It's something of an achievement in itself to drive a Chevette long enough that it becomes head-turningly cool, like this guy did. It definitely caught the attention of most folks eating lunch on the patio at Twenty Tap.
I hollered "Nice 'Vette! What year?" to the driver, who grinned and answered "1980!"
There was something about it that made my car nerd itch, though. The front end was a little... off. The bumpers seemed a little slim. And, wait, there were no side-marker lights up front.
The cue is in the vintage license plates...
Those are Sao Paolo license plates... from Brazil, because this is a 1980 Chevette SL from General Motors do Brasil.
The Brazilian model used a 1.4L (85 cubic inch) inline four just like the base domestic Chevette, but the Latin American version had a single overhead cam instead of pushrods. The Brazilian market version could be ordered in either ethanol (called "gasoól" in Brazil) or gasoline-burning versions, putting out 60 and 59 SAE net horsepower, respectively. With its huge sugarcane production, Brazil's been running its light vehicle fleet on biofuels longer than anyone.
This Chevy was photographed in April of 2022 using a Fujifilm X-T2 and an XF 16-80mm f/4 R WR OIS zoom lens.
Perfect color for that car in 2024. And looks to be very well kept. I have a fond spot for people who take immaculate care of something scorned by everyone else.
ReplyDeleteI agree! Any car of that age still rolling around is cool. The fact it's a Chevette is even cooler. And the fact that someone kept it immaculate is just the cherry on top of the whole thing.
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