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The Saab 99 wasn’t the only vehicle in its owner’s back-yard imaginarium, although it took me a bit before I realized what it was, and what it started its life out as. This cut-down vehicle with the park bench for a seat was a summer project who knows how many years ago, and was used to scoot around the neighborhood and the alleys. The blackberries have now claimed it as theirs. In any case, can you tell what it started out as? If you need a big hint, make the jump:
Hint: there’s a corporate connection from this car to the Saab. A rather major one, at that.
19 Comments on “Curbside Classic: What Car Was This Once?...”
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I’m thinking Chevette, or possibly Vega.
The steering wheel, gauge cluster, and finned-look LR wheel cover all say ” Chevy Chevette”. That’s my verdict.
Definitely a GM steering wheel, and the size of the centre tunnel says RWD. It’s not a Monza or Vega, though, so I’ll support the Chevette suggestion — or a Pontiac Acadian!
Judging by the Glacier Blue Metallic paint, and optional wheel cover, a 1979 Chevette.
When I was 11 my grandfather was having a diabetic slump and I drove him 30 miles down a West Texas cotton country road to town in an ’80 Chevette, bright red. It was a two lane farm road, no shoulder. Every time a pickup came barreling along I thought we were done for.
A more fitting end for a Chevette, I can not imagine.
Mini Moke.
Yeah, Chevette. I remember that wheel and the gauge cluster, and the shifter, since the darn shift knob kept slipping off I had to go dig around. So let’s see, the Chevette was based on an Opel……so sort of GM transcendental ownership connection ?
+1 Defo a Chevette. What remains of the dash is a Chevette and the filler cap is in exactly the right place.
Definitely a Chevette. The steering wheel skewed towards the driver’s door gives it away! The only worse car I can think of is the Vega. No, wait, an early Cavalier. No, wait, a Pinto, no, really, the worst has to be the Citation…..
What the heck is grafted onto the back of that Chevette?. Also, the thing had to flex like a cross-country ski with the roof removed!
Too bad there isn’t a Pontiac badge on the wheel, the T-1000 was a great name that’s worth repeating.
Heh heh I did that to a Citroen DS 19 I had to brace the front door holes with 2x4s to keep the middle of the floor from hitting the ground.
The steering wheel and dash reminds me of my ’71 Opel 1900 Sport Coupe.
Thing
US Spec Chevette. I had a 79 with those same hubcaps.
WOW, your Chevette had a very nice and upscale dashboard. Even the steering wheel is much better than the one we got here.
I always had a fancy to visit Oregon, but the more of these CCs I see, the more I’m concerned that I wouldn’t make it out alive.
Seems like echoes of The Day of the Triffids.
Hi, This car once looked like this:
http://www.efn.org/~wolfe/buggy1.jpg and
http://www.efn.org/~wolfe/buggy2.jpg
It never showed a tendency to flex in the middle but note the tire chains, it lost all traction, even with the box trunk full of scrap metal treasures. Everybody’s guessing right, it was a 1979 chevy chevette, four door hatchback. A neighbor gave it to me for $100 with a blown clutch. I took it solely for this experimental art project. The front discs have froze completely but it otherwise still drives fine. The engine has so many complex hoses and gadgets, if it ever failed to start I would have no clue.