The nicest Chevy Cavalier of all time

"Mark Tucker" (markbt73)
10/29/2020 at 17:39 • Filed to: None

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My family actually had one of these. My dad bought it in 1990 (or ‘91? ) as a way of keeping miles off of my mom’s leased Audi 5000. It looked just like this, but pale pastel yellow, inside and out. (Ours might have been an ‘84, but I don’t think they changed much.) It was something like $2500, in nearly-new condition.

It ended up being a sort of a catch-all second car; I drove it when my Scirocco was broken, my dad drove it to work, my brother learned to drive in it. My mom, who it was actually intended for, hated it, and rarely drove it.

In fact, while I was away at college, I got an exasperated call from my dad, saying that my brother had wrecked it. In a wholly uncharacteristic move for him, he took the Cimarron out for a joyride the day after he got his license, and crashed into a bush in someone’s front yard. He tore off the front spoiler and one fog light, wrinkled the right front fender enough to damage the tire, drove it home, parked in the driveway, and went to bed like nothing happened. My dad was not amused when he went out to go to work the next morning...

He managed to find a matching fender off another Cimarron in the junkyard, and fixed it up. But then later that year, I was driving it up to college in a snowstorm, hit a patch of ice on a tollway on-ramp, spun out, and stuck in backwards into a snowbank at 50 MPH. I spun one and a half times, and along the way, hit a mile marker post with... the right front fender. The mile marked went flying off into the snow somewhere; I looked for it but couldn’t find it. The right front fender remained dented for the rest of the car’s life with us.

After my folks got divorced, my dad traded in the Cimarron for another Audi, this one a nice but trouble-prone 5000 Turbo. The Cimarron was a far more reliable car, it turned out...

I’m not gonna lie; if I had $1400 sitting around, I’d be really tempted to grab this.

DISCUSSION (20)

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Mark Tucker
10/29/2020 at 17:46

No Toyota made the best cavaliers

Kinja'd!!!

For Sweden > Mark Tucker
10/29/2020 at 17:51

I just spent more than this on an electric bike

mazda616 > Mark Tucker
10/29/2020 at 17:52

Love.

Although, I think this has a carb and would be dangerously slow on today’s highways.

My little Sunbird has a fuel-injected 2.0 with all of 96 horsepower and even that makes merging onto the interstate a dicey situation requiring a lot of planning.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Mark Tucker
10/29/2020 at 17:53

I had the chance to pick up a disused Cimarron years ago for essentially free, but it was a V6, so I turned it down. I only wanted it if it had an Iron Duke. Isn’t the Duke 2.5L?

I’d daily this, but I think $1400 is too much.

Taylor Martin > Mark Tucker
10/29/2020 at 17:55

Sounds like the universe really hated the front-right fender of your car, but it also sounds like an excellent memory (and an excellent price to relive it).

I kinda wish it were manual, then it’d make a good car to learn stick shift with too.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Mark Tucker
10/29/2020 at 17:55

My grandma had a blue one with blue leather interior.

Mark Tucker > mazda616
10/29/2020 at 18:03

Cimarrons had the OHV Chevy motor instead of the Pontiac OHC. One had more torque and one had more horsepower, but I can’t remember which is which. I know ours was TBI, but an ‘83 might be a carb.

Edit- ‘83 was the first year for the TBI 2.0. A whopping 86 horsepower!

Mark Tucker > Taylor Martin
10/29/2020 at 18:04

I’ve seen exactly one manual Cimarron in my life. They’re the unicorns of the J-body world.

Mark Tucker > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/29/2020 at 18:07

Yeah, but the Duke was in the X- and A-cars, not the J. This was the 2.0 OHV Chevy engine from the Cavalier. Still a good unkillable engine.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Mark Tucker
10/29/2020 at 18:09

Not Iron Duke?

Mark Tucker > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
10/29/2020 at 18:11

Oh gawd... was that the other half of the NUMMI deal or something? Boy, they got the short end of that stick...

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Mark Tucker
10/29/2020 at 18:16

The craziest thing is because of its overall size and larger engine the Toyota cavalier was in upmarket vehicle

wafflesnfalafel > Mark Tucker
10/29/2020 at 18:26

i’d hold out for the 2.8 v6 I think...

shop-teacher > Mark Tucker
10/29/2020 at 19:00

The Cimmaron was a terrible Cadillac, but they were the nicest cheap beaters. I had two friends in the late 90's/early 00's who each had one, and wer e both very happy with their $500 purchases.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Mark Tucker
10/29/2020 at 19:20

I, too, have a taste for unreliable VW products. I thought about picking up a J body to have as a “well I do need to actually get to work every once in a while” car, but decided walking was preferable to a J body.

dogisbadob > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
10/29/2020 at 20:10

+1 came here for this

dogisbadob > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
10/29/2020 at 20:11

The 122 is better than the Iron Dukee

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > dogisbadob
10/29/2020 at 20:19

I choose to believe you.

mazda616 > Mark Tucker
10/29/2020 at 20:54

Excellent!

Stef Schrader > Mark Tucker
11/03/2020 at 01:00

I got to drive one on a Lemons Rally ! It had the ultra-rare RV towing kit, too. It was all right. It wasn’t like driving my 944 and it wasn’t in perfect shape , but it handled better than expected and I sort of fell in love with that little weirdo car.