RE: Vauxhall Chevette HS: Spotted

[s m]

Slippydiff said:

I had one for six months, and was glad to see the back of it. A few years later I bought a damaged one of these and put it back on the road :



Properly sorted 144hp fuel injected engine, proper close ratio Getrag 'box (and a decent change), proper LSD, decent suspension (not like a Pogo stick) decent Recaro seats etc etc.
Quite how Opel got it so brilliantly right and Vauxhall (part of GM too remember) got it so desperately wrong, always remained a total mystery to me.

That's a lovely car Slippy, even rarer than the HS though
There was only a handful over here. I only saw one once and that was at Steve Thompson cars ( customer car rather than for sale ) when I was getting some stuff for my Manta

[sparkyhx]

pmr01 said:

I think it would be ford 3rd, shuvvit and lotus in joint 1st.

Ditto for me as well. Loved the magnum as well great looking car.

[callyman]

If it's still totally standard on Stromberg carbs it will be 135 bhp, that's 150bhp per ton.
Changing the carbs to 48's and a 4 branch manifold pushed these to 183 per ton.

Rear wheel drive......fun.

[Sutol2]

I had an HS back in the 80’s (LGT 917V – long gone I think) as it seemed a better quality, more complete car than the Lotus Sunbeam.

I think the Chevette had a really low compression ratio 8.2:1 or so, which was low even by 70’s standards. It could run on 2 star fuel but I could not work out the point of designing a 16 valve head without a decent compression, and then also strangling it with twin Strombergs..

Great car in its day though

[LuS1fer]

I liked the Chevette HS but, for me, it was a visual let-down after the stunning looks of the Firenza Droop Snoot.

[droopsnoot]

Sutol2 said:

I had an HS back in the 80’s (LGT 917V – long gone I think) as it seemed a better quality, more complete car than the Lotus Sunbeam.

I can see a note for 971V: http://www.chevettes.com/imagebrowse/557 and http://www.chevettes.com/imagebrowse/558 - no information on where it might be now.

[aeropilot]

Sutol2 said:

I think the Chevette had a really low compression ratio 8.2:1 or so, which was low even by 70’s standards. It could run on 2 star fuel but I could not work out the point of designing a 16 valve head without a decent compression, and then also strangling it with twin Strombergs..

I'd forgotten all about it being designed to run on 2*. That triggered a memory from one of the original roadtests where that was mentioned either as to why, or questioning why?
I've probably got it filed away somewhere, might have to have a root around for it to look it up.

I've still got an original and mint condition sale brochure for the HS.

[mr2man]

droopsnoot said:

Sutol2 said:

I had an HS back in the 80’s (LGT 917V – long gone I think) as it seemed a better quality, more complete car than the Lotus Sunbeam.

I can see a note for 971V: http://www.chevettes.com/imagebrowse/557 and http://www.chevettes.com/imagebrowse/558 - no information on where it might be now.

That prompts me to ask if anyone knows anything about BYA 315S. I've never been able to trace it, only remembering the guy who's bought it from me was from North Yorkshire or similar and bought it to rally. I'd love to know what happened to it.

[droopsnoot]

mr2man said:

That prompts me to ask if anyone knows anything about BYA 315S. I've never been able to trace it, only remembering the guy who's bought it from me was from North Yorkshire or similar and bought it to rally. I'd love to know what happened to it.

The only notes in the club register are that it has an all-steel 2.3 engine (though presumably not the head), and a HSR bodykit.

[mr2man]

droopsnoot said:

mr2man said:

That prompts me to ask if anyone knows anything about BYA 315S. I've never been able to trace it, only remembering the guy who's bought it from me was from North Yorkshire or similar and bought it to rally. I'd love to know what happened to it.

The only notes in the club register are that it has an all-steel 2.3 engine (though presumably not the head), and a HSR bodykit.

Thank you. Last time I looked, a long while back, i didn't see it registered.

[corcoran]

Love that Escort advert - look at all the other fun stuff in the wider angle shots!

[Mabbs9]

I've just seen this thread. Following another thread today that suggested a Google image search of your old car reg's. I owned this HS for a while about 20yrs ago. I learnt to drive in a brown Chevette L and was fascinated to see these (well HSR's) in the RAC rally.

I went to view this one in Stafford and loved it. I didn't keep it very long, it deserved more care than I had time for. I loved driving it though. I hope she's still going strong!