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
My mom had a 1984 Cav wagon like this, was light blue. Although it wasn’t fancy like this one. Hers had no ac, manual transmission, crank windows, manual locks, no gauges aside from speed/fuel, no rear defogger, am radio (dad added a Pioneer super tuner cassette deck under the dash with 2 Jensen 6×9 in the gate- punchy for 1985!)… The one for sale is the F41 suspension too, so kinda good handling for the time. That said with that tiny 4 banger, it’s gonna be slow. That 5 band eq cassette radio and the cl package plus f41 makes this a kinda well optioned car for the time. Rare but valuable???
A 1986 Celebrity wagon replaced the Cav and man I thought we were high rollers, with its CL trim, V6, AC, factory cassette, power windows, power locks, the 3rd row seat and air shocks.
Nope there are no worse ways to spend 30K
I had one as my second car in High School. Bought it for $800 in 1996, and it was in perfect shape. Super clean, and very low miles. (Owned by a retired gentleman, who took great care of it.)
It was a total POS. The starter died within a month. Then the alternator went a few months later. The turn signal fell off when I went to signal a left turn one day. Like, the entire stick just fell out of the steering column! Luckily, I only owned it for about a year, until a 17 year old didn’t notice that I was slowing down to turn on a country highway, and tried to drive right on through the back of me.
The only pros: It was cheap, it was a manual, and it could haul my entire band’s equipment from show to show. (With the back seats down of course)
There’s a few shades-of-gray J-body wagons on BaT the last few years, from Cavaliers to a couple Skyhawk wagons on BaT with 38k and 22k miles. But this looks like the most any J-body has gone for on the site. Even when it was sub-20k that was probably in the top 3 highest.
My first car was an ’88 Ford Escort station wagon, and while I have fond nostalgic memories of the car (I did learn to drive on it) there is no no no way I would drop $30k to get a mint version of it in this day and age. We must know the story behind this purchase!!
I almost bought my dad’s coworker’s cavalier. All I needed to do was scrape together $800 but that was too much for me in 1998. It was an ’87(I think) RS wagon with a 2.8 V6 and a 5 speed manual. He explained that he had to order it and it took convincing at the dealership to actually place the order. Never seen another like it. So much torque steer.
5 band graphic equalizer on the AM/FM/Cassette player – ’nuff said…
But look at thoise windows… You can actually see out of all of them! No huge pillars to look around at each corner. I’d rather have this than any look alike Rav4 ish thing.
I can almost forgive the bidder who came in second place, if he has either a history with the car, or an unnatural obsession with it. While I don’t understand his choice, I can respect the monomania – the Autopian heart wants what the Autopian heart wants.
But the guy who won the car and paid 30 grand for this thing – what in hell is his excuse?
I would have been 13 when this car was new. At the time, and for the rest of the model run, I thought of the Cavalier as my generation’s Vega. No, the “Cadaverlier” (shoutout to my high school friend Joel for that nickname) is not as lousy a car as the Vega was, but it was also a Chevy, it was also cheap and ubiquitous, and many of its owners also rolled their eyes at the fact that they had to drive one.
So I guess this thing joins AMC Matador coupes and Mopar K-cars on my list of “cars I hated from day one when they were still being sold new during my childhood, which are currently enjoying a renaissance I will absolutely never understand.”
Oh man, the Matador coupe is on my need-to-own list. People either love them or hate them.
Well… it’s a free country, I guess. Or something.
You should reach out to whoever bought this thing, If they’re willing to pay that kind of money for one,the story better be pretty extraordinary.
“Someone Just Paid $30,000 For A 1985 Chevy Cavalier And I Want To Know Why”
Crotch cooler. Gotta be the crotch cooler.
I learned how to drive on a 1987 Cavalier RS in Candy Rosewood Metallic. It had those same wheels. They were a pain in the ass to clean.