Indestructable 1986 Chevrolet Cavalier.
I owned a 1986 Chevrolet Cavalier RS between the years of 2004 to 2007. This car was given to me by my brother. He had been told that it wouldn't last a month being driven. He was told the bottom end was gone and that the main bearings were spun. This car had 135,500 miles on it. It was an automatic four door RS, white with blue interior. This car was used to deliver the Fort Worth Star Telegram paper the whole time he and I had it.
This car, when it was rendered inoperative in August 2007, had 312,245 miles. This car had been involved in two separate accidents within one year. I was taking my brother-in-law home from chemotherapy in Dallas when a woman in a Toyota Corolla ran a stop sign and t-boned us doing 35 mph. This caused significant damage to the passenger side. The rear door never opened again. It still kept going. We started calling this car the "the Timex Watch of cars". This car took lickings and kept going. I still drove it everyday for another nine months. I still delivered newspapers and drove it back and forth from Dallas to Ft. Worth. This was by far the best car I had ever owned.
The event that finally stopped it was an accident involving a Chevy truck taken by the owner's daughter to go to the store. She ran a red light and I had nowhere to go. I slammed into her at approximately 40 mph. There was unrepairable damage to the front end. But believe it or not it still was drivable. I know that the first generation Cavalier was considered a crappy car. and finding spare parts was difficult, but the day this car was built you all were truly on you alls game.
Oh, and the only things I replaced the whole time I had it was a distributor, radiator, and power steering pump. The engine started and ran the first time every time. Toward the end the transmission started slipping a little, but it kept going. The only reason I don't still drive it, is because the inner fender was rubbing against the crank pully and the entire front fascia was destroyed.
Thank you for building a good solid car, Robert S. Roswell, NM