We spent a pleasant evening with our son and his wife on Independence Day Eve enjoying burgers and fireworks at the park about a mile from their house. Walking back afterwards, I spotted a very familiar face peeking out from the alley behind a used car lot and stepped over for a closer look. I was immediately confounded, as this car wears the 1971-only script Chevrolet (VEGA 2300) badge, but also has the 1973-only extended front bumper (note the 3″ filler plate behind same).
The other conundrum is that this car has Panel Express blockout plates instead of rear quarter lites, but carries a passenger seat, which the Panel Express expressly did not have (although it was available as an option). An email to the Contact Us link on the dealer’s web site confirmed this is a ’73, owned by one of the techs who works there (“It’s not for sale.”). I’ll hazard a guess that it has a V6 or V8 under the hood, given the meaty rear tires. “Speedy Delivery, indeed!”
Related:
CCOTY 1971 Nomination: Chevrolet Vega 2300
Curbside Classic: 1974 Chevrolet Vega Panel Express – A Sedan Delivery For The ’70s
I like it, but like the Pinto Cruising Wagon better.
Oh holy shit I forgot about THAT gem. Nice.
I briefly owned a ’74 Pinto Squire (2.3l, automatic). It was a total dog and I hated driving it, but fit and finish were definitely better than the Vega.
Not to mention that it was possible to get a V6/automatic combo in the Pinto, as well.
Which goes back to the common Vega engine swap. All-too-often, it was a street-racer that insisted on jamming a modded SBC (with the requisite headers and loud exhaust) into a Vega when, in reality, a bone-stock V6 (with stock exhaust manifolds and quiet mufflers) would have been plenty and made the car a whole lot livable for daily use.
Exactly what I did, and you’re exactly right.
Back around ’78, there was a guy we went to high school with who bought one of these with a 454, it had been tubbed and everything. Never rode in it.
I’ll take mine without the stripes, thanks.
Plenty of Pinto Wagons to go around!
The ‘E’ in the word ‘Rallye’ ensured that necessary ‘Euro’ touch.
The Hot Wheels ‘Poison Pinto’ was part of my die cast collection at the time.
I have no recollection of the no-stripes Cruising Wagon or the “Rallye” version being offered, much less have I ever seen one. I’m not sure if I ever saw either a Cruising Wagon or the matching Cruising Van in the metal. All of these are soooo ’70s that nobody who didn’t live through that era could ever comprehend why Ford would think a Pinto wagon with no rear side windows except a porthole at the back would be a sales hit.
I remember a woman that had one in the early 80s. She would give me lifts around town a lot. Before I could drive so 80 or 81? Her boyfriend was a drummer I knew and he drove a hearse (made perfectly good sense to me – perfect drum hauler). She had the little Pinto Cruising wagon and it was pretty cool for the times. Vanning was a thing right before then? So it was a car for it’s time. the solid sides, stripes, and portholes made connection to the van scene. What wasn’t to love? As a teenager car guy, it was a neat little ride. As you say, if you didn’t live through it as a car person, you may have trouble understanding. Don’t throw off on history, eh? Can’t change it and it did happen.
Me too!
It is not surprising that someone could fix an early Vega’s mechanical shortcomings, whether by a late sleeved engine or by one of the many swap choices out there. What is surprising is that someone can keep one of these from rusting into a pile of ore in the driveway. Maybe an original from the south that was barely driven before the engine seized and it was parked in someone’s barn? Whatever happened, it would be a really interesting story! Certainly not something any of us sees every day.
My dad’s ’74 GT had to be junked before it’s 5th birthday due to structural rust.
I actually owned one of these, mine was a 72. It was “pumpkin” orange, had the higher output (2 barrel carburetor) engine, a 4 speed transmission, and NO passenger seat….or radio. Oh yeah, no carpeting on the floor, but a rubber mat, like a “real” truck had back then. My folks drove it to church a few times after it was delivered (I was overseas at the time), and my Mom got a kick out of sitting perched on a cushion on the right side of the underfloor storage compartment.
BTW, these (and I’ll assume all other Vegas) had really bad traction. I once pulled off the side of the road in Florida and got stuck in the sandy shoulder. I was close to needing a push to get moving. Luckily, I was able to VERY gently slip the clutch.
We had four (gluttons for punishment) – my ’71 notch (sporting a Buick 3.8l in the photo), a ’72 Kammback, ’73 Kammback and a ’72 hatch parts car. Never thought it had bad traction (no worse than any other RWD ’70s car). I drove it in snow multiple times with no issues.
The Panel Express ad:
The ad mentions “two stowage compartments”
Among the other inanities there, when did STORAGE become STOWAGE?
Back around 1971? 🙂
I’d guess someone thought stowage implied more space for bulkier cargo than storage.
No,the definition of stowage space is : “the action or manner of stowing something. Space for stowing something in”. [especially a ship or airplane].
‘Storage” never “became” anything. Stowage has always been a reference for stowing cargo or other items.
Not a typo. Not an inanity.
Never drove in the snow in my ’73 GT but with two different sets of 185/70-13 radials it had superb cornering in the rain.
With Atlas snow tires, my 72 GT hatchback got through seven Iowa, Ohio and Massachusetts winters just fine. Throttle was a little sticky, but the clutch had good feel, and the car was well balanced front to back. I can’t even recall having to rock it out of a snowbank. That was the one reliably good thing about it, that car handled well in all situations.
Nice find, but did looking at a Vega in the metal confirm that you have done the right thing by getting the Holden instead of a Vega?
I still have a major soft spot for the Vega, Doug! But the Holden was definitely a better choice than having the Fit + a CV.
Such a pretty car, such an interesting engine (the then engineering-oriented guys at Road & Track couldn’t stop drooling over how clever the design was), and so very snakebit from the get-go, as my old boss in Nashville woulda said. Think I’ve mentioned a guy I worked with whose sideline was putting SBCs into Vegas, except for his own 427 wagon with a four-speed and clutch pedal that wore me out after the second stoplight. The 350 I drove was very sweet …
A few years after that I was working at a studio on upper Music Row, while my wife had her design operation in another one a block up, and I would walk up the alley for lunch sometimes. In a pulloff parking space behind some apartments along the way, I would often see a yellow Vega, whose body was so generously perforated with rust as to look on the verge of total collapse. The rotted panel beneath the trunk opening was apparently held together solely by a sturdy bumper sticker which read, “BUY AMERICAN”.
(the then engineering-oriented guys at Road & Track couldn’t stop drooling over how clever the design was)
When I was in college in the mid 70s, in Kalamazoo, about 130 miles from Dearborn, I sat in on a presentation in the engineering department by some of the engineers who had designed the Vega engine.
A couple things I remember from that presentation:
-they found there was a lateral thrust on the camshaft strong enough to walk the cam out the front of the engine. They never figured out where the thrust was coming from. They simply put a flange on the shaft to hold it in place against the thrust.
-a question from the audience: “how do I adjust the valves on my Vega so they don’t clatter so much?”. The answer was “if you adjust the valves that tight, they will burn.”
Always found the original wheels some of the best.
The wheels and the grille.
+1.
Summer of ’86, I worked for my university’s physical planning department, on small architectural and design projects around the campus. Our utility cars were a pair of pretty clapped out ’76 Kammback wagons w/manual transmissions and some memory of a clutch. Amazingly, after a decade of New Jersey winters and outdoor storage, most of the bodies were still there.
Nice find ! .
I suppose any Pinto is a vastly better car but these still look sharp to me decades on .
Stupid ass bean counters .
-Nate
Below is a pic showing just part of the fresh 1981 Chevrolet lineup at Port Arthur Motors in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Especially notable, and amusing, is the long deceased Vega is still promoted in the dealership signage.
Amazing a new car dealer could be so tardy given the well earned toxic reputation the Vega had by then. Must have been some Vega fans in the dealership management. How else do you explain it?!
That’s funny, great pic. I believe the only acceptable explanation is that the dealer is located in Port Arthur. I say this as the descendant of a Fort William family.
You got to wonder how many original Vegas were still on the road in Thunder Bay in ’81. Not exactly the best environment for their preservation.
I’ll gladly take that Camaro 🙂 .
In 1973, about a year into their marriage, my brother in law came home with a new Kammback wagon for my sister. He was so proud of this “economical” purchase during the first 70s phony oil crisis, and us family gearheads marveled at what appeared to be an engine that had been sawed in half. 1 extremely frustrating year later, he dumped it for a Duster 340, so oil crisis be damned!
Anyone know of any definitive books on the development of the Vega? Only thing I’ve found are the relevant sections of the DeLorean book.
That’s the only primary source I’m aware of. There are bits and pieces out on the interwebs, including a very thorough article at ateupwithmotor:
https://ateupwithmotor.com/model-histories/chevrolet-vega-cosworth/
Here’s my own take from a few years ago:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-the-many-faces-of-the-gm-h-body/
Thanks Ed and Dman!
I have “The Peterson Book of Vega” from about ’75 or ’76. Not great automotive literature, but pretty comprehensive.
June 2000 issue of Collectable Automobile has an extensive article on the Vega.
Meh. Had it been RHD, now THAT might have been interesting ~
(Or, maybe, had it had a 304/4V AMC small-block under the hood!)
Ed, I’m a Ford guy who once had a beloved Pinto wagon, but I’ll confess to everyone that I think the early Vega styling really stylish.
Here’s the only Vega pic I have (a couple wagons in there)–might as well leave it here:
California dealer plates? Do you know where this picture was taken?
dman, I’m 99% certain I got that from the digital photo collection at Los Angeles Public Library—I just tried for a couple minutes, though, and couldn’t turn it up. LAPL is great for “new dealer” photos, car shows, etc. 1950s-60s-70s. Search engine funky in that “car” and “auto” and “automobile” won’t yield the same bundle of photos, so you’ve gotta attack from multiple points.
http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/photosearch_pageADV.jsp
Are they rental fleet returns??? That would account for each Vega in the picture having a license plate. This might account for the lack of bumper spacers (’73 model year) versus the Chevelles parked on the roof.
They appear to be ’71 models – blurry, but they look like they have the script Chevrolet badge on the nose.
Being a fan of vintage sedan deliveries, I was interested when these came out.
The V6 swap is a good idea. All I’ve ever seen is the SBC, though
See no Vega front bumper filler panel on dealer lot photo,
but must be 1973 – note Chevelles on roof.
Remember Vert-A-Pac?
I thought Vert-a-Pac, too, but what really caught my eye were the huge panel gaps on that lead Vega. Geez, things were bad back then.
I worked for an alarm company that had 2 ’71 white Panel Express decaying in the back lot. Only drivers seat, rubber mats, complete strippers except for Powerglide.
One had about 35k miles, about 50k miles on the other. Both had had their engines replaced at least once, and both needed engines. This was in 1974, and they had been dead for a long time.
I had a ’71 hatchback, 4 speed 2 bbl engine for about a year, served me well during this period, blew water pump and had electrical short that engaged starter while driving, had to pull battery cable to get the smoking wildly starter to stop. After it cooled down I reconnected the cable and never had that problem again, but it was always in the back of my mind. Seemed to lose power after I replaced the pump, temp light never came on but it was out of coolent when I discovered the problem as I shut the engine off at work, it never ran the same after this so I sold it while it was still running OK for the $600 I paid for it in 1979.
They were good looking cars, one time I went to the junkyard for some part and the biggest section in the yard was Vegas, all less than 10 years old, in SoCal where rust was not an issue.
We had a (new) ’72 Pinto sedan 4 speed 2.0 that ran really well, lot’s of power for the day, very durable drivetrain that would run circles around the 2.3 Vega engine. But the Vega handled and looked better.
My dad had both a ’72 Pinto and a ’74 Vega GT and he had the same opinion that the Pinto was better built and ran better but the Vega handled quite well.
1) That “Chevrolet Vega 2300” 1971-style script was actually used in 1972 as well. 1973 brought the “Vega by Chevrolet.” I owned a ’72.
2) Having driven both a Pinto and a Vega over thousands of miles, I preferred the Vega hands-down. BUT the Pinto was reliable and the Vega wasn’t.
This I is my 73 panel express. I have had it since 1982. Looking to sell to good home.
How much?
I’m curious where you saw it? I bought that car about a year ago. It’s sitting in my garage in Southern Illinois. (Unless it has a twin). 1973 Kammback. Solid panels added in 1976 is what I was told. Has 71K miles and the AM radio still in the dash. 4 Cylinder. Offenhauser intake. Holley carb. Header.
Supposedly it has a sleeved 1976 engine. It was in an older gentleman’s collection for a very long time. very solid and rust free except a few bubbles in a quarter sized spot on the passenger rear wheel well.
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 4
It’s not a panel express. it has hi back back seats which makes it a Kammback wagon with the exterior panels added.