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Story of our 15-year-old Chevrolet Aveo & its last overhaul

Back in 2007, my father cancelled the booking for the Maruti Esteem & bought the Aveo. Fast forward to the present, he still enjoys driving the Chevy.

BHPian W16rocks recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I wanted to write about our Chevrolet Aveo and why it is very special to us.

A brief background

My family keeps shifting places due to my father’s job (I am 16 and already in my 10th school), and we change our cars every 5 years.

So this post will be a little nostalgic for me, as I will tell you about my family’s first car after my birth, bought on my first birthday, our Chevy (Chevrolet Aveo).

My family is very attached to this car as there is a unique bond that we share with it, after 15 years and a lakh kms it has become a family member to us.

In 2007 my father had already booked and paid the booking amount for Maruti Esteem to replace our Hyundai Santro, but just as we were going home we saw a Chevrolet showroom so my parents and my Grandfather visited it just to see their models as Chevrolet was fairly new in the Indian market at that time.

As soon I entered the showroom I ran towards this Platinum Aveo parked there and started trying to climb it (I was just a year old), and at that moment my Grandfather decided we were going to cancel our Esteem booking and get this car as we found it better in every aspect compared to the Esteem, and my father was happy to do so. And so that day itself (My Birthday) we got our Chevy home.

3 years ago

Aveo was 12 years old, no longer our main car, but still, my father and I did not want to let it go for the sake of nostalgia surrounding it.

Even though it has been maintained immaculately at Chevrolet workshops, due to its age and staying in all types of weather from Chhattisgarh to Goa, it had caught a lot of rust and its paint had also lost its shine. Also, its doors and windows had started developing issues, some engine work was also required due to a misfiring issue.

Still not finding the will to sell it, we took a financially bad, but emotionally good decision to get it repainted and overhauled. We got the quote from multiple paint shops but decided to stick with our trusted Chevrolet workshop.

So in the coming month, we gave our car to them for a complete overhaul. It was first stripped of its doors and interior, and then the rust was removed from all parts.

We also decided to change its colour to keep it interesting, we changed it from Platinum to Dark Blue, as we really liked this shade on the Ciaz (Nexa Blue).

We also decided to revamp the interiors with a new set of JBL Speakers, New seat covers, and a Blaupunkt Infotainment system to spruce it up.

We also got a new set of Michelins for it.

Present day

Today, at the time of writing this article, it has been three years since the overhaul, and still, my father enjoys driving it as much as he did the first time. Now I am getting my driving lessons on the Chevy.

The Chevy has turned 15, as I turn 16. And also its registration is getting extended for the next five years.

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