A very dusty Chevrolet Celebrity MPFI V6 sedan, seen in the Tongzhou District in east Beijing. The celebrated Celebrity was sadly in a sorry shape and abandoned. It was dirty and full of bruises and dents, and the roof was under a heavy rust attack. Most parts however seemed original, except for the odd logo on the grille.
A badge with a crown and a revolver, saying ‘Shot Club’. These badges were popular in the early 2000’s. I have seen them on several older cars. The badges could be bought at car repair shops and gas stations.
The Chevrolet Celebrity was manufactured from 1982 until 1990, with facelifts in 1984, 1986, and another one in 1987. This Beijing Celebrity is a post-1987 car, recognizable by its square one-piece headlights that replaced the earlier twin headlights.
The Celebrity was never officially exported to China, so how this blue-green example ended up in the capital is a mystery. Perhaps it was an ex-diplomatic car or a black plate foreign-owned company car.
The 3-seat front bench was carefully covered in plastic, indicating somebody was still taking care of this Celebrity. It has a proper American column-mounted gear lever, a large steering wheel, and the original radio.
It was a very popular car in its day, it even topped the U.S. best-selling list in 1986. There were three variants; the sedan, a wagon, and a coupe. The Celebrity stood on the GM A-Body front-wheel-drive platform, which also underpinned the fifth-generation Buick Century, the Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, and the Pontiac 6000.
There were four engines available: a 2.5 liter four, a 2.8 liter V6, a 3.1 liter MPFI V6, and a 4.3 liter (!) V6 diesel. ‘MPFI’ stands for multi-port fuel injection, which was a pretty exotic feature at the time. The 3.1-liter unit had an output of 135hp and 244nm, it could be mated to a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic.
The Celebrity was parked next to another Chevrolet; the Shanghai-GM Chevrolet Sail SR-V, the successor of the Buick Sail SR-V. Sadly it didn’t end well for the Celebrity. A friend told me he saw it a couple of months later on the back of a government flatbed truck, apparently heading for the scrapper.
But back in January 2015, it was still alive, showing its pretty Celebrity badge to the world. It was then time to say goodbye to the Celebrity, on my way home…
I saw a woman wearing a shiny pink coat, clearly visible against the polluted skies.