This past Friday, I drove up to Iowa City for the U of I homecoming and parade. As I was driving through West Liberty, I saw something I haven’t seen in twenty years or more–a Vega.
I actually drove right past it, but thought twice and turned around for photos. This was a very clean Vega–a 1976 or ’77, judging from the grille and taillights. It was also in uncommonly good shape. Clearly, it has seen some bodywork and new paint in the not-too-distant past.
The other interesting thing was that it was not drastically modified. It had a full–and original-appearing–interior, with pinstriped black bucket seats. It also did not have a roll bar. It looked as though it could have been a “street machine” or some such from the early ’80s. Modified or not, finding one of these outside of a car show was a real treat.
What a shame that these were such crappy cars because they looked great. I also dig the Monza, one of which I haven’t seen in at least 20 years.
I seriously doubt that’s a four-cylinder anything under the hood. Those cars could fit a SCB in there very nicely and turned out to be really nice low-buck drag cars. Which only goes to show: The Vega was a really nice car, as long as it was powered by anything other than the all-aluminum engine. SBC, a series of wheels with hamsters, anything.
Now that I remember, dad had a ’77 with the iron 4-cylinder and Powerglide. Nothing excting, but it got the job done very nicely . . . . . and reliably.
The Iron Duke four was never offered in the Vega. The Monza also had the “Dura-Built” Vega four until 1978, when the Iron Duke replaced it. The Pontiac Astre did get the Iron Duke as an option in its last year, 1977. And by then, the THM had replaced the ‘Slide.
I think the Vega engine as originally conceived had an aluminum block and cast iron head. Perhaps the twin cam (Cosworth) had an aluminum head, but I can’t remember.
If only these cars had a decent powertrain when new……..
FWIW, after sleeving my 2300 and replacing the head with one off a GT engine (slightly hotter cam grind and fresh valve stem seals), my Vega engine was pretty reliable (as long as I took care of maintenance on time), and got 28-30mpg on the highway easily. It had the economy rear axle and a Saginaw 4-speed manual; I could chirp second gear on command.
I’ve posted before about my experiences with a black ’72 4-speed Kammback wagon…how much fun it was to drive, and what a total money pit rusted-out POS it turned out to be.
If it weren’t for my other vehicle projects, I’d seriously be interested in going west to find a ’71-’73 Kammback. Today’s rustproofing and rust treatment products could help with the tin worm while a turbo Ecotec and 5 or 6 speed manual (don’t remember what they came with) from a wrecked Solstice/Sky would fix the powertrain issue. Find a way to adapt the brakes and there’s a cool ride…and totally different!
BTW also having owned a V-8/4-speed Monza for several years I can attest, at least in that form, it was a much better car…even the seemingly wretched having-to-jack-up-the-engine-to-get-at-the-driver’s-side-spark-plugs tune up was made easy by using a special motor mount with two easy-to-access bolts underneath on each side. Only weakness was the brakes, which were barely adequate for a much lighter 4-cyl Vega. We’d get maybe 10,000 miles out of a set. Can’t imagine how often you’d change them if you owned an automatic.
And back when you could still buy a “test pipe” to replace your catalytic converter, which we did…the car got an honest-to-goodness 30MPG highway.
I agree, the V8 4-speed Monzas were great highway runners – 2500 rpm would get you 80 mph, and the ratios were well spaced for good acceleration. Of course we had to get the firewall welded where the clutch cable passed through, re-bush the heavy doors, and replace the brakes fairly often, but all in all it was quite nice for a small, relatively inexpensive GM car.
Last Vega I saw in these parts (Pittsburgh) was at a local Chevy dealer. A black ’76 Cosworth. I forget what they were trying to sell it for but the price was high enough that one could say they weren’t really trying.
This particular dealer dated back to the days when people just went to their hometown dealer because that’s what you did. So their pricing was whatever was on the sticker minus any factory incentives. No real haggling, as they’d just let you walk rather than come off the factory pricing. After all, that’s how they did it back in 1946. No wonder their sales dwindled to nothing over the years. It was so bad one of the managers went across the street for a MoPar because that dealer would make a deal…while his employer would not. Not even for employees. Of course his boss was quite angry…why would he not support his employer and buy a new Chevy?
The owner, who was one of the co-founders from 1946, finally shut it down in 2007. They wouldn’t have survived the 2009 dealer cull anyway.
I just had to digress and share that story…they were a client of the ad agency I co-owned a few years back. My senior partner and I would try to build a compelling radio/TV ad to drive traffic but never received anything beyond factory incentives and banker’s hours. I think that ’76 Cosworth…and a rusted-beyond-repair ’75 Blazer – the last one where the entire roof lifted off – were the last vehicles on the lot when it closed for good.
V8 Vega [H body] conversions were the rage in mid-late 70’s with Hot Rodders, and pro drag racers. But, by the 80’s, rodders switched to F bodies, and scapped the H’s.
Hmmmm – a Vega being towed. I think the last one I saw was like that. 🙂
I owned a ’73 Vega GT for about 3-1/2 years. I bought it with about 60K miles in late ’76 and sold it in 1980 at about 90K miles. It was my only car for a year, then I added an Alfetta sedan, followed by a Ford Fiesta, both of which I raced in SCCA Showroom Stock, but kept the Vega for use when the SS cars were undriveable (accidents or repairs). I finally replaced it as a daily driver with a ’77 1600cc Scirocco which was great to drive but even less reliable than the Vega. Even in California, Vegas rusted … I looked at 2-3 year old cars that lived near the ocean and they were already perforated in places, before buying my mine. They are basically non-existent here in California now; I have seen one Cosworth and no regular Vegas for several years.
At the time I did some auto-crossing and drove the Vega pretty hard on the street. On smooth roads it cornered very well, and with good tires it stuck amazingly on wet pavement. The rear axle was not located well (4 angled trailing links don’t make up for lack of a Panhard rod) and even with aftermarket Bilstein shocks it hopped like crazy exiting tight turns at full throttle. The front seats and ergo’s were very comfortable, at least by my standards (my friends had cars like Rabbits, 510s, Fiestas; no Broughams 🙂 and it was a great car for long road trips. Up to about 70K miles the oil consumption was fine, but one hot summer day in Portland Oregon, the portion of the intake manifold gasket around the water passage that routed coolant into the manifold for pre-heating the mixture failed and I lost coolant rather quickly. I never saw the temp gauge go UP; rather, it dropped to the low end of scale once the coolant drained below the sensor. By the time I could pull over, it was pinging badly and when I opened the hood, four little plumes of smoke were coming off the molten spark plug boots. I used a homeowner’s hose to fill it up, limped to the nearest Fred Meyer and bought a jug of water which I refilled many times on the 650 miles back home. After replacing the gasket, it reliably went about 300 miles per quart for the next few years. Finally a finger on the clutch diaphragm broke, and rather than fixing it I sold it to the first guy who answered the ad, for $800 (I had paid $1200). He was planning to put in a small-block, and was having trouble finding one as clean as mine. Attached is the only picture of it I could find. I do recall having some other problems … timing belt broke, starter solenoid failed, replaced the U-Joints … but it was cheap and easy to work on.
A friend had a Cosworth. It was nice, but I think by modern standards it really wasn’t that quick, and handled no better than a standard GT.
To clarify, after replacing the intake manifold gasket it reliably went 300 miles per quart of OIL (not water). The overheating had clearly damaged the rings or ovalized the free-standing aluminum bores, or both. In ’77 when this happened, the steel-sleeved replacement blocks were not readily available.
I too had a ’73 GT Kammback for a couple of years back in the early 80’s. It was a good car after I installed a steel sleeved short block. It handled better and was more comfortable than any Pinto I ever drove. Like others have said, they were a great idea that was poorly executed. Too many new ideas that were market tested. I also had experience with them when they first came out. I worked at a used car lot in the winter country. They would not start when it was below zero. It was because the electric fuel pump (GM’s first on a production car, I believe) was wired through the oil guage/light. No oil pressure – no fuel. An engine that cold never has much oil pressure before they start (at least back in those days). It was always a good idea to have a block heater to prolong engine life, but with the Vega it was necessary. Also, the early use of plastic body parts (front and rear bumper valances) got brittle and broke very easily in the cold.
The last time I recall seeing one was not too long ago, perhaps within 5 years. It was a ’77 model that was for sale, but I don’t recall or maybe never knew the asking price. It looked to be in very nice condition, must have been garage kept.
Speaking of “not strictly stock”, I remember my first encounter with a V8 Vega. This was about 1975, and I was pedaling my bike home late one night. I was stopped at a red light when a totally stock appearing ’73 Vega GT hatchback (that bronze color they had) pulled up next to me. I suspected nothing unusual about the car, but when that light turned green, the Vega absolutely vanished, V8 roaring away. It was so fast. All I could do was laugh, it was so much faster than any other car around (and my bike!) it was absurd. Never saw it again.
I’ve mentioned on here before a high school buddy of mine and I used to race, some dirt ovals and (oddly) SCCA parking lot affairs. His whole family raced, mostly dirt ovals, but the one brother (of 5) did some drag racing. In addition, three of the brothers ran a repair shop together. One of their clients had a relatively rust free early 70’s Vega (in the mid 80’s) that needed major repairs, but decided the old car wasn’t worth the expense. So, they got a serviceable Vega for free.
The drag racing brother took ownership of the car, and made it race ready in practically no time at all. You have to love all of the stuff you can do with a small block Chevy and a ‘Glide (taken from his other drag car, a Camaro), it virtually fell into the Vega. The toughest tasks was fabbing the roll cage/ladder bars and getting the new rear axle under the Vega body.
The car ran high 12’s out of the box, with a little tuning got into the low 12’s. The small block wasn’t THAT extensively built, but the lighter weight Vega body didn’t pose much strain the on the motor. He went on to be very consistent in his bracket with that powertrain combination, winning a bunch of trophies at several local tracks.
I think after the repair business went sour, he sold the Vega off with other race equipment and tools. Someone got a really well sorted-out car, probably the best money they ever spent…
I built several V-8 Vegas back in the day. The comments above about V-8 Monzas all apply. Brakes, clutch cables and cooling were all problems that I had varying success solving. I always put a 4 point roll bar with floor bracing in both for safety and to curtail body flex. If you could get decent traction for a good launch the body would flex enough to pop the windshield seal and eventually create problems with door alignment if you didn’t tie things together. I tried 283, 327 and 350 engines all with 4 speeds. The 327 probably worked best, with a little less low end torque and a little more RPM at the top.
The last and best one ran low 13s at Spokane, and probably 14 flat on the street through mufflers in everyday tune. That was enough to handle most challengers on the street in those days. You couldn’t get that kind of performance for less money then, but there was a price. Noise, harsh ride, hot interior, dodgy handling and unpredictable directional control in acceleration and braking were just part of the deal but it sure was fun at the time.
Eventually I got most of the issues sorted out, but by then the car was almost as heavy and expensive as a ’60s Nova or Camaro which is where I should have started in the first place. Like I said, fun at the time but I wouldn’t want one today. I enjoyed the article.
Never owned a “regular Vega” but I have a few Cosworths. These were really great cars. They just had “bad” owners as a few of us were honest enough to admit. I worked at a Chevy dealer in the 70’s and I really don’t recall that we did a lot of warranty work on them. Maybe those people knew enough to cut their loses when something went south on the cars. I do recall that one of the better techs in our shop had a wonderfull fix when somebody did over heat that engine. There was never any damage to the head as it was cast iron but the fix was to do a hone job with a hand held drill and hone than stuff some .030 pistons and rings in it. I know that’s hard to believe but that was what the factory recommended before you were authorized to replace the short block with a new one. I still have a few sets of .030 ashtrays stashed away. FYI the Monza/Starfire/Skyhawk/Sunbird models used a 3 link rear suspension(just like this Vega in the lead photos) and larger brakes than the Vega/Astre. Just like the 3rd and 4th generation F-Body CamaroBird. The 75 Cosworth and 76-77 Vegastre also used this suspension but not the vented front brake rotors of the Monzoids. And I do agree. The CV probably didn’t handle any better than a GT but they did handle fantasticly!The Cosworths had perfect 50/50 weight distribution. Just look at what car was winning races back in the 70’s. Nope nothing from Japan. Nothing from the Black Forrest. Yep Vega,Vega,Vega! Showroom stock winner for something like 5 years straight. Winner in the Solo2 National Championships. And a winner in the showroom. I know Paul has a hard time defending his DS series but this car ain’t one of them IMO. Oh you say a Corolla or whatever Datsun was better quality. They were all bottom feeder cars. Same tinny body. Same rough ride. Same amount of power spinning the hamster wheel. The only difference was that the Vega used higher.more advanced technology in the engine department. I have a feeling if they built an aluminum linerless block in V-8 form(they did! but not for production) and stuffed into a bigger car with a stratospheric price tag than they would have had a success on thier hands. Hmmm? I’m no German fan boy but isn’t this the exact same thing Daimler Benz did back in the 70’s? They had a linerless alloy block that suffered from the same negligence of owners too IIRC.
Your comments about the handling of these cars are quite correct. In stock form the GT models were a great handling car and didn’t sacrifice much ride quality to achieve this. The problems I had were all due to the balance problems I created by installing a heavy V-8. The last V-8 I did was a very nice ’73 GT 4 speed car that I drove for a couple of months stock while I built the engine and rearend for it. It was so nice I had to think twice about converting it.
If GM had paid a little more attention to rust proofing and engine durability these cars would have been remembered very differently. But they didn’t, and the problems went a lot deeper than owner negligence.
My friend’s Cosworth that I drove was a Showroom Stock racer and while it was competitive regionally, I don’t recall them being that competitive on abroad basis. Of course, SS in those days was variable from region-to-region and track-to-track. For example, in the San Francisco region the 280ZX was an SSA winner, but in other regions the Turbo Fox Mustang (a few years later) was very quick, as was the 305 Monza. Anyway, I’m glad to see that others remember their Vegas fondly. My friends with imports always made fun of it, but I remember it as a mini-Z28 with a hatch and good MPG. As I mentioned, I replaced it with a lemon Scirocco, and traded THAT in on a new ’81 TransAm, with Chevy 302 and 4-speed (that was the first F-Body with 4-speed available for several years in California). I had the TransAm for 9 months, the traded it for a Civic when gas went over $1.20 a gallon in late ’81 … a lot less time than I drove the Vega. The Vega and the TA were the only American cars I’ve owned in 37 years of car ownership, other than an ’86 4WD Ranger I had for 9 years.
I don’t know about Mercedes ever using Nikisil engines, but BMW certainily did on the 7 series in the late 80s and early 90s, with the same success as the Vega. The 8 cylinder versions became a car to avoid, and although they certainly lasted well enough for the first owner to be satisfied, they were Russian Roulette on the used car forecourt.
I always liked the Vega, and think it was one of the best looking ’70s cars, even if it was a photostat of a Fiat 124 coupe. The mechanical problems it sounds like could be sorted, but it was the terminal rust that seemed to doom the things. Sad, really as that was the story behind some of the most advanced European compacts too. My favourite Euro car, the Citroen GS, had a very similar story to the Vega- engine troubles and rust were well known, yet like the Vega, they were also very good sellers in their time and are totally extinct now. Ditto the Alfasud.
I think it was these cars that forced worldwide manufacturers to become less creative and more malaizy well into the 80s and 90s.
The Porsche 928 had a linerless aluminum block.
Linerless aluminum blocks are actually quite common, under various tradenames (Nikasil, Nigusil, etc). After some early hiccups I believe they are quite durable. My Suzuki DL650 motorcycle has a linerless block and it’s bulletproof. The Vega’s Reynolds A390 was probably the first implementation and a million Vega owners were the guinea pigs. I think the key difference is that newer designs have a plating/coating on the bores whereas the Vega engine relied on silicon particles exposed during the honing to act as wear surfaces. Not to mention the fact that the open-deck design just wasn’t structurally stiff enough to deal with distortion induced by the marginal cooling system.