In 1970, GM began running teasers for an upcoming sporty compact, to be unveiled on September 10. “We’ve got it the way we want it, and we think you’ll like it,” one of the ads touted…
In concept, project XP-887 had every potential to fulfill the lofty promises GM was making…but unfortunately, corporate politics and cost reduction hobbled things right from the initial decision to ram a “corporate” engine and design right down Chevrolet Division’s throat.
John DeLorean inherited the whole foul-up far too late to overcome the inevitable results of the “not invented here” syndrome that ran strong throughout his division, though he did push as hard as he could for building a quality vehicle. “While I was convinced that we were doing our best with the car that was given to us, I was called upon by the corporation to tout the car far beyond my personal convictions about it,” he recounted in his book, On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors.
All that aside for the moment, the very handsome-looking Vega Number One (shown above) did finally roll off the assembly line, the first of 2,113,929 H-body cars (including the Vega, Cosworth Vega and Astre) to be built over seven model years. The H-body platform would eventually be re-skinned, re-engined and renamed Monza (along with its badge-engineered siblings Starfire, Skyhawk and Sunbird), resulting in a grand total of around four million H-body vehicles produced over ten years–not a shabby run at all.
GM and Chevrolet would steadily improve the Vega, addressing many of the issues that affected the early production cars and, by the end of the production run, actually had a decently appointed and reliable vehicle. Unfortunately, it’s an all-too-common progression with GM: Great idea; lousy execution; fix the problems after public outcry; immediately discontinue the car because no one wants it by that point.
There’s plenty of detailed reading on the Vega around the web, both good points and bad. So given the Vega’s horrible reputation, was it really deserving of the 1971 Motor Trend Car of the Year Award?
I say, “Absolutely!”
Consider the following recognitions the Vega won in addition to the 1971 COTY:
1971, 1972, 1973: Car & Driver Reader’s Choice Poll: Best Economy Sedan (Vega)
1971, 1972, 1973: Car & Driver Reader’s Choice Poll: Best Super Coupe (Vega GT)
1973: Motor Trend Economy Car of the Year (Vega GT) “Vega was judged warm and comfortable, with a good finish.”
1974: Motor Trend named Vega one of the Top Ten Selling Cars
1975: Motor Trend chose the Vega as “One of the top 10 cars to own in a gas crisis.”
1975: Motor Trend achieved over 50 mpg from a specially outfitted “Super Vega” project car
Popular Science named the Vega “One of the easiest cars to service” in the early 1970s.
When you consider the times and what the Vega was competing against, (and the fact no one yet knew what issues were lurking under that front-hinged hood), the Vega really was a deserving choice. It had great styling that remains fresh to this day, excellent handling for an economy car, and fuel economy that rivaled that of the Beetle. When optioned correctly, it was really quite a nice-performing little car. Of course, optioned incorrectly all its shortcomings were immediately apparent.
Our family owned four Vegas (including a non-titled parts car), starting with the 1971 Notchback my Dad bought used in 1972. After being sideswiped by a drunk driver, the ’71 sat in the back yard all summer (when I wasn’t doing donuts in the field behind the house while Dad was away!), and was eventually put to rights by our high school’s auto repair class.
The “silver grey” ’73 GT Kammback was purchased used that same summer, with A/C and the Powerglide transmission –it was one slow puppy compared with the ’71, which had the optional four-speed Saginaw (the only option on that car!). The green ’72 Kammback above was probably purchased to capitalize on the growing knowledge we had for keeping these cars running.
The ’71 became my car during my senior year in high school, and though Dad had already rebuilt the engine once, at around 50K miles, it was belching oil smoke again at just over 80K miles—I used about a gallon of oil every two weeks and bought anti-fouling spark plug adapters by the gross! So, over Christmas break I drove both the ’71 and ’73 (which had been sidelined by an accident) up to the vocational school where Dad was now Director, and did my first-ever engine swap. Dad had rebuilt the ’73 engine with steel sleeves, and it proved to be pretty reliable for the rest of the time it was in the ’71.
The Vega proved to be a very flexible “platform” for my own interests, and you can see the results in the above photo: CB radio, check! 8-track player, check! Analog amplifier, check! “VEGA” key fob, check!
I had more fun than you can imagine with that CB radio and an under hood-mounted speaker—the photo shows how we decorated the car one Halloween (complete with a bat wing on the CB antenna on the trunk) and drove around “growling” at little kids in the neighborhood.
The summer before my final year in college, I decided to do another engine swap, this time to a Buick 3.8-litre V6. I had been in an accident that smashed up the driver’s side of the car (for the second time), so I figured a new engine wouldn’t be all that much more work (hah!).
Engine mounts came out of a junkyard V8 Monza (and bolted right in, thanks to the common platform), the original “postage stamp” radiator got swapped for one from an aluminum-block V8 Tempest, and the old 4-speed was replaced (after a bit of sledgehammer work) with a THM350 automatic. After a bit of sorting out, it proved to be very reliable and incredibly fast, despite being stock and rated at only 110 hp.
The interior was upgraded with a Vega GT dashboard, as well as a Recaro-designed front driver’s seat out of another junkyard Monza (the most comfortable auto seat I’ve ever sat in). I cut out the metal bulkhead behind the back seat and replaced the seat itself with one from a Kammback, so I could fold it down and have a “pass-through” trunk.
Finally, the car got a full respray, along with appropriate cosmetic bits to dress up the outside. I wish I could have afforded a turbo Buick, but I had to settle for painting on the logo instead.
My Dad taught me to keep logs of my vehicle mileage and expenses, and I still have a few of them left from the Vega. This one is from before the Buick swap, and even with a pretty aggressive driving technique, I was still getting 23+ mpg in Atlanta traffic. My all-time high was about 30 mpg on a long road trip.
By the time I graduated, I had put over 200,000 miles on the car, and had purchased a used ’82 Cavalier Type 10 hatchback (the J-body successor to the H-body). The Vega got used less often, and eventually was offered as a trade-in when I bought my first new car, a Suzuki Samarai.
Of all the cars I’ve owned over the years, only a few really got under my skin and became much more than a conveyance between work and home. My 1971 Vega is one of them. It was my first car, and the classroom in which I learned the skills of a mechanic, which continue to pay dividends to this day. I can still close my eyes and drift back to the days of black vinyl seats under a hot Georgia summer sun, tanned arm on the door, and a driving beat blaring out of the cheap 6×9 speakers in the back…
So yes: I, without hesitation, give my CCOTY 1971 nomination to the Vega. It certainly wasn’t perfect, but it was just what I (and eventually several million others) needed at the time.
I owned it’s sibling the Starfire and share some of your pain. It was not the car I needed. When it caught on fire on Virginia Beach Boulevard it was the last straw. The space in my driveway shortly became filled with a 78 AMC Concorde. A much different size etc and infinitely better car.
Out of curiosity – I always thought the four that had been in the Chev II would have been a far better choice for the Vega. My Starfire had the 231 and I didn’t like it. Later in other applications it was pretty good. I know one of those cars did come with the old four and had a good reputation. Anyway the Vega gets my CCGOTY (goat of the year) nomination.
If it had an odd-fire crank, I can see the reason you didn’t like it. The even fire ones were much better.
The gear shift lever seems to be so awkwardly placed, did it really feel so bad ? I’ve seen something like that on some Eastern-euro cars, namely the FSO Polones, but didn’t actually think this layout has been used by someone else.
I like the styling, though. Especially the fastback which looks somewhat like a mini-Ferrari.
My ’72 Kammback wagon, with the GT engine and a 4-speed, was a hoot to drive. Definitely NOT a toaster. I loved it…but as recounted elsewhere on this site…breakdowns and rust (at only THREE years old!) made it impossible to keep.
Still, if I didn’t already own two projects to which I have an even deeper attachment, I’d entertain going West and finding another ’71-’72 Kammback, blast it and rustproof it, then get a Turbo Ecotec and 6-speed to build a Vega resto-mod.
Give it CCOTY because of its paradoxical nature and its historical significance…for this was the moment GM’s cynicism toward its customers (in that day) became crystal clear.
Or you could buy a new Mercedes B Class and keep the change for other expenses.
Good story, I like the 19982 log. A friend was driving one of these from LA to Denver in 1974 and was pulled over for speeding, taken immediately to court where the judge threw out the case when he saw the officer’s notes and said “He must be wrong, these can’t go 95!”
I too have fond and not so fond memories of my 1974 Vega GT. Mine was tan with tan interior. That car had the most comfortable bucket seats I ever had. It was our family hauler until it was replaced by a 1978 Buick Park Avenue. Needless to say our financial circumstances had improved at that point.
I used the Vega as my get to work car for several more years and despite keeping up with maintenance and oil changes it deteriorated rapidly after about 50,00 miles. The engine started using oil by the barrel. I never went anywhere without 4 or 5 quarts in a box in the back. I just kept driving it until about 80,000 miles when I went to open the lift back and the hinges broke and knocked me down in the driveway. That hatch with all that glass is heavy. A center punch, some barn door hinges, and metal screws fixed that problem. Ugly,but, effective. After another year or so I got tired of pouring oil in it and off to the crusher it went.
All that being said, If I ran across a late model GT 4 speed in reasonable condition I would buy it.
My favorite Vega quote involves an early test of a base 3 speed manual model. “The three speed feels like a 5 speed with two of the gears removed.” (Basically 1st to 2nd to 3rd felt like shifting a 5 speed from 1st to 3rd to 5th.) Having spent a decent amount of time driving 5 speed manual cars, I can imagine what that felt like.
Mine had the optional four-speed, which had pretty good ratios…
And that is a classic automotive sin of nearly every manufacturer. If you know what to order the vehicle is pretty good, if you don’t know what to order, you feel like the vehicle is sub-par.
I seem to remember a Car and Driver early test that described the standard 3 speed as similar to a 6 speed transmission with 1st, 3rd, and 5th missing.
With the ’72 Vega, if you wanted to burn a lot of gas, you ordered the Powerglide with the optional (2 barrel?) engine. We usually got 14mpg, a trip might see us get 16.
This poor car had plenty of potential, but was absolutely sabotaged by all who had a hand in it; management, rank and file, and dealer service depts. What a shame.
I bought a new ’76 S.W. with a beautifully upgraded interior and optional radial tires. I kept it for six years and 105,000 miles. Very few mechanical problems. It was using about a quart of oil in six hundred miles. Rust was an issue in the Chicago area and it developed it rather selectively in a few spots which, with my basic skills, I was able to resolve and restore. I have fond memories of that car, but I realize now that the Celica would have been a much better alternative, although with equal or worse rust issues.
Such high hopes. Such dashed realizations.They sure looked cool, though – especially the wagon, which I seriously considered when having a very, very brief fling with re-enlisting in the air force for two more years exactly 40 years ago – a 1973 model – in yellow.
Fortunately, I didn’t buy one nor did I re-enlist. Whew!
They sure did look cool, though…
Other than that, I have nothing to nominate that is deserving of the title.
Why didn’t GM rebadge the Vauxhall Viva or it’s Opel and Holden equivalents? it was however a much better looking car than the Pinto and Gremlin
“Why didn’t GM…”
Those three words are the beginning of a million arguments.
One of the biggest factors was the NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome. They were Chevrolet, the biggest division and they were going to build their own damn car!
According to DeLorean’s book, the project was largely the product of GM’s central engineering people under the authority of Ed Cole. The Chevrolet engineering people had another proposal for a car that they thought was a lot better, but got overruled. The Vega project was crammed down their throats, and there was a lot of hard feelings towards the car. At some point, DeLorean rallied the troops and made the point that it would be up to Chevy engineers to try to salvage things the best they could, because Chevy’s name would be on the car. It is an interesting story of how bureaucratic battling can result in a horribly flawed product.
I read DeLorean’s book as a teenager, and right out of high school I was an 18-year-old engineering co-op student working at Delco Electronics. The “over-the-wall” mentality was staggering – the product designers were in their own building, on their own floor, completely isolated from reality. After something went into production, they couldn’t be bothered with any issues that came up – that was production’s responsibility. Any real problems would be rectified in the next design, a few years away (meaning that they would make millions of problem-riddled parts in the mean time).
Looking backwards, you really can see how GM’s decisions even back in the 1960s led to their eventual demise. Corporate culture/momentum is almost impossible to change (even at very small companies, as I have found in my 25-year engineering career).
Yep Whether they knew how or not
1) The Reynolds Aluminum plant in Massena NY needed something to do after Corvair died. Building aluminum Vega blocks was the solution.
2) As mentioned above and elsewhere, there was a whole lotta “not invented here” going on…for starters.
3) It’s been well noted that many of those responsible for Vega were an extra step insulated, and thus further out of touch from customer demand, than the usual GM design staff. I believe Vega was the first-ever “GM Corporate” designed car, designed around a set of specs and then imposed upon Chevrolet…who like all the other GM divisions at the time was used to doing their own thing.
I also believe that like choking on your own vomit, GM was choking on the “bigger is better” mentality that they helped to create. Even though small cars cost almost as much as bigger ones to design and build, they couldn’t be priced that way. John DeLorean was going to solve the problem by moving Vega more upscale and pricing accordingly…the GM bean counters said no and as noted above, demanded so much be taken out of the Vega that it was doomed from the start.
Read Aaron Severson’s outstanding account in Ate Up With Motor. One of the links up above goes there and it’s a great read.
This is totally off topic, but I’m knocked out by that Mercury Capri RS (in the pix when your car was repainted light blue)! It appears to be an 81 or 82. I had the 1980 turbo version, with similar graphics. Mine was black with the green/mint green graphics that were the same as that car!
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen on in blue like that. Dark blue is my favorite color on those cars, but wasn’t offered much. As time went on, there was only a light blue that was offered on Fox body Capris. Truly outstanding!
That was a good friend’s car from college days (we still stay in touch). It had the straight six and a manual, and would *scoot*!
The photo was taken at the infield of Road Atlanta near turn seven. John and I used to put up race weekend posters at Georgia Tech in return for free pit passes.
What a piece of junk…the Vega was rushed through development and design while the bean counters tried to get every nickle out of it they could and this became essentially the same strategy GM used on virtually all of the vehicles they built and sold until the Corporation went bankrupt. Rush the design and development, introduce the vehicle with great fanfare to initially positive feedback…everyone is happy until problems begin to appear…when it finally become apparent to GM management the vehicle has serious problems they pull everyone off other projects and a crash program starts to correct the vehicle’s faults….by the time the problems have been corrected, the vehicles reputation has taken such a hit no one will touch it. At that point about the only option is to cancel the vehicle and start on a replacement…as as likely as not repeat the entire process over again. This seemed to become the SOP at GM until the company went bankrupt.
GM already had the Opel 1900/Manta which was a vastly superior car to the Vega-but the NIH philosophy ruled at GM and the management obviously believed tyhey could build a better car-experience proved them totally wrong.
And then tell everyone that while your old stuff was junk, the new stuff is New And Improved, with Moxie, from the New GM ™.
They are still doing it and people still fall for, although fewer and fewer each year. I doubt GM will exist in a decade, certainly not like we know it now.
I’d nominate the Pinto. You still see a few around SoCal…..I haven’t seen a Vega in ages. The Pinto was faster and quicker. And handled better in town…….Vega was better as a cruiser it was said.
http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/chevrolet-vega-vs-ford-pinto-archived-comparison
C&D used to race a Pinto and it was recently restored. http://blog.caranddriver.com/found-on-ebay-1972-car-and-driver-ford-pinto-imsa-race-car/
The exploding gas tank issue was extremely exaggerated.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/30/autos/detroit_three_small_car_woes.fortune/index.htm
In a paper delivered in 1990, a Rutgers law professor argued that Ford and the Pinto got a bad rap. He produced data showing that the fatality rate in Pintos was comparable to the Vega and Gremlin, and far better than Toyotas (TM), VWs, and Datsuns of the era. And although prominent critics had referred to hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries from Pinto fires, he could only document 27 deaths and 24 non-fatal injuries.
I wish I had a pic of MY old powder blue 71 Pinto 2.0 4 speed sedan…………with a sunroof!
I briefly owned a ’72 (or maybe ’73) Pinto wagon with the 2.3 liter and an automatic. The engine was dead, so I swapped in another 2.3 from a junkyard car. I remember it being slow, buzzy and as disconnected from the road as our ’73 Kammback, only with worse fuel economy.
Perhaps, like the Vega, the sedan with a manual was a better experience…
I will say, however, that the interior was *much* nicer than that in my base-model Vega.
Well folks.. I have owned many cars during the past 50+ years, and only one..my new 1971 Vega hatchback, ever left me stranded. Once in the barrens of Northern Maine, and the second in the Green Mountains of Vermont while returning from the “repairs” made at a Chevy dealer near Portland, Me. The car was just over 1 year old at the time and was equipped with the four-speed and optional 110 hp engine. So, despite the good looks and nice handling, the engine was a terrible terrible design/execution. No COTY as far as I am concerned!
71 Vega, FTW. I drank the GM advertising kool-aid along with everyone else, gazed longingly at the yellow Kammback in the ads. Mine was a ’72 GT hatchback, orange with “tan” custom interior and the black racing stripes. Very pretty car, and a very fun drive, with those wonderfully comfortable bucket seats out of the Camaro. All of the design deficiencies noted hereabouts were evident, with the exception of the front fenders not rusting (lower body did all over) or the carburetor shaking loose-buzzy motor, amazingly vague shifter, sticky throttle, ready rear axle hop (put my sister through the ditch and the fence and into the neighbor’s corn field one day), sticky remote hood release, nonexistent rear headroom, leaky distributor cap, leaky windshield, excessive oil consumption, etc. etc.
But, my first car, so my first automotive love, and my assessment is therefore biased. And it moved me and all my stuff off to grad school and internship, and never stranded me in seven years of young person’s automotive abuse and neglected service attention. Traded for a ’77 Rabbit when the left front door sagged so much on its rusty hinges that I bent in the door frame around the latch, trying to slam it shut. (A few weeks later, there she was, out on the streets of Worcester, patched together and leaving her little trail of blue smoke.) The Rabbit was as much as or more fun, and had much more practical space, but with its constant mechanical and electrical issues it did strand me more than once. Now I drive Toyotas. I miss them both, though. Once you have owned a car with light and accurate steering and balanced handling, it’s hard to go back.
Seems to me that engineering prowess will win a COTY award even if the car is subpar The Vega, The Camira, P76 all won COTY and all had major problems in the market place there are more but these have been covered at CC. Oddly I recall the glossies for the Vega though we didnt get them new and most that Ive seen in the wild have been rusted out wrecks.
71 CCCOTY success award should go to the HQ Holden best seller for 4 years in 2 countries and it was only a 4door 70 Camaro.
Is it time for a question? With all of the hindsight about this car, is it still CCOTY material? I have never owned a Vega. I like to think that part of it was good judgment,and the fact that their flaws were well known by the time I was first in the market.
I am very open to other nominations. In no particular order, there was the Pinto, which turned out to be the much better car in the real world, and remained in the Ford lineup for a decade.
The 1971 Mopar B Bodies were also quite significant, although they did not sell in numbers as had been hoped for. They were, however, perhaps the ultimate performance cars of their niche and era.
If we are going to go with how they looked in the showroom, I will also (at the risk of raising Mr. Niedermeyer’s blood pressure) nominate the 71 Ford LTD. This was the car that perfected the art of offering a Lincoln Continental in a Ford showroom. The 71 LTD (although like the Vega, it suffered from many quality and durability problems) was awe-inspiring when it came out in the fall of 1970. These cars brought a lot of buyers into Ford showrooms and continued the arc of the Ford Division playing in the higher-priced leagues. In 1971 and in 2013, I would take an LTD hands down over a Vega.
Hard choice between the Pinto and Vega. Another cotenter for CCCOTY 1971 would had been the big GM B-bodies. The short lived Road Test magazine gived their own COTY award to the 1971 Plymouth Satellite.
Wheels magazine in Australia hit right on target when the chosen the Chrysler Valiant Charger as COTY Down Under. http://silodrome.com/chrysler-valiant-charger/
This deserves CCOTY 1971 (as long as it had a stick, cylinder sleeves, so one could have an Americanized Lancia Beta to an extent).
While I appreciate Ed’s effort in writing this article, the story of the Vega remains unchanged. Even his happy memories include repeated efforts to keep the car powered by an engine. 50,000 mile engine rebuilds weren’t acceptable for American cars in 1971 anymore than they are acceptable today. Gas wasn’t expensive, and a bullet proof Plymouth Duster /6 could be had for Vega money. The Vega should have been COTY in Japan though, because it probably did as much to open the door to the US market as any other single model sold.
That being said, I wish GM still had stylists as capable as the ones that crafted the ’71 Vega and ’70 Camaro. They looked great, even if looking great made the Vega a 2+2 no matter what body style one chose. It would have been more impressive had they made a great looking 4 seater, but it would be hard to say the 2002 or 510 were actually as attractive as the early Vegas.
Hindsight is of course 20-20, and in light of that, the Vega never should have received COTY in the first place.
However, as stated, *at the time* it did look like a real winner, and GM’s hype leading up to the introduction certainly built high expectations. The fact the car continued to get recognition and continued to sell reasonably well (to my mind, anyway) shows there was some “there” there that kept people coming back. And if you’re honest about other cars from that decade (domestics in particular), they weren’t always all that much better.
I started driving in the mid ’80s. There were plenty of Darts, Valiants, and Mavericks in the school parking lot. There were also a bunch of ’60s Mustangs and various full sized cars. The only H-bodies were the ones from the end of production that had iron block engines. Even those were gone by about 1987. I also remember how abandoned Vegas littered the shoulders of the highway in the mid seventies. They really were exceptionally bad for people looking for transportation instead of a doorway into the car hobby or a career in working on cars. I’m glad it worked out for you, but your story reminds me of that of my BMW mechanic, who became a brilliant engineer(paid his way through engineering school wrenching on BMWs) partially because his family owned Peugeots, which stunk on ice.
This was a fun read by Ed! I especially like the Halloween version of the Junior Deathmobile. I wonder if the idea for the fanged grill came from the movie or if Harold Ramis himself stole the idea from Ed.
Too young to drive when it came out but when I was, it was the Camaro Z28 and Trans Am that had my attentions. However, I always loved this design but remember the failed cylinder liners and rusted bodies before their time stories. It’s funny how the ZL1 427 V8 had the correct steel liners while this little aluminum engine did not, Pity GM did not go that route. I seem to recall that Porsche later went to that process with better success, but I may be mistaken.
I recall sending off for an IECO Chevy Vega aftermarket parts catalog and dreaiming of Cannon aluminum intakes capped off with Weber Side Draft Carbs! This car was a big deal upon it’s release, the first real legit small car with a lightweight aluminum engine for the new decade. Who could not love the Mini-Camaro front end, the overall clean styling. It’s a shame a monolith of a company was so indifferent as to the build quality and spotty engineering. Having said that, it gets my vote for CCCOTY.
Coming a bit late to the Vega love-fest. Yes, it was cute, and handled well, but I came to a somewhat different conclusion: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/cc-chevrolet-vega-winner-of-1971-small-car-comparison-and-gms-deadly-sin-no-2/
If we’re looking for other candidates, wasn’t 1971 the first year for the Mercedes R107?
Wikipedia thinks R107 production started in 1971, but for the 1972 model year. And while the Vega may be one of the most significant cars of 1971, with the benefit of hindsight I’d take a Toyota’s brand-new 1971 Celica instead, or if I was rich and insane a Citroën SM.
It’s really too bad, isn’t it, that GM didn’t initially sell the 1975 Vega in 1971 – the story would have been completely different. But their big idea, which I believe really started with the Corvair, of using their full-price-paying customers as beta testers eventually drove them into a well-deserved bankruptcy.
I remember the door hinge bushings that were on all the 1970’s GM cars and trucks – they were relatively simple to replace, which was a good thing considering how rapidly they wore especially on heavy Camaro, Firebird, and Caddy 2-door doors. But a Vega was the only car I ever saw on which those bushings were completely gone so that the back of the door would fall down about three inches on opening.
If you look closely in the later photos of my car, the driver’s side door is hanging down about 1/4-1/2″ at the latch end… part of that was due to the repeated crashes on that side, and part was due to wear of a poor design.
I guess it never dawned on any body that the COTY from any magazine was just a gimmick. An advertising gimmick. While the mags may have claimed that no manufacturer could buy their way to a COTY, they were in all sense advertising. Makes me wonder how many millions Pete Petersen made just from the MotorTrend COTY.
I’d cast my vote for the Vega. The only Vegas I have owned are of the Cosworth variety. I came of age(driving age that is) during the 70’s. I had a few friends that drove them. My buddy that made Whoppers with me at BK drove a 71 with the torque-drive PowerGlide version. It wasn’t a hotrod so he didn’t drive it that way but than I think he was scared driving a riding lawn mower. Another HS buddy drove an orange 73 Millionth car. My sister even had a brief fling with a 78 Monza Sport Coupe and 2.5 IronDuke that she bought new. The only problem it had was a poor paint job. Another friend drove a 77 Vega that he bought new for at least 10 years if not longer. I think it got totaled in a wreck. I even had the opportunity to wrench on a new one as my HS auto shop class got a brand new 74 or 75 Vega from GM when the train transporting a shipment of Vegas derailed a couple of hours away. I still wonder what happened to that low mileage gem.
I personally feel that these are great cars. I think everybody agrees that any small car from this era was about the same. Even the Corolla and other imports. Think about it. If any thing was really superior than why don’t we see them in any number? Heck I don’t even see any of them at the vintage import shows I go to. Seems to me you import tuners would pick up on the V-8 Vega idea and stuff some JZ or other engine and make a Corolla fly. Yep,just what I thought. Nobody gave a crap about them than so none of them survived in any number for a future generation to enjoy. So much for what small economy car was better than an H-Body.
Congrats Ed on writing a story and including some decent pics. Something that can’t be said about the other editors when they write about this generation of H-Body.
Please consider this instead.
+1 One of my favorite cars of all time. On top of my list of cars i would love to own!
Yeah, I’ll buy that. Last of the real Riveiras, and one of the few ’71s besides a Z-28 that I might actually want to own. Good call.
The Vega does present a situation we haven’t really encountered up to now on the CCCOTY. It seemed like a revolutionary car when it was new, and it sold well for the first four years it was on the market. At that point, its problems caught up to it, just as a rescession was taking place, just as a change in the market was suddenly making it look dated, and just as large numbers of American carbuyers were beginning to abandon the Big Three for imports. In hindsight, it’s had to argue that it wasn’t one of GM’s deadly sins. Do we base the award of how things looked from 1971-74, or how they look today?
When we get to 1980, the GM FWD X-cars may present a similar dilemma, although their problems seemed to have an impact a lot quicker.
If we’re going to give the ’71 award to an American subcompact, the Pinto might be a better choice, if we can get past the sensationalism of the “exploding Pinto”. Like the Vega, it’s hard to argue from today’s perspective that the Pinto was really a good car, but it outsold the Vega, outlasted the Vega, and overall wasn’t as much of a lemon as the Vega was. The pre-park bench bumper Pintos weren’t bad-looking cars, but I’d give the edge in styling to the Vega.
I’d have to nominate the Falcon GTHO Phase 3, an iconic car that in Australia needs no introduction but it is a race homologation special from the days when cars raced in showroom specs, and it absolutely dominated on the track. At the Bathurst 500 it was mission accomplished with 5 of the first 6 places (inc 1-2-3), with lap times around 25 sec faster than 4 years earlier when the muscle car era started.
The car had a 351 Cleveland with a 780 Holley on it, a bit more than Boss 351 Mustang in spec. Officially it was rated as the same 300hp as a normal Falcon GT, but at more than a second faster in the quarter mile clearly there was some more grunt on board! It is estimated that the actual output was in the order of 380hp – there were actually 2 camshaft grinds used, and also the “Quality Control” option at $250 which was a fully-blueprinted engine. To contain warranty costs the cars were fitted with a 6150rpm rev limiter, and with the Bathurst 3.00:1 diff that would give you 144mph, while down the 1-mile Conrod Straight with the limiter removed the cars would hit 154mph.
Another infamous episode for the Phase 3 was the road test in Wheels magazine, where on the last morning they had the car they overslept and did the 200 miles back to Ford head office in 2 hours – on a 2-lane highway with 17 towns to pass through! At one point the photographer climbed into the back seat and took a photo of the 140mph speedo pegged off the clock on the limiter in top gear. However the magazine editors were not prepared to show such a speed when the photo was published, and it was retouched to ‘only’ 100mph which corresponded to redline in 3rd gear.
Here is the full story: http://www.falcongt.com.au/HO-DTH.html
A fairly healthy proportion of the 300 cars originally built survive today, as they have been the most collectible car in the country for a long time. With the racing regulations changing, and pressure from the government the Phase 3 was the pinnacle of the muscle car era in Australia, and it would be nearly 25 years before there was another car with more performance.
Today depending on the car’s provenance they sell for $200k plus, with the potential to go for three to four times that with race history.
The chevy vega seels to be a car that failed but people still loved, and it’s clear to see why. They were like mini camaros in a way, with all the cool options and sporty looks. Plus they were great motor swap candidates, like your car. My 72 hatch was hopped up using ieco parts in the 70s and given the metal flake stripes and four lug cragers treatment. . Had a cool weber side draft carb and header on it when I got it, head work , cam and ieco pistons were also installed . And it was put into storage for something like 25 years . There’s not many of these things still around but I wish there were ! My old votech school had a cosworth in the body shop receiving the whole restoration treatment . The kids there were happy to see mine and wanted to finish it even more, now that they knew what it looked like done
At one point before the Vega became known as an oil burner, Road & Track did a comparison test of the Vega, Pinto, Toyota Corona, Datsun 510, and VW bug. Along with the rest of the content, they summed up each car with 2 or 3 adjectives. In the order the cars were ranked:
Corona: Quiet, comfortable, and strong.
510: Roomy, capable, and entertaining.
Vega: Able and roadable but crude.
Pinto: Mediocre but cute.
VW: Durable but antiquated.
They said the Vega trunk was reasonably big but “the tackiest we have seen in a long time.”