The Chevette 2300HS looks right at home on this greasy rally track, the same way a Corvette looks right at home on the hot pavement.
Like most Corvettes and sports cars in general, it looks much smaller in real life. Generally, the Corvettes of all generations look long in pictures, and I think that’s because of the long hood and low roofline. The C8 totally removes that stigma, as the engine is now in the middle of the car, forcing the cockpit forward and adding real estate to the rear. It has hints of Lotus, Ferrari, and almost shares some proportions with the Acura NSX. This may not seem like much, but a little over half a century ago, this was a car that was designed to take on affordable British sports cars and the Ford Thunderbird for a very brief second or two. Over the years, the Corvette has climbed up the performance car ladder in terms of fit, finish, comfort, and overall performance. The car I saw was a dark color, not the stereotypical red, but it was still easily recognizable as a Corvette. When it left, the guy got on it fairly hard on the freeway, and it sounded like a Corvette, another often-overlooked, but equally important performance car trait. Why does a Harley sound like a Harley? Simply, because that’s how they’re supposed to sound, and people like it. Just another piece of brand recognition. For those of us out there who just aren’t going to step into (or step back into) the Corvette scene, GM has another Vette that I know you’ve heard of, with so little iconic value and style, that it’s no wonder the racy option gets overlooked.
The Chevette is a car that I have zero personal experience with based on the fact that I’ve never seen many people own them with great success. They were okay on fuel, but not as good as you would think. They didn’t have the power to climb hills, or buck a big headwind. In a big crosswind, the handling wasn’t that great, and they’d get pushed around a lot. They weren’t that uncomfortable, but you’d better like driving stick, as the automatics just couldn’t keep up. They were rusty, but so are tri-five Chevys and Camaros, so I guess I’ll give them a pass there. Ever seen a V8 one that was safe and successfully fast? I’ve seen a few, and talked to the owners, who describe them mostly as a “point and shoot” type of car with just basic elements of steering present. General Motors actually turned the Chevette into a rally car through their Vauxhall division. The Vauxhall Chevette 2300HS produced one hundred and thirty-five horsepower, while the 2300HSR produced one-hundred and fifty. Both received styling upgrades in terms of custom paint and plastic body trim, upgraded suspension, front disc brakes, and upgraded tartan interior. As far as I know, all were painted silver with red trim, aside from a few special edition, re-badged HSX units painted black. Produced from 1978-1981, between the HS and HSX, there were around three-to-four hundred produced, and under fifty of the HSR. Take away the rusty ones, and the ones that were wrecked in rally racing, and that doesn’t leave many existing four decades later. That being said, there’s tons of lightweight compact car performance engines out there, so a tribute wouldn’t be that hard, that expensive, or nearly as sketchy as just dumping a big iron V8 under the hood and pulling the trigger.
Have a question or comment for Kelly? Post it at lmtimes.ca/kirk
