Is $30,000 a lot of money for a car? It depends on what you’re spending it on. A new Mazda MX-5 starts at $31,065 including freight and feels like a screaming deal for one of the greatest new sports cars on the market. However, spending $30,000 on a 40-year-old Chevrolet Cavalier is enough to raise an eyebrow. That’s more than the thing cost when new, and it’s not like the Cavalier is a blue-chip car. However, the heart wants what the heart wants, which is part of the reason why a 1985 Cavalier just sold on Bring A Trailer for nigh-on as much as a new Miata.
The first-generation Chevrolet Cavalier wasn’t exactly a landmark car, but it sure was popular. It was America’s best-selling passenger vehicle in 1984 and 1985 thanks to a low starting price and a huge array of body styles and powertrains. You could order one as a sedan, a hatchback, a coupe, a convertible, and even a station wagon. Indeed, the practical wagon variant is what we’re looking at today.
Granted, this particular example doesn’t come equipped with the creme-de-la-creme engine option for the first-gen Cavalier, the 130-horsepower 2.8-liter V6. Instead, it makes do with an 85-horsepower two-liter inline-four with throttle body fuel injection. Hitched to a three-speed automatic, forward progress would’ve been adequate for the double-nickel era, but definitely on the glacial side by today’s standards.
However, one big reason this particular Cavalier fetched such a high sum is because of its condition. With just 1,400 miles on the clock, this has to be one of the nicest first-generation Cavaliers anywhere in the world. The upholstery’s absolutely pristine, the hood insulation looks brand new, and the engine bay’s pretty much clean enough to eat off of. While the original Cavalier was once a common sight, few were ever preserved. This really is a case where finding another would be almost impossible, and that’s before you get into any personal connection.
Chevrolet sold more than two million of these things over six years, and that’s just counting first owners. Who knows how many people grew up in the back of a Cavalier, learned to drive in a Cavalier, or picked up a second-hand Cavalier as their first car? With this sort of volume, it’s also entirely possible that at least one couple out there used a Cavalier as their wedding car. Even just on this context, it only makes sense that someone had to own this car.
Unsurprisingly, the market for a concours-grade Cavalier at new Miata money is small. This auction ended up being a two-bidder race from $18,250 up until the end, after which the second-place bidder commented words of advice we should all keep in mind when we see a crazy valuation like this: “Please don’t think this is a market value. This is double what the car is worth. I was willing to pay because I have a history with this car. I’ve been chasing it for 15 years.”
Love makes us do funny things, and sometimes that funny thing is being willing to pay way over market value for a pristine Chevrolet Cavalier. Then again, we don’t exactly know why the winning bidder of this Cavalier shelled out $30,000 on it, but so long as they’re happy, maybe it’s not so crazy. There are worse ways to spend $30,000, aren’t there?
Top graphic image: Bring A Trailer
Does it help us to try and figure this out?
Really not sure what would cause someone to do this.
Unusual purchases happen all the time, but this one…
Given the unexciting configuration here, just doesn’t add up.
Must be something unique about it we aren’t seeing.
Ugly to some, maybe someone finds it beautiful.
Leaves me a bit baffled, but I’ll let it go.
Everyone has their own taste after all.
*Even a station wagon*?? Back in the not worst timeline, you could buy a station wagon version of damned near everything that wasn’t a sports car or a luxury car – and some luxury wagons too. I’ve owned a number of them.
But for sure I can think of infinitely better ways to spend $30K. Setting it on fire would probably be a better use of the money, given how cold it is in my SW FL bungalow right this second. Nostalgia is evidently a HELL of a drug. Hope he enjoys it, as my ex-car salesman friend has always said – “there is an ass for every seat”.