i worked at a Chevy dealer when the Vega was produced. We used to say that any man that owned a Vega had better own a good pair of walking shoes because he will need them.
When the 1988 Buick Reatta two-seater coupe was introduced in 1987 - I was Drooling over its pretty Looks - I think one of the prettiest and most tasteful examples of 1980 car styling I can think of !
Vega "Car of the Year 1971", was a beautiful subcompact car. Its main problem was the 2.3 aluminum block engine. However, its reliability had improved much by 1976 but was too late. Followed by Monza, that was probably even less reliable until GM decided to replace, for what I remember, the 2.3 with the 2.5 Pontiac Iron Duke. Also Ford, Chrysler compacts had problems. Late 70s... the begining of the end of Detroit.
I began my car-selling career in Dec. '75 as a 22yr old at a giant Chevy dealership in southern Arizona. I absolutely remember those Cosworth Vegas. The dealership had a few on hand that sat in that showroom forever, it seemed. Yes, it was the price that kept buyers away. That....and the miserable reputation that Vegas had in general. Up until mid 1974 I think it was, Chev used "siamesed" cylinders as they were known...meaning that the water jackets did NOT go 360 degrees around each cylinder, and owners were blowing head gaskets like crazy....especially out here in hot Arizona during the summers. GM then did away with that problematic block and came out with the "iron duke" as they called it cast-iron block, and 360 water jackets. I still remember the "big" sales meeting we salesmen had to attend, where GM had reps there with 2 actual cut-away engines....the old one and the new "Iron Duke"...showing these improvements. But Vega had already dirtied it's diapers to the public, and became the kiss of death in the public's eyes. Interestingly, my wife's employer had a fleet of Vegas that they used to drive from Tucson to Phoenix and back daily....5 days a week. The man that was in charge of maintaining them LOVED Vegas. He told me "Americans just WILL NOT follow their owner's manuals and maintain their cars according to the manufacturers recommendations." Just by keeping an eye on the coolant level and changing the Vega's oil every 3K.....that fleet of Vegas were delivering over 300,000 (yes, 300K) trouble free miles EACH before retirement. He just loved them. Lots to be said for that.
Up here in the northland the vegas rusted out prematurely. To this day I am not sure gm ever made a quality small car like some of the imports. Really good trucks, 3800 engine in mid size cars was durable but small cars helped kill their reputation, especially in the 70s
I still remember an early 70's Milwaukee dealer's radio jingle, Down at Jim Wienger's early in the morning See the little Chevy Vega's all in a row 3 speeds, 4 speeds, turbo hydramatics coupes, GT's and station wagons too. The last speeding ticket I had was in 1985, running late for work in my '74 Vega, fenders just floppin' in the breeze
I'm surprised you could get a speeding ticket in a Vega. We had a Pontiac disAstre, which gets my vote for worst production car ever to roll out of Detroit. With a good start, you could outrun those things on foot.
The only good thing about a Vega, was that you could pick them up for cheap, back in the eighties. I bought one from a guy for $50.00 after his wife said it had to go. It had orange shag carpet, and orange paint, with yellow flames. There was a 350/350 motor/trans in the hatchback that my brother and I spent the summer putting together correctly, (the previous owner had the wrong cam, valve springs, etc) and then proceeded to go from carbs, to tunnel ram, to blower, eventually spending over 5 grand, breaking windshields during body flex, rear axles over torque issues, and god-knows-how-much on fuel and oil. It was fun, but a money-pit, with the emphasis on FUN. That lasted for three summers. Soon, college came, and we sold the car to a guy that wanted to race it, because he lost so many street races to us. He took the engine and trans out, put them in his vette, raced it and wrapped it around a tree, put them back in the Vega, painted it red, then got a lot of tickets, all before we left for college that fall. Never saw him or the Vega after that. That’s just how Vega’s are. They come on the scene rather quickly, fade away, sometimes after a good long summer, or sometimes rather abruptly. But the constant is, they’re fun, while it lasts.
cubbysrig They just rusted so fast, my dad had to buy a new Chevy pickup every 2 years because the they rusted out here at the southern tip of Lake Michigan. When Ford announced in the mid eighties that all their steel was going to be electro-galvinized, that was a turning point to making the bodies last the 10+ years they last today.
poot111111 I remember visiting Janesville, Wisconsin Assembly and seeing Impalas and Chevy pickups being produced in 1972. Janesville Assembly is now a vacant lot where the plant used to be.
Huge Lordstown, Ohio plant where H-bodies (Vega, Astre, Monza, etc.) were made was just closed... Trump wants GM to re-open it... bring back all those American autoworkers...
Dude I can believe you didn't mention one of the most important features about the Buick Reatta, It had the 1st production touch screen ever put in a car it was before flat screens so it had a touch screen CRT or cathode ray tube display.
ebayerr agreed, a couple of these cars only failed because of the sticker shock of their price tag The Elante failed because of it's poor design, which was a lesson learned by Cadillac when they'd conceived the design for The XLR, the thing that hurt The XLR And The Cosworth Vega were what was the price of these cars
@@karlsmith2570 No what was not mentioned in this video as to why the XLR didn't continue was also the fact of the great recession that hit the country around 2008. GM had to reconsolidate among all its brands and models. Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn were all discontinued as well as several models from the remaining 4 brands. The Allante was a good car minus what some people might say. The style has nothing to do with it as it was in fact a great styled car by Pinifarina of Turin Italy which also worked with Cadillac back in the 50's before on the Eldorado Brougham and the La Espada from 53. The Allante was a continuation of that work from the 50's and produced a great car and by far the best quality Cadillac of the 80's. Many of the Allante's engineered construction and innovations later made there way into most newer vehicles by GM and others.
I had a 76 cosworth Vega witn the 5 speed. Its revved high.. 7500 red line. The fuel injection system was not great.. if you put a hutton intake with dual sidedraft webbers in it it supposedly would come alive..never had that setup. You could buy " track cams" through GM parts.The borg warner 5speed was troublesome and would jump out of gear under hard acceleration. The handling of the cosworth was great.. approaching trans am territory. But the '74 -'77 crash bumpers were ungodly heavy. It was a very comfortable car. Except for AC not being available. If i had the time i think a Vega with an aluminum LS and a tremec would be a super fast sleeper. Lighten up the bumpers and swap a stronger rear end. In a different time with some different equipment this car could have been more popular that the Iroc Z
I worked as a technician (actually we were called mechanics back then, which seemed to pay better) at a Chevy dealership from 1971-77. So I saw plenty of Vegas, and even owned 2 of them because I could get used ones dirt cheap and keep them running. We didn't sell a lot of Cosworths but I worked on a few. I was surprised to find that the performance improvement over a good running stock Vega GT was barely noticeable, considering all the expensive high-tech stuff on the Cosworth. The 1600 RPM idle was amusing though.
Oddly enough, my mom bought new a 76 Vega GT with a 5 speed. In my memory it's one of the one's I wish I had today. It was a mini Camaro that got 35 MPG and served our family for years! The Cosworth was a dream then...
The early Vegas rusted so fast you could almost hear it rust and those aluminum cylinders were a terrible idea. They burned oil like crazy. eventually Chevy put a cast iron engine in it. That must have been what your family had.
@@williamwhite9767 Cast iron sleeves in the "Dura Built" 140 cubic inch ohc. Chevy warrantied this motor for 5 years or 60,000 miles which is likely what sold my mom. The 76 also had a redesigned cooling system that was mostly at fault for it's earlier engine failures. Typical that GM tried to save a few $ and it cost them the reputation of the entire engineering design.
@@jimh309 I thought they called that engine the "Iron Duke". It was a long time ago. I owned a one year old 73 GT Vega for about a year. It was burning a qt of oil every 500 miles and I repaired some rust spots on it. they guy who bought it ran it up to 70k miles and said he put a qt of oil in it every time he bought gas.
@@williamwhite9767 The Iron duke followed the Dura Built. It was a standard push rod 151 Cubic inch built by Pontiac starting in 1977. It was basically a remake of the old 4 from the early 60's that you would find in the Nova.
@@jimh309 The base models w/o air conditioning had a radiator that was about the size of a heater core in a bigger car. That's one reason the cooling system sucked.
Good to see the Cosworth getting some proper attention. That engine was a dream and ran quite well once you got rid of the fuel injection and put 4 Weber Carbs on her.
I bought a new 1974 Vega. Within 9 months the upholstery and carpet fell apart, the plastic dash cracked in multiple places, the engine cylinder walls failed and the manufacture sandbagged me on the warranty. I'd say that qualifies as a failure.
The old CEOS had oil for blood. They were car guys. That's why cars were so much better back then. Now it's some person that doesn't know the difference between a hardtop and a sedan and could careless about cars. It's all about the bottom dollar and profits. Sad but true. I think most businesses that happens over time. Look at KFC. When the Colonel was in charge, the chicken was top notch. Now its cafeteria food. This repeats itself throughout most industries. Very sad. I was watching a you tube video about a 1964 Cadillac Coupe Deville. This car was a true work of art. The quality and precision that went into that car was phenomenal. Today's cars, though better than what they were twenty years ago lack the quality and beauty. From about 1968 and below. For me, there is no new car that gets me to want to go down to a car dealership and buy. Pretty sad, and that's from someone who drives a car that would make most people want to trade their car in asap. A Prius.
The Vega was originally designed for a Chevy 350 engine bit with Japanese imports coming into the USA they switched it to a 4 cylinder engine. They were companies that made kits to convert the Vega for a 4 cylinder vehicle to 8 cylinder vehicle. A few even made kits to fit in a small V-6.
In 1979, I bought a 1976 Cosworth Vega for $2,000, which had 18k miles on it . A bargain. WiRth custom Reed cams, it screened to 8I rpms and around 200hp. But it was a chore to drive around town as the enginecwouldnt start pulling till it hit about 4I rpms, then it would fly to redline extremely fast. With the lightweight wheels and sport suspension, it was like driving a go-kart around turns. The body rust issue was terrible.
I own Reatta's 2 hard tops and one convertible. I love the clean lines of the car. I put a supercharged 3800 in one if them, 1/4 mile time was 15.2, thats 2 seconds of stock times.
@Oggy My 85 Cutlass Ciera conv is 35 years old has plenty of power of course only an idiot would hot rod a classic. Ask Kevin Hart how that turned out. I've never had any of the issues described above.
I've owned 3 Chevy Vega's and you would literally lose parts as you drove down the road. Engine oil and coolant would mix due to the aluminum block warping. Today General Motors can't seem to get out of its own way.
Two friends owned them. One joked that you could hear it rust in the rain. Steel is made of iron and other metals. Somewhere along the line I believe they decided to try Alka Seltzer. She had a unicorn level rare one. The engine never gave her any problems. The rest of the car fell apart, literally parts like a door handle just fell off. But the engine kept going.
Had a Vega years ago and it put so much oil through we would need to stop about every 30 miles to clean the plugs because it would start slowing down and finally stop running.
@@stranger_danger1900 I owned one briefly, fill the oil and check the gas.didnt have to worry black flies. However they look cool being designed to look like a miniature Camaro.
ahhhhhh.......GM; everyone in a suit deserves at least $350k & a mansion. Poor schmuck on the floor should just be "lucky to have a job"! So let's parts bin absolute shot & if goes bust we blame it on the workers. I grew up in Flint, I can't stand Michael Moore, but his 'Roger & Me' documentary is spot on
@Jody Owen I take your point & mostly agree. Well put & appreciated. I can't abide labor always being the scapegoat however & I would counter not all unions represent losers.....skilled trades chief among them. That said, I do find that government employees or low-skilled entry services (as examples) requiring representation silly. Many journeypersons I work with carry/maintain numerous trade certs mandated, hold degrees (overwhelmingly undergrad) & more often than not buttress those labeled management; but I digress. Thanks for keeping me in ✔ & take care
@Jody Owen thanks. Pop always told me "earn a degree" (note not "get a degree"), learn a trade or join the service......did all three. Also, Moms family north 'rust belt' folk but mostly educators / admin. Contraiwise, Pops side south bible belt but engineers / tradespersons. So, a perfect dychotemy myself has grown to be methinks. Flavor it with some Catholic & Southern Baptist + being well travelled......wallah, a pragmatist who enjoys debate, learning & knows when to hold the tongue in effort not to insert foot. Angst & vitriol tempered with blind ideology will be the death of us. Thanks again & our best to you and yours sincerely. We all in it to win it 👍
I saw the fall of the auto industry in Flint first hand. One of my first job out of high school in the late 80's was in a machine shop as a laborer and driver. I delivered many of part to Cadillac Tool and Die in Flint and to the Grand Blanc stamping plant. Lots of good paying jobs are gone and so is Flint. The Grand Blanc plant had a die grave yard out back of every die they used since the plant opened in the late 50's that was a site to see....
I have to agree that was the big problem. Plus, no one understands the "building for the masses" at a reasonable cost, but they want everything - its just not a reality unless you get cheap labor; then it's not assembled at home, therefore they're a sellout and traitor -- no winning for them at all. I've stuck with my '05 GP, and it actually very impressive when honestly evaluated. They had to up the engine efficiency, and everything else was in turmoil at this point. Now, people want 100% reliability over 200,000 miles without any attention. Is that feasible? Did Honda do it? Is it so complex now that, just dump it all and go electric? GM had significant research in the fuel cell - nothing productive evolved from it. The Impala looks great, but mild - too unflattering for today's hyper advertising - they may even be dropping it. They need to make the right sense.
I saw a red Reatta in a parking lot in 2010, it definitely caught my eye as I had never seen one before and made a point of looking for the name badge on the car. It was pretty stylish, sleek and in great condition, I never saw another one since... 😕
From Leo: Vega, Cosworth or otherwise, had the same trouble, in most of the country they rusted out way before the payment book got thin and the used a LOT of oil at pretty low mileage. Pretty bad to make payments on a car that smokes like a freight train and the fenders flap in the wind like an old crow. Been there, done that.
I had a 74 Vega...was a pretty good car for me. But the paint on the roof was thin from the factory..had the dealer send it out to get redone. Had it for just over a year...never had trouble with it...but selling it after a year might have been a smart move.
I test drove a Vega in 1970. After driving less than one mile, I returned it to the dealership in Richmond, Indiana because it drove and rode like a logwagon. I went straight to the AMC dealer at the east end of Richmond on Highway 40 and bought a Candy Apple Green Gremlin. and loved it!!!!
That's true. They were in a big hurry to introduce their new products to the consumer & let them do the longevity testing to their products. Like the V-8 gasoline converted Diesel, didn't work & the consumer was left with any & all repairs!.
The Vega was a surprisingly good handling car, GM should of put a V6 in it. They did in the stationwagon version but they called it a Monza wagon which wasn't a Monza but a Vega.
Drove a used Vega to college. Never broke down, just had to carry extra oil. Also had a 75 Cosworth. Slow and unexciting. If I remember correctly it was the first GM car with 4 valves per cylinder, five speed manual, dual overhead cams, fuel injection and factory headers. Pretty as far as Vega's go. Long gone now, it was the first car in my collector car habit.
Drove a 1974 Mercury Bobcat Villager wagon. Lots of woodgrain...inside and out. Powered by a 105 hp 2.3L and a 4 speed stick. Probably the most comfortable bucket seats ever made. As much as I wanted a Camaro while at collage, I always had gas in my tank. Thank God I was never rear ended. Memories.
I was cruising this weekend and was following a XLR and I remembered it was a Corvette at heart...a very high priced one..it was red, sharp in mint condition and the top was down having fun on some hilly curvy roads in the country....
Helped to build several V8 Vega's in the late '70's, shortened 10 and 12 bolt rear-ends and all. However for my personal '72 Vega I was bound and determined to build a four-banger worth its salt. Took three motors blowing up though wound up with an Iron Duke block, oversized valves in a ported and tuned head, and of course nothing legal for intake or exhaust. She turned out pretty well on the dyno and performed okay with the four-speed; could chirp 3 of four gears! Kind of wish I still had that car other than the fact it was hard to stay ahead of the rust.
Yeah, had one. Engine went out -- made of aluminium w/silicon -- stupid idea that didn't work. Finally, after swapping out 2 times for used engines, a rebulder said "I can fix that" and he did. He put in steel sleeves and the engine finally didn't keep wearing out. That was the car that made me NEVER buy a GM car again.
Even Yenko loved the Vegas .In 72 they did. Other model years for Vega I'm not sure.Called it a stinger like they did with the 66 Yenko Corvair Stinger. I owned a regular Vega .It was a 73 .That was at around 17 yo . A time where if it could go ahead , backwards , could stop , play tunes and fill the car with ladies . Life was great lol. I still miss it and the 79 - 80 Monza I owned after that. They would have an LS in them if I still had them .Great vid man.
@@pepper13111 The 928 block used the same material, and didn't have any of GM's problems. You just have to let the engineers do their job, and they can build a great aluminum block engine. Lots of 928's out there with 200k plus miles on them, without any of the poor Vega's problems.
Totally agree, except about the Reatta being a convertible. I much preffered the hardtop. Unfortunately, I was married with children back then and couldn't afford any of them. But I seriously drooled over the Reatta.
The problem was the engine. They should have used the Corvette engine, and it would have been a great car. That Northstar engine from those early years is known to have problems, so it's a loser even in the used car market. I kept my 928 instead.
@@d.e.b.b5788 no they should let have. Using the north star was the right choice. GM is the king of rebadging so having a Cadillac engine in a Cadillac was the right thing to do.
@@billolsen4360 Yes it was. Ours was a blue-green metallic. It got head-on, totalled in 1977 by a college kid coming downhill in a 1974 Chevy Caprice who was looking through a 3" x 5" card shaped hole in the ice on his windshield. 🙄 Immaculate, beautiful car totaled by a 🤬🤬🤬 idiot.
Totally agree with your assessment! There are others if course, like the Pontiac Fiero, and that other Pontiac 2 seater in the late 2000s that the Saturn Sky was copied from.
Another excellent profile on a few great little cars, always enjoyable! You should do a video on the Capri as it has an interesting back story & I had a couple of them which I loved.
Walter Johnson The engineers were told how to make the car instead of vice versa, so the first Vega proto-type made it half way around GM's test track before breaking in two. My sister had a Monza, I really enjoyed driving that car.
Walter Johnson Somebody hit her in it, she only had it a year. I believe it had a V-8, real snappy to drive. With that rear brake handle by your right hand, in the snow, I had a blast spinning that thing around in a parking lot one day. She never let me drive it again.
@@weelgunny VW Rabbit Chevy Chevette, Chevy Citation and Pontiac Phoenix, Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon, Renault LeCar, Renault Encore, Ford Escort/ Mercury Lynx Numerous Saabs all 4 door hatchbacks and probably a few I'm missing , oh wait Ford Fiesta, Ford Festiva, Ford Focus, Chevy Sprint/Chevy Nova (the one based on the Toyota Corolla),Toyota Corolla, GEO Metro, Merkur Scorpio Honda Civic,Honda Accord Crosstour, Toyota Venza.
Vega was a rust bucket with iron/aluminium mis-match engine. Ran poorly in cold weather. I remember going to look for a car with my grandfather. First stop was a junk yard littered with Vegas and AMC Pacers. Good indication what not to buy.
I dont mean to be offtopic but does anyone know a trick to get back into an instagram account? I was stupid lost my account password. I appreciate any help you can give me!
@Jacob Cody I really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and I'm trying it out now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will reply here later with my results.
If only Chevrolet used the Cosworth engineering for all their Vega models, not just a couple of years. Given the improvement in performance and relative reliability compared to the standard Vega, I think they should've.
@@jasoncarpp7742 no, not really. I own a 1977 Chevy El Camino SS, original owner. I owned a 1973 Vega Hatch back. It rusted bad. I repaired all the rusy, new fenders, resheet metal about hood area were air vents are, everything. After 6 months or so it started rusting again in different places. All the Vega' s did this. If it did not rust I was going drop in it a 350 engine with 350 turbo hydromatic transmission.
I had to laugh around 1:25. That beautiful engine and look forward to the gm upper rad hose and traditional crappy old tower hose clamp. The buck stopped there 🤣🤣
My sister and her husband had an early Vega. The differential got chewed up near a small town in Colorado because a needed cotter pin had not been installed during manufacturing. It took ten days to find the parts. Even the factory didn't have them. Pitiful!
@@deliveryguyrx Sorry-No Confusion! Just Saw The Car Yesterday-As I've Seen It Since 1983 In My Neighbors Garage. Owner Of Car Is Son Of One Of The Cyl Head Designers For GM.
@@markpalio4411 Mark, then that white Cosworth would have definitely been a special "factory ordered" vehicle that high-ranking GM execs could order with special paint from the factory. I guarantee you that all Cosworth Vegas were Black with gold trim. If your neighbor's white one was delivered like that from the factory, then it is really something quite unique and probably worth much more than the Black Cosworths.
I had a 76 cosworth it was firstborn red with red interior i have seen a white cosworth dark blue and black my car was 2875. All cosworth Vegas had number on dash and engine builders name singed under hood
I work at the Chevrolet dealership when the Cosworth Vega came out. These cars were rocket ships! Different mentality back in those days. Big v8s and bigger cars was the rage but we missed looking into the future.
You couldn't give me a Vega. The XLR also lacked sufficient interior space for someone of my height and build when I tried one out at a car show. The Reatta though, was a true tragedy. That car should have been a success.
Awa the Vega, worked at GM dealer when those things were new. They would rust out sitting on the lot. Remember one that the customer said it had an oil leak. Found a big hole on side of block where the rod went through, still ran. I could go on and on, great times in the 70s.
I bough 1976 Cosworth Vega 3510 (sequence was higher than production car numbers) Metallic Gold exterior, buckskin interior. Handling was great, but snap oversteer! Was member of the Cosworth Vega owners association for years. Sold it at 60,000 miles. Only issue was the dealer had no idea how to work on it so they sold me the bucket tappet tools to adjust the valve clearance every 15,000 miles. A fun car, with lots of rpm (no redline, 8000 sounded awesome), but not lots of power.
From what I've read, GM had 10,000 engines made for the Cosworth Vega and ended up scrapping 6,500 of them at $10,000 a piece. If they had cut the price $1000, they probably would have sold them all and lost a lot less money on the project. Even if they cut it $2000, the buzz generated by customers fighting over them would have been free advertising. Most of the Vega's rust problems had been solved by 1975 (they actually found a way to paint the whole thing!!), and the Cosworths were said to be the best-built Vegas, so it's sad that they wasted this opportunity. They even had Vega bodies leftover from the 1977 model year, which were sold with Monza Town Coup faces as the "Monza S". With the debut of the torque-arm rear suspension that laid the foundations for the 1982 Camaro, the Cosworth was too important a piece of GM history to have been labeled a failure.
PC No, I think you are pretty close to the Cosworth engine count, but they didn't scrap all of them. If I remember, they saved about 2000 engines for resale. I own 3 Cos Vega's and about 3 more engines. Chevy wanted to compete with the car in the under 125 cu in ? class for the advertising to boost car sales. Funny, I never heard of any famous races. GM contracted Cosworth to engineer the destroked little engine and in race trim made a solid 240 hp and had the aluminum block failure at above 260hp. # 1 problem, Chevy could not have a lightweight 4 cyl Vega faster than the heavy smogged Corvette. # 2, EPA testing had burned exhaust valves, even tuned at about 150 HP for engine durability runs, so they kept taking power out and delayed production almost 2 years. It was about the first production car with a computer, electronic fuel injection, factory stainless big tube header, 4 valve per cyl, double overhead cam, etc. No, not the first car to have said features, just too early to work very good in the 1970's. i enjoy the V8 Vega and the Cos, but sadly GM dropped the ball and didn't even care.The 140 (2300) Vega run OK, but the tiny radiator, worthless match of alum pistons and alum block din't work. Instead of adding 4 steel sleeves to fix the problem, GM would not accept the fancy allow block was the problem and simply added another idiot light to check engine coolant! Too late! Texas cars, I have not seen the Vega rust any more than the rest, but if you live on the coast, they all still rust.
If that's the same screen I've seen documentation about, it really showed GM's innovation and implementations. How public judgement has changed - what was ridiculously not needed and expensive then is a must and is taken for granted now. So Tesla uses a 21" touch-screen now. BTW, the instrument cluster in my car "acts as a main buss", and much goes out if electrical contact is lost.
The Northstar engine might have been part of the Caddy's failure. Though I know little about the supercharged version, it's naturally asperatd version was less than reliable. Cadillac shoehorned this behemoth engine into several front wheel drive models which was a nightmare for most mechanics. The Northstar was prone to oil pan gasket leaks that required engine removal to reseal. The starter motor was "conveniently" mounted under the intake manifold; a terrible design for a number of reasons. Cadillac has a history of weird engine developments that make mechanics shake in their boots. Who can forget dealing with Digital Fuel Injected 4100s? Cylinder shedding seemed like a good idea until something went wrong; even God had no idea how to diagnose it.
I don't know about the latter comment but I totally agree with the former. The Northstar in itself had many pluses but turning it sideways and forcing the adaption of the remaining drivetrain meant repair costs were higher than 'normal'.
From my recollection the ‘Northstat’ wasn’t a behemoth , the quad cam heads made it large on top, not much heavier. This engine had great potential and was used successful in World prototype racing. My understanding of the engines problems had to do with casting quality. If the General Mayhem would’ve put a bit mor into it , in my opinion, it would’ve made a much better engine for the Corvette too.. Even Ford went Quad cam for the Mustang
Thanks for giving the xlr some love. I remember when that car came out I was in my early 20’s and I worked at kohl’s making $9 an hour. I wanted one so bad.... I currently own a 2005 Cadillac STS4, 2005 Cadillac deville limited and a 69 sedan deville!
@@straycat379 the one I bought was a rolling car but the motor was blown as typical of Vegas in those days so I just stripped all of that junk out and did the conversion it was light and fast
@@willbar1961 The front crossmembers on the early Vegas were so weak they used to deform and spread out . When I worked at the Chevy dealership in the 70s we used to replace them constantly. When the Monza came out in 75? they reinforced the crossmembers and later Vegas got it too. I had to replace the crossmembers on my 73 and 74 Vegas with the later parts before I could adjust thy front wheel camber to specs.
I remember the Buick Reatta. I found it more attractive than the Riviera of the same vintage. I also preferred it over the Cadillac Allante. At the time, I was hoping it would've replaced the ageing Riviera. Why it didn't is beyond me.
Buick could be a cool brand with nicely scultped modern versions of the riviera and reatta, along with a grand national and GNX top end model. Instead they make toyota camry and avalon copies that nobody wants
@@MaliciousSRT I agree. I remember the Grand National and GNX. I was less than pleased when it was discontinued when it was, in favour of the more modern, yet less attractive, front-wheel drive Buick Regal.
Yup, overpricing has prevented many other manufacturers from huge sale successes. The VW retro Beatle from the early 2000 was another example of a car people were really interested in buying, but was way overpriced.
I've seen the Reattas on the road from time to time. I would love to own one. Either that or the Allante. Oddly enough, I think the Reatta shares the EXACT same platform as the 1987-1992 Olds Toronado/Olds Troféo.
@@WinterInTheForest Yes, the Buick 3800 was a truly reliable engine, but GM's other lines had too many issues and by then had ruined their credibility. General Motors unfornately destroyed the US auto market. I spent over 30 years in the industry from 1978 to 2010.
I have a magazine ad from GM for the Cosworth Vega starting off "It's like buying one Vega for the price of two!" ....I'm thinking "let's just get that issue off the table right up front"... lol
I had a 1979 (Vega based) Pontiac Sunbird notchback coupe with the 305 V8, AC, cruise control, AM 8 track(?) stereo and a three speed auto in a buttery buckskin color over a tan interior optioned out to look like a mini Trans Am with the TA steering wheel, bucket seats, turned aluminum dash, rally styled TA rims, gold lower body stripes and a rear deck lid spoiler - ruined my drivers license in that car - it was fast and handled reasonably well for it's day and age. Never ever saw another one save for my neighbor who bought a sapphire blue one with a V6 and 5 speed. A very reliable and fun to drive car - my mini Trans Am!
@old veteran . . . I had a '74 GT model, it handled great. Its rust spot was on the hatchback area in-between the hinges. Mine burned a quart of oil every 200 miles. My brother, an GM automotive mechanic back then, did a trick to minimize the spark plug fouling: He advanced the engine timing and put in the hottest heat range spark plugs to be had. But, it resulted with me having to use premium gasoline.
I have a good friend that had a vega that he inserted a 350 engine, 10 inch rear tires, 411 rear end and let me tell you it would pack the front tires and wouldn't nothing around here beat it for a long time. Back in the 70s in Bowling Green, KY we used to run the by-pass on Friday and Saturday night checking out all the hot rods. All I had which it wasn't bad but it was to be stock, it was a stock 70 Chevelle with a stock 396 375 horse engine and it would get on down the road pretty quick
Tucker failed because of the lies promoted by GM and Ford. Drew Pearson (not the football player) was a popular radio personality of the day and was paid to promote the lies about the Tucker, including that it could not go in reverse. A lie. He said the car was unsafe. It was regarded as the safest car being built. Preston Tucker was forced into bankruptcy by the auto corporate giants.
@@Theywaswrong No argument from me. What I know is mostly from the movie which dwelled more on the way they got him investigated for securities fraud. Not that they succeeded in bringing him down on that front, but by the time he was cleared, the damage had been done.
Worked on a Buick Reatta at the shop around 2002...the novel CRT dash mounted display would offer up codes....I finally found a coolant leak, the freeze plugs were rusting out...considering the zero clearance issues, I pulled the motor to put in the plugs...something was weird, there was three inches of solid rust debris from the bottom of the plug to the pan rail...sensing something was wrong, I tested my new plugs & was greeted to green coolant emanating from the block in those three inches above the pan rail....the block was eaten away to paper thin allowing coolant to seep...
That XLR got released right when everyone started losing their jobs and money in the recession, no wonder a sporty luxo-coupe didn't fare well when the Madoff's took all the money.
And did you notice who drove them? People in their late 50's and up. I suppose the baby boomers who had the money when others lost their jobs. I associated the XLR with AARP back then.
The GM 3800 II was bullet proof! I owned two Regals, one without and one with a supercharger. I drove both of them for over 200,000 miles and they ran like a sewing machine.
Mason George just read up on it. You're referring to one incident where the Pinto exploded and killed 4 teenagers and Ford got away with paying the victiims' family only 7500 bucks each. Do your research before cherry picking Ignoramus.
Those XLR's are special cars. Very well designed but they were un affordable and their engines required a lot of maintenance. That would have been a huge turn off.
My first car was a white 1975 GT Kammback Vega station wagon that I got from my father and he got the car new in 1974. It was a decent car and I really liked the look of it with the GT stripes on it. I was in the process of collecting the parts to do a 327 V8 swap into the car when I unfortunately totaled the car in an accident just before my 19th birthday. I wish I could find another one to do a V8 swap in.
that was a popular swap when I was in high school. 327 was the most popular. Drop an edlebrock intake and 650 cfm holley and some mild exhaust and you had a killer sleeper on your hands.
The Cosworth Vega was actually marketed as 'One Vega for the price of Two'...and you couldn't get air conditioning. A doctor I knew ordered one but refused to take it due to the a/c inability. The local dealer had two of them in 1975.
Russell Sova my first car in USA, was a very early TOYOTA COROLLA 2 dr 4 on the floor manual choke, It was great,if it lasted , but in 2& 1/2 years it RUSTED AWAY INCLUDING ITS FRIGGING ROOF , first & last JAPANESE CAR, , those days that old steel, was from our old battleships, cut up in south Kearney NJ FOR JAPAN, CHEERS FROM NJ. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
@@flybyairplane3528 what yr was that because I've never seen Toyota with rust problems.. I've seen them from the late 70s 80s and never seen one rusted out..
Buick Reatta's were assembled the old fashioned way, by hand as in before the assembly line was implemented. Reattas have high quality and craftsmanship. I loved this model and always got up close at auto shows, unfortunately by the time I could afford to purchase a car it was out of production.
@@starxlr7863 i've got over 30yrs in auto repair, even with adding the pellets and using GM Dexcool they still failed!!! Rocker arms also had a habbit of walking off valve steam! Have you ever tried to do a head job on a Nortstar eng? Your reply tells me no! The head bolts would snap off!! Then you needed a $3000 jig/plate to even try to remove broken head bolts! It's sad GM used such cheap parts on the Northstar's they could've been so much more!
My first car was a 73 Vega wagon. I think I paid $500 for it and the first thing I did was put a $600 stereo in it. Then I put some Uniroyal Tiger Paws on it for $200 more. That thing handled like a dream with decent rubber. I had a ball driving that thing. Good tunes, practical storage space, and go-cart handling. And then the engine blew up. But still, that was a great couple of weeks.
GM has a LONG history of screwing themselves in sales by overpricing their special models. The recent Chevrolet SS, the newer Pontiac GTO, the Cosworth Vega, the SSR... and so on, and so on, and... and despite what the press releases are saying GM wants to price the new, upcoming mid-engined Corvette at (60,000), dealers won’t let a single one of those go for a dime less than $80,000.
NorthernChev I agree, it's amazing they've stayed in business as long as they have. I think the announcement that they are in the process of moving their manufacturing base to China is the last nail in the coffin for the former giant. Nobody would buy a Ferrari that wasn't made in Italy (especially China), who would buy a Chevy that wasn't made in the USA?
A neighbor had 2 Cosworth Vegas, a white with gold 75, and a black with gold 76. He had a lot of trouble with the FI and the cars rusted out like crazy. Interestingly enough, his daily was a 78 Monza with a 305. For whatever reason, that car survived well into the late 90s, whereas both Vegas were long gone.
xXcashXx3 needs to stay out of shop class, and spend more time in English class. Kids today...why do they even go to school? Put the I-phones down, and pick up a grammar book. (convirtable = convertible and it isn't "are" it is "our". "Are" is the second-person singular and plural forms of the verb "to be". Also, "our" belonging to or associated with the speaker and one or more other people previously mentioned or easily identified."Jo and I had our hair cut" NOT "Jo and I had are hair cut". There, have a free English lesson.
As I understand it, NADA and Kelly's Blue Book were purchased by the used car industry to justify higher used car prices, much like Comic Book Guides are printed to primarily make collectors feel good about their collections. They are all poor and self-serving sales literatures sold as reference guides.
Grossly Overpriced. Grossly Underpowered. Typical case thats still true to this day of American auto manufacturers still telling Americans what to buy instead of listening to us tell them what we want and what we can afford. The grossly underpowered 'mopar-maserati' looked and shared too much with the K-car.
They evaluated these three cars fairly. I had just started my IT career in Springfield mass in late 1976, and although my favorite car was the Chevy Monza, ( still is) when I got a ride in a used one, Cosworth Vega 5 speed, WHITE, yes WHITE one, I was in love. I wanted to buy it badly, but the price was outside my reach, I was only making I think $5.00 per hour. I purchased a used Monza 2+2, 4 cylinder, Tangerine Orange, Tan interior, from Baleiau Chevrolet,in Jan 1.1977. I wanted one with the 305, but the salesman told me, those with the V8 were not getting traded in, owners were keeping them, because of the v8. I still have my 75 today, I planned to swap in a v8 myself (easy to do) and I haven't done it yet. I haven't driven it since 1979 when I moved back to Detroit. I have built a hi-PO Vega motor for my 75, installed it with a trans brake, full manual power glide, built for Turbo or Nitrous, 200 hp max add on. I will take it to drag strip, run it till I blow it up, then swap in a v8. In the mean time along with buying other cars, I bought a 1979 (got my v8) Monza 2+2, 305, thm350 Black on Black, June 06, for sale in a closed Burger King parking lot, for $800.00. I drove it around and around, in the Dream Cruise 07 and 08, raced it at Milan, won Friday Night Track champ honors with it and my v8 88 S-10 Blazer. It has the new crate 350 that will be transferred into my 75 this year. I am sorry that this is long but..VEGA MONZA talk gets me started.....fair warning.....Vega and Monza owners are crazy, don't cross us. mfisher
i worked at a Chevy dealer when the Vega was produced. We used to say that any man that owned a Vega had better own a good pair of walking shoes because he will need them.
But they made for good strip cars along with the monza.
@@cindysue5474really!built way to lame for anything,what a disgrace
@@bradzimmerman3171 Super stock and pro stock drivers would disagree with you.
Plus, the video is about the Cosworth Vega. But thanks for your comment anyway, geno.
When the 1988 Buick Reatta two-seater coupe was introduced in 1987 - I was Drooling over its pretty Looks - I think one of the prettiest and most tasteful examples of 1980 car styling I can think of !
Apart from all it's flaws, I still think the XLR is one of the most aesthetically beautiful cars made.
Love them. Had two regular and one V. Outstanding cars and loved the angular looks. I went from Covettes to the XLR.
I thought it was a beautiful ride, even more than the corvette of its day. But overpriced and appealed to a way too small market.
I remember when this car came out..I thought it was just a caddy badged Vette but man did I think they were cool..that 32v V8 tho... Northstar 🤤🤤
@@thelastcowboy7576 gave new meaning to "my grandpa drives Cadillac" 😂😎
Its
Vega "Car of the Year 1971", was a beautiful subcompact car. Its main problem was the 2.3 aluminum block engine. However, its reliability had improved much by 1976 but was too late.
Followed by Monza, that was probably even less reliable until GM decided to replace, for what I remember, the 2.3 with the 2.5 Pontiac Iron Duke. Also Ford, Chrysler compacts had problems. Late 70s... the begining of the end of Detroit.
I do not remember the Iron Duke being put in the Vega however I do remember Chevy put sleeves in the engines for the 1976 amd 1977 model years.
I began my car-selling career in Dec. '75 as a 22yr old at a giant Chevy dealership in southern Arizona. I absolutely remember those Cosworth Vegas. The dealership had a few on hand that sat in that showroom forever, it seemed. Yes, it was the price that kept buyers away. That....and the miserable reputation that Vegas had in general. Up until mid 1974 I think it was, Chev used "siamesed" cylinders as they were known...meaning that the water jackets did NOT go 360 degrees around each cylinder, and owners were blowing head gaskets like crazy....especially out here in hot Arizona during the summers. GM then did away with that problematic block and came out with the "iron duke" as they called it cast-iron block, and 360 water jackets. I still remember the "big" sales meeting we salesmen had to attend, where GM had reps there with 2 actual cut-away engines....the old one and the new "Iron Duke"...showing these improvements. But Vega had already dirtied it's diapers to the public, and became the kiss of death in the public's eyes. Interestingly, my wife's employer had a fleet of Vegas that they used to drive from Tucson to Phoenix and back daily....5 days a week. The man that was in charge of maintaining them LOVED Vegas. He told me "Americans just WILL NOT follow their owner's manuals and maintain their cars according to the manufacturers recommendations." Just by keeping an eye on the coolant level and changing the Vega's oil every 3K.....that fleet of Vegas were delivering over 300,000 (yes, 300K) trouble free miles EACH before retirement. He just loved them. Lots to be said for that.
Up here in the northland the vegas rusted out prematurely. To this day I am not sure gm ever made a quality small car like some of the imports. Really good trucks, 3800 engine in mid size cars was durable but small cars helped kill their reputation, especially in the 70s
We really appreciate your videos & style of doing things, please keep em coming..
I still remember an early 70's Milwaukee dealer's radio jingle,
Down at Jim Wienger's early in the morning
See the little Chevy Vega's all in a row
3 speeds, 4 speeds, turbo hydramatics
coupes, GT's and station wagons too.
The last speeding ticket I had was in 1985, running late for work in my '74 Vega, fenders just floppin' in the breeze
I'm surprised you could get a speeding ticket in a Vega. We had a Pontiac disAstre, which gets my vote for worst production car ever to roll out of Detroit. With a good start, you could outrun those things on foot.
GM actually had the audacity to say, in an ad, Cosworth Vega; one Vega for the price of two!
The only good thing about a Vega, was that you could pick them up for cheap, back in the eighties. I bought one from a guy for $50.00 after his wife said it had to go. It had orange shag carpet, and orange paint, with yellow flames. There was a 350/350 motor/trans in the hatchback that my brother and I spent the summer putting together correctly, (the previous owner had the wrong cam, valve springs, etc) and then proceeded to go from carbs, to tunnel ram, to blower, eventually spending over 5 grand, breaking windshields during body flex, rear axles over torque issues, and god-knows-how-much on fuel and oil. It was fun, but a money-pit, with the emphasis on FUN. That lasted for three summers. Soon, college came, and we sold the car to a guy that wanted to race it, because he lost so many street races to us. He took the engine and trans out, put them in his vette, raced it and wrapped it around a tree, put them back in the Vega, painted it red, then got a lot of tickets, all before we left for college that fall. Never saw him or the Vega after that. That’s just how Vega’s are. They come on the scene rather quickly, fade away, sometimes after a good long summer, or sometimes rather abruptly. But the constant is, they’re fun, while it lasts.
cubbysrig
They just rusted so fast, my dad had to buy a new Chevy pickup every 2 years because the they rusted out here at the southern tip of Lake Michigan. When Ford announced in the mid eighties that all their steel was going to be electro-galvinized, that was a turning point to making the bodies last the 10+ years they last today.
Late 70s my father owned a74. Vega. We drove from Tijuana Mexico to just north of. Sacramento had fun with it in yolo county cool car...
Used to see a lot of Vegas at the track in the mid to late 80’s
Nice post. Brought back my 70s 80s California Central Valley memories. And let me tell you, it was good back then,
I remember visiting the Bowling Green production plant and seeing the Corvettes and XLR's being produced.
poot111111 I remember visiting Janesville, Wisconsin Assembly and seeing Impalas and Chevy pickups being produced in 1972. Janesville Assembly is now a vacant lot where the plant used to be.
poot111111 I am from Bowling Green, just left a comment about back in the day
Alan Whiteside I live within 3 miles of the corvette plant in bowling green Ky
Huge Lordstown, Ohio plant where H-bodies (Vega, Astre, Monza, etc.) were made was just closed... Trump wants GM to re-open it... bring back all those American autoworkers...
used to like XLRs till i saw a cts-V just smoke one in a stoplight drag. the cts didn't even break its tire loose.
Dude I can believe you didn't mention one of the most important features about the Buick Reatta, It had the 1st production touch screen ever put in a car it was before flat screens so it had a touch screen CRT or cathode ray tube display.
In person the XLR was very impressive. Sadly the price killed it. Just because you add style doesn’t mean it’s worth $75K
I agree. However, just imagine what the price would be today if Cadillac released a new mid engine XLR based on the 2020 Corvette.
So this video should've really been titled,"3 Best *GM* Cars That Failed Really Badly"
Yes that would have been much better put.
ebayerr agreed, a couple of these cars only failed because of the sticker shock of their price tag
The Elante failed because of it's poor design, which was a lesson learned by Cadillac when they'd conceived the design for The XLR, the thing that hurt The XLR And The Cosworth Vega were what was the price of these cars
@@karlsmith2570 No what was not mentioned in this video as to why the XLR didn't continue was also the fact of the great recession that hit the country around 2008. GM had to reconsolidate among all its brands and models. Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn were all discontinued as well as several models from the remaining 4 brands. The Allante was a good car minus what some people might say. The style has nothing to do with it as it was in fact a great styled car by Pinifarina of Turin Italy which also worked with Cadillac back in the 50's before on the Eldorado Brougham and the La Espada from 53. The Allante was a continuation of that work from the 50's and produced a great car and by far the best quality Cadillac of the 80's. Many of the Allante's engineered construction and innovations later made there way into most newer vehicles by GM and others.
StarXLR the ALIANTE, TOP WAS MANUAL , THAT IS WHAT KILLED IT ! Cheers from NJ 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
or 3 gm cars that were overpriced
I had a 76 cosworth Vega witn the 5 speed. Its revved high.. 7500 red line. The fuel injection system was not great.. if you put a hutton intake with dual sidedraft webbers in it it supposedly would come alive..never had that setup. You could buy " track cams" through GM parts.The borg warner 5speed was troublesome and would jump out of gear under hard acceleration. The handling of the cosworth was great.. approaching trans am territory. But the '74 -'77 crash bumpers were ungodly heavy. It was a very comfortable car. Except for AC not being available. If i had the time i think a Vega with an aluminum LS and a tremec would be a super fast sleeper. Lighten up the bumpers and swap a stronger rear end. In a different time with some different equipment this car could have been more popular that the Iroc Z
And a parachute...
6500 redline
My '77 Astre has aluminum bumpers... Iron Duke engine...
The XLR in person was gorgeous. But yeah, the price was too extreme.
Price is why I didn't buy one.... but a beautiful car!!
Luxury cars are going to be expensive
I worked as a technician (actually we were called mechanics back then, which seemed to pay better) at a Chevy dealership from 1971-77. So I saw plenty of Vegas, and even owned 2 of them because I could get used ones dirt cheap and keep them running. We didn't sell a lot of Cosworths but I worked on a few. I was surprised to find that the performance improvement over a good running stock Vega GT was barely noticeable, considering all the expensive high-tech stuff on the Cosworth. The 1600 RPM idle was amusing though.
Oddly enough, my mom bought new a 76 Vega GT with a 5 speed. In my memory it's one of the one's I wish I had today. It was a mini Camaro that got 35 MPG and served our family for years! The Cosworth was a dream then...
The early Vegas rusted so fast you could almost hear it rust and those aluminum cylinders were a terrible idea. They burned oil like crazy. eventually Chevy put a cast iron engine in it. That must have been what your family had.
@@williamwhite9767 Cast iron sleeves in the "Dura Built" 140 cubic inch ohc. Chevy warrantied this motor for 5 years or 60,000 miles which is likely what sold my mom. The 76 also had a redesigned cooling system that was mostly at fault for it's earlier engine failures. Typical that GM tried to save a few $ and it cost them the reputation of the entire engineering design.
@@jimh309 I thought they called that engine the "Iron Duke". It was a long time ago. I owned a one year old 73 GT Vega for about a year. It was burning a qt of oil every 500 miles and I repaired some rust spots on it. they guy who bought it ran it up to 70k miles and said he put a qt of oil in it every time he bought gas.
@@williamwhite9767 The Iron duke followed the Dura Built. It was a standard push rod 151 Cubic inch built by Pontiac starting in 1977. It was basically a remake of the old 4 from the early 60's that you would find in the Nova.
@@jimh309 The base models w/o air conditioning had a radiator that was about the size of a heater core in a bigger car. That's one reason the cooling system sucked.
Good to see the Cosworth getting some proper attention. That engine was a dream and ran quite well once you got rid of the fuel injection and put 4 Weber Carbs on her.
2003-2004 Mercury Marauder. Excellent big highway prowler - all blacked out. About 10k sold.
That name came at a very inappropriate time. I couldn't believe they went ahead with it.
@@louf7178Mercury had used the Marauder nameplate off and on since 1963.
@@louf7178 Never in my life have I ever heard any controversy over the name lol.
I bought a new 1974 Vega. Within 9 months the upholstery and carpet fell apart, the plastic dash cracked in multiple places, the engine cylinder walls failed and the manufacture sandbagged me on the warranty. I'd say that qualifies as a failure.
As a guitarist, I can't get that intro out of my head. Just gets better every time I hear it.
Yeah pretty rad, man!
I does sound really good!
Your right. Kinda modern rockabilly
I thought it was just me, axe man!
Pretty easy to play- Bmin Bb C F F# Bmin
It's a shame what the ceo's did to gm
Or the UAW
The old CEOS had oil for blood. They were car guys. That's why cars were so much better back then. Now it's some person that doesn't know the difference between a hardtop and a sedan and could careless about cars. It's all about the bottom dollar and profits. Sad but true. I think most businesses that happens over time. Look at KFC. When the Colonel was in charge, the chicken was top notch. Now its cafeteria food. This repeats itself throughout most industries. Very sad. I was watching a you tube video about a 1964 Cadillac Coupe Deville. This car was a true work of art. The quality and precision that went into that car was phenomenal. Today's cars, though better than what they were twenty years ago lack the quality and beauty. From about 1968 and below. For me, there is no new car that gets me to want to go down to a car dealership and buy. Pretty sad, and that's from someone who drives a car that would make most people want to trade their car in asap. A Prius.
Dr Ben mccullough Especially Ms Barra
Rick Loera Bean Counters
ROGER SMITH. Nuff ced"
The Vega was originally designed for a Chevy 350 engine bit with Japanese imports coming into the USA they switched it to a 4 cylinder engine. They were companies that made kits to convert the Vega for a 4 cylinder vehicle to 8 cylinder vehicle. A few even made kits to fit in a small V-6.
Doug Thorley V 8 Vega kit purchased through Popular Hot Rodding magazine is what I used.
In 1979, I bought a 1976 Cosworth Vega for $2,000, which had 18k miles on it . A bargain. WiRth custom Reed cams, it screened to 8I rpms and around 200hp. But it was a chore to drive around town as the enginecwouldnt start pulling till it hit about 4I rpms, then it would fly to redline extremely fast. With the lightweight wheels and sport suspension, it was like driving a go-kart around turns. The body rust issue was terrible.
GM is the all categories champion for taking a wonderful idea and turning it in a real junk
like the Oldsmobile diesel....
I own Reatta's 2 hard tops and one convertible. I love the clean lines of the car. I put a supercharged 3800 in one if them, 1/4 mile time was 15.2, thats 2 seconds of stock times.
The 3800 engine in the Buick was one of the best engines gm made
And when GM gets all the bugs worked out over all the years
They discontinued it.....
@@jonasgrumby1093 I have it in my 85 Cutlass Ciera conv reliable peppy and gets good mileage.
You cant be serious if you got 90000 miles before the head gasket let go it was a mericle
@@rayfarr7336 what are you smoking had over 150k before I rebuilt it had no issues. Just because YOU had a prob doesn't mean they are all bad.
@Oggy My 85 Cutlass Ciera conv is 35 years old has plenty of power of course only an idiot would hot rod a classic. Ask Kevin Hart how that turned out. I've never had any of the issues described above.
I've owned 3 Chevy Vega's and you would literally lose parts as you drove down the road. Engine oil and coolant would mix due to the aluminum block warping. Today General Motors can't seem to get out of its own way.
Edward Cheek they think they can sell cars to the NASCAR crowd forever. News flash NASCAR is dying because of greed and so is GM again.
GM is doing fine.......in China.
Two friends owned them. One joked that you could hear it rust in the rain.
Steel is made of iron and other metals. Somewhere along the line I believe they decided to try Alka Seltzer.
She had a unicorn level rare one. The engine never gave her any problems. The rest of the car fell apart, literally parts like a door handle just fell off. But the engine kept going.
Had a Vega years ago and it put so much oil through we would need to stop about every 30 miles to clean the plugs because it would start slowing down and finally stop running.
@@stranger_danger1900 I owned one briefly, fill the oil and check the gas.didnt have to worry black flies. However they look cool being designed to look like a miniature Camaro.
ahhhhhh.......GM; everyone in a suit deserves at least $350k & a mansion. Poor schmuck on the floor should just be "lucky to have a job"! So let's parts bin absolute shot & if goes bust we blame it on the workers. I grew up in Flint, I can't stand Michael Moore, but his 'Roger & Me' documentary is spot on
Trust me its more than the U.S. auto industry. That is the modern U.S. business school model.
@Jody Owen I take your point & mostly agree. Well put & appreciated. I can't abide labor always being the scapegoat however & I would counter not all unions represent losers.....skilled trades chief among them. That said, I do find that government employees or low-skilled entry services (as examples) requiring representation silly. Many journeypersons I work with carry/maintain numerous trade certs mandated, hold degrees (overwhelmingly undergrad) & more often than not buttress those labeled management; but I digress. Thanks for keeping me in ✔ & take care
@Jody Owen thanks. Pop always told me "earn a degree" (note not "get a degree"), learn a trade or join the service......did all three. Also, Moms family north 'rust belt' folk but mostly educators / admin. Contraiwise, Pops side south bible belt but engineers / tradespersons. So, a perfect dychotemy myself has grown to be methinks. Flavor it with some Catholic & Southern Baptist + being well travelled......wallah, a pragmatist who enjoys debate, learning & knows when to hold the tongue in effort not to insert foot. Angst & vitriol tempered with blind ideology will be the death of us. Thanks again & our best to you and yours sincerely. We all in it to win it 👍
I saw the fall of the auto industry in Flint first hand. One of my first job out of high school in the late 80's was in a machine shop as a laborer and driver. I delivered many of part to Cadillac Tool and Die in Flint and to the Grand Blanc stamping plant. Lots of good paying jobs are gone and so is Flint. The Grand Blanc plant had a die grave yard out back of every die they used since the plant opened in the late 50's that was a site to see....
I have to agree that was the big problem. Plus, no one understands the "building for the masses" at a reasonable cost, but they want everything - its just not a reality unless you get cheap labor; then it's not assembled at home, therefore they're a sellout and traitor -- no winning for them at all. I've stuck with my '05 GP, and it actually very impressive when honestly evaluated. They had to up the engine efficiency, and everything else was in turmoil at this point. Now, people want 100% reliability over 200,000 miles without any attention. Is that feasible? Did Honda do it? Is it so complex now that, just dump it all and go electric? GM had significant research in the fuel cell - nothing productive evolved from it. The Impala looks great, but mild - too unflattering for today's hyper advertising - they may even be dropping it. They need to make the right sense.
I saw a red Reatta in a parking lot in 2010, it definitely caught my eye as I had never seen one before and made a point of looking for the name badge on the car. It was pretty stylish, sleek and in great condition, I never saw another one since... 😕
From Leo: Vega, Cosworth or otherwise, had the same trouble, in most of the country they rusted out way before the payment book got thin and the used a LOT of oil at pretty low mileage. Pretty bad to make payments on a car that smokes like a freight train and the fenders flap in the wind like an old crow. Been there, done that.
I had a 74 Vega...was a pretty good car for me. But the paint on the roof was thin from the factory..had the dealer send it out to get redone. Had it for just over a year...never had trouble with it...but selling it after a year might have been a smart move.
That 1971 Vega shot is the only time you'll see one in mint condition.
FALSE "FAKE NEWS" COMMENT ALERT
I find your show extremely interesting, you always come come up with some really good content.
Cheers👍🏻
I test drove a Vega in 1970. After driving less than one mile, I returned it to the dealership in Richmond, Indiana because it drove and rode like a logwagon. I went straight to the AMC dealer at the east end of Richmond on Highway 40 and bought a Candy Apple Green Gremlin. and loved it!!!!
GM is the king of potential success, gone to waste.
Health care costs. The Germans can sell cars more easily because they don't have to bother with any of that.
That's true. They were in a big hurry to introduce their new products to the consumer & let them do the longevity testing to their products. Like the V-8 gasoline converted Diesel, didn't work & the consumer was left with any & all repairs!.
@@stevenmaginnis1965 the Germans can sell cars because they have snob appeal and people are stupid!
@@stevenmaginnis1965, germans doesn't need health care?
@@Un4Given71: VW, Daimler, and Opel don't have to provide health insurance to their employees like GM because the government takes care of that.
The Vega was a surprisingly good handling car, GM should of put a V6 in it. They did in the stationwagon version but they called it a Monza wagon which wasn't a Monza but a Vega.
@blanchae . . . I had a '74 GT model and agree, it handled great!
I remember the Cosworth Vega being a car I wanted as a kid.
My dad wasn't an American car fan but mention a cosworth vega made him turn his ear
Cool kid!
Marinus Antonius what do u man
The print ad read “One vega for the price of two!”
Drove a used Vega to college. Never broke down, just had to carry extra oil. Also had a 75 Cosworth. Slow and unexciting. If I remember correctly it was the first GM car with 4 valves per cylinder, five speed manual, dual overhead cams, fuel injection and factory headers. Pretty as far as Vega's go. Long gone now, it was the first car in my collector car habit.
Drove a 1974 Mercury Bobcat Villager wagon. Lots of woodgrain...inside and out. Powered by a 105 hp 2.3L and a 4 speed stick. Probably the most comfortable bucket seats ever made. As much as I wanted a Camaro while at collage, I always had gas in my tank. Thank God I was never rear ended. Memories.
I was cruising this weekend and was following a XLR and I remembered it was a Corvette at heart...a very high priced one..it was red, sharp in mint condition and the top was down having fun on some hilly curvy roads in the country....
The allante was a nice caddy as well
Expensive weaker less dependable engine than the Chevy engine...
Helped to build several V8 Vega's in the late '70's, shortened 10 and 12 bolt rear-ends and all.
However for my personal '72 Vega I was bound and determined to build a four-banger worth its salt.
Took three motors blowing up though wound up with an Iron Duke block, oversized valves in a ported and tuned head, and of course nothing legal for intake or exhaust.
She turned out pretty well on the dyno and performed okay with the four-speed; could chirp 3 of four gears!
Kind of wish I still had that car other than the fact it was hard to stay ahead of the rust.
I remember looking for a car in 1975. Saw a lot of ads in the newspaper saying "1972 Vega, new engine."
Yeah, had one. Engine went out -- made of aluminium w/silicon -- stupid idea that didn't work. Finally, after swapping out 2 times for used engines, a rebulder said "I can fix that" and he did. He put in steel sleeves and the engine finally didn't keep wearing out. That was the car that made me NEVER buy a GM car again.
GM offfered new engine blocks for the Vegas for $200 as part of a special warranty program.
Even Yenko loved the Vegas .In 72 they did. Other model years for Vega I'm not sure.Called it a stinger like they did with the 66 Yenko Corvair Stinger. I owned a regular Vega .It was a 73 .That was at around 17 yo . A time where if it could go ahead , backwards , could stop , play tunes and fill the car with ladies . Life was great lol. I still miss it and the 79 - 80 Monza I owned after that. They would have an LS in them if I still had them .Great vid man.
What wasn’t mentioned about the cosworth Vega was the aluminum block being prone to melting😱
Aluminum is great if cylinders are lined ( sleeves)
@@pepper13111 The 928 block used the same material, and didn't have any of GM's problems. You just have to let the engineers do their job, and they can build a great aluminum block engine. Lots of 928's out there with 200k plus miles on them, without any of the poor Vega's problems.
Totally agree, except about the Reatta being a convertible. I much preffered the hardtop. Unfortunately, I was married with children back then and couldn't afford any of them. But I seriously drooled over the Reatta.
The XLR Cadillac still looks great today just like the C5 corvette! The best looking Cadillac performance car ever!
The problem was the engine. They should have used the Corvette engine, and it would have been a great car. That Northstar engine from those early years is known to have problems, so it's a loser even in the used car market. I kept my 928 instead.
@@d.e.b.b5788 no they should let have. Using the north star was the right choice. GM is the king of rebadging so having a Cadillac engine in a Cadillac was the right thing to do.
Had the Reatta been made rear-drive with a clutch, even with the 165hp 3.8, I'd be looking for one right *now.*
My Uncle said his Vega was the only car he's ever owned that he could actually hear it rust every time it rained...
I got a 65 Impala in 1974 where you could see the gas gauge go down if you stomped on the accelerator, lol.
@@billolsen4360 Our '65 Ford LTD with 352 four barrel was like that. Great car, nice ride, plenty of power. 😁
@@KoshN The '65 LTD was a good looker too!
@@billolsen4360 Yes it was. Ours was a blue-green metallic. It got head-on, totalled in 1977 by a college kid coming downhill in a 1974 Chevy Caprice who was looking through a 3" x 5" card shaped hole in the ice on his windshield. 🙄 Immaculate, beautiful car totaled by a 🤬🤬🤬 idiot.
@@KoshN He didn't learn too much at that college, did he?
Totally agree with your assessment! There are others if course, like the Pontiac Fiero, and that other Pontiac 2 seater in the late 2000s that the Saturn Sky was copied from.
Pontiac Solstice. Absolutely cool car. Cousin has a 2007 GXP. Great little sports coupes.
Really like your narrating voice! Thanks for the great content.
Thank You for these amazing videos, I can't stop watching them.
Another excellent profile on a few great little cars, always enjoyable! You should do a video on the Capri as it has an interesting back story & I had a couple of them which I loved.
Ah, the Capri, what the Mustang 2 should have been!
Also with the 2002 Ford Thunderbird, I think base price was the sales issue with the Base price and Dealers marking up the price caused poor sales.
Yeah, many dealers put a $10K markup on those suckers. But really that was Ford's fault as they limited production.
'02 TBird also too heavy for a 2 seater car... 3900 lbs...
There never was a 4 door Vega. Even the station wagon only came as a two door. They were nice looking cars but simply mechanically junk
Walter Johnson
The engineers were told how to make the car instead of vice versa, so the first Vega proto-type made it half way around GM's test track before breaking in two. My sister had a Monza, I really enjoyed driving that car.
Happy Days the monza was sporty looking and was indeed fun to drive.
Walter Johnson
Somebody hit her in it, she only had it a year. I believe it had a V-8, real snappy to drive. With that rear brake handle by your right hand, in the snow, I had a blast spinning that thing around in a parking lot one day. She never let me drive it again.
With a hatchback, a 4 door wouldn't look right. I don't think thier ever was a 4 dr hatchback from any make. Except for a Malibu Max.
@@weelgunny VW Rabbit Chevy Chevette, Chevy Citation and Pontiac Phoenix, Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon, Renault LeCar, Renault Encore, Ford Escort/ Mercury Lynx Numerous Saabs all 4 door hatchbacks and probably a few I'm missing , oh wait Ford Fiesta, Ford Festiva, Ford Focus, Chevy Sprint/Chevy Nova (the one based on the Toyota Corolla),Toyota Corolla, GEO Metro, Merkur Scorpio Honda Civic,Honda Accord Crosstour, Toyota Venza.
Vega was a rust bucket with iron/aluminium mis-match engine. Ran poorly in cold weather. I remember going to look for a car with my grandfather. First stop was a junk yard littered with Vegas and AMC Pacers. Good indication what not to buy.
The Cosworth was and is my bowtie dream car. Had they lasted a couple more years, I would have owned one instead of my first Z28.
I dont mean to be offtopic but does anyone know a trick to get back into an instagram account?
I was stupid lost my account password. I appreciate any help you can give me!
@Amir Dariel Instablaster ;)
@Jacob Cody I really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and I'm trying it out now.
Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will reply here later with my results.
@Jacob Cody it worked and I actually got access to my account again. Im so happy!
Thank you so much you saved my account :D
@Amir Dariel glad I could help :)
Great videos.... Was able to drive a vega in high school and was fun. My aunt won two on the price is right and a station wagon
If only Chevrolet used the Cosworth engineering for all their Vega models, not just a couple of years. Given the improvement in performance and relative reliability compared to the standard Vega, I think they should've.
They still rusted out.
I'm sure they did. But then I would think most cars rusted out eventually.
@@jasoncarpp7742 no, not really. I own a 1977 Chevy El Camino SS, original owner. I owned a 1973 Vega Hatch back. It rusted bad. I repaired all the rusy, new fenders, resheet metal about hood area were air vents are, everything. After 6 months or so it started rusting again in different places. All the Vega' s did this. If it did not rust I was going drop in it a 350 engine with 350 turbo hydromatic transmission.
That's crazy, how cars were built during that decade.
I had to laugh around 1:25.
That beautiful engine and look forward to the gm upper rad hose and traditional crappy old tower hose clamp.
The buck stopped there 🤣🤣
My sister and her husband had an early Vega. The differential got chewed up near a small town in Colorado because a needed cotter pin had not been installed during manufacturing. It took ten days to find the parts. Even the factory didn't have them. Pitiful!
My Neighbor(Across the Street) has an Original 76 White with Red Int. Cosworth Vega with 3500 mi. And My Dads 88 Reatta Coupe Is in My Driveway.
A white Cosworth Vega,really?You may be confusing it with the Spirit of America version,produced for the bicentennial (1976).
@@deliveryguyrx Sorry-No Confusion! Just Saw The Car Yesterday-As I've Seen It Since 1983 In My Neighbors Garage. Owner Of Car Is Son Of One Of The Cyl Head Designers For GM.
@@markpalio4411 Mark, then that white Cosworth would have definitely been a special "factory ordered" vehicle that high-ranking GM execs could order with special paint from the factory. I guarantee you that all Cosworth Vegas were Black with gold trim. If your neighbor's white one was delivered like that from the factory, then it is really something quite unique and probably worth much more than the Black Cosworths.
I had a 76 cosworth it was firstborn red with red interior i have seen a white cosworth dark blue and black my car was 2875. All cosworth Vegas had number on dash and engine builders name singed under hood
@@dianasmith4282 I Will Ask My Neighbor What # His Is. Probably Still Has Eng Builder Sig Also As The Air In The Tires Is The Same Since He Bought It.
I work at the Chevrolet dealership when the Cosworth Vega came out. These cars were rocket ships! Different mentality back in those days. Big v8s and bigger cars was the rage but we missed looking into the future.
You couldn't give me a Vega. The XLR also lacked sufficient interior space for someone of my height and build when I tried one out at a car show. The Reatta though, was a true tragedy. That car should have been a success.
So I going out here, what is your height and girth?
Awa the Vega, worked at GM dealer when those things were new. They would rust out sitting on the lot. Remember one that the customer said it had an oil leak. Found a big hole on side of block where the rod went through, still ran. I could go on and on, great times in the 70s.
Reatta were beautiful !
I've loved the looks of the XLR from the first time I saw it in a 2005 Top Gear magazine
Always loved the XLR. One of the best looking Vehicles in this century.
I bough 1976 Cosworth Vega 3510 (sequence was higher than production car numbers) Metallic Gold exterior, buckskin interior. Handling was great, but snap oversteer! Was member of the Cosworth Vega owners association for years. Sold it at 60,000 miles. Only issue was the dealer had no idea how to work on it so they sold me the bucket tappet tools to adjust the valve clearance every 15,000 miles. A fun car, with lots of rpm (no redline, 8000 sounded awesome), but not lots of power.
From what I've read, GM had 10,000 engines made for the Cosworth Vega and ended up scrapping 6,500 of them at $10,000 a piece. If they had cut the price $1000, they probably would have sold them all and lost a lot less money on the project. Even if they cut it $2000, the buzz generated by customers fighting over them would have been free advertising. Most of the Vega's rust problems had been solved by 1975 (they actually found a way to paint the whole thing!!), and the Cosworths were said to be the best-built Vegas, so it's sad that they wasted this opportunity. They even had Vega bodies leftover from the 1977 model year, which were sold with Monza Town Coup faces as the "Monza S". With the debut of the torque-arm rear suspension that laid the foundations for the 1982 Camaro, the Cosworth was too important a piece of GM history to have been labeled a failure.
PC No, I think you are pretty close to the Cosworth engine count, but they didn't scrap all of them. If I remember, they saved about 2000 engines for resale. I own 3 Cos Vega's and about 3 more engines. Chevy wanted to compete with the car in the under 125 cu in ? class for the advertising to boost car sales. Funny, I never heard of any famous races. GM contracted Cosworth to engineer the destroked little engine and in race trim made a solid 240 hp and had the aluminum block failure at above 260hp. # 1 problem, Chevy could not have a lightweight 4 cyl Vega faster than the heavy smogged Corvette. # 2, EPA testing had burned exhaust valves, even tuned at about 150 HP for engine durability runs, so they kept taking power out and delayed production almost 2 years. It was about the first production car with a computer, electronic fuel injection, factory stainless big tube header, 4 valve per cyl, double overhead cam, etc. No, not the first car to have said features, just too early to work very good in the 1970's. i enjoy the V8 Vega and the Cos, but sadly GM dropped the ball and didn't even care.The 140 (2300) Vega run OK, but the tiny radiator, worthless match of alum pistons and alum block din't work. Instead of adding 4 steel sleeves to fix the problem, GM would not accept the fancy allow block was the problem and simply added another idiot light to check engine coolant! Too late! Texas cars, I have not seen the Vega rust any more than the rest, but if you live on the coast, they all still rust.
What I remember about the Reatta was the touch screen and if or when it went bad, you lost many accessories functionality.
If that's the same screen I've seen documentation about, it really showed GM's innovation and implementations. How public judgement has changed - what was ridiculously not needed and expensive then is a must and is taken for granted now. So Tesla uses a 21" touch-screen now.
BTW, the instrument cluster in my car "acts as a main buss", and much goes out if electrical contact is lost.
The Northstar engine might have been part of the Caddy's failure. Though I know little about the supercharged version, it's naturally asperatd version was less than reliable.
Cadillac shoehorned this behemoth engine into several front wheel drive models which was a nightmare for most mechanics. The Northstar was prone to oil pan gasket leaks that required engine removal to reseal. The starter motor was "conveniently" mounted under the intake manifold; a terrible design for a number of reasons.
Cadillac has a history of weird engine developments that make mechanics shake in their boots. Who can forget dealing with Digital Fuel Injected 4100s? Cylinder shedding seemed like a good idea until something went wrong; even God had no idea how to diagnose it.
I don't know about the latter comment but I totally agree with the former. The Northstar in itself had many pluses but turning it sideways and forcing the adaption of the remaining drivetrain meant repair costs were higher than 'normal'.
From my recollection the ‘Northstat’ wasn’t a behemoth , the quad cam heads made it large on top, not much heavier.
This engine had great potential and was used successful in World prototype racing.
My understanding of the engines problems had to do with casting quality.
If the General Mayhem would’ve put a bit mor into it , in my opinion, it would’ve made a much better engine for the Corvette too..
Even Ford went Quad cam for the Mustang
Thanks for giving the xlr some love. I remember when that car came out I was in my early 20’s and I worked at kohl’s making $9 an hour. I wanted one so bad.... I currently own a 2005 Cadillac STS4, 2005 Cadillac deville limited and a 69 sedan deville!
I fixed the Vega problem. 72 model with a 350/TH400 trans. Monza parts dropped right in.
@@straycat379 the one I bought was a rolling car but the motor was blown as typical of Vegas in those days so I just stripped all of that junk out and did the conversion it was light and fast
And then the front cross member deformed until you had 5 degrees of negative camber in the front wheels, long before that became "cool"......
Nothing deformed. It was the same car basically as the Monza which came factory with a V8. I used Monza V8 parts for the conversion.
@@willbar1961 The front crossmembers on the early Vegas were so weak they used to deform and spread out . When I worked at the Chevy dealership in the 70s we used to replace them constantly. When the Monza came out in 75? they reinforced the crossmembers and later Vegas got it too. I had to replace the crossmembers on my 73 and 74 Vegas with the later parts before I could adjust thy front wheel camber to specs.
By '75, GM had 4-banger Vegas/Astres setup for V6/V8... because Monzas had them...
I put an LT-1 in a Vega! That was a great car! Kudos for mentioning this overlooked masterpiece.
I bet it would pass everything on the road, AND maybe a few gas stations!!
@hawkturkey - By '75, GM had it all ready to drop V6's and V8's in... even moved the heater/AC hoses toward outside... V8 crossmember underneath...
I remember the Buick Reatta. I found it more attractive than the Riviera of the same vintage. I also preferred it over the Cadillac Allante. At the time, I was hoping it would've replaced the ageing Riviera. Why it didn't is beyond me.
Buick could be a cool brand with nicely scultped modern versions of the riviera and reatta, along with a grand national and GNX top end model. Instead they make toyota camry and avalon copies that nobody wants
@@MaliciousSRT I agree. I remember the Grand National and GNX. I was less than pleased when it was discontinued when it was, in favour of the more modern, yet less attractive, front-wheel drive Buick Regal.
Yup, overpricing has prevented many other manufacturers from huge sale successes. The VW retro Beatle from the early 2000 was another example of a car people were really interested in buying, but was way overpriced.
Despite the high cost, the XLRs interior looked cheap.
I've seen the Reattas on the road from time to time. I would love to own one. Either that or the Allante. Oddly enough, I think the Reatta shares the EXACT same platform as the 1987-1992 Olds Toronado/Olds Troféo.
All three were grossly overpriced considering the overall poor GM quality.
Buick 3800 series was one of the best engines ever built.
@@WinterInTheForest Yes, the Buick 3800 was a truly reliable engine, but GM's other lines had too many issues and by then had ruined their credibility. General Motors unfornately destroyed the US auto market. I spent over 30 years in the industry from 1978 to 2010.
@@Clarkecars yeah, the bean counters took over just like at Ford. They got rid of "car guys" and brought in marketing dweebs.
@@muskokamike127 This is true! I was in Ford in the 90s and saw it 1st hand.
I have a magazine ad from GM for the Cosworth Vega starting off "It's like buying one Vega for the price of two!" ....I'm thinking "let's just get that issue off the table right up front"... lol
I had a 1979 (Vega based) Pontiac Sunbird notchback coupe with the 305 V8, AC, cruise control, AM 8 track(?) stereo and a three speed auto in a buttery buckskin color over a tan interior optioned out to look like a mini Trans Am with the TA steering wheel, bucket seats, turned aluminum dash, rally styled TA rims, gold lower body stripes and a rear deck lid spoiler - ruined my drivers license in that car - it was fast and handled reasonably well for it's day and age. Never ever saw another one save for my neighbor who bought a sapphire blue one with a V6 and 5 speed. A very reliable and fun to drive car - my mini Trans Am!
I had a '74 Vega....not a Cosworth....burned a quart of oil every 100 miles and had rusting lower body panels. Otherwise it was a great car!
@old veteran . . . I had a '74 GT model, it handled great. Its rust spot was on the hatchback area in-between the hinges. Mine burned a quart of oil every 200 miles. My brother, an GM automotive mechanic back then, did a trick to minimize the spark plug fouling: He advanced the engine timing and put in the hottest heat range spark plugs to be had. But, it resulted with me having to use premium gasoline.
I have a good friend that had a vega that he inserted a 350 engine, 10 inch rear tires, 411 rear end and let me tell you it would pack the front tires and wouldn't nothing around here beat it for a long time.
Back in the 70s in Bowling Green, KY we used to run the by-pass on Friday and Saturday night checking out all the hot rods. All I had which it wasn't bad but it was to be stock, it was a stock 70 Chevelle with a stock 396 375 horse engine and it would get on down the road pretty quick
Came here really expecting to see the Edsel and/or Tucker.
Tucker failed because of the lies promoted by GM and Ford. Drew Pearson (not the football player) was a popular radio personality of the day and was paid to promote the lies about the Tucker, including that it could not go in reverse. A lie. He said the car was unsafe. It was regarded as the safest car being built. Preston Tucker was forced into bankruptcy by the auto corporate giants.
@@Theywaswrong No argument from me. What I know is mostly from the movie which dwelled more on the way they got him investigated for securities fraud. Not that they succeeded in bringing him down on that front, but by the time he was cleared, the damage had been done.
Worked on a Buick Reatta at the shop around 2002...the novel CRT dash mounted display would offer up codes....I finally found a coolant leak, the freeze plugs were rusting out...considering the zero clearance issues, I pulled the motor to put in the plugs...something was weird, there was three inches of solid rust debris from the bottom of the plug to the pan rail...sensing something was wrong, I tested my new plugs & was greeted to green coolant emanating from the block in those three inches above the pan rail....the block was eaten away to paper thin allowing coolant to seep...
That XLR got released right when everyone started losing their jobs and money in the recession, no wonder a sporty luxo-coupe didn't fare well when the Madoff's took all the money.
And did you notice who drove them? People in their late 50's and up. I suppose the baby boomers who had the money when others lost their jobs. I associated the XLR with AARP back then.
The GM 3800 II was bullet proof! I owned two Regals, one without and one with a supercharger. I drove both of them for over 200,000 miles and they ran like a sewing machine.
Oh come on the Vega was the only car that ever started rusting out while still on the dealer lot. It deserved to go the way of the Pinto, and it did.
The Bic lighter of cars.
jmad627 no that is more suitable to the Pinto which exploded when rear ended.
Mason George just read up on it. You're referring to one incident where the Pinto exploded and killed 4 teenagers and Ford got away with paying the victiims' family only 7500 bucks each. Do your research before cherry picking Ignoramus.
Those XLR's are special cars. Very well designed but they were un affordable and their engines required a lot of maintenance. That would have been a huge turn off.
I am a GM man but sometimes there greed gets the best of them
My first car was a white 1975 GT Kammback Vega station wagon that I got from my father and he got the car new in 1974. It was a decent car and I really liked the look of it with the GT stripes on it. I was in the process of collecting the parts to do a 327 V8 swap into the car when I unfortunately totaled the car in an accident just before my 19th birthday. I wish I could find another one to do a V8 swap in.
love the vega. use a small block v8 pull junk off there you go.
that was a popular swap when I was in high school. 327 was the most popular. Drop an edlebrock intake and 650 cfm holley and some mild exhaust and you had a killer sleeper on your hands.
@@muskokamike127 Use to own an H-body 77 Sunbird with a 3.8l Turbo from a Grand national !!!
@@egSmith-sp9gl sheesh, that thing must have scooted pretty good!
@@muskokamike127 It wasn't the 245hp latest GNX but the 200hp 300lb/ft. Still it was hauling pretty good !!!
I guess Shane followed through with that.
The Cosworth Vega was actually marketed as 'One Vega for the price of Two'...and you couldn't get air conditioning. A doctor I knew ordered one but refused to take it due to the a/c inability. The local dealer had two of them in 1975.
Those Vega's rusted so bad that no one wanted one. They could literally rust in two years.
Russell Sova my first car in USA, was a very early TOYOTA COROLLA 2 dr 4 on the floor manual choke, It was great,if it lasted , but in 2& 1/2 years it RUSTED AWAY INCLUDING ITS FRIGGING ROOF , first & last JAPANESE CAR, , those days that old steel, was from our old battleships, cut up in south Kearney NJ FOR JAPAN, CHEERS FROM NJ. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
@@flybyairplane3528 what yr was that because I've never seen Toyota with rust problems.. I've seen them from the late 70s 80s and never seen one rusted out..
Mello yellow 1962 cheers
Buick Reatta's were assembled the old fashioned way, by hand as in before the assembly line was implemented. Reattas have high quality and craftsmanship. I loved this model and always got up close at auto shows, unfortunately by the time I could afford to purchase a car it was out of production.
A turbo-charged Northstar V8? That must have spit the head bolts out in record time.
No it was supercharged beginning in 2004-2009. They are very well built and bulletproof engines.
😂😂😂😂😂
Northstar and bullet proof dont belong on the same page😂😂😂😂
@@jasonbradick3155 They are very bulletproof if properly maintained just like anything else.
@@starxlr7863 i've got over 30yrs in auto repair, even with adding the pellets and using GM Dexcool they still failed!!! Rocker arms also had a habbit of walking off valve steam! Have you ever tried to do a head job on a Nortstar eng? Your reply tells me no! The head bolts would snap off!! Then you needed a $3000 jig/plate to even try to remove broken head bolts! It's sad GM used such cheap parts on the Northstar's they could've been so much more!
My first car was a 73 Vega wagon. I think I paid $500 for it and the first thing I did was put a $600 stereo in it. Then I put some Uniroyal Tiger Paws on it for $200 more. That thing handled like a dream with decent rubber. I had a ball driving that thing. Good tunes, practical storage space, and go-cart handling. And then the engine blew up. But still, that was a great couple of weeks.
GM has a LONG history of screwing themselves in sales by overpricing their special models. The recent Chevrolet SS, the newer Pontiac GTO, the Cosworth Vega, the SSR... and so on, and so on, and... and despite what the press releases are saying GM wants to price the new, upcoming mid-engined Corvette at (60,000), dealers won’t let a single one of those go for a dime less than $80,000.
NorthernChev
I agree, it's amazing they've stayed in business as long as they have. I think the announcement that they are in the process of moving their manufacturing base to China is the last nail in the coffin for the former giant. Nobody would buy a Ferrari that wasn't made in Italy (especially China), who would buy a Chevy that wasn't made in the USA?
Hah! So right. I worked at the Lordstown plant where the Vega was built. GM management was terrible.
I agree with you, but the SS was never meant to sell. It was needed for a deal GM was making involving the opening of a new plant I think.
And can't you have them order you a new one from the factory? Just spec out a base model?
Go to a top corvette dealer, they dont have to mark them up you can get one no mark up fyi
A neighbor had 2 Cosworth Vegas, a white with gold 75, and a black with gold 76. He had a lot of trouble with the FI and the cars rusted out like crazy. Interestingly enough, his daily was a 78 Monza with a 305. For whatever reason, that car survived well into the late 90s, whereas both Vegas were long gone.
It's the sheet metal. I had my '76 Sunbird until 2002, when I got into a four car pileup in it.
We had a convirtable reatta as are dummy car for our shop class to work on
Ohio technical college ?
Shoulda been in English class.
xXcashXx3 needs to stay out of shop class, and spend more time in English class. Kids today...why do they even go to school? Put the I-phones down, and pick up a grammar book. (convirtable = convertible and it isn't "are" it is "our". "Are" is the second-person singular and plural forms of the verb "to be". Also, "our" belonging to or associated with the speaker and one or more other people previously mentioned or easily identified."Jo and I had our hair cut" NOT "Jo and I had are hair cut". There, have a free English lesson.
Wes Frazier - Exactly my thoughts. This dudes syntax is particularly woeful.
@@unclefestersworld3180 stop worrying about his incorrect use of English grammar; perhaps you take pleasure in being an internet bully.
As I understand it, NADA and Kelly's Blue Book were purchased by the used car industry to justify higher used car prices, much like Comic Book Guides are printed to primarily make collectors feel good about their collections. They are all poor and self-serving sales literatures sold as reference guides.
Grossly Overpriced.
Grossly Underpowered.
Typical case thats still true to this day of American auto manufacturers still telling Americans what to buy instead of listening to us tell them what we want and what we can afford.
The grossly underpowered 'mopar-maserati' looked and shared too much with the K-car.
They evaluated these three cars fairly. I had just started my IT career in Springfield mass in late 1976, and although my favorite car was the Chevy Monza, ( still is) when I got a ride in a used one, Cosworth Vega 5 speed, WHITE, yes WHITE one, I was in love. I wanted to buy it badly, but the price was outside my reach, I was only making I think $5.00 per hour. I purchased a used Monza 2+2, 4 cylinder, Tangerine Orange, Tan interior, from Baleiau Chevrolet,in Jan 1.1977. I wanted one with the 305, but the salesman told me, those with the V8 were not getting traded in, owners were keeping them, because of the v8. I still have my 75 today, I planned to swap in a v8 myself (easy to do) and I haven't done it yet. I haven't driven it since 1979 when I moved back to Detroit. I have built a hi-PO Vega motor for my 75, installed it with a trans brake, full manual power glide, built for Turbo or Nitrous, 200 hp max add on. I will take it to drag strip, run it till I blow it up, then swap in a v8. In the mean time along with buying other cars, I bought a 1979 (got my v8) Monza 2+2, 305, thm350 Black on Black, June 06, for sale in a closed Burger King parking lot, for $800.00. I drove it around and around, in the Dream Cruise 07 and 08, raced it at Milan, won Friday Night Track champ honors with it and my v8 88 S-10 Blazer. It has the new crate 350 that will be transferred into my 75 this year. I am sorry that this is long but..VEGA MONZA talk gets me started.....fair warning.....Vega and Monza owners are crazy, don't cross us. mfisher