Courgie our Chevette

This is Courgie a 1982 Vauxhall Chevette that we have owned for 3 years. We bought her with 24k on the clock and she is now on 35k. She is almost mint condition as she is garaged all the time.

She makes Mandapanda look luxurious as she has 1 speaker in the dash, 2 speed heater and a 3 speed auto box.

She is a strong old girl as we rear ended a Vauxhall Omega and only suffered a broken light and a dented bumper. The Omega is no more.

Here are a few more pics where she was used for filming work late last year.

why have they changed the reg of it for when it was filmed for work? what was it used in? Ashes to Ashes?

All tv programs never use the real number plates and as the film was set in 1980 it needed to be a V plate. It was used in the second part of red riding.

lol @ new style number plate for a 1980's film

Pretty immaculate Chevette though...

Cheers mate yeah she is a tidy old girl. The story behind that was that it belonged to a old woman from new. Who garaged it when she died it was passed on and garaged by her brother then when he was too ill to drive and later died. His son decided to have a mass clear out of his late fathers garages and he called the council in to take away a Brooklands Capri and a Beetle. The only reason Courgie was saved was because she had a short tax and test. A friend of ours Called Mandy bought it as a first car and only sold it because she fell pregnant and her husband bought her a Volvo Estate.

Body work is original but we had to have complete new running gear last year for the mot as everything finally started to give up. New breaks, steering, shocks, bushes exhaust, god knows what else but the bill came in at just under £600 but she is worth it. Only modifications we have done is put a digital period radio in, mud flaps all round, and thats about it.

As for the number plates I thought the same too.

WTF! how did i miss this!
chevettes are soooo cool

was going to buy one of a guy at work but it was rotten and had dodge spray job lol!
apparently the engines were crap lol


man id love that! with Hs bodykit and some minilite reps!

i love that!!!!

Cheers for the compliment on Courgie. She is a great old car. The only reason she is clean is because she was wax oiled from new and did spend a lot of time in a garage. When we got her we decided to rent a garage to keep her clean and warm in the winter as well.

Minilites and the HS kit would spoil her though.

That is so cool, I love cars from that sort of era, and provided they arent rusty they are amazingly strong compared to modern cars!

My great aunt had a gold Chevette saloon automatic for years before she died, I always looked at it as something from a bygone age at the time because my parents always had 'modern' cars and I was amazed you had to pull a choke lol

And yeah you're right, leave it original it looks great.

Trust me... strong they wern't... no crumple zones I'll grant you but they bust up pretty bad, energy easily transferred around the shell.

The 1200 engines were willing but weak with pressed steel valve rockers, I have seen them wear right through with the pushrod poking through!

Ride was only average and for a 1200 economy was shi*e, basic car seats were appalling, and the Stromberg carbs had an amazing appetite for diaphragms.... memories of my X reg 1200 Chevette estate

haha im sure thats true but I feel safer and more in command of an old car, If a chevette crashes at low speed into my Punto though im coming off with more damage, maybe 30mph and above a modern car will protect better of course.

I think its just that provided it has a spark and some fuel, it will go, i much prefer the simplicity of older cars, a basic knowledge can get it going again if it stops and nothing costs more than £10 anyway under the bonnet.

admittedly though im not a Vauxhall person and have never owned so dont know about the engines etc, im firmly in the Ford camp, much better (runs for cover haha)

We Killed a Vauxhall Omega in Courgie. We rear ended it on a blind bend doing 25mph with 5 adults in her and all we suffered was a brolen headlight glass and a dented bumper. The Omega suffered dented boot, rear valance and flared rear wings.

Courgie is a tough old bird.

A quality Classic Mandapanda... I wasnt putting them down sorry.

I couldnt agree more, the issues when the cars were current are major advantages now lol!

Long live Courgie!