Well, who wouldn’t? On our way back home from our three days of seclusion in the Coast Range, I spotted this Bit-O-Honey ’73 coupe on the main drag in Mapleton. Is it still running? With the original 2300 engine? If so, it would be a contender for our Great Vega Hunt.
A quick look inside suggests that it’s clearly not running, unless it’s an autonomous Vega (“AV”). Isn’t that a scary thought?
Aw shucks, these were co cute! Too bad they were so flawed too. Talk about a personality disorder.
I’ve written probably close to a dozen Vega posts, so what more can I add? Except a touch of regret at not buying the running GT wagon that was in my first Vega post.
Here’s my full Vega bibliography. Happy reading!
CC: Chevrolet Vega: Winner Of C&D’s 1971 Small Car Comparison and GM’s Deadly Sin #2
Announcing The Great Vega Hunt: Who Will Find An Original Running Vega?
CC 1974 Vega Kammback – GM’s Deadly Sexy Sin, Take 2
Mad Men Take On The XP-887 (Vega)
CC Outtake: 1977 Vega With Genuine Vega Girl Aboard
The Great Vega Hunt Is Over; And This ’74 With Running Original Engine Could Be Yours!
Come On Down To Paul’s Sales Lot – Today’s Special: 1974 Vega $1495 – It Runs!
Beware Of False Prophets: Ironic Vega Engine Preview Ads
CC 1976 Cosworth Vega – Too Little, Too Late, Way Too Expensive
Oops; I’ve only done ten Vega posts. More than enough.
The hood is ajar, an ominous signal in Vega country.
Don’t be so sure; maybe the hood’s ajar and maybe that’s just a fabulous example of the fine GM “Mark of Excrement” build quality.
Actually, the hood is probably propped open so it won’t latch. The release cable was notorious for breaking and there you were with a hood you couldn’t open.
And since you were likely to need oil or coolant within the next couple of fillups, that was a problem.
There was a special tool, that you inserted through the ventilation grill at the base of the windshield and manipulated the latch until it released. I probably still have the one I made up all those years ago somewhere.
I always carried it, along with a new release cable, in the spare tire well next to the spare clutch cable.
I knew a guy who raced a Vega (SCCA) back in the early ’80s when I was at Georgia Tech. He said on a whim, he popped the hood release on a fast straightaway while running a course one day, and the front end “sucked down” noticeably as the higher pressure underhood air suddenly had an escape route. He was a short guy, and had to raise up in the seat to see over the hood! I think he started carrying a cushion.
On the last V-8 I built, the above mentioned ’73 GT, I eventually went with 4 hood pins and no latch. I cut the under bracing off the hood which removed the hinges and just pinned it on at the corners. This was done primarily for air cleaner clearance when I went to an Edelbrock Torker manifold, but it also allowed me to have a way of propping the rear of the hood open about an inch. It helped with cooling in traffic, but I never ran it that way at the strip.
I do recall that the hood would billow a bit by the top of third gear, or about 85 mph. Probably lucky it never blew off going through the traps….
Great find, and no rust in the usual places, either. One of a million – given the millionth Vega rolled off the line in May 1973… Looks like it has the 3sp automatic.
Yeah, no rust, wow. Maybe the dissolve-o-matic GM plastic steering wheel just melted away.
The wheel itself was durable, it was just the foam center insert that slowly melted away.
There’s always room for one more Vega post here!
+100! (c:
Yes, I certainly hope so. And I hope I find that ’75 Pontiac Astre hatch with the 2300 that’s running around here, and photograph it, too. I want to hear one of these things, if you can believe that. I miss that coarse, throaty rising humm as it slowly gathers speed at 14mpg.
Is it white? There was a white ’75 Astre still in use as a daily driver in my neck of the woods about 10 years ago. Every time I saw it, I had to smile.
It’s maroon. If I could just get a shot of it.
Does that make the Vega the CC equivalent of Jello?
Except for that left rear corner damage this thing looks pretty good. As I’ve mentioned before, back in the early ’80s I had a little sideline operation building V-8 Vegas. One like this would have been worth maybe 300 bucks in driveable condition ca 1982. They were literally everywhere, and I was even given a couple solid non-runners. ” I just want it out of the driveway” was the refrain. Even 35 years ago one this rust free was difficult to fine here in the great white north.
This one looks to be the deluxe trim model, with nicer interior and window frame chrome. The ’73 was my favourite year of these, I had several including a nice white 4 speed GT in nearly showroom condition. I think I paid 700 bucks for it! I even drove it stock for a short while until I had time to install the 327, Got into the 13.30s in Spokane in ’83 or so. The V-8 totally ruined what were actually pretty decent driving dynamics though.
I wouldn’t mind finding a solid one and installing one of GM’s newer V-6s with a 5 speed. It’s been a long time since I saw a Vega of any type.
I was just (again) thinking a ’73 with a modern V6 and 5-speed would be a nice ride to have…and certainly uncommon in Ohio….or anywhere else at this point.
I think that a Vega with one of the four cylinder 2.0 LNF engines (as found in the Solstice/Sky twins) would be just the ticket. These had 260 HP and 260 lbs-ft of torque and at least some of them were sold with six speed manual transmissions. The Vega engine room might need to be massaged to get this one to fit but I’m sure it would be rewarding to drive.
Exactly! Even one of the naturally-aspirated Ecotecs would be fine with me.
The 2.5 in my wife’s Equinox makes approximately twice the power of the ’72 I had back-in-the-day.
But to basically drive a wrecked Solstice/Sky under a ’71-’73 Vega Kammback or hatchback, that would be a FUN ride!
When I was a kid I read the nameplate as “VEDGE-uh”, sort of like “vegetable”.
My friends just called mine the Veg, as in “Oh no, do I have to ride in the back seat of the Veg?”
Hello all. I’ve been a lurker for a while now. Posted once or twice about a Super Camper Specia. Anyway, got lots of pics if interesting cars. I’m transporter. Have a ’51 Nash Rambler on the trailer right now. I know, you are wondering what this has to do with Vegas. Bear with me. The owner of this Nash is looking for a Spirit of America Vega. I have hauled 2 SoA Impalas so far for him. He has a SoA Nova as well. He wants a complete set of all three so if anyone has a lead I would appreciate if you can call me. 503-407-5745. Thanks, Ken
I used to work for a company in Bloomington, MN (a Minneapolis suburb). My Boss said that if I did a project I could use his car for the weekend. He had two cars, one of them was a 1974 Vega (this was 1986). I was expecting to drive that one all weekend. Boy was I surprised that he took one car off the road all summer and that was the Vega. I spent the weekend driving his restored 1966 Mustang convertible.
Great find Paul. And just think if GM would have kept the 215 aluminum V8 and offered it in these, they probably would have sold 2 million by ’73. THAT would have been a mini Camaro. And in fact aluminum V8s were swapped into these, along with Buick V6s and of course the SBC
My first job out of college was working for J.C. Penneys. My coworker had a Vega GT hatch. It was a nice car but was starting to rust-out. He replaced it with a Plymouth Sapporo (it was 1981).
I owned a 72 Vega., Mine had a hood that from the factory looked like it was partially open. All the parts from the front end looked out of alignment or like they were too big for the space they were bolted or screwed into.
Amazed that so many Vegas were sold so quickly. Ford crowed about how many Mustangs were sold, and then how many Fairmonts were sold, but I just never realized so many Vegas were sold back then. Even more remarkable, that almost none of them remain today.
Of all the disposable cars manufactured in 1970s America I wonder if the Vega was Disposable Car #1? As you said, Chevrolet did sell a lot of them. (Just like Chevy sold a lot of Citations in 1980/81. Don’t see those around, either).
My jaw would drop onto my lap if I was motoring down the highway some time and came upon a Vega and Citation side by side on a 2-lane road.
On an alley at the south end of Music Row in Nashville, in a gravel pull-in space for an apartment house, there was a Vega just this color except for the rusted-out parts. The space below the trunk lid was about the worst, rusted clear through in many place. The largest piece of intact material of any sort was the sticker that said BUY AMERICAN.
Ah the Vega!
Poster-child for everything that was (some say still is) wrong with the American auto industry. Rapid rust and an OHC aluminum engine that made great advertising, but was probably the worst design for performance and durability in an American car to that date. To be fair, while most ’70s Japanese cars had bulletproof drive-trains, they rusted quickly too. And the Vega didn’t have the early Pinto’s designed-to-detonate gas-tank. I really liked the styling of the early, small bumper Vega wagons. But every 2300 Vega I’ve ever driven was a rattly slug.
Didn’t the last ones have the 2.5 ‘Iron-Duke’ engine? Or were those all rebadged as Monzas?
I saw a well-preserved late generation yellow hatchback, running around my neighborhood about 10 years ago. Never got the chance to ask if it had an original 2300 engine.
Happy Motoring, Mark
It’s easy ro stop for a Vega, Especially if you’re following one in traffic.
Good one!
The first generation Vega was a great looking car, too bad the greatness ended there. There as so many classic GM failures…..is it any wonder they went belly up?
What did the Vega and Lana Turner have in common? Many men in the drivers seat, but none for any amount of time.
We hardly ever got those in Israel – they were imported, but fell between the chairs so to speak: too expensive and large for those who later bought Chevettes, too small for someone who wanted a “proper” American car. And when the engine problems (even more prevalent over there, bearing in mind Israeli weather and mechanics) became known, that was it. Last but not least, for the same price and size you had the choice of a couple of reliable Opels. I am not aware of even one preserved Vega in Israel, but maybe somewhere one lurks…
Zinc rich primer, more undercoating, and the Opel CIH engine would have saved this car.
I stopped by a car show in Annapolis a few weeks back and there was at least one Vega … no pictures though. That was the ONLY Vega I’ve seen in the past 4 weeks driving coast-to-coast and back (well, I’m 75% back). Two Panteras on Interstate 80 in Nebraska, a TVR also on I-80 somewhere (Tennessee?), a Pinto somewhere else, several Model A’s yesterday in Montana, and not a single Vega or Monza actually on the road.
Found a Spirit of ’76 Vega here.
That’s great! Any details? Is it for sale? My number is 503-407-5745. Thanks, Ken.
Dude I know has a Vega…the 71 panel wagon with factory AC that his great aunt bought new.
It had a 400 in it for a long time…now has an LS motor. And the AC still blows cold.
According to John Delorean, in his book ‘On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors’, with all the political rivalry going on at GM by the late ’60s, Chevrolet decided to develop an ‘all-new’ aluminum Vega engine in-house. So no Opel, Vauxhaul, or Iron-Duke (which I believe was a Pontiac engine at that time)They wound up with an aluminum block and cast-iron head, with a silicon alloy cylinder-wall coating, and a long-stroke design that was easier to pass emissions, but low on performance and durability.
According to a friend that worked as a BMW dealer service technician at the time, BMW had some of the same problems after introducing liner-less nickle-silicon coated 6 cylinder and V8 aluminum engines in the ’90s. BMW blamed it on “high sulfur content in the gas”.
Happy Motoring, Mark
The Iron Duke was the descendant of the Chevy II four-cylinder engine, which was based on the Chevy 283, but instead of just cutting the V8 in half, as Pontiac and IH did, the engineers designed a new upright block and crank that used the V8’s bearings, connecting rods and pistons, and one of the heads. That made for a stout little mill that suddenly became THE engine to build for midget racing, and some of these guys were getting better than 100 hp/liter.
I was surprised that even the more savvy automotive writers were buying into the coated-on liner design with hardly a murmur, although the R&T article expressed interest in seeing how durable the blocks would really be. The other big problem that came to light with the Cosworth version was the inadequate volume of oil return from the head. At high RPMs the oil would be crammed in upstairs while the bearings in the basement went dry, with predictable results.
The Chevy II 153 four wasn’t so much based on the 283 V8; it was just a Chevy 230 six minus two cylinders. Yes, a few internal parts were shared with the V8s, but the cylinder heads were different in their design and breathing ability.
Sorry if the info I got from R&T and the other mags back in the day was incorrect, but this is what we were told: that the Chevy II Four was essentially half of a 283. I clearly remember being quite excited about that.
The car mags often just passed along rumors and OWT’s without original research, sort of like today.
The 194/230/292ci I-6 family (and the 153ci I-4 derived from it) were the last generation of the classic Chevy six. It was a seven main bearing clean sheet design compared to the 235 it replaced. Mopar’s four main bearing slant six was introduced in 1960 and Ford’s 240/300 in 1965. This Chevy engine family may have contained a few parts from the SBC bin, but certainly not derived from it, unlike the Pontiac and International slant fours.
There is still a GM industrial/marine version of that I-4 in production today.
@ Nikita – You apparently weren’t around when the better car magazines were staffed with journalists who were also trained engineers and automotive historians, and R&T led the pack. John R. Bond, founder and at that time owner, editor and publisher of the magazine, kept a death grip on absolute accuracy. He was sometimes apparently wrong, as when he dismissed the Wankel engine as having no real future, though in the end he did see its real limitations correctly. And if R&T said the Chevy II Four shared parts and bearing dimensions with the 283 (and did NOT say it was “half a 283”) then I gotta take their word for it.
The truth is perhaps somewhere in between. The new Chevy six and four from 1962-1963 did use some internal parts and architecture elements from the Chevy V8. But it wasn’t “half a 283”. For one, its displacement wasn’t half a 283; in terms of bore and stroke, it was more like half a 307.
But just because it used a few internal parts, its block was a clean-sheet design for an in-line configuration (unlike the half-V8 Pontiac and IH fours), and its cylinder head design was not the same as the V8 either.
I’m sorry, but it’s simply stretching the term too far to call it “half a Chevy V8”. It’s a member of the family, but not that close.
GM pulled the same stunt in Australia to create a locally built four they omitted two cylinders from a 173 cube six making the unloved 1.9L Starfire four, it replaced the 1.9 CIH Opel previously used and was also installed in Toyota Coronas.
The Vega would’ve been way better off with the Chevy II four. Or even the Starfire four. But those wouldn’t have made for such glamorous advertising!
Happy Motoring, Mark
Paul, I, too, have a weakness for Vegas, especially before they got the safety bumpers…aka the worst ones. But has there ever been a more attractive, better-proportioned subcompact?
Of course, hot rodder that I am, yet interested in driveability, I’d be running a new Ecotec with a 5 or 6 speed stick. Suspension and brakes swiped from a Solstice/Sky. This project would have to go to bare metal and be properly rustproofed to last.
However, the attached Handyman has long captured my heart. It sits in a dry garage until the day…
I’ve always thought Vegas were nice-looking cars, especially the early ones.
Junk the 4-banger and drop in a small block, and there ya go…a mini-Camaro!