Hatch. And the best year, '81.

 

What color?

Imho, an '85 is the best year though

 

Black.

 

Yikes. Early GM attempt at a hot econobox... GM couldn't even make a 350 run good in 1981, wouldn't even want to think about how a 4cyl or V6 would run from 1981.

 

The '80 X-11 was just a sticker and ornament package.. For '81 John Heinricy developed a comprehensive performance package to compete in SCCA racing. Mostly based around the HO 2.8L V6, which included a functional cold air hood/larger air cleaner, bigger carb, modified heads with bigger valves and the HO cam, ('81 had the biggest cam), and specific exhaust. Transaxle had different gear ratios and higher numerical final gear ratio and heavy duty clutch. Retuned suspension, with bigger wheels/tires, specific steering and stiffened structure. It was a real deal performer and dominated it's class in SCCA.

modified=20180108205940

 

Gross.

 

I mean just look at it. They couldn't even keep it from falling apart long enough to take the picture.

 

Haha!

I actually had an '80 Club Coupe. Bought it used, with 9K miles from the Chevy dealer. V6 and 4 speed and zero options. Lightest body style with ballsiest power train. Bench seat, poverty caps, no AC. It was actually pretty fast, but something would break on it constantly. I had the shop custom bend me an exhaust sans cat, recurved the distributor, modded the air cleaner and that sucker would chirp third. It could definitely keep up with the V8s of the day. The thing would break top front motor mounts continuously, though, usually on a hard 1-2 shift. One day I went to the parts store for another dog bone mount and the guy behind the counter handed me what looked like a little shock absorber and said try this. No more broken mounts.

 

Sounds like a backwards Fiero. No really, pretty much everything in the Fiero was GM FWD stuff bolted into a spaceframe backwards. Broken dog bones and the little hydro absorber were standard Fiero parts. I actually bought a pile of Fiero parts off Ebay several years ago since most of the stuff was Firebird applicable too, and included with the other stuff was an NOS engine shock absorber. Sold it pretty easily on Ebay or Pennock's after properly ID'ing the part.

Also funny, my old room mate, the "Fiero God" used to like using the 4spd manuals and HO parts from early FWD 2.8 GM cars like the Citation and Cavalier. The gearing of the transmission was better (his opinion) and some combo of FWD iron heads or shortblock mixed with stock MPFI 2.8 parts increased the compression ratio and was good for a small boost. Not as good as a 3.1 or 3.4 swap, but free FWD 2.8s were easier to come by than 90-95 Firebirds or GM Lumina/Trans Sport vans.

 

Or more accurately, the Fiero was a backwards Citation. I sometimes casually look at Fieros, but it'd have to be an '88.

Did I ever tell you guys the story of how I got that Citation for free? I was a broke AF student and needed a car to get to school immediately. My dad gave me a cashier's check for the price of the car which was $5,000. The dealer was kind of a dick and we had an altercation over the car about a week or two after I bought it. Well in all the confusion.....


20 years later, my sister sees my dad's name on one of those unclaimed funds lists. She tells him, he goes in and shows his ID and gets his $5K back. Those dip$h!ts forgot to deposit the check.

 

Yeah, but they got you to take a Citation, so who really won that round? hmm...

 

There were brief moments of fun with it, but it was an exhausting car to own. I was ready to move on after a while.

But I felt justice was served when it turned out to be a free car.

 

Gotta slay a few dragons to get to the princess

 

I haven't seen a Citation in 20 years.

 

It's like one day they were everywhere and next day they were all gone.

 

The scrap yards are like a black hole. Escorts, Citations, Grand Ams, Grand Prixs, even the vaunted EXP, none of them can escape it's pull.

 

Sold! $1,125!