Junkyard Find: 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt SS
One thing about visiting wrecking yards in the Upper Midwest is that I know I’ll see interesting late-model General Motors cars.
I couldn’t find the elusive junkyard Saturn Ion Redline during my trip to Wisconsin in August, but I did find its Chevrolet cousin: a Chevrolet Cobalt SS, spotted in a Green Bay self-service yard.
The supercharged and turbocharged examples of the Cobalt SS got all the attention, but you could get a naturally-aspirated one in 2006. This car has a 2.5-liter Ecotec, rated at 173 horsepower. The 2006 Cobalt SS Supercharged had 205 horses, plus 18-inch wheels and a stiffer suspension; this car got 17-inch wheels and suspension goodies of a quality between the rental-car base models and the factory-hot-rod blown ones.
Disappointingly, though not surprisingly, this car has the four-speed automatic transmission instead of the five-speed manual.
Some junkyard shopper bought the Cobalt SS-only front bodywork, but left the rear stuff behind.
This car must have been a lot more fun than the 145-horse base Cobalt, but I suspect the original buyer was more interested in image than in driving enjoyment.
What with all the bad press surrounding this “Kevorkianesque rolling sarcophagus,” resale values for used Cobalts might be down to low enough levels that this completely unrusty one wasn’t worth fixing when something mechanical broke.
The new commotion in the Chevy family.
Pretty much the Corvette’s little brother.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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Had a 2010 Cobalt SS. Man oh Man could that piece of crap get up and go.
Man I wonder what yard this is at. I own a Turbocharged one and would love to snag that bumper. I live decently close.