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    • CC Cohort

    CC Sales Lot Special: 1974 Chevy Vega – Price Slashed, But Still Deadly Sexy; Or How About Something More Exotic Yet?

    By
    Paul Niedermeyer
    – August 2, 2011

    OK, maybe we were a bit too ambitious in pricing the Vega. So if the 1974 Vega Kammback’s price was the only thing holding you back from reclaiming your wasted lost youth, here’s your second chance at the CC Official Sales Lot. The price of this splendid seventies time machine has been slashed, from $1495 to a mere $995. And those Vega girls are still waiting for you just down Hwy 99 at the Kozy Kourt Trailer Park. The decades have been even a bit harsher on them then the Vega, but they’re going to make a real effort (to actually fit inside the Vega). But just in case they can’t be torn away from their soaps, we have a fallback plan: two other guaranteed seventies pick-up mobiles . What better than a gen-u-ine exotic sports car, or two?

    Your choice: a red vintage Porsche (only $2995), or an orange Ferrari “Mille Grande” bruschetta, at a mere $6995. Just look at that exotic European styling, especially those bumpers. You just can’t get that on a domestic like the Vega, and the girls can spot them blocks away. But drive slowly, (guaranteed!), because the girls around here aren’t quite as fast on their feet (or electric scooters) as they once were. Shall we take a walk to my office?

    21 Comments

    1. Reply
      avatar The Wedding DJ
      Posted August 2, 2011 at 10:55 AM

      Didn’t know Porsche made Karmann Ghias.

      EDIT: Never mind. I see what you did.

    2. Reply
      avatar Birddog
      Posted August 2, 2011 at 11:48 AM

      If that Vega had the pre-locomotive bumper nose I’d be tempted.

      I know for a fact that I gon’t fit in the Karmann so that’s out.. But that MG? That’s a steal for that much. If it weren’t $1200 to ship it to the Midwest I’d be all over it.

      • Reply
        avatar splateagle
        Posted August 3, 2011 at 9:59 AM

        But that MG? That’s highway robbery asking that much.

        There. Fixed it for you. 🙂

        MG Bs start at £450 ($740) in our classifieds, and to my mind that’s still too much.

        • Reply
          avatar Birddog
          Posted August 3, 2011 at 12:26 PM

          Lol! Sounds like you got burnt at some point?
          The only issue I had with my Midget (Mk III) was that the gearbox liked to nick second gear on fast shifts. I haven’t owned a B yet but I like to think the Midget prepared me a bit.

    3. Reply
      avatar jpcavanaugh
      Posted August 2, 2011 at 12:00 PM

      Let’s see. The Ghia will run in cold wet weather but with no heat. The MG will not run in cold wet weather, but you don’t drive a convertible then anyway. The Vega won’t run at all. I opt for the MG.

    4. Reply
      avatar MarcKyle64
      Posted August 2, 2011 at 12:37 PM

      I want that Ghia!!!!!!

    5. Reply
      avatar Bryce
      Posted August 2, 2011 at 12:54 PM

      Even at $ 9.95 the Vega is overpriced The MGB or the Karmann Ghia would be preferable ,reliability would be comparable and easier for parts for me anyway.

    6. Reply
      avatar David Saunders
      Posted August 2, 2011 at 1:13 PM

      Interesting bumper on the Karmann Ghia – looks a bit like a fence post.

    7. Reply
      avatar educatordan
      Posted August 2, 2011 at 2:42 PM

      Give the the Karman and lets find out how hard the Subaru swap is that so many others have done to VW Buses… yeah I know we’ll have to figure out where the radiator should go but where’s your sense of adventure?

      • Reply
        avatar Bryce
        Posted August 2, 2011 at 2:56 PM

        There used to be a kit to swap a Subie into Dak Dak van should work on a Ghia just shove the radiator in front behind those cute little nostril vents all good.

    8. Reply
      avatar CougarXR7
      Posted August 2, 2011 at 5:45 PM

      I got both of those beat. Last summer one of the project cars I scored is a ’77 Chevy Monza 2+2 ( the sleek hatchback body ) for $500. AND it’s a factory small-block V8 model.

      The guy had been trying to sell it for over a year. He worked as an orderly in a retirement community and when the elderly female resident who owned it passed away, he purchased it from the family. He drove it for a couple years and then parked it for a few more.

      At the time he was in the process of moving and finding another job, so the car had to go. He knocked the price down from $1300 to $500, and when he did I was right there, checkbook in hand.

      I plan on making this thing into a street-legal psuedo race car. The tired 305 is coming out and a mildly tweaked 350 or 383 is going in, while the battered front clip is being replaced with new fiberglass pieces.

      • Reply
        avatar Bryce
        Posted August 2, 2011 at 6:11 PM

        Leave the dents in a rapid shitbox is ok

      • Reply
        avatar chas108
        Posted August 3, 2011 at 8:10 AM

        Brake upgrade by any chance? That’s the bad part of any Monza…

    9. Reply
      avatar Obbop's Evil Twin
      Posted August 2, 2011 at 6:24 PM

      Cosworth Vegas still sell.

      But the cohort willing to pay for them is steadily dying off.

    10. Reply
      avatar ciddyguy
      Posted August 2, 2011 at 9:12 PM

      OMG, my Mom had the full louvered version of that grill in her ’76 Vega wagon and it was that nice brown metallic that they came in too.She’d bought it used in 1978 and it had an automatic and AC of all things but not much else though it had the AM radio, which my Dad and I replaced with a cheap AM/FM stereo radio and added one of those aftermarket rear window defoggers where you adhered the heating elements to the back window and routed the wires to the switch in the dash, sadly, it never stayed put and peeled off in places.

      The car itself was fairly reliable and did rather well in the snow, thanks to it’s more or less even weight distribution.

      Yes, it WAS slow as molasses, and it got slower when the carb went bad as did the mileage in I think around 1980 but had it replaced and all was well after that, and it served her well until I think 1983 when we replaced with the X body Buick Skylark they bought new.

      Now that MG, swoon, it’s in nice shape it looks like. and I wager it’s a ’74 or there abouts, judging by the bumper. My best friend’s older Brother Dan had one in orange too for a bunch of years and yes, a ’74 and I think the major thing was having the cassette decks stolen out of it on at least 2 occasions.

    11. Reply
      avatar CougarXR7
      Posted August 2, 2011 at 9:23 PM

      Does anyone remember when the classic MG was briefly resurrected in the early 90’s? It was moved upmarket and called the MG RV8, with a souped-up 3.5 liter Rover engine for power.

      • Reply
        avatar splateagle
        Posted August 3, 2011 at 10:07 AM

        Yes! That was actually the first thing that came to my mind looking at this one.

        Astonishingly MG RV8s go for upwards of £14,000 (c. $23,000) in the classifieds here, the thought of which makes my head hurt.

        In my opinion the “classic” MG is the (far prettier) MG A (see below) not the lacklustre MG B we have on the Official CC Sales lot… I spotted an MG A going for £26,995 (c. $44,000!) which is similarly astounding, though at least I can kind of see the appeal of the A.

    12. Reply
      avatar Brian
      Posted August 2, 2011 at 10:56 PM

      Really like the MG but I suspect the VW would probably be more reliable. The old MGs are quite a departure from the new ones being produced here in China.

    13. Reply
      avatar JustPassinThru
      Posted August 3, 2011 at 5:22 PM

      Time, no doubt, has been harsh on the Vega girls. On me, also…1974 was the year I got my driver’s license. Vega was not on the list, even though I favored economy cars. A Beetle was okay, and I did get a Super Beetle…never knowing until I first drove it what a difference that MacPherson front suspension made, over a friend’s 1967. A Pinto would have been okay, although I secretly hoped to find a C-101 Jeepster with a four (now, I tell you I really did NOT know much about auto engineering – just how hard it was to change plugs on a V-engine; something that in the days of leaded gas was a routine requirement).

      But the Vega? No WAY. Older and wiser, I see the styling similarity of the original to the 1955 Bel Air. I didn’t in the day; I thought it was an unhappy face that became, with the new bumpers, a rictus. The aluminum long-stroke-cast-iron-head nightmare was busily self-destructing on the roads of America, just like the critics said it would. And on a quiet night in the less-fashionable suburbs…you could hear the Vegas rust.

      Time changes, and now a well-preserved Vega has what those girls and I don’t have. It’s become a rarity; it’s the standout; and just by surviving it’s earned acclaim. It’s the medium-ugly, not-very-bright girl from high-school who found a job at Elaine Powers…and now she’s buff and built in middle age, where the rest of us sag and bag.

      I’d never take that Vega home; but I can salute her; she outlived her competitors and critics.

    14. Reply
      avatar CougarXR7
      Posted August 4, 2011 at 12:53 AM

      Chas- I haven’t really decided what to do as far as front brake upgrades. The rare and oddball 4-on-4 inch lug pattern makes finding suitable upgrade rotors a chore.

      I defintiely am going to upgrade the rear axles from four to five bolts. the stock axleshafts for an ’82-’96 2WD Chevy S-10 pickup slide right in with no modifications other than a slight trimming of the backing plates- and even then it’s not always necessary.

      Fortunately the 77 and later Monza / Skyhawk / Sunbird / Starfire twins got a bigger 7.5″ differential ( replacing the wimpy 6.5 Vega unit ), which, incidentally, is the same as an S10.

    15. Reply
      avatar Darnell's Auto Wrecking
      Posted September 12, 2011 at 9:01 PM

      I have looked at all three cars in-depth. The K-G is a bondo buggy with a lot of missing trim, the Vega is just plain deplorable, and the MGB is a decent car (supposedly nothing wrong with it) at a price that’s a little too high…

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