This is a 1976 Chevrolet Chevette. It was a sales success for General Motors, which is almost shocking today because it is unbelievable how bad it was.
Regular Car Reviews points out that 40 years on in 2016, it’s easy to see the Chevette with rose-tinted glasses. After all, the car is light, simple, and rear-wheel drive. That’s unicorn status nowadays.
But RCR also points out just how remarkably bad this car is, floppy and cracking and wheezing down the road. The thing has 23 tear your hair out horsepower. That is beyond belief.
What’s incredible is that this horrible, terrible, hateful car was not a failure! It was a sales success! The Chevette did its job and, judged by the standards of its time, the Chevette did it just fine.
It’s a testament to how far global car competition and regulation have advanced the standards of ordinary compact cars. A Honda Fit is a car; a Chevette is a relic.
Contact the author at raphael@jalopnik.com.