Chevrolet’s Citation X11 is an example of the worst of American car making. For this series I typically write about cars that I find desirable. However when Alan Dahl sent me this set of pictures, I knew I needed to feature this car.
The Citation is a car I wouldn’t want to own, even as a LeMons racer. Okay, maybe I could find a way to enjoy it as a LeMons car, but only if I re-powered it with something fun, like a London taxi’s diesel. The Citation was developed towards the end of the dark days of the 1970s and embodies what was wrong with the American car industry at the time. Group think driven “good enough” engineering and low-bid parts supply contracts riddle this car with mediocrity. Still, it has its charm. I’ll let Alan take it from here. Here is his take on the Citation X11:
Today’s subject is this wonderful vintage 1981 Chevrolet Citation X-11. Like last episode’s Pontiac Astre the X11 also hails from Federal Way which I am beginning to think is the West Virginia of the Seattle area, at least when it comes to cars. Also like the Astre the Citation wears its original shade of paint, this time in babyshi… umm, metallic brown which has settled into a nice patina. The X-11 is owned by one of the workers at my local Safeway. He usually works nights so good photos of this car have eluded me but thankfully I caught the car during a rare day shift so I can share it with you. I don’t know much more about the owner or his car except to say that it has to be his daily, or rather nightly, driver as I see it parked in the Safeway parking lot all the time. It appears to me mostly straight however though the nicer paint on the passenger door makes me suspicious that it may have suffered a collision in its younger years.
As you can see the X-11 model came equipped with the “high output” V-6. This engine made a whopping 135 hp, 25 more than the standard 110 micro-ponies the 2.8L V-6 made in lesser Citations. While 110 hp or even 135 hp seems ridiculously little horsepower for a 2.8L engine these days the X-11 actually had a racing pedigree with Bob McConnell, winning the SCCA SSB National Championship in 1982 and 1984 in his 1981 X-11. But considering that a Renault Fuego won the 1983 championship perhaps that’s not saying much about the quality of the competition at the time…
The Citation was a huge hit its first year, selling over 800,000 units but that quickly dropped to 400,000 in 1981 despite the addition of the X-11 model which added 11,600 units to the total. Sales dropped off even more quickly after that as reliability problems quickly surfaced.The Citation breathed its last breath in 1985 before GM mercifully put it to sleep but the A-body chassis survived as the heart of several subsequent GM vehicles, most notably the vanilla Chevrolet Celebrity. It’s not impossible to sight a Citation or its brethren these days but they are getting rarer and rarer as they never were cars that owners cared about all that much which makes this X-11 even more of a rare bird than many lower-production but more well-cared-for vehicles of the 1980′s.
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I, too, owned a white X-11. Was a great vehicle to drive. I raced the Nagoya circuit a little in the early 60′s, did some mountain testing for Isuzu Motors, and drove my Corvette at Continental Divide Raceways in Colorado in the late 60′s. The X-11 came later when family dictated a vehicle that held more than two people. The X-11 put down the 280ZX, Plymouth Dusters, Crossfire injected Cameros, just to name a few. Had a decent top end close to 130 and with the 14 inch Eagle GT radials had all the necessary HP to keep that front wheel drive in place. Cornered like it was on rails and saved me a couple of times when I over drove it into corners Like the man said, you need to compare apples to apples.
I had an ’81 X-11 when I was in college – it was a great car, and I auto-crossed it very successfully (until I fungoed the clutch). It was a fine performer in its day, and would hold its own against contemporaries such as the 280zx and RX7 quite nicely. I once beat a Ferrari 308 QV driven by a who was obviously clueless. My best friend had an ’83. It was a fun car at a fun time.
Hey Tim, Yep it was a formidable competitor in autocrossing. I forgot to mention that the lower gear ratio also made a big difference compared to many of its contemporaries.
V-eight.
I owned one then (83) and the X11 performed much better that I would have EVER given it credit for by just looking at it. Yeah, it was a total dog to look at but it handled far better than many of it’s competitors. That being based on my experience racing it. Bone stock that car was more planted and exhibited better handling than many…surprising for sure. The 135HP, while anemic by today’s standards, was a bigger deal back then. The reasons are many but it wasn’t for a lack of quality. Comparing cars of 1982 to 2012 is akin to comparing a 1945 P51 Mustang to a 1975 F14 Tomcat. Both quality planes…30 years apart.
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I’ll take the fall for that one. I hurriedly copied and pasted your blocks of text after my intro piece.
Don’t let the grammar (with an ‘a’) guys get you down. This has been a popular post.
Moar!
“a huge hit *its first year”
“breathed *its last breath”
“*its brethren”
Thanks for the input! We strive to publish content that is second to none. Even if it is about a forgotten car like the Citation. I welcome any feedback on factual content, because I know I don’t know everything. I especially welcome feedback on punctuation and grammar. Proper punctuation and grammar is the literary equivalent to stringing together consistent fast laps.
We are all about fast laps and a good literary product here at SG. Thanks again for the input. Please feel free to stick around and continue reading and commenting.
Wow, the grammer nazis are everywhere these days
. I know I’m not the best at grammer or spelling but that’s what editors are for, right? I need to give them something to do!