there is a guy sat in it ahah
All cars leaned to the right in Britain back then, now days they all lean to the the left.. there was a brief period from 1997-2010 where all cars in Britain looked as though they leaned to the left but in actual fact they leaned to the right.
I suspect after brexit cars will start to lean to the right again and then suddenly and unexpectedly lunge over to lean to the left without warning.
LMFAO
the weight balance of the chevette was poor due to it being developed from a left hand drive car. the petrol tank, battery exhaust and driver were all on the right side! I know i own 7 of em :)
I've seen cars in 2018 lean to the extreme Marxist left. I got into a Vauxhall Mokka the other week and it was like stepping into the USSR. Had a Insignia as a courtesy car and it wouldn't go into 5th because I was, according to the manual, a 'cis white male'. Modern commie cars can piss right off. I've got a mk3 Fiesta outside which is well balanced - likes freedom and isn't afraid to call Islam a sack of shite. Great car.
Cloth seat are a step up from having the horrible PVC seats from the viva, it has same hatchback flaw as VW golf its level with the lights which makes the loading difficult. Unlike the Austin maxi which goes below the lights. which makes the loading easy.
My mum had one of these in the mid-80s; apparently it was a dreadful car.
Must admit I think it’s quite an attractive design: the square front headlights are a bit iffy, but apart from that I think it looks quite stylish and I like the chrome letters spelling out Vauxhall on the back.
Love the Benny Hill theme.
The Us version was built in Doraville, Ga (probably elsewhere too). The plant has been bulldozed...just saying....
Like pretty-much every GM plant...
The GM version was very reliable. I know a few people who bought them new and got their moneys worth out of them.
I remember driving the HS2300 version, which was a really nice, superfast car when the carbs were properly balanced. Much better than most of the French, Italian and VW rubbish that was on the market at the time. The only bad thing about it was the German Getrag gearbox, which was always heavy and obstructive.
Doublethink I was lucky enough to have a 2300 Chevette for a few months in the mid eighties, I really needed a four door car so I sold it for £1800 and bought a Dolomite Sprint. Wish I'd kept both of them now.
Getrag was a dogleg box. Great to bash the car behind when pulling off ... "Got an HS and can't drive it mate?" ...
@@stingingeyes - And, as I recall, with no detente on the reverse gear. So as you say, you go to the usual first gear position & find yourself going backwards fast!
Fantastic nostalgic view back..
Great car. I have the Opel Kadett C, still a great car.
Chevettes were about as common as teenagers with acne back when I was a kid! I have not seen one in decades!
The lane change indicator setting is actually really handy... I've driven MUCH newer cars that didn't have that.
Whats a lane change indicator?
@josephmullin5845 it's when u just flick the stalk but not fully up or down to flash only a few times for lane changes....all.cars have had in for my decades now,but was rare in the 70s
Some observations;
1) Back in the 70s, it was much simpler to go everywhere in reverse.
2) Every new car actually looked like it was 15 years old the day it rolled off of the forecourt.
3) Superb engine cooling thanks to the 45cm gap between bonnet and front section.
4) Panels were never, EVER, aligned properly. But TBH, what on earth would you expect for £1,742?
5) Trousers were excessively expensive back in the 1970s, clearly because they used 4 times the amount of material necessary. Those trousers he was wearing and accompanying shirt cost as much as the car - true story.
6) For some inexplicable reason, people back then were complete blithering idiots as they were always removing the ignition key and locking up the steering when travelling at speed. I must be boring as I've never done that.
7) Carpet, windscreen wipers, heater and indicators - crikey, people were easily pleased in the 1970s.
8) To facilitate crooks, ensure you bought a car with windows that can be opened from the outside.
Look at that horrendous gap at the front of the hood, you could fit your hand in there.
In my elementary school's library there was a book of cars with a Vauxhall Chevette in it, a side-on view much as seen at 1:04 with what struck me as weak chins front and rear. This was in the US in the early '80s where the Chevy version was as common as air.
They weren't bad, but were always crying out for a better engine. The 1256cc viva lump wasn't the best.
My first question about this car is, is it any good in reverse?
Apparently it is.
It was the torque tube that made these sooooo much better than the old Viva
The criminal world then effortlessly opens the rear quarter ....love it.
That Box Haul looked like a front wheel drive econobox, but actually contained 1950s rear wheel drive technology instead.
in 1975 most cars were still rwd, all the fords, , just not the austins
I love it, wouldnt mind one with modern engine
unning gear.
Two of my mates had the Kadette variant & my Allegro could easily out-drag them.
.....when it worked.
I'm sure it did ... in reverse ... that car's drag coefficient was inverse.
It was amazing to me that the execs at Vauxhall didn't change the model's name of this version of the Opel Kadett A (also sold with Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Opel, Holden, Isuzu and Saehan [later became Daewoo] name brands) from the one from Chevrolet in US.
At the start the British customers may have asked "What is a Chevette?" At least the Americans knew from the start (the entry-level "shitaki" Chevy).
syxepop It is related to the Kadett C, not A. The Kadett had an Opel engine though and different front and rear.
Sadly one extra the Chevette lacked was an iron..... to press the reviewers shirt
I had one, it drove somewhat better than this example though had worse economy, but the bright red carpet & tartan seats looked jolly. It was the 2.3-16v HSR version. hee hee !
Amazing car, if only I'd been older to afford one.
Theses reviews are comedy gold.
I remember Prince sang about a red one of these!
That was a C-O-R-V-E-T-T-E 2 seater sports car (much larger and the body made out of fiberglass).
@@syxepop Nah, Prince's UK label changed it to Little Red Chevette.
Greg Daniel, that might be (if it really happened) one of the sticking points for "His Purpleness" to be so much in war with Warner Bros. Records (today is Warner Music Group) as he was for quite a while... Changing it from a sports car to a "semi-unloved" econobox is so much BOGUS.
@@syxepop Kidding, of course. I think if his purpleness ever found himself in a chevette he would have changed his name from a symbol to an expletive!
Greg Daniel, sure. But that's not something to take THAT lightly.
I had a yellow one of these, absolutely loved it really did such a nice car to drive registration was XPU 34S one of the best cars I had.
CNC 198T in canary yellow was my dads from 82 to 86, then he got a Mitsubishi Colt, and wondered why he hadnt done that years before. Thinking back, they werent too different in shape, but poles apart in quality.
People used to drive them backwards all the time to stop the dirt and snow accumulating in the headlamps!
He spent more time reversing it than going forward.
That is weird.
That's because it was better in reverse. Could beat anything other than an Austin Allegro in reverse.
"Competition type steering wheel" LOL.
My dad had a few Chevettes, they loved to blow the radiators out, he wasn't pushing the cars hard, they just got bored of driving I guess... :P
twocvbloke My mate had one in the early 90's and we had to flush the radiator out every couple of months when it silted up. Eventually he got sick of it and got a recon rad. That one silted up every 4 months...
I drove a red one called Prince. It was my Little Red Chevette....
The panel fit is atrocious just look at the join between the front of the bonnet. It is amazing how badly built 70s cars were. Also why did the presenter spend so much time reversing? I was only a child in the 70s so cannot comment if people used to drive around in reverse all the time but by looking at this video I am now sure they did.
Crazy Jay It was in 1983 when seat belt wearing became mandatory that drivers found it easier to drive in a forward direction. Prior to this it was easy to twist around in the seat and adopt a position suitable for safe driving in reverse.
It looks as if it's not latched down properly - they're not THAT bad! Not a good look though, you'd think they'd pay attention to that for the TV.
Also the lack of front headrests just made driving in reverse so much easier.
Yeah, I noticed the panel gap at the front of the bonnet. I had a Chevette years ago and the panel gaps were much better. Everything else was wrong with it though. But when you pay £15 for a running car you get pretty much what you pay for...
My dad used to reverse everywhere back in those days. We used to reverse from London down to Somerset regularly. It was just fashionable at the time for some reason
My uncle had one of these when I was a little kid :)
That 1256 engine was way out of date by then. The next gen Opel Kadett/Vauxhall Astra was a big advance, (lots faster too) as was the admittedly later 1980 fwd Escort.
I bought a 1.0 1991 Nova that had transverse version of that Viva motor. I was surprised
These were the only cars my uncle ever owned, great little cars these were.
Chevettes were Brilliant cars. Mine was Great & Reliable.
@@A1DJPaul Fantastic and fun little motors these, i love em myself, very clever design too, theyre like a tardis, look tiny outside but inside quite a good amount of space.
@@Synthematix
Hatchback looks so cool even today.
Also Love Mk 1 Polo, & Mk 1 Fiesta. Also Great cars.
Polo's Were Very Slow & under Spec'd.
Fiesta 1.1 was excellent. Until You Drove a Fiesta 1.3 OHV = Blow Your Socks off Back in the Day. Crazy little tool Ran Clean off the Speedo at over 100 mph. BONKERS FAST as Hell Fire.
MY BMW for a 1.3 Ghia Fiesta in Mint Condition ! WOW What an amazing Little car.
FORD at it's Very Best. 1980 - 83.
Mk2 Escort 1.6 ghia was also Great Fun Fighting Hard against the Dolly Sprint for Comfort & speed.
3 cars i want to Turn the Time Clock back on,
1.3 Ghia Fiesta,
1.6 ghia Mk2 escort,
Triumph Dolly Sprint,
Ok Make that 4 Cars,
Triumph 2500'S' Pure " WAFTING VELVET" Magic Carpet Comfort & Hell Fire FAST !!
Silly Fast Back in the day. Subaru / Evo Fast Back in the day.
The Police Used them to chase Bank robbers in old Jags etc.
I think they Were Happy at 130 mph in EARLY 1970's Chasing a Mk2 Jag.
@@A1DJPaul This might sound really silly but my favourite older car is the original vauxhall corsa, small, economical and very nippy. i learned to drive in the MK2 escort, so for that reason they hold a special place for me.
@@Synthematix
mk 1 Corsa's were Seriously Crap on handling & stability.
I bought A new / Ordered From the Factory, Corsa 1.2 Diesel Turbo last of the Model 2006 "56 " reg .
The van Version of the Car. Same size as a car But Steel sides & no Rear seats , ( Like a BT van )
HELLS BELLS BRILLIANT SPORTS CAR. It was like a GO-CART. Prior to that i Had A BMW Ti SPORT ( Baby M3 ) Factory 'M' Tech 1.9 16 valve 140 bhp.
Before that a Mazda MX5 1.8 Also ordered New.
TRUTH HERE :-
They were FAST CARS. as you would expect. .
I Ordered The Last Runout Model Corsa van for work, (They Were Almost GIVING THEM AWAY FREE . in late 2006, BT had gone to the Newer shape.
£6450 New Un Reg'd. + VAT.
It was Reg'd From New on My PRIVATE REG PLATE.
DIRECT from VX Factory.
I Test Drove One & Said Hey I Like It !
I Bought one of the last 22 in the VX factory.
Follow up after sales call from JIM, Hi Paul How's the Little Corsa Van ?
F****K ME !! FKIN HELL JIM ******* Soddin hell I LOVE IT !
It Makes Me Smile Every second I Drive it.
Yes I thought you would be happy with it.
1 Yr on ,
Hi Paul How about Calling in for a coffee I can Do a Great deal on a new Corsavan ,
My Reply . Giggle Giggle Are You FKIN JOKIN ????
NO WAY !!
I Havn't stopped Smiling since i collected it !
3 Yrs on, Come on Paul We Can Do a Mega Mega Deal , I Have buyer for your van.
I Replied YES I also Have a buyer for my van. ........ ME !
I Love It.
MR New 1.8 Mazda MX5 , / New M40 318Ti Sport BMW Owner is Totally Loving My Corsavan.
JIM, This is the Best Sportscar I have Ever owned or Driven .
Sadly it Had to Move on last yr after 12 brilliant Years Fully Laden Hammering up & down the Motorways & Country Lanes Like a Rally Car all over The Hills of Yorks' & Lanc's. FLAT OUT , Fully Loaded With Heavy Business Equipment.
I Called it My SNOW BUGGY.
It Just Never Failed to get me home into my driveway on a very steep hill. & never Failed to Drive out of the driveway & UP the Hill in all Weathers.
In Yorkshire we call them Hills, Most would Call them Mountains , Do you get up this hill in Summer ?
How Long are you Housebound ? September to June ?
NAH Mate, I Have a SNOWBUGGY CORSAVAN !
Never Got Stuck in 12 years.
A Corsa Gets Stuck When the Snow builds up Below the Rear Bumper & Creates a WEDGE lifting the front wheels off the Ground / Surface & you are Riding Up a Bank of snow.
Reverse Very Slowly Keeping the Fr Wheels in Contact .
Down Hill is Far Worse than UPHILL,
CRAP YOUR PANTS TIME,
Select 1st Gear.
Pull up H/Brake to a point of Grip / Action. ( Just less than Locking the rear Wheels, )
Feet OFF ALL PEDALS.
STEER Gently all the way Downhill to the bottom. DO NOT BRAKE.
DO NOT Touch the Clutch.
NO throttle unless you actually Stop due to snow.
The Engine will Pull you DownHill NO PEDALS , JUST STEERING ALL THE WAY. With A Little Grip Of Hand Brake to lower your rolling speed.
Set the Hand brake at the top of the hill & Guess it Right 3 / 4 Clicks 5 ? know you car.
Feet off All Pedals Flat on the floor As per 4 X 4 off roading , / Hill Descent in Discovery's. etc. Keep All 4 Wheels Rolling & Steer Very very Gently.
Touch a Pedal & YOU WILL CRASH !!
Drive Downhill in snow Slower than People can Walk Down.
My corsa was All Original at 12 yrs old except i Had the bonnet painted due to Fast Motoring Gravel Rash. = 100's of stone chips.
HEY it was a Work van Out in All Weathers 7 days a week. 15,000 miles per yr, FLAT OUT FULLY LADEN With Heavy Business Equipment.
I have Other Vans & cars in my Business. Another 20,000 miles per yr.
My other van has 335,000 miles on the clock & Doing Great Smooth & silent at 115 mph. No rattles or squeaks.
Will hold 115 mph Constant for a full hour ++ at 335,000 miles.
London , Scotland, Wales, Kent , etc
115 mph when overseas obviously !!
3:03 Cruise control should have been standard on this car, just looking at the position of that accelerator makes my knees hurt. The driving position on the LHD version was almost as bad; with the pedals too close and the wheel too distant. This car had the illusion of spaciousness, but there was no room where you really needed it. The USA version came with a 1.4 or 1.6L OHC engine, but it was hobbled with smog-control equipment. The handling and steering were great by American standards, despite all the unseemly noise from the torque tube rear suspension.
In Germany the Kadett City, as ist opposite number at Opel was called, lost consistently against the Golf - both in tests and sales.
In this class the size of the interior is so important that RWD was just out-dated even back then. If Leyland had actually built cars (instead of the crappy Allegro), they could have blown this sad thing out of the water.
Bl were doing fwd in the 50s ,the VW was more expensive that Vauxhall their build quality is better than any car.....
Excellent front legroom for wearers of massive flares......
Old vauxhall's get me aroused !
My 1st car is a Chevette which I've bought from my sister. It was a 1981 very basic trim ES,1256cc model with flush head lights. The trim is so basic, it don't even have hazard warning lights which you need as the cooling system pressure is very high a prone to leaks. The pull out choke lever will slide back as soon as you let go, resulting in tricky driving as you had to keep repulling the lever until it warms up. Also other road users will poke fun at it including one driving instructor in his car and one lorry driver by putting their foot down when I try to over take them, despite both of them were doing 40mph in a 60 zone.
Christ, I've driven some embarrassing cars but I've never suffered that level of bullying on the road. Time to fit bullbars and start ramming, get some respect man...
you do realise the choke turned, if you turned it to the right it held it out :)
The most sophisticated mobile ashtray I ever owned!
:) well said
I had the same model but red in 1989. it loved handbrake turns.
Had a few of these I'm my time there now worth more than what they where new! still have the front panel in my shed
Vauxhall Shove-it!
My chevette hatch was a Good looker. Gearing a bit high for 1st gear... reverse could be a challenge to engage. With 2 adults in the back, the suspension would bottom out on bumps. Otherwise, a lovely little motor car. Very pleased with it.
First a challenge too,often had to go in 2nd then first.
45 mpg my arse!
Darwinion Thats about right when set up properly and well driven. A few of the oil companys used to sponsor economy runs. In the early 80's i started a business doing economy improvments to the public. 30+ years later there has not been any significant improvement cars have just got bigger and far more heavy
Less traffic back then in the 70's that explain the better fuel economy.
@InfiniteMushroom it's not: I owned one as my first ever car, and even straight after a service it was lucky to top 32mpg
Cars have got SO much more economical and cleaner these days. Even a modern Bentley gets better mpg than some "normal" family cars from the late 1960s and you can get 40mpg out of a Fiesta ST if you're sensible.
The infamous Leyland Princess got a whopping 19mpg which was absolutely pathetic even for the 1970s.
@@gothicpagan.666 i drive a toyota aygo, the same kerbweight BHP and torque of a vauxhall chevette, i get 62 mpg,
My Dad has just picked his brand new Triumph 2000 a week before this programme
My friend had one of these for his first car back in the 80’s. Didn’t last long before it had a catastrophic mechanical failure that killed it.
Reversing because it was quicker than going forward! My first car was a Chevette, a rust bucket and so slowwwwww
learnt to drive in one, there was a hill near me, you came off the roundabout and had about 20-30 secs to thrash the Chevette up it. The world record was 55mph from the dubious speedo. When I got a BMW I was doing like 85 over that hill but a different era. Fond memories.
Epitome of 70's dullness. However I still own my 75 Triumph TR6 which I love so it was not all as dull as this back then.
I love the TR6, a proper sports car, shame the U.S. federal laws killed it off.
My sister had one. It was pretty nice. 1st one was white with burgundy interior and with a black burgundy and maroon strip on the side. Then after a few years brought a 4door. The American version looks better. The European verson looks funny..