I don't even really want this, but it's been sitting on the street for several months no without tags. a 20 year old cavalier with an electrical issue and needing a new convertible top. Of course I just emailed an offer of $100.
It's my wife and I's 16th anniversary today and she has said "do whatever if you think you can fix it"
Silly wife... But, I will have a teen driver in the next couple years and it's something semi-unique & slow. Possible OKish summer car for us in the meantime?
Can you drop in an SC3800 for challenge $?
I was having some impure thoughts about a drop top J body yesterday.
No, no, no...not even if it's free. Do NOT put your teenage daughter in that car. The Cadavalier was wretchedly awful in crash protection...in hard top form. In 'vert form, it'll offer as much protection as a unicycle.
Buy it, fix it (barely), and enter it in the next Lemons winter rally.
Klayfish wrote: Do NOT put your teenage daughter in that car.
LMAO! I told my wife it's a chick car. My oldest son will be the first driver in the house. She said he wouldn't care.
I have done this. Somtimes it works, but only in person.
Wait. You bought a broken Cavalier, paid more than zero dollars and think you low balled them?
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh.
Haven't bought...offered. probably a bad..bad idea zero dollar cars don't exist in Michigan any more.
Klayfish wrote: No, no, no...not even if it's free. Do NOT put your teenage daughter in that car. The Cadavalier was wretchedly awful in crash protection...in hard top form. In 'vert form, it'll offer as much protection as a unicycle.
Ya this!!!! This is not internet folklore. These things were really bad in accident protection.
Grtechguy wrote: Haven't bought...offered. probably a bad..bad idea zero dollar cars don't exist in Michigan any more.
You can ccall them back and say "Sorry, I woke up today and realized I almost bought a Cavalier"
They will understand.
While the Cavalier is fairly poor in crash test ratings it's miles better than what I drove as a teen. Take a look at a MGB, Spitfire, VW Bug, VW Rabbit or Chevy Chevette and you'll appreciate why I felt the need to become a defensive driver early on. Not saying a convertible Cavalier is great, just putting things in perspective.
Crash protection? In TN you can get your motorcycle license at 14, so my first 'car' was a motorcycle at the ripe old age of 14 and I hit the road. That cavalier would have been a lot safer....I had a blast though!
In reply to Grtechguy:
There's a Cavalier in MI without any visible rust? That's worth $100 alone.
well, there's two ways to look at it.
1) there's not much upside on that car in terms of profit.
2) It's hard to lose on a $100 car if you control yourself and know your limits. It's worth more than $100 in scrap. If it has a full set of alloys and catalytic converter intact, you could literally sell the wheels/tires, and scrap the cat, and battery, then scrap the car, and come out ahead. Before you go that route though, are you competent at diagnosing electronics? I know my sisters Cavalier had a bad harness that included the headlights, and a new headlight harness strung through fixed that. Electrical issues can be incredibly frustrating, but very very cheap, because all the work is in the diagnosis. A junkyard harness from LKQ/Weller is chump change.
I wouldn't even screw with the top.
In reply to xflowgolf: That's my thoughts.
Electrical diagnosis skills are .... okish. Talking to the owners dad, the electrical issue is "start and drives fun, but randomly dies while running and needs to be jumped again"
Almost sounds like a dead cell in the battery.
Just for reference, I owned a Cava-lazy of similar age, and the electrical gremlins I fought were in the ignition system. Ignition control module to be exact - sat under the coil between the block and firewall. It was a wrist breaker to get to, but was easy enough with the car on stands and a creeper.
Not sure if its the same issue for you or not, but youre probably going to pay more for the module than for the car. Not sure if thats a positive or negative?!? (electrical pun intended)
4cylndrfury wrote: Not sure if thats a positive or negative?!? (electrical pun intended)
I laughed. 
The first brand new car I bought was a Cavalier coupe slightly newer than the one pictured. It may have been the best transportation in terms of value I've ever purchased. We drove it for eight years and around 120K miles without doing any major repairs other than things you'd sort of expect to wear out in that time frame. Nothing too major. It soldiered on for a couple more years of abuse by my brother-in-law and only stopped due to being t-boned pretty hard at a stoplight. He was hit on the passenger side, so no real injury to him, thankfully.
Long story short, I don't think these are as bad as people make them out to be. Mine was equipped with a manual transmission, so it at least seemed somewhat fun to drive. I'm sure the automatic robs them of that illusion.
Edit: on second thought, it was certainly not the best automotive value I've purchased. That honor probably belongs to an Olds Ciera I bought used.
Can't speak to the crashworthiness. I'm sure it's abysmal. But my brother drove an early 90's Cavalier RS wagon to the quarter million mile mark with hardly any repairs. So there's your anecdotal wisdom of the day.
I think you got a nifty looking summer toy for not much moolah. Well done!
Don't have it. Just emailed an offer (knowing the parent wants it gone)
Hell, if you're really that serious about it, go knock on the door, with Benjamin in your hand. 
Money talks. 
dean1484 wrote:Klayfish wrote: No, no, no...not even if it's free. Do NOT put your teenage daughter in that car. The Cadavalier was wretchedly awful in crash protection...in hard top form. In 'vert form, it'll offer as much protection as a unicycle.Ya this!!!! This is not internet folklore. These things were really bad in accident protection.
Really? Interesting. I had a '99 that had been in at least one accident before I got it. I proceeded to get in 3 more accidents with it (none my fault, terrible TN drivers) and it never suffered more than a cracked front or rear bumper cover. It once completely demolished the rear of a Grand Caravan and I drove away (Guy cut me off and stood on the brakes, then didn't want to do anything about it because he had no insurance) no harm done.
It was, in all other measurements, a thoroughly wretched machine and not even fun to beat on
My hardtop was surprisingly capable in the snow.
It held up to being thrown through the woods, so there's that.
Locally though, all the dirt cheap parts have dried up and the jbody is almost extinct, having returned to the elements.
NickD wrote:dean1484 wrote:Really? Interesting. I had a '99 that had been in at least one accident before I got it. I proceeded to get in 3 more accidents with it (none my fault, terrible TN drivers) and it never suffered more than a cracked front or rear bumper cover. It once completely demolished the rear of a Grand Caravan and I drove away (Guy cut me off and stood on the brakes, then didn't want to do anything about it because he had no insurance) no harm done. It was, in all other measurements, a thoroughly wretched machine and not even fun to beat onKlayfish wrote: No, no, no...not even if it's free. Do NOT put your teenage daughter in that car. The Cadavalier was wretchedly awful in crash protection...in hard top form. In 'vert form, it'll offer as much protection as a unicycle.Ya this!!!! This is not internet folklore. These things were really bad in accident protection.
I've seen tens of thousands of wrecked cars, probably over 100,000. They (the Cadaver and its' sister the Sunbird) stand out in my mind for how awful they were in crashes, especially from the side and/or front corner. The A pillar is made of recycled soda cans, I'm pretty sure...
NickD wrote:dean1484 wrote:Really? Interesting. I had a '99 that had been in at least one accident before I got it. I proceeded to get in 3 more accidents with it (none my fault, terrible TN drivers) and it never suffered more than a cracked front or rear bumper cover. It once completely demolished the rear of a Grand Caravan and I drove away (Guy cut me off and stood on the brakes, then didn't want to do anything about it because he had no insurance) no harm done. It was, in all other measurements, a thoroughly wretched machine and not even fun to beat onKlayfish wrote: No, no, no...not even if it's free. Do NOT put your teenage daughter in that car. The Cadavalier was wretchedly awful in crash protection...in hard top form. In 'vert form, it'll offer as much protection as a unicycle.Ya this!!!! This is not internet folklore. These things were really bad in accident protection.
It is not how well the car stands up it is how the car transfers the energy and disipates it in a crash to the occupant. In a minor ding they are good as they tend to not bend and as a result use the other vehicle's crumple zone to absorb the energy. In your case the Grand Caravan crumpled and absorbed the energy (probably helping to keep you safe). Because of this they come out repetitively unscathed compared to the other car. Think back to your accident with the Grand Caravan and replace it with a cement truck and I think the results would be much different. The point is if you hit a truck or something that does not have crumple zones (trees, concrete barriers, telephone poles, etc) and all the energy is transferred to the occupant. Bad things happen and this is where they fall on there face.
It is all about physics and the dissipation of energy. I think you should re think your accident and you may realize that you were probably saved from potentially much more injury because the Grand Caravan was a much better designed car from a crash survivability standpoint. Your car while providing the illusion of being safe because it is tough is really a death trap compared to the Grand Caravan.
You'll need to log in to post.
