>For two model years (1987-88) Chevrolet offered the rather fatuous Celebrity Eurosport VR, a well-intentioned but (as with so many period GM moves) bad attempt at competing with Audi and BMW that missed the mark. It originated with the Celebrity RS concept car developed in collaboration with Autostyle Cars Inc a year earlier and Chevrolet decided to make a production version, renamed VR for its high speed-rated 16' VR tires.>Due to the economics of mass production, the VR lacked many of the goodies present in the RS; the aluminum 3.6L V6 was replaced with the standard Chevrolet 2.8L V6, which equipped with sequential multiport injection made a creditable 140 hp. The interior was mostly the stock Celebrity interior rather than the one the show RS used and the RS's painted accent wheels were too costly for mass production so were replaced with a more simplified design in 1988; many '87 cars didn't get them. The rear wheels also used drum brakes for cost reasons. As another economics measure, Autostyle agreed to set up shop near the Oklahoma City plant where Celebrities were assembled; this facility was chosen because it had the best quality control out of the five North American A-body plants.
>The cars were driven a mile down the street to Autostyle's plant, where they would add custom bits and then send them back to the main plant for finishing. Four colors were offered including the unique red color normally only used on the Camaro and Corvette. Although the VR could get a 5 speed manual transmission, at least 90% of the cars were automatic. The VR's 0-60 time was rated at only a fair 9 seconds and its top speed maxed out at 118 mph. Car and Driver rated it below the Audi 4000, Nissan Maxima SE, and Chrysler LeBaron GTS Turbo. All three Celebrity body styles could get the VR package but the coupe was only available with it in '88.>An underwhelming effort quickly buried by the Beretta (after which Chevrolet would again collaborate with Autostyle to create the Beretta GTU), but with only about 2,000 built, the VR is one of the rarest and most collectible '80s Chevrolet models.
>>28737861>OKC plant had the best quality control>it was in a right-to-work state with no UAWFigures.
interior pics?
>>28737883
>not even a tachometerThat's a paddling.
>>28737863>>28737861>Euro manufacturers are totally not for-profit companies who don't occasionally take shortcuts to reduce production costs>it's only that big bad GM who...
>80s GM copewagonthe only ones worth getting back then were the twin cam Oldsmobiles and the turbo Buicks.
>>28738474Well, some Corvettes I suppose.
>>28737863>>28737861This car highlights GM's fundamental problem during this era. It's not that they were cheap, but they were cheap. They could have put the RS stuff on the production VR and charged 2-3x more money for the car which would actually put it in the lofty price bracket of European competitors but they were too afraid of outpricing their Midwestern Billy Bob customer base.
I think it was more to do with the fact that GM didn't quite figure out that BMW and Audi were handling cars good at taking turns, that was their big selling point and you couldn't have that on a typical American car platform that was only good at going in a straight line. It was all in the driving dynamics not a floor shifter and color keyed trim like they thought.
>>28737861I’ll never understand why the basis for this was the Celebrity and not the 6000.
>>28738678guess because they already had the 6000 STE
>>28737861>Chevrolet bosswe need to make car for those europeans>his assistantwe could hire locals like Ford , so they build car for local market>Chevrolet bossnah that too much work . Lets just hire Bob from middle management who have never been outside of this town and ask him build car for those europeans , what can go wrong
>>28738693The STE wasn't a bad budget BMW for rednecks I guess.
Growing up our family car was a Celebrity wagon with a 3.1 V6 and Eurosport badging. Good car.
>>28737889As a soon to be old fuck I really miss those speedos
>>28737896I've seen they had a little LED setup where the PRND would be.https://www.theautopian.com/the-chevy-celebrity-eurosport-vr-proved-chevy-didnt-know-what-euro-meant/
>>28738567C4 Corvette was a dog until the Zr1 (introduced in 1990) and the 92 refresh that bumped up the power on the base model. Solid enough chassis held back by a weak engine and awful gearbox.
>>28738474>the turbo Buicks.Overrated desu. Sure the GNX is cool but those were very expensive and uber rare even when new. Standard gran nationals were 15 second cars at best, nothing special.
