(Photos: BWC Fabrications) (Note: Easily the wildest car I’ve laid eyes on this year, this Cavalier looks like something I would’ve drawn in the middle of math class in junior high. Using the four-banger to make healthy power adds to the creativity factor, and using RHD parts from the export-only Toyota Cavalier give the car an exotic feel. We can’t wait to see this car as a finished product. -McTaggart)
There are three ways to get me to pay attention to a 1995-newer Chevrolet Cavalier. One is if it is a Pro Stocker that is really a pro-built chassis and a nuclear warhead of an engine pretending to be a Cavalier. I like those. Second is if said Cavalier is about to be sent to the scrapyard in a horrifying method, with bonus points added for such words as “cliff”, “fire”, or “shredder”. Why? Because the Cavalier, in stock form, was sorry not only as a car on it’s own, but somehow even sorrier than the first-generation J-car that preceded it. Knowing that the first-gen Cavi came from the same company that brought you the Citation and the Fiero, and the second-gen came from the Beretta and Corsica years, you gave them a bit of a pass. But the third generation Cavalier just sucked…it was plasticky from the moment production started and it survived for years simply because it was cheap….and once you drove one, you knew that calling it “cheap” was being nice.
But with that said, there is one other way to get my attention with a Cavalier that works every time: do something so drastic, so dramatic with one that all of the car’s stereotypes can be ignored, and every personal bias I have against it no longer have merit. And that’s precisely what we have here: without question, the most unconventional, psychotically wild Cavalier that even I couldn’t have dreamt up in my wildest automotive fantasies. And it’s still a work in progress…how is that for saying something? Look at it! When I first laid eyes upon it, the first thing I thought was “homologated Cavalier LeMans Prototype”, and honestly, it’s not far from the truth.
BWC Fabrications is based out of Central Florida and is the creative force behind this Cavalier. The The EcoTec four-cylinder has been retained, but it has been built to within an inch of it’s life, moved to a mid-engine position, turbocharged, and now drives the rear wheels. It dyno’d at 462 flywheel horsepower with stock internals, which would be impressive enough, but that was a while ago. The goal is 700+ wheel horsepower and with the work that is continuing, we would not be shocked to see that happen. There are more chassis and suspension mods than we can track and the big brakes and wheel/tire package from a C6 Corvette speak for themselves.
What we love most of all is that the build is completely no-BS. The stripped-down racer look of what started life as a Cavalier Z24 convertible makes it appealing – it’s obvious that a Chevrolet Cavalier was involved, but somehow the whole visual and visceral aspect went from “throwaway econobox” to “Mother of God….” And remember, it isn’t finished yet. We can’t wait to see it when it is…
For more photos of the build, CLICK HERE to check out BWC Fabrication’s Facebook Page!
That lead photo made me wonder if he’d blown a coolant hose. 😀
But yeah, it takes a lot to make a Cavalier cool – and transforming it into something similar to a LeMans Prototype racer qualifies. I’d like to see when it’s finished.
What is the reason for the RHD parts? Car going overseas? I would like to see it with the roof back on the car.
Look up Toyota Cavalier. It is the JDM version of a Chevy cavalier.
So…they turned a Cavalier into a Fiero?
Hopefully the writer realizes that it’s ecotec, not ecotech. And also, there are 3 generations of Cavalier’s. My 2nd gen Z24 is at 250,000+ miles.
I had a ’99 Cavalier coupe with the 2.2L pushrod engine and the 3-speed auto. And that’s pretty much all I have to say on the subject.
Well – another Chevy product I’d love to own – what are you guys trying to do to me?
What makes me laugh though is the fact that the name Cavalier conjures up images of hideously stained interiors of clapped out taxis where all that held them together was the rust – because the Vauxhall Cavalier was nothing like your version lads….
RHD because of Toyota Cavalier.
Headlights, doors, windshield, mirrors, engine. What else is actually Cavalier parts?
I’d drive that for sure. I’d put the fenders back on it though, paint it and make some sort of removable top like a Viper.