Looking back: 1984 Chevrolet Citation Promo

[91 s-10baja]

With safety and service recalls mounting, GM X-cars were little changed for 1984, though Chevy’s Citation tacked on a Roman “II”. Total output slid to 97,202 units. Chevrolet was the top seller for 1984, with 1,655,151 vehicles sold.
1984 Chevrolet Citation Dealer Promo

[uvikrama]

Citation IV Concept was compared to volt a lot ( specially when Obama drove it ). The concept was a very aerodynamic car.



This photo from the GM Archives shows President Ronald Reagan driving a Citation IV Concept car at GM Design in Warren, Mich., in 1984.

[MCGARRETT]

Early spy shots of the Corsica identified it as the Citation III.

I always liked the photo of President Regan drving the Citation IV.

[1999 White C5 Coupe]

My wife and I bought a new 1981 Chevrolet Citation 4-door hatchback with the 2.5L 4-cylinder engine and automatic transmission. We live in the snow belt and this was our first front wheel drive vehicle. The car drove very, very well in the snow.

The car was very roomy and the hatch area was very convenient for our young family. The transmission failed repeatedly, and was repaired over and over under the new car warranty (then, I think 2 years or 24,000 miles). The build quality was very poor, but other than the transmission, there were no other major repairs (but numerous minor ones). The fixed rear window leaked water into the rear compartment when the car was new.

We sold the car and bought a new 1984 Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport 4-door sedan with the 2.8L V-6 engine. The quality of that car was much, much better and we enjoyed the car until it was demolished in an auto accident.

[tbirderic]

"The next step in the selling system is quality..."

[swagled]

Still seems inexplicable, that a name with unappealing connotations like "Citation" could make it through corporate vetting. Although Studebaker once sold a car called the "Dictator" and AMC sold the "Gremlin" so I guess every once in a while you get some odd nameplates out there.

[Syclone478]

Citation IV Concept was compared to volt a lot ( specially when Obama drove it ). The concept was a very aerodynamic car.



This photo from the GM Archives shows President Ronald Reagan driving a Citation IV Concept car at GM Design in Warren, Mich., in 1984.

uvikrama, I wrote a post on the Citation IV last March that you may find interesting (here: 1984 Chevrolet Citation IV Concept). It was actually the first car I wrote about on my blog. (In fact, those pictures above are actually linked from my Photobucket account which I was using before storing images on my own site. )

MCGARRETT, I was not aware of the of the Corsica/Citation III mis-identificaton... neat fact!

1999 White C5 Coupe, I will pass your fond memories of the Citation on to its Chief Designer, Mr. Ruzzin. I will likely be chatting with him later today. You may find my latest guest post written by him interesting: Guest Post: Designing the X Car, Part 1. Mr. Ruzzin was actually also responsible for the Celebrity Eurosport model; he wrote a guest post for me on that one also, here: Guest Post: Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport. I'm sure he will be pleased with your comments.

[sfdenny]

Still seems inexplicable, that a name with unappealing connotations like "Citation" could make it through corporate vetting. Although Studebaker once sold a car called the "Dictator" and AMC sold the "Gremlin" so I guess every once in a while you get some odd nameplates out there.

There was even an Edsel Citation. You'd think that woulda stopped 'em.

[sfdenny]

Had two Citations, and my father also had two. I remember seeing the Citation parked bumper-to-bumper with a Nova - the car it replaced. Amazing how much smaller the Citation was with more room inside. It seemed quite radical to me at the time. The hatchback had something like 20 cubic feet of space with the rear seat up and shelf in place. My father bought one of the first ones at the local dealer. I thought he was pretty progressive to go from his Nova Concours to the Citation.

My first was a 1980 4-door hatch, loaded, beige over green two-tone with RWL tires (!) and F41 sport suspension and sunroof. Beautiful car! Ordered from the factory. Took six months to get because the aux 8-track player was holding it up. (The radio was positioned vertically, and the 8-track below the dash.) Finally deleted the player... Absolutely loved that car to an extent just lately matched by my last car, a 2009 Cobalt SS (now replaced by an ATS.)

My second Citation was a 1984 blue X-11 - never saw too many of those! I promised myself if Bob Stempel saved the X-11 into 1984 I'd buy one. And he did. Thanks Bob.

(By the way - did you know that the ATS is 1.1 inches shorter than the new Dodge Dart?)

Oh, and remember the jingle? "It's the first Chevy of the 80's....Chevy Citaaaaation!"

Never had any issues, except my father's second one, a Citation II, had a wonky air-flow sensor or something. There was alot of that going around then, I think. My 1986 Fiero GT had the same problem, but they fixed it...

[Z284ever]

Will anyone judge me if I tell you that I psuedo-lusted for the '81 and up X-11?

I used to have an '80 Club Coupe. Red and black interior. Stripped. Bench seat, dog dish hubcaps, the whole nine yards. The only option it had was the 2.8L V6. With a 4 speed it was actually pretty quick. Lightest body with fastest powertrain. Certainly a match for 90% of the V8s of the day. Recurved the distributor and had a new exhaust made for it. I could sometimes chirp third gear.

But...the car itself really needed about 6 months more development. GM jumped the gun and sold them before all the bugs were worked out. I had all kinds of weird problems.

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

Mr. Ruzzin was actually also responsible for the Celebrity Eurosport model; he wrote a guest post for me on that one also, here: Guest Post: Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport. I'm sure he will be pleased with your comments.

I enjoyed this. "We need a foreign competitor"... "a red stripe! that's it!"

it's beer!

[sfdenny]

Of course, typical of GM then, they brought out the Citation as an early 1980 model, changed the grill once, and that was pretty much it for the 8 years they built it. Died on the vine to the extent they had to rename the replacements - Corsica and Beretta.

Every division except Cadillac had a version of the "X Car." The Citation sold in very big numbers that first year.

[GHull3]

I had 2 1980's, 1 with the 2.5 Iron Duke and the other with the 2.8 V6. Bench seat, vertical AM/FM radio, both with the hideous gold/tan interior. The only problem I ever had was the steering rack started to go bad and sometimes I'd have power steering and sometimes I wouldn't which made some turns a little hairy. You'd be turning a corner with no power steering so you've got some wheel into it and then suddenly you'd get power steering and oversteer.

[1999 White C5 Coupe]

Of course, typical of GM then, they brought out the Citation as an early 1980 model, changed the grill once, and that was pretty much it for the 8 years they built it. Died on the vine to the extent they had to rename the replacements - Corsica and Beretta.

Every division except Cadillac had a version of the "X Car." The Citation sold in very big numbers that first year.

The carburated 2.5L 4-cylinder was changed to throttle body fuel injection in 1984.

[1999 White C5 Coupe]

uvikrama, I wrote a post on the Citation IV last March that you may find interesting (here: 1984 Chevrolet Citation IV Concept). It was actually the first car I wrote about on my blog. (In fact, those pictures above are actually linked from my Photobucket account which I was using before storing images on my own site. )

MCGARRETT, I was not aware of the of the Corsica/Citation III mis-identificaton... neat fact!

1999 White C5 Coupe, I will pass your fond memories of the Citation on to its Chief Designer, Mr. Ruzzin. I will likely be chatting with him later today. You may find my latest guest post written by him interesting: Guest Post: Designing the X Car, Part 1. Mr. Ruzzin was actually also responsible for the Celebrity Eurosport model; he wrote a guest post for me on that one also, here: Guest Post: Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport. I'm sure he will be pleased with your comments.

The articles were interesting - thank you.

When the 1984 Celebrity was demolished, we bought a new torch red 1990 Chevrolet Euro 4-door sedan with the 3.1L V-6 and the "new", optional 4-speed automatic transmission. The engine and transmission were both replaced under warranty, due to some type of campaign. The rear disc brakes had repeated problems. However, we liked the car due to its interior size and how it drove.