I was one of the drivers in the 1975 60,000 miles in 60 day Vega endurance test. 3 shifts of drivers drove from Vegas to Beatty NV, into Death Valley, exited south of Furnace Creek and back again to Vegas, about 7.5 hours including a couple short breaks during the test...during the summer! The cars never cooled down for the 60 days. We were testing the endurance of the aluminum block engine. Even made a TV commercial during the test. Fun job!
Heating and then cooling IS a problem for aluminum engines. Imagine, torquing and untorquing bolts every time you stop the engine. Why Dodge has problems with header bolts snapping off. Dissimilar metals for corrosion and thermal dynamics is not the best idea.
My father in law and I tried out a 4 speed Vega in the 70's and being a hot rodder I went through the gears for him and blew the transmission and had to call the dealer to send a tow truck~!!
My father owned a 1976 Chevy Vega. The oil pan hung down below the skid plates. He put three oil pans in that car because the suspension was so terrible he kept bottoming it out on relatively well paved city streets.
I had a 72 Vega GT, 4 speed manual transmission that I loved. At 110k miles I replaced the short block with a factory steel sleaved short block. When I sold it, it had 230k miles and was still running strong.
My manual was fun. After a while i had to start swapping plugs fairly regular . But plugs were easy to get to and dirt cheap. That car did handle Great . A good car for the drunk i used to be. It drove itself. I miss that .
I had a few of those over the years but they were all over ten years old and well over 100k miles with very tired engines so it was expected and 500 to the quart was acceptable with a new car. The Vega's engine was lucky to make it 50k and the car was more rusted at two years than other cars in ten. A great idea horribly executed. Now cars are good for 20 years and 200k to 300k with ease. I just put down a 1997 Ford Explorer because the deferred maintenance built up to to high a level to fix her.
In 1972 I bought a Vega. I changed the oil every 3,000 miles and when I got rid of it in 1975 because I got married and the wife wanted more room. I had NO problems or complaints. When I traded it in, I had 150,000 miles on it and burned 1/2 quart of oil between oil changes. I wish I could find such a vehicle today. The same year, my dad bought a 1972 Caprice and we got 5 miles from the dealer when the transmission fell out on the road. Give me a Vega any day!
Ok, here is my absolutely honest experience with my 1975 Vega. 1st off, this is in Southern California, so rust was absolutely a non issue. I bought it in 1978 off a dealer lot for 1000 dollars, that included all fees. It had 40.000 miles on it, and an 8 track cheap stereo, and aluminum Mag wheels! It was my daily driver for 2 years, when in November of 1980 I bought my 1st brand new car a Toyota Celica. I was 21. I sold the Vega private party with just under 90.000 miles for 1500 dollars! And the guy I sold it was happy to get it. I put almost 50.000 miles on that car, and only repair was a busted clutch cable, and a new water pump. That was it. It was a 3 speed manual, and I drove it all over the place, including up into the mountains many times. I took good care of it, 3000 mile oil changes, a coolant flush once, tires, and 1 brake job. I kept it washed and waxed.. It never failed me, including a trip from home to visit family in Missouri. It didn't burn oil, got good MPG. It was light metallic green, and a beige interior. Now at 62, I've had many brand new cars, But when I think of that simple, no frills little Vega, it brings a smile to my face! 😊
My sister graduated in 74, she bought her 1st new car, a 74 vega gt.. she beat the hell out of it as did my 2 brothers, and it only ever got basic maintenance.. it was yellow with black gt stripes
@@hesspet they could rust as a champion. But there is only one master in rustdisaster The AlfaRomeo Sud . Doors and windows fell of due rustdamage at the showroom floor!
Mom and Dad bought one new. We attempted a family vacation to Disney World. Never made it back. Always wondered why we flew home. First plane trip ever thanks to that Vega.
Great story and I believe it, my parents bought a 72 Vega, and immediately we went to Washington DC but we did make it back. However my Dad said the car was trouble after the trip. My kids who grew up with a minivan and would never know the experience of squeezing in/out of a Vega.
Probably lost most of the coolant out the radiator overflow tube. One of the first recalls was to add a overflow- bottle. Low coolant-levels were fatal for the Vega's aluminum engine. Happened a lot.
@@jimstrict-998 I just added a comment about my own experience with a Vega engine destroyed by low coolant. When we got the head off the view was surreal.
Oh come on. That could have happened in any new car, even a Cadillac. There are always some new cars that have a problem, and the warranty program takes care of repairs. You guys were just unlucky.
I had a 76 Cosworth Vega. Really liked that car. But I knew going in the tendency to rust (think happy thoughts, a Vega will rust if you cry in it). I washed it weekly, even in winter (living in Atlanta helped). I took care it, and it never let me down. Sold it before I moved to Texas in 1978.
I had the 76 Cosworth Vega, blue with white interior. I loved that car. Was stationed in Charleston S.C. at the time. Almost divorced My wife, when I returned from sea and found out she had sold it. Found out later that she had wrecked it first...then sold it.
Always thought it a shame that these cars had their problems because they were good looking little cars. In 1974 my Mom bought one just to have the head warp and block crack with very few miles on it. She took it back and came home with a brand new 75 Monte Carlo. Best new car we ever had.
@stoveboltlvr3798 when I turned 16 my mom gave me her 69 Camaro, then she went and bought herself a brand new 75 Monte Carlo, blue with white interior and white landau roof. That was a beautiful car.
Looked even better with the front bumper cut to look like the two piece Camaro and a spoiler and front air dam. Oh, yes Chrome the headlight bezels and the installation of Camero mirrors to replace the little dainty piece of shit originals. You had a mini-me Camero.😜
@@andyhastings5950 It was also very popular to swap in Chevrolet 350 engines to replace the horrid stock setup. Sadly they live on now, only in my memories.
@xr7fanSadly those were only offered after smog laws had gotten...bad. In 1972 you could have had a 250hp version of that engine directly from GM but the Monza was only good for half that, despite being the same engine. (with a far weaker cam, lower compression, etc)
@xr7fan I'm glad you experienced them as they were meant to be. Most saw them as a slightly faster Capri V6 but they had the potential to be so much more.
That's all 70s era American cars, the sheetmetal on those cars just was not well coated and lots of old cars had exposed seams where the sheetmetal was spot welded and water and dirt would get in them seams and rot the panels especially in places where the roads get salted, the Vegas rusted just as bad as all famous muscle cars from that generation it's just that most people with muscle cars are willing to fix the rust where the vega was a cheap disposable car so not many people would fix the rust as it would start occuring so in my opinion the vega doesn't deserve the rust reputation alone, all cars from that era rotted if driven in salted roads and neglected like most cheap cars of that time.
20 years ago msn had a website called carpoint. they ran a user poll for worst car. people shared thier stories. one guy said his vega had been made of compressed rust. it broke in 1/2 when going over some train tracks one night. the pinto stories were worse.
My dad had a Vega in 1979 and when he would turn off the ignition, even with the key out the switch, the engine would keep running. We had time to walk in the house, and finally about 30 seconds later, the engine would stop. To this day, it’s one of my favorite “we had a crappy-car” stories. :)
Ha, Ha, that was Dieseling or what we called it, to much fun if you had one. LOL. Smokers were hilarious too, in traffic a smokin exhaust, I used to ask my buddy why the Cops would not stop someone with a belching out Smoke, probably felt sorry for the owner.
Preignition, the most common cause is carbon build up on the plugs. The plugs stay so hot they still ignited the gas even after the car is shut off. Solution, new plugs or clean the plugs. Pre-ignition (or preignition) in a spark-ignition engine is a technically different phenomenon from engine knocking, and describes the event wherein the air/fuel mixture in the cylinder ignites before the spark plug fires. Pre-ignition is initiated by an ignition source other than the spark, such as hot spots in the combustion chamber, a spark plug that runs too hot for the application, or carbonaceous deposits in the combustion chamber heated to incandescence by previous engine combustion events.
@@j.dragon651 All I know is it was hilarious to hear it after you shut the engine down. LOL. See Uncle Buck with John Candy, he had a smoker/dieseler. LOL.
In 1984 a friend in high school had a 10 year old Vega GT wagon, we couldn’t drive home after school without adding oil to it, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Hadn’t thought of him or that car in years. Thanks History Guy for making me laugh with nostalgia.
Mine was the Mercury Capri, around 71 or 72, bought mine after college in 77. Parts of it came from the Pinto, but it was built in Europe and apparently had somewhat better build quality. Lots of fun to drive. A 4 speed as I recall, so I really had to learn to use what turned out to be a worn out clutch. But it got replaced, put Aramid belted radials on, and I had the 'right' car for a young guy to enjoy taking out on I80 between PA and NYC. Fortunately my only speeding all those decades ago was uphill!
I drove my Pinto from the passages seat sometimes. It created the illusion that nobody was driving the car. I loved Pinto’s form factor and geometry. It was a death trap.
@@rawrec The surprise for me was that the Pinto engine could be put into a Capri with surprisingly good results! Once I had good tires and a viable clutch, it truly drove like a sport car, with tight handling and plenty of power for it's weight. I'd sort of test that going up hill on I80 crossing New Jersey, and it performed well. Then over the top of the hill toward the speed traps (of the late 1970's) and just let it roll down the other side at a much more reasonable speed.
We bought one of the '76 models at a discount. It was actually a pretty good car for commuting. I took it over 100K miles with very few mechanical problems.
My dad had a Vega as a company car. Great mileage but I remember him remarking about his losing a few sales as clients got in it and remarked that the company must be having financial troubles. LOL! He shared that with his boss and they sold them all and went back to Chrysler New Yorkers.
I remember my Dad saying that in the 70s, he was starting in sales & had an old-school mentor that would only drive New Yorkers. they conveyed to the client that you weren't a desperate schmuck, but unlike a Lincoln or Cadillac didn't convey that you were overly-flashy or fleecing them (or so he believed anyways)
arachnonixon - Good point, but I was just starting high school in those days LOL! I knew little of those things. I just remember dad not being happy that the new car was costing him clients and business. It wasn’t just him, there were several people in sales that felt the same. Normally if I remember correctly they kept cars for 2-4 years, I’m thinking the Vega’s lasted about 6-9 months. They also had some Plymouth Satelites, which were kinda sporty for the day. Edit - And the ride, fit and finish... I can remember thinking as a kid that it was cheap. But what did I know. My allowance was $2/week back then.
Rubber Neck - As I remember it... it was just a car, a decent one. Rode good! It wasn’t flashy and didn’t stand out. Was a cop car in some versions. But I remember my dad saying the mileage of the Vega was going to pay for the car, remember gas was like .25/gal then. The car had promise, but to get the mileage they went cheap on everything else.
My dad had a '72 station wagon and in the early 80's I was told that would be mine. I didn't care, it was a car and freedom. I turned 16 in November and started driving to school, not caring what other people said. The day after Thanksgiving my dad told me we were going to find me a car. My grandfather was a retired mechanic and knew every used car dealer in Pensacola. He had found some to go look at. We wound up buying a 1970 Malibu, 307 V8 in mint condition. I asked my dad why he bought it. He told me "Because you never complained about driving that piece of shit Vega".
That 307 was an unheralded great engine from a reliability standpoint. Transmissions also lasted a long time behind those because of the modest power output. Like a 170 cubic inch Slant Six, the 307 had optimal bore and stroke numbers to make a pleasant and reliable powerplant if horsepower was not the first consideration.
I had a hatchback Vega in the 70’s as a work car for the steel mill in Gary, IN. It was a stick shift. One morning after working midnights a friend and myself were heading out of the mill. The viaduct tunnel under the railway was flooded with all of last night’s rain. Neither of us wanted to drive the two miles it would take to get around it. We drove that Vega with its RPM’s in the red and plunged in. Never stopping the forward roll water breached the windshield, the carpets started floating, that Vega was taking in water everywhere... we looked at each other in terror. As we started to ascend the tunnel we broke into laughter as all the water that entered the car seemed to have left. That was until we leveled out and all the water in the back of the hatchback came forward to awash us in a cold wave. That Vega was never any worse for the wear! True story out of the 70’s.
I loved my Vega! It was my college car, dependable, economical and fun to drive, great on curvy roads though not much top end. I may have had the exception, but I remember it fondly :)
Totally understand your lucky streaks with the Vega, I went through similar situations with the Chevy Citation, lots of people had trouble with them, but I put 90k + miles with no difficulties, despite others blowing transmissions at about 35/45k miles.... LoL 😂
Luckily for GM, the Cimmaron wasn't as heavily marketed, nor was it within the price range of the average small car buyer. It was supposed to compete with the BMW 3 series of the day and was a hell of a lot more reliable than the Vega ever was.
It was my first car, I loved it. Two months later, I wasn't quite as happy about the blown head gasket or the transmission that was slipping. Yes, I raised such hell at the dealership that they gave a choice of a replacement vehicle... My new Plymouth Valiant Duster was awesome...
As a former Vega owner, I can attest to the great handling of the car. Vegas had interestingly wide tire rims that could accommodate 60 series in back and 70's in the front. It was amazingly stable at high speeds. One day I tested mine by putting my foot on the throttle and not letting up. The speedometer in the Vega only went up to 110 mph. However, not only did the needle get up to that, it passed it and vanished behind the dash! If only GM had used cast cylinder liners and done better rustproofing, as then it would have been a hit. By comparison, a later car I owned was a Pontiac Sunbird. It was really a twin to the Vega and had a Buick V-6 engine and was a road screamer. Alas, the same poor rustproofing plagued the Pontiac as well.
My vega could go to from long beach to the starwood on less than two bucks. And when you let go of the wheel it would immediately drive straight. I loved that.
as an autobody man......they had welded on door hinges,to the body and the door........non adjustable......what a pain they were!!!!!!! alum block throw away motor.........crap!!!!! fjb and the rinos!!!!!!
I had a 72. My brother's car. Given to me when he bought his GT. It had a sleeved rebuild that I could play around with and a 2 speed powerglide that I could get to 50 mph in first gear. I loved it because I learned a lot about cars by tinkering with it. Multiple shades of primer covered the body. And, as it was a hatchback, I could carry a half keg of beer in the back for parties.
A friend of mine worked at the Lordstown plant and owned a Vega. A few years into his ownership, he was waxing it ,and his hand went partially through the body. He concluded that the Vega was bio-degradable.
my ex father in law worked at lordstown his job was driving off assembly line he told me parts would fall off before it got outside and sometimes it would not make it outside
@Intellectual Ammunition Only time will tell. I wouldn't be surprised if they picked a bone with vanilla ice cream. They once tried something with milk but I think they're brazen and emboldened and will go after the White House.
Thanks for the blast from the past. As a teenager, the Vega was my first car, and it was brand new at that, because of its affordability. Most kids had their dad's old cast-off clunker. I had that brand new car the same month that I got my driver's licence. I saved money for two years at odd jobs. Of course, I took a lot of ribbing because it was a small car and those were the days when your manhood was judged by the horsepower of your muscle car. The car lasted almost eight years, requiring only one engine transplant because of warping of the aluminum block, but GM paid for that. It was zippy (had a manual transmission) and luckily mine didn't have a lot of other quality issues. The most notable was that it couldn't take cold weather and regularly needed to be towed to a heated garage to get it to start. I had the clutch cable snap as well, and that was a bummer. I started the car, and went to put it in gear, and the clutch went to the floor and stayed there. As it got older, you pulled into a full service gas station and said "Fill up the oil and check the gas". I loved the car. It gave me freedom as a teenager when many of my friends and peers didn't have transportation. I was quite popular because of my Vega. My girlfriend destroyed it in a collision. Thanks for this trip down memory lane. I still have the owners manual, and it is one of the most treasured books in my library.
Still have my 72 Vega, gave $100 for it in 1992. Now has a 377 cid small block, th 350 trans, narrowed 9" with 4.86 gears. Body has all original sheet metal, no rust ever, only the windshield was replaced. 99 times out of a hundred, when I go to a car show or cruise night, I've got the only Vega there. Still see them on the drag strip a lot, very light car.
One of my friends shoehorned a 350 into a Chevy LUV pickup. He had to put sandbags in the bed to keep the truck from burning rubber when pulling away from the curb!
My sister had,a Vega , never a lick of trouble , bought new , drove it for more than 10 years , sold it to another college girl, last we heard was still going strong , so not all of them had problems,, thanks for memories , from history deserving of being remembered, this one was definitely in the “ 5 percent “ thank you History Guy
I have a nice 73 in my garage right now , and it is not rusted out and the best part is it now has a V8 in it and is a blast to drive plus no one knows what it is !
@@fieldinglover I had a 73 . That we bought used. It was beat. Overheated ....And so it lived up to being a oil burning rusty peace of shit. So l bough a 75. That had a engine fire . But was in mint condition used the 73 for parts. To fix it. Than I junked the 73. Big mistake. Young and STUPED. I was 17. The 75 ran like a raped ape. But now 6 VEGAS later my 72 GT. Ralley green with white stripes and swing out windows. Is my face. I lost it in a bad storage deal. I have a 79 monza 2+2 nowadays. It's ok but its not the. 72.
@@GD1082 No in the early 60's Buick and Oldsmobile both made an Aluminum V8 215 with a 4 bbl carb and I built one and put it in my Vega and it will pull the front wheels off the ground ! they also put these little V8's into a lot of Jeeps because they make good torque plus they get good gas mileage when you don't have the throttle pegged !
Well done! My first new car was a 1973 Chevy Vega. Within 5,000 miles, the engine burned a quart of oil per tank of gas. It (the entire engine) was replaced under warranty. I sold the car with only 30,000 miles on it. The person who purchased it worked at the same plant that I did and I occasionally saw the car coming in the main gate. Within a few years, the paint had worn off of the roof and there was rust all around the rear window. I would be very surprised it there were very many of these cars still in working order.
I joined the Air Force in September of 72'. When I finished with my school, my first base was in Austin, Texas. I wanted a Vega GT so bad, I could taste it. But thankfully I ended up buying a VW Super Beetle. And boy am I glad. The Vega was well known for the oil burning and oil dropping. And My VW was a dream to drive. They almost got me!!!
Hitlers revenge were never a good car. Noisy, slow, handled bad. And a VW without oil leaks? Clearly it had no oil. Yet Nader never got into them, much.
My Vega never burned or leaked oil but it was a 73 with steel sleeved cylinders. Never overheated and I ran the shit out of it. I lived in California so no worries about rust. The only knock I had on it is that it needed a five speed. Wish I had it back.
I had a '74 Vega GT. I was popular at outdoor parties, as I could let it run for about 15 minutes after I got there, and the clouds of burning oil fumes would keep mosquitoes away for hours.
Haha! My first car was a '74 Vega GT (red), and I know exactly what you're referring to! I have very fond memories of that old car because it was "my first." I also enjoyed the handling and seating position (probably also because of my inexperience). The interior had a muscle car vibe to my teenage mind, and while the worn-out 4cyl had no power, I did have fun racing and drifting around on country gravel roads pretending I was Steve McQueen. :D
@@ORflycaster My mother bought one new in 73, I got my license in 76, so I learned to drive in it. I had tons of fun in it. I also loved playing on dirt roads. It did burn a ton of oil by the time my mother sold it in about 1978.
@Douglas Farshtey Eventually I started feeding mine the used oil I drained from other vehicles. That probably accelerated her demise, but eventually I realized the relationship wasn't meant to last........
A guy I worked with put a 327 in a Vega for our boss. Had to have the drive shaft shortened at some place in Charlotte. It had amazing acceleration thru all the gears!!
@@dough6759 I put a 327/375 in mine when the original engine died with 18000 miles on it. 327 2 speed powerglide out of a wrecked chevelle cut my owen driveshaft swapped in a 9 inch rear with 3.90 gears. This car was a street terror for years til the frame rusted away.
As a front suspension mechanic in the 70s, I became very familiar with the Vega, it had an issue with the chassis spreading at the point where the lower swing arm was adjusted, it would spread so much you couldn't adjust out the negative camber, thus causing tires to wear out faster than they should. There were a few aftermarket kits developed to try and resolve this but for the most part it only slowed the eventual failure. Moog even had special offset bushing to help reduce the problem. What is curious to me is the lack of coverage about this issue. Maybe eclipsed by all the others, but as a suspension mechanic it was often I had to tell the Vega owner the bad news.
In 79, my wife was talking to her sister on the phone. When asked "what are you two doing today?" she answered "We're sitting on the front porch and listening to our Vega rust."
After 3 years commuting in Chicago in our '73 GT wagon I called my wife out to the garage and said "Shhh. Be quiet and listen. Can you hear that?" She said "Hear what?". I said "The Vega....it's rusting". Two years later the RR lower control arm bracket was so rusty it was detaching from the "structural metal". We were one of the luckier ones and got 75K out of it until it overheated. I sorta miss that little car.
@@justme_gb Ha Rusty Jones. That's a name I forgot as in 1985ish I was working at a Porsche/Audi/VW dealership and they charged $180 (I think) for a 2 part Rusty Jones treatment that consisted of a hole being drilled in the lower part of a door in the jamb and a rod inserted and we pulled the trigger as we removed the rod getting points for spillage then spraying the bottom of the car with the same material that was like tar but dried hard finishing up by putting a 2 part wax on the paint that would wash off with a few washes. People rolled it in with the bank loan and almost every car got it. Time proved that those untreated cars didn't tend to rust that bad except the Audi's.
In 1973-74, my friends and I used to sum up the worth of the Vega with this: "The Vega takes longer than any other American car to go from 0 to 60, AND it takes longer than any other car to go from 60 to 0."
@bad dog friend had one stick was still bad was a convertible . The 41 had dual carbs saw one once .what's amazing caddy had ohv engine 8 12 16 cyl in thirties..ford had a flathead 12 also .in lincoln's .🤗
I'm 70 and have owned over 40 different vehicles. The used Vega I drove in 1981 was far and away the worst of them all. My kids probably have undiagnosed PTSD from all the breakdowns, the pulling over every 25 miles on long trips to put another quart of oil in and so on. Best day was when I sold it.
I bought a used '74 Vega in the early '80s. Maybe it was the Herbie the Lovebug of Vegas, because it ran great. Previous owner treated it gently, as did I. I hate to say that I LIKED the car, in the context of this video, but the guy or gal before me babied it, as did I. In those days, people were used to great big, bulletproof V8s, which in those years were very forgiving of hard use and indifferent maintenance. I liked the way it handled. I loved the fold-down rear seat. I slept in the back of my hatchback many a time. I don't even remember when I sold it or traded it in, but I pretty much went with pickups after that. Not as good to sleep in, but room for all my camping gear!
You were lucky to sell yours. All 3 of mine ended up getting junked, in one way or another. I remember too, having to stop to put oil in. My girlfriend at the time wasn’t impressed at all, to say the least.
It sounds like you got a lemon. I had a 1972 Vega gt that used absolutely no oil. It was one of the best cars I ever had. Then I bought a 1973 Vega wagon. Loved that car too. 25 years ago I bought a 73 Vega gt of which I still have. I feel bad you had trouble. People like you give cars such a bad name for no reason at all.
@@petecoffman9048 a friend of mine had a Vega that 4 of us piled into for a road trip to Montreal to see ELP for the Works tour. On the way back the car died, not due to engine failure but because the alternator bracket broke probably due to the engine shaking. I don't recall how we got home other than it was sometime after sunrise......
@@QuantumRift The vega's inner fender wells can be clearly seen at 6:34 . As I understand it the Vegas were made with a lower grade of imported "dirty steel" and with out rust prevention measures rapidly corroded.
This video is incredibly accurate about the Vega and the corporate thinking that was going on at the time at GM. I lived through the Vega fiasco. It spread to all the GM brands. Chrysler made the best engineered and reliable cars of all. Then 1957 came and Chrysler was no longer run by engineers. They retired. The accounting department ran the company until their 1980 bankruptcy. Their cars were the worst . Every corner was cut to save a dime at the expense of quality. What was missing in your Vega story the great engineer and chairman of the board ED Cole retired in 1970. The company like Chrysler was now being run by accountants. Roger Smith who by 1976 had had the company under is total control was an accountant who knew nothing about manufacturing, design or engineering. He single handedly destroyed the car giant.
Have you heard a Vega rolling across a highway? If you stood close enough to the tailpipe, you thought someone who drank Coca-Cola all day was burping and let all the gasses out. At idle, you could hear all sorts of clanking and clattering as if the pistons and combustion chambers were made with beer cans! The Vegas were that bad.
Say that interesting. As a fellow engineer I can relate to that kind of corporate heavy handedness. It like in that show the Office where we kinda look at each other or off into space when some know-nothing acts like a boss. Messed up.
Accountants, huh? More like Ferengi, all they care about is profit. Corporate has its head up its ass because corporations are run by Ferengi. All any of them care about is stuffing their own coffers with other folks' $. The business world is just a den of thieves, cutting each other's throats for greed.
The 140 cu in aluminum in-line 4 was a POS. I used to go to K-mart to buy oil by the gallon to keep oil in it. Bright side is you never needed to change the oil because every 50-100 miles you needed to add a quart. We used to refer to them as 2-strokes.
There's a 1.8l Eagle Talon/Mitsubishi Eclipse engine that I had that experience with, too. It was SOHC and you could basically fill it up before you left and it would be empty by the time you were home. The valve cover gaskets are crap on them.
@@checkwikipediasrsly9274 I know just what you mean. I was a Mitsubishi tech in the late 80's early 90's, I remember a TSB on the valve cover gaskets but I don't recall them burning a lot of oil.
My father, an engineer, did all the research. Motor Trend Car of the Year, Consumer Reports Best Buy. He bought a ‘71 Vega. Damn that car. Passed on to me after college. I vowed I’d never again own an American made car. And I haven’t.
Out of all the comments i can relate word for word to this one because i was the one who had to hand my dad tools when all i wanted to do was go play outside with my friends. And to this day i think that's the car that made my dad turn to the darkside.
anyone ever having doubt to the fact cars bring people together needs to read this comment section!!!! zero ill words zero bad feelings towards each other .... great job yall!!!! great job
@@budlewis721 tryin to be positive mr Lewis i saw none at the time however i didnt/cant/wont dig to find it? not worrh the effort sir i will take yer word fer it.... this is an amazing channel that ive been impressed with and tell everyone about all the time.....
My younger brother bought a Vega in1972 and babied it almost religiously and it actually never gave him any problems. It was yellow with a black interior and had a floor shift manual transmision.
My 1st car, you hit the nail directly on the head with the facts! I remember carrying used oil in milk jugs in the back, when the oil light came, on twice a week, I would pull over and add used oil.
my first car 63 chevy same used oil. if the light just came on going around a corner ok but if it stayed on then add a gallon. piston pin gouge in the cylinder wall cleaned up with .060 over bore.
My first car was a Vega too. I eventually had to put in a new engine becasue of the oil issue. The stuck throttle happenend to me as well. I was on the highway and the car started accelerating and I couldn't do anything. The problem was the spring that puts tension on the idle screw failed. I wrapped a little piece of paper (I found a straw wrapper in the back seat) around the screw to keep it in place and made it home. Still...I loved that car.
My '76 Vega station wagon stayed on the road until a driver ran a stop sign and T boned me on 87. I spent hours on keeping it in shape thanks to the Air Force having Hobby Shops on most of its bases. I put aftermarket steel sleeves and numberous other mods that were available, but one thing kept it running more than mail order parts. That was the fact that I could and did buy numberous other Vegas from the local junk yards to use as spare parts when a "big ticket" items like rear axles needed swapped out. In fact I bought one from a junk yard and drove it home under it's own power more than once. Though usually after I put a set of tires on it. In those cases imagine sputtering and banging down the road while laying down a smokescreen that could have hidden a fleet of tanks and you are close to the mark. Ah the good old days!
@@-jeff- You put steel sleeves in it? Do tell... As a master mechanic I feel like you're about to teach me something, otherwise you're talking out of your ass to tell a YT story
@@mikaelgaiason688 Nope. You had to bore out the cylinders and press in the sleeves. Look around because there was not only the sleeve kits but some companies had custom blocks with the sleeves already inserted. Heaven knows that somewhere on the internet you might find either the sleeves or the custom blocks. Basically either way, getting rid of the stock aluminum sleeves was the only way to keep it from eventually burning tons of oil.
I bought a well used '75 in '84 when I was in the Navy at NAS Miramar. We had a great auto hobby shop on base, and it lived there for a bit while I went through the engine, and shot a coat of Pennzoil yellow lacquer on it. Out of the Navy, back in IL/IA, took me back and forth to NAS Glenview for reserve duty. Loved that car!
That's great! My stepdad bought a rusty green '71 Vega with a dead engine in it when he was stationed at San Diego in '72. He and his friends put a 350 in it and tried to make a street racer out of it. It didn't win many races because none of them knew how to mechanic or drive very well. What it did give them was a lot of fun and a lot of stories to tell over the years. He managed to get it home to East Texas but by the time I was old enough to drive, it had been in the junkyard for years.
@@OptimiSkeptic Lol, late night, my friend would jack his dad's Vega. We'd cruise up to chantry flats in Ca. Lol, it was like driving a 3 legged turtle, whatta pile..... But some people landed on a good one. 🎉
In the early '70s, I spent much of my off-duty time in the auto hobby shop with my fellow aircraft mechanics. Our sergeant successfully installed a small block Chevy into a Vega. He used it strictly as a drag-strip car. 😉
I learned about how to hot-wire an electric fuel pump in my 77 Aster. The oil pressure switch prevented the pump from running before the engine had oil pressure. This made it a race between the engine wheezing to life or the carb running out of fuel. After I bypassed the switch with a small piece of a coat hanger, the car became reliable.
I remember the Vega. I own a 1977 Dodge Aspen. I bought it from a private seller in 1987. I drove it until 2010. I drive a 1994 Ford Ranger which I bought from a private seller in December of 2009. I want to get the Aspen back on the road again and I have did repairs on it over the years.
My auto shop teacher was able to get a brand new Vega from a local Chevrolet dealership that had the engine fail for nothing so that we could convert it to a V-8 powered car. We spent a couple of months doing the work. We were able to hone our skills and had a running car in around 4 months. It was a very fast car. Very reliable transportation.
@ Carlos Ojeda God bless you. My friend who passed away just a few months ago bought a black 77 vega and put a 350 chevy in it. That car was fast he used to come down our street burning rubber all the time. This brings back so many memories lol.
why put a V8 in it? chevy reworked its 140 motor and so should have your shop class. you guys would have learned a lot more than simply bolting a built-up V8 engine in. your teacher probably sold the V8 car for a profit that he promptly pocketed....
My family had one of these. A yellow two door. It was a heap of junk. I remember whenever mom would hit the brakes, you would hear water whooshing forward inside the chassis. This was Louisiana, rarely a week passes without rain, so the car never fully dried out. It was always a little waterlogged like an old galleon. This car was purchased new by the way. Yes I am from teh 70's. My mom was pretty proud when she drove it home. Her first new car! It eventually blew up on us in third grade. A Sister at the Catholic school was talking to my mom after school. Telling her how I was a trouble maker and never paid attention, probably headed straight to hell... then Boom! Someone had crashed into our Vega going about 20 miles an hour and the gas tank blew up like WW II. I thought it was cool because of giant explosions well known appeal to 9 year old boys. But also because I knew this erased my horrible scholastic behavior from my mom's mind. We actually went out for dinner. The next day the sister was very nice to me. Moral of the story, The Vega is a bad car for everyone except 9 years olds.
And here’s a fun fact for you, the Chevy Vega hold the distinction of being the first car ever offered as a prize on the current version of the price is right on September 4, 1972
Dear History Guy, As a young man in 1973 I owned a Vega and traded it back to GM in less than a year. I did not experience the problems you mentioned but the one I experienced was what convinced me to get rid of the car. Some my say it was a small thing and it may have been but I hated it. The problem I had with the Vega was that after a rainfall the water on the highway would come up between the gaps on each of the hood and splatter onto the windshield right in your line of vision. So I traded it in so I missed all of those REAL problems that were coming. Boy, am I glad. Thanks for the video.
Car and Driver: "The Chevy Vega is the best economy sedan for three years running!" Chevy: "To be clear, we never actually said a Vega would run for three years."
Yep, I had a '73 GT station wagon and it was the most fun car to drive I've ever had! I had none of the problems that are frequently told. I had no engine heating issues, no rusting, no oil consumption or leaks and got around 30 mpg. It would also do 115 mph! I paid $1700 for it in 1975 and sold it when I left Alaska for $1300 a few years later.
Had a 76 station wagon, wasn't hard to drive it into the ground. Easy to replace engine extended its life, even though it drove like a biplane after that.
I had a '75 hatchback that had been converted into a drag racing car - when I got it, the engine had been blown up but after the rebuild, I thoroughly enjoyed the car. I sold it for 3 times what I paid for it after my grandma gave me a '74 Malibu Classic (now that was a serious car).
My first car was a "74 Vega which I bought from my grandma while I was in high school. After the engine gave up the ghost, I bought a 325 hp 327 small block, which I was rebuilding for it. An older gearhead friend of mine was going to help me make the necessary modifications to install it. One day I came home from school to find my car gone. My mother said she had the junkyard haul it away, which (needless to say) infuriated me . I rushed down to try to recover my car, or at least the cylinder heads and pistons which were in the back. When I got there and asked where it was, the worker pointed to the top of a pile of junk cars and said "Sorry, kid". Ahh...memories of my youth.
@@roberthickmon2442 No, it wouldn't. My father put a 350 chevy in one and it didn't even have the torque to do that. If the metal was weak enough to bend from the engine, think of how useless it would be in a crash. Come on.
My first car was a 1973 Vega station wagon, complete with "wood grain" on the sides. My brother had purchased it new and it was handed down to me since he had purchased a Toyota Supra in 1979. In 1975 my brother had the engine rebuilt and steel cylinder liners were added to the block, it ran well, never used oil, but it had very little power and with the A/C on, it struggled to get above 65 mph on flat ground with no wind, he should have gotten the manual transmission! It did have an interesting engine sound though, when any other car's engine sounded in need of repair, a Vega was running great.
The lack of power was an issue with all small cars then unlike today where even the smallest engines put out 150HP or more. American cars did suffer a bit more because of pushrod OHV engines instead of the OHC engines that the Japanese were using but even those engines could only do so much.
@@thomasb1889 The Vega (and also the pinto) had an overhead camshaft engine - for the Vega, it was an aluminum block with a cast iron head. The Cosworth Vega was an all aluminum, double overhead cam, 4 valve per cylinder, fuel injected 2 liter engine in 1975/1976. Cosworth of England was getting around over 260 hp out of the engine - from GM, after reducing the compression ratio, adding the old highly restrictive pellet style catalytic converter, and some emissions related detuning, the power output was down to 110 hp. With some slight re-tuning, and a less restrictive catalyst and exhaust system, 150hp is common.
I am an avid follower of your channel. I am only getting around to watching this video. Boy, I am glad i did! When I was a teenager my brother's first car was a brand new 1974 Vega. He spent 3 years cursing that car for the non-stop breakdowns and repairs. I never saw him as happy as the day he sold that rusted out shell of a car. His joy was short lived, however, as his next car was a Mustang II. The car that almost killed the Mustang.
Again, when those who own the stock of GM, Chrysler and Ford call the shots on profits being eaten by costs associated with manufacturing excellence and build quality, expect the opposite! That's why the Japanese did the opposite-build quality and the demise of the big three was, well...............
your full of crap, i owned a 74 and they were not rust buckets like the korean designed 72/73. they were in fact good cars. diff engines and a camaro 4 speed. best economical car on the market.
The Japanese imports of the 70's were THE ABSOLUTE WORST, when it came to rusting. I had two Vega's, and I had a friend who had a Datsun B-210. His was just a few years old and the entire outside of his driver door was nothing but rust.
When I test-drove a Vega in 1972, the dealer told me that it was only available with the 2-speed transmission and the standard engine. I got in, pulled out of the lot and mashed the gas pedal. When I looked in the mirror, the kid on the Schwinn was definitely gaining. Needless to say, I kept my Triumph Spitfire.
I bought a 76 Vega with a 5 speed transmission and a slightly hopped up engine, had some Cosworth parts on it. The 5 speed needed rebuilding after about 10K miles but after that I put over 100K on the car and sold it for $600. It turned out to be a great car!
I grew up in a '74 Vega Kammback. A good looking little car, and reliable. We had that car from '77 to '84, and I don't remember it ever letting us down.
I used to work in a machine shop rebuilding engines. I remember these engines coming in. We actually sleeved them with sleeves for 9n ford tractors. Most customers that had a vega would have a 350 chevy built to install for racing
The family car of my childhood was the first 1971 Vega GT hatchback delivered to the Cincinnati market. The little car worked great for us. We even welded a hitch to the back to tow our 17' boat! I spent many happy hours playing in the hatchback on long family drives. The odometer broke at 180,000 miles, and we kept it another 3 years after that - until the thing finally rusted away in 1982.
When I was in the Navy my immediate supervisor offered to sell me his second car. It was a six year old Vega with body rust unlike anything I'd ever seen. I passed on the car.
I and many friends stuffed V8's in these little race cars. My favorite was the maverick. Beautiful car. Dodge had the horizon. Then there's the AMC hornet. My friend and I drove across the country in a gremlin. Bread and butter. Stop for gas only. 156 bucks. 1976.
My first car at age 16 was Monza, similar to the Vega. I liked the look of it. Unfortunately it had it's issues. Had fuel intake problems (and didn't seem to be the fuel pump) and lost power. Then just wouldn't start. It was kind of a crappy first car. My 2nd car was a Grand Prix which was significantly better.
I bought my ’74 Vega in ’76 when I was home on leave from the Navy. I bought it used in Wisconsin and drove it to San Angelo, Texas for the next phase of my training. It was a great car to drive, but less than 15 miles from home, the chrome-colored plastic trim on the right-side rain gutter started flapping in the wind. Duct tape to the rescue, until I reached my destination and could epoxy it back in place. The rest of the trip, and time in Texas was great. A comfortable car to drive, and sporty enough looking for a 19-year-old. After Texas, another trip to Wisconsin, then to my permanent station in Homestead, Florida. Again, driving those distances was a dream. No engine issues driving from sun-up to well past sun-down. I arrived at my base in south Florida, less than mile from the ocean, and a couple months later, spent my first winter on temporary assignment down the road in Key West, literally feet from the ocean. Ocean, as in salt water, salt spray, and rusting Vega. Years later someone tried to tell me it was the 2 years up north that caused the rust, but road salt rust occurs in places like wheel wells, and the bottom of the car. My Vega rust (and it was very noticeable on a white car), was the air vent below the windshield, eventually causing rainwater to leak into the cabin by way of the radio. Rainwater running down the back hatch would drain down the back of the Vega above the brake lights, until the rust surrounded the lights. But the death knell came when my Navy work site put in speed bumps. The Vega engine sat so low that they put in steel X plate under it to protect it, but the constant banging on the speed bumps eventually messed up the transmission and I had to get rid of it… before I was even finished paying for it. But it was my first car so I do have fond feelings for it (and blame Florida for being near saltwater, and the Navy for concrete speed bumps). I found a die-cast version of the ’74 Vega on eBay so I’ll always have my first car with me.
My second car (at 16) was a 1972 Vega. It took me from coast to coast a couple of times while I was in the Marines. I loved it so much, that I rebuilt it when a tractor-trailer totalled it in VA in '76 (I only had minor injuries). When I bought a 1978 Chevy van, my Air Force buddy begged me to sell it to him & he promptly drove it non-stop cross-country again. As far as I could tell, if you took care of a Vega, it took care of you. BTW, my brother had a 1974 that he loved, and my dad got a Cosworth that he kept for 20 years. His Cosworth was never 100% dependable, as fuel injection & computer designs were still evolving.
The injectors in the early Cosworth were Bendix if I am not mistaken -- when they were replaced with a set of (Bosch? Lucas?) performance was notably better.
I worked at Delco-Remy in the 70's, where we had an engine room to test ignition and charging systems for endurance. Most engines would run for weeks; the Vega engine rarely made it through an 8 hour shift.
@@brianjackson1835 Yes, plant 18, advanced engineering building. Most of the stuff we were testing was for future products. Tested in house and police and taxi fleets around the country. Pretty interesting job!
@@keithblaney9064 I bet, working at Subaru in Lafayette I always stopped by the Dyno room to see what was going on. But there was no testing there or anywhere else in plant like you described. I have three H bodies all Buicks so they have the 3.8 V6. Just looked at a 76 Chevy Monza Spyder that has the durabuilt 4cyl. Ran great and was a 5spd manual. My Dad worked at Delco for 31 years. I know he worked in plant 18 for awhile. Small world 😀
I bought a Chevy Vega station wagon new in 1975. It came with a 5 year 60,000 mile warranty. I drove it many years and my daughter started driving it when it had about 80k miles on it. I never had any problems with it. I just put one battery, one set of brakes in it. My daughter drove it and then gave it back to me because her friends made fun of her car. It was running when I parked it with 172k miles on it. It never burned oil, and was great on gas and still was fast! The machining process of silicon impregnated cylinder walls was copied by Porsche. The only problem earlier Vegas had was if it lost just a small amount of radiator water, it would overheat. So in '75, they put a much bigger radiator in them and they never had that problem again. I still have it stored and is in great shape for never being in an accident.
As a 21-year-old, my parents helped me buy a brand new 1976 Vega when I was just finishing college. I only later on heard about the problems with the earlier year models. I loved the car. I put over 33,000 miles on it in less than a year and a half. It was great. Unfortunately it was in a serious accident at that point and was totaled.
I also had a 76 as my first car which was my aunts(bought brand new) first car and given to me. I had zero issues with that Vega other than just normal maintenance things. I went all over the north Georgia mountains in that car and have great memories with it. When I sold it it had just over 120k miles on it.
After watching your video I realize how blessed I was when I purchased a new Vega in 1972. I didn’t have any problems with it but as I recall I traded it in for a Datsun station wagon. Between the Vega and the Datsun we had 2 children born thus a “larger” vehicle was needed.
Vega Veteran, New Orleans chapter here. I had a '72 miniwagon, drove it to my commuter college from 1977 to about 1981. My dad worked on tugs & supply boats. The oil burning got so bad that he'd come home with gallons of waste oil from the shipyards in gallon jugs. I'd just pour some in every week. I had school friends who lived in New Orleans East. When I drove over what we call the Highrise, a plug would inevitably get fouled and I'd lose acceleration. Yes, I kept spare plugs and a wrench. This experience made me swear that my children would always have safe, reliable cars when the time came.
My dad had a Vega wagon when we were kids. My brother's and I were horsing around and the emergency brake was released. The car rolled down the hill and crashed. Our dad smiled and brought a van
Dad's accountant loved his Vega, which he bought new, when they first came out, but he kept it garaged, and he was ahead of his time, as he was a stickler for mantinence in a time, when people almost never changed their oil or checked fluid levels. Also, not everyone had a garage at both their home & work, like Dad's accountant. The Vega had zero tolerance for any lack of maintenance. Rust was addressed from the very first Vegas by dipping them in a tank to galvanize the metal. Unfortunately, air pockets in vulnerable places such as the wheel wells would form, blocking the steel from the zinc coating, because they just dipped the Vega body straight in and pulled it straight out, and no one noticed or cared, so the Vega ended up rust proof only on paper. Just a lttle less apathy & a few changes during it's inception, and the Vega could have been one of the most successful cars ever. ...What a shame.
There are a small group of Vega owners that boast of high mileage even today. Its an anti-status symbol. They are better than Yugo, you can say that much! Every time you drive the car check the oil and coolant levels - many beaters will just keep going when you pay attention.
I worked mainly on Vegas from 77 to 80 in a chevy dealership. Once you replaced the engine with the warranty chevy steel sleeved motor, there was no problem with them
My dad turned wrenches at a GM dealer during the seventies and eighties. He dealt with the atrocious 8-6-4 setup that never worked right, Buicks that would continue running after shutting off because they were carboned up so badly. But easily the dumbest thing GM did during the time, aside of the 4100, was converting the small block to a Diesel engine. And the terrible thing the buyers dealt with was paying a premium for the option, then getting punished with a lower than normal trade in value because of the engine. That said, he had several stories about customers who were livid after GM got rid of division engines, turning the Chevy engines in “corporate motors” for all to use. Buyers of brand new cars would pull up so quickly, you’d think it was a robbery, only for an older guy or woman to get out and holler why their Buick, Cadillac, or Olds “had a F$&king Chevy engine! If I wanted a Chevy I’d have bought one!” Funny thing was, the Chevy engines were better than other GM models. I am probably gonna get hell for that last line from the fanboys, but it’s true. Edit: one more funny story: customer special ordered an Opel from Europe. After customer takes ownership, he keeps coming back because of a noise in the rear of the car he can’t pinpoint. Dad figures out that the noise is coming from a small space on the underside that’s welded shut. They fly the Opel rep to the dealer, outside Philly. Dad explains the situation. Rep says he can cut it open. Two Heineken bottles fall from the compartment. Apparently, Fritz & Franz got a little loaded at work. Probably one of those cars built on a Friday, before a holiday weekend
Chevy's engine had the highest performance, but each manufacturer had different bore/stroke and breathing characteristics. I owned 5 ('67 thru '70) Camaros and 2 Chevy pickup trucks ('68, '69). For example, Buick's 350 had a longer stroke, had more low end torque and was quieter. These differences were even greater with the big block V-8s.
Gregory Parrott their small blocks were also heavier than Chevy, which sold in far higher numbers with acceptable torque and hp curves for the entire corporation. Made sense to standardize across a line considering they were using corporate chassis platforms since the mid 20s.
@@redram5150 ...and they eventually did consolidate, but having a bunch of branches trying to develop engines (Pontiac also had their own distinct 350 with different valve angles) wasn't a terrible idea. The same thing happened with the 400 and the 455. You try different things and eventually get to choose the "best" one
One of my instructors in college worked at a Chevrolet dealer from the mid 70s to early 90s. A co worker of his found a soda can riveted inside the front fender of a Citation, and found another soda can behind the dash above the hvac plenum of another Citation. There were some real assholes in those factories in those days
In 1976 I owned a '73 Impala 4dr; came down on orders to Europe so I traded it in for a '75 Vega GT 4spd thinking it would be better for secondary roads in Europe. Loved that Vega; it took me all over Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands never letting me down-wish I had it today!
I was one of the drivers in the 1975 60,000 miles in 60 day Vega endurance test. 3 shifts of drivers drove from Vegas to Beatty NV, into Death Valley, exited south of Furnace Creek and back again to Vegas, about 7.5 hours including a couple short breaks during the test...during the summer! The cars never cooled down for the 60 days. We were testing the endurance of the aluminum block engine. Even made a TV commercial during the test. Fun job!
Heating and then cooling IS a problem for aluminum engines. Imagine, torquing and untorquing bolts every time you stop the engine. Why Dodge has problems with header bolts snapping off. Dissimilar metals for corrosion and thermal dynamics is not the best idea.
"Check the gas, fill the oil" is what my Dad used to say about his Vega...
I had a Ford truck that had a 302 that drunk oil but wasn't bad on fuel.
That was my running joke when I had mine. :-)
My father in law and I tried out a 4 speed Vega in the 70's and being a hot rodder I went through the gears for him and blew the transmission and had to call the dealer to send a tow truck~!!
@@RickaramaTrama-lc1ys ha ha, not funny at the moment kind of thing.
"Check the gas, fill the oil" the FIRST thing that entered my mind when I read the video's title.
My father owned a 1976 Chevy Vega. The oil pan hung down below the skid plates. He put three oil pans in that car because the suspension was so terrible he kept bottoming it out on relatively well paved city streets.
I think I only replaced the oil pan on mine once. Must be lucky.
We had a 1975 with the same problem. Junk.
Install a Monza front end and springs from a Nova- solved.
I had a 77 Aster, it only had four inches of ground clearance. It was like driving a lowered pickup, it was a drag getting in and out of parking lots.
@@LtJackboot Dad sold that car in 1978 for exactly what he paid for it new. He's owned Cadillacs ever since.
I had a 72 Vega GT, 4 speed manual transmission that I loved. At 110k miles I replaced the short block with a factory steel sleaved short block. When I sold it, it had 230k miles and was still running strong.
Whoa 🥇 medal for you! Mine sucked.
With the manual transmission, I always keep the rpms over 1800..lugging the engine was fatal. That's why the automatics were awful.
Vegas rusted badly. Like the pinto and the mustang, camaro and monte, challenger and valiant ect. 70’s cars rusted badly
My manual was fun. After a while i had to start swapping plugs fairly regular .
But plugs were easy to get to and dirt cheap. That car did handle Great .
A good car for the drunk i used to be.
It drove itself. I miss that .
Wow. If I knew back then that GM had a sleeved block available, I would have had them put one in! Oh well...
In the beginning, 96% of the Vegas produced were still on the road, the rest made it home.
Good one 👍🏻
🤣
LOL
😆
lol
The Vega was the car where you said "Fillerup with oil and check the gas."
I used to go through 2 qt of oil per tank of gas.
I never had an issue with oil, but I did with coolant...the thing was always hot.
I had a few of those over the years but they were all over ten years old and well over 100k miles with very tired engines so it was expected and 500 to the quart was acceptable with a new car. The Vega's engine was lucky to make it 50k and the car was more rusted at two years than other cars in ten. A great idea horribly executed. Now cars are good for 20 years and 200k to 300k with ease. I just put down a 1997 Ford Explorer because the deferred maintenance built up to to high a level to fix her.
I had a buddy who had a German Ford Taunus. We carried a case of oil in the trunk at all times!
The 72burned 1qt per tank of oil the 74 none but lost coolant .put later engine in the 72 went 6k miles 1qrt. Bet changes.77eng.
I had a Vega, it taught me a lot about Bondo.
I got a friend of mine that had a Vega and we call him Bondo to this day hahaha and he's 70 and still gets called Bondo
Mine too! I bought it when it was 6 years old. Petty much towards the realistic end of life for them :)
....and which motor oil is the cheapest.
Lol, good one...
I had a 73 Vega hatchback! It taught me a lot about oil consumption !
In 1972 I bought a Vega. I changed the oil every 3,000 miles and when I got rid of it in 1975 because I got married and the wife wanted more room. I had NO problems or complaints. When I traded it in, I had 150,000 miles on it and burned 1/2 quart of oil between oil changes. I wish I could find such a vehicle today. The same year, my dad bought a 1972 Caprice and we got 5 miles from the dealer when the transmission fell out on the road. Give me a Vega any day!
Ok, here is my absolutely honest experience with my 1975 Vega. 1st off, this is in Southern California, so rust was absolutely a non issue. I bought it in 1978 off a dealer lot for 1000 dollars, that included all fees. It had 40.000 miles on it, and an 8 track cheap stereo, and aluminum Mag wheels! It was my daily driver for 2 years, when in November of 1980 I bought my 1st brand new car a Toyota Celica. I was 21. I sold the Vega private party with just under 90.000 miles for 1500 dollars! And the guy I sold it was happy to get it. I put almost 50.000 miles on that car, and only repair was a busted clutch cable, and a new water pump. That was it. It was a 3 speed manual, and I drove it all over the place, including up into the mountains many times. I took good care of it, 3000 mile oil changes, a coolant flush once, tires, and 1 brake job. I kept it washed and waxed.. It never failed me, including a trip from home to visit family in Missouri. It didn't burn oil, got good MPG. It was light metallic green, and a beige interior. Now at 62, I've had many brand new cars, But when I think of that simple, no frills little Vega, it brings a smile to my face! 😊
My sister graduated in 74, she bought her 1st new car, a 74 vega gt.. she beat the hell out of it as did my 2 brothers, and it only ever got basic maintenance.. it was yellow with black gt stripes
My brother, a mechanic, had a Vega. Love the style of that little car. And it had issues, but still loved it.
I always thought of my '72? Hatch as a mini-Z. It was a cool car.
You were very lucky
My brother bought his new in 75.......ran it to hell and back at least 3 times, it would not die
The Vega had the reputation of being the first car to rust on the showroom floor.
And winner is: Fiat Nuova 500 and Renault 4, much older... :-) As student I was an expert in fixing holes in the bottom with expoxy and glasfiber.
'Tis a pity. IMO it was kind of a nice looking little lemon.
@@hesspet they could rust as a champion.
But there is only one master in rustdisaster
The AlfaRomeo Sud .
Doors and windows fell of due rustdamage at the showroom floor!
Mom and Dad bought one new. We attempted a family vacation to Disney World. Never made it back. Always wondered why we flew home. First plane trip ever thanks to that Vega.
Great story and I believe it, my parents bought a 72 Vega, and immediately we went to Washington DC but we did make it back. However my Dad said the car was trouble after the trip. My kids who grew up with a minivan and would never know the experience of squeezing in/out of a Vega.
Best of both worlds. Drivin + flyin
Probably lost most of the coolant out
the radiator overflow tube. One of the
first recalls was to add a overflow-
bottle.
Low coolant-levels were fatal for the
Vega's aluminum engine. Happened
a lot.
@@jimstrict-998 I just added a comment about my own experience with a Vega engine destroyed by low coolant. When we got the head off the view was surreal.
Oh come on. That could have happened in any new car, even a Cadillac. There are always some new cars that have a problem, and the warranty program takes care of repairs. You guys were just unlucky.
I had a 76 Cosworth Vega. Really liked that car. But I knew going in the tendency to rust (think happy thoughts, a Vega will rust if you cry in it). I washed it weekly, even in winter (living in Atlanta helped). I took care it, and it never let me down. Sold it before I moved to Texas in 1978.
I had the 76 Cosworth Vega, blue with white interior. I loved that car. Was stationed in Charleston S.C. at the time. Almost divorced My wife, when I returned from sea and found out she had sold it. Found out later that she had wrecked it first...then sold it.
Always thought it a shame that these cars had their problems because they were good looking little cars. In 1974 my Mom bought one just to have the head warp and block crack with very few miles on it. She took it back and came home with a brand new 75 Monte Carlo. Best new car we ever had.
@stoveboltlvr3798 when I turned 16 my mom gave me her 69 Camaro, then she went and bought herself a brand new 75 Monte Carlo, blue with white interior and white landau roof. That was a beautiful car.
Best looking small 70's car ever built....That was the dirty trick of it!
BMW's 2002 looked better
Looked even better with the front bumper cut to look like the two piece Camaro and a spoiler and front air dam. Oh, yes Chrome the headlight bezels and the installation of Camero mirrors to replace the little dainty piece of shit originals. You had a mini-me Camero.😜
@@andyhastings5950 It was also very popular to swap in Chevrolet 350 engines to replace the horrid stock setup. Sadly they live on now, only in my memories.
@xr7fanSadly those were only offered after smog laws had gotten...bad. In 1972 you could have had a 250hp version of that engine directly from GM but the Monza was only good for half that, despite being the same engine. (with a far weaker cam, lower compression, etc)
@xr7fan I'm glad you experienced them as they were meant to be. Most saw them as a slightly faster Capri V6 but they had the potential to be so much more.
as a poor college student, it got me where i needed to go, saved me more money for uni living - cheers, my lil red vega)
The Vega was innovative, it was the first car made of compressed rust.
Lmao!
wasnt that the chevy citation in the 80s ,
No, the British had been doing that for years! Their sheet metal really was inferior.
That's all 70s era American cars, the sheetmetal on those cars just was not well coated and lots of old cars had exposed seams where the sheetmetal was spot welded and water and dirt would get in them seams and rot the panels especially in places where the roads get salted, the Vegas rusted just as bad as all famous muscle cars from that generation it's just that most people with muscle cars are willing to fix the rust where the vega was a cheap disposable car so not many people would fix the rust as it would start occuring so in my opinion the vega doesn't deserve the rust reputation alone, all cars from that era rotted if driven in salted roads and neglected like most cheap cars of that time.
20 years ago msn had a website called carpoint. they ran a user poll for worst car. people shared thier stories. one guy said his vega had been made of compressed rust. it broke in 1/2 when going over some train tracks one night.
the pinto stories were worse.
My mom won a 1974 Vega in a little league baseball raffle. This gave her the freedom to get away from my father and complete her education.
Good for your mom
Very Good Luck Indeed !
My dad had a Vega in 1979 and when he would turn off the ignition, even with the key out the switch, the engine would keep running. We had time to walk in the house, and finally about 30 seconds later, the engine would stop. To this day, it’s one of my favorite “we had a crappy-car” stories. :)
Ha, Ha, that was Dieseling or what we called it, to much fun if you had one. LOL. Smokers were hilarious too, in traffic a smokin exhaust, I used to ask my buddy why the Cops would not stop someone with a belching out Smoke, probably felt sorry for the owner.
Preignition, the most common cause is carbon build up on the plugs. The plugs stay so hot they still ignited the gas even after the car is shut off. Solution, new plugs or clean the plugs.
Pre-ignition (or preignition) in a spark-ignition engine is a technically different phenomenon from engine knocking, and describes the event wherein the air/fuel mixture in the cylinder ignites before the spark plug fires. Pre-ignition is initiated by an ignition source other than the spark, such as hot spots in the combustion chamber, a spark plug that runs too hot for the application, or carbonaceous deposits in the combustion chamber heated to incandescence by previous engine combustion events.
@@j.dragon651 All I know is it was hilarious to hear it after you shut the engine down. LOL. See Uncle Buck with John Candy, he had a smoker/dieseler. LOL.
Yup. My dad's Vega did that!
Try using better gas. To.
In 1984 a friend in high school had a 10 year old Vega GT wagon, we couldn’t drive home after school without adding oil to it, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Hadn’t thought of him or that car in years. Thanks History Guy for making me laugh with nostalgia.
You added oil and checked the gas.
Should have gotten the Pontiac Astre Wagon version with Iron Duke engine...
Glad my first car was a Pinto. They just burst into flames when rear ended. My parents must've really loved me, sigh
Mine was the Mercury Capri, around 71 or 72, bought mine after college in 77. Parts of it came from the Pinto, but it was built in Europe and apparently had somewhat better build quality. Lots of fun to drive. A 4 speed as I recall, so I really had to learn to use what turned out to be a worn out clutch. But it got replaced, put Aramid belted radials on, and I had the 'right' car for a young guy to enjoy taking out on I80 between PA and NYC. Fortunately my only speeding all those decades ago was uphill!
Had a '72 2l Pinto. Ultimately some 160k mi. Drove Riverside Raceway (way back in the day) twice... Across USA once.
I drove my Pinto from the passages seat sometimes. It created the illusion that nobody was driving the car. I loved Pinto’s form factor and geometry. It was a death trap.
@Rick Charles There was a time when his word was as good as law. Not so much anymore.
@@rawrec The surprise for me was that the Pinto engine could be put into a Capri with surprisingly good results! Once I had good tires and a viable clutch, it truly drove like a sport car, with tight handling and plenty of power for it's weight. I'd sort of test that going up hill on I80 crossing New Jersey, and it performed well. Then over the top of the hill toward the speed traps (of the late 1970's) and just let it roll down the other side at a much more reasonable speed.
We bought one of the '76 models at a discount. It was actually a pretty good car for commuting. I took it over 100K miles with very few mechanical problems.
That you remember......
They were junk. Motor Trend is paid by auto makers. Car of the year is a scam
The Vega has a great frontal crash rating…
The tow truck usually absorbs most of the impact.
😂😂
LMFAO! Thanks!
🤣🤣
Car Craft magazine's "Junkyard Crawl" feature once reported that many salvage yards stopped accepting Vegas.
@@nghtwtchmn129 Makes sense...If nobody was looking for parts,they'd just be in the way. No use other than scrap.
My dad had a Vega as a company car. Great mileage but I remember him remarking about his losing a few sales as clients got in it and remarked that the company must be having financial troubles. LOL! He shared that with his boss and they sold them all and went back to Chrysler New Yorkers.
I remember my Dad saying that in the 70s, he was starting in sales & had an old-school mentor that would only drive New Yorkers. they conveyed to the client that you weren't a desperate schmuck, but unlike a Lincoln or Cadillac didn't convey that you were overly-flashy or fleecing them (or so he believed anyways)
arachnonixon - Good point, but I was just starting high school in those days LOL! I knew little of those things. I just remember dad not being happy that the new car was costing him clients and business. It wasn’t just him, there were several people in sales that felt the same. Normally if I remember correctly they kept cars for 2-4 years, I’m thinking the Vega’s lasted about 6-9 months. They also had some Plymouth Satelites, which were kinda sporty for the day. Edit - And the ride, fit and finish... I can remember thinking as a kid that it was cheap. But what did I know. My allowance was $2/week back then.
I'll look up the "New Yorker", I'm Scottish, not heard of it but that's the great thing about broadband, you can look up nearly anything
Looked it up, wow, New Yorker is a BIG car, lots of body shapes and long production run. Interesting.
Rubber Neck - As I remember it... it was just a car, a decent one. Rode good! It wasn’t flashy and didn’t stand out. Was a cop car in some versions. But I remember my dad saying the mileage of the Vega was going to pay for the car, remember gas was like .25/gal then. The car had promise, but to get the mileage they went cheap on everything else.
My dad had a '72 station wagon and in the early 80's I was told that would be mine. I didn't care, it was a car and freedom. I turned 16 in November and started driving to school, not caring what other people said. The day after Thanksgiving my dad told me we were going to find me a car. My grandfather was a retired mechanic and knew every used car dealer in Pensacola. He had found some to go look at. We wound up buying a 1970 Malibu, 307 V8 in mint condition. I asked my dad why he bought it. He told me "Because you never complained about driving that piece of shit Vega".
That was an outstanding story..well told😁😁😂
That 307 was an unheralded great engine from a reliability standpoint. Transmissions also lasted a long time behind those because of the modest power output. Like a 170 cubic inch Slant Six, the 307 had optimal bore and stroke numbers to make a pleasant and reliable powerplant if horsepower was not the first consideration.
@@ethanc4920 true...and the 300 straight six.
My first car was a 74 Mercury Comet with a 302...at the time i thought it was a rocket ship.
Great story!
I had a hatchback Vega in the 70’s as a work car for the steel mill in Gary, IN. It was a stick shift.
One morning after working midnights a friend and myself were heading out of the mill. The viaduct tunnel under the railway was flooded with all of last night’s rain. Neither of us wanted to drive the two miles it would take to get around it.
We drove that Vega with its RPM’s in the red and plunged in. Never stopping the forward roll water breached the windshield, the carpets started floating, that Vega was taking in water everywhere... we looked at each other in terror. As we started to ascend the tunnel we broke into laughter as all the water that entered the car seemed to have left. That was until we leveled out and all the water in the back of the hatchback came forward to awash us in a cold wave.
That Vega was never any worse for the wear! True story out of the 70’s.
I loved my Vega! It was my college car, dependable, economical and fun to drive, great on curvy roads though not much top end. I may have had the exception, but I remember it fondly :)
What year was it? By the last couple of production years they were pretty good. But the damage to reputation could not be overcome.
Totally understand your lucky streaks with the Vega, I went through similar situations with the Chevy Citation, lots of people had trouble with them, but I put 90k + miles with no difficulties, despite others blowing transmissions at about 35/45k miles.... LoL 😂
Yes if you got a good one they were a lot of fun
And the hatchback was great for summer nights.
I had one I loved. We got it out of a junkyard but I drove it for years.
Chevy Vega: I was so bad some people think I nearly destroyed GM
Cadillac Cimmaron: hold my beer
Luckily for GM, the Cimmaron wasn't as heavily marketed, nor was it within the price range of the average small car buyer. It was supposed to compete with the BMW 3 series of the day and was a hell of a lot more reliable than the Vega ever was.
Cadillac Catera: Hi there!
Pontiac Aztec
cimmaron....an expensive cavalier!
Good One~!!!
It was my first car, I loved it. Two months later, I wasn't quite as happy about the blown head gasket or the transmission that was slipping. Yes, I raised such hell at the dealership that they gave a choice of a replacement vehicle...
My new Plymouth Valiant Duster was awesome...
As a former Vega owner, I can attest to the great handling of the car. Vegas had interestingly wide tire rims that could accommodate 60 series in back and 70's in the front. It was amazingly stable at high speeds. One day I tested mine by putting my foot on the throttle and not letting up. The speedometer in the Vega only went up to 110 mph. However, not only did the needle get up to that, it passed it and vanished behind the dash! If only GM had used cast cylinder liners and done better rustproofing, as then it would have been a hit. By comparison, a later car I owned was a Pontiac Sunbird. It was really a twin to the Vega and had a Buick V-6 engine and was a road screamer. Alas, the same poor rustproofing plagued the Pontiac as well.
Some people never learn-gM is professional at ripoff
My vega could go to from long beach to the starwood on less than two bucks. And when you let go of the wheel it would immediately drive straight. I loved that.
as an autobody man......they had welded on door hinges,to the body and the door........non adjustable......what a pain they were!!!!!!! alum block throw away motor.........crap!!!!! fjb and the rinos!!!!!!
We had the wagon. Rear wheel drive manual, short wheelbase, it could spin on a dime and even do donuts on bare pavement
I had a 72. My brother's car. Given to me when he bought his GT. It had a sleeved rebuild that I could play around with and a 2 speed powerglide that I could get to 50 mph in first gear. I loved it because I learned a lot about cars by tinkering with it. Multiple shades of primer covered the body. And, as it was a hatchback, I could carry a half keg of beer in the back for parties.
A friend of mine worked at the Lordstown plant and owned a Vega. A few years into his ownership, he was waxing it ,and his hand went partially through the body. He concluded that the Vega was bio-degradable.
Green New Deal before its time! Call up AOC!!
Rusting was their biggest issue.
my ex father in law worked at lordstown his job was driving off assembly line he told me parts would fall off before it got outside and sometimes it would not make it outside
Same thing happened to me. I was washing it and my hand went through the rear panel. The car ran well though. Never gave me a problem in 91K miles.
Nice lie.
Educational and well produced channels like this help dilute the common drivel usually found on RUclips. Kudos to the History Guy.
@@seanwebb605 True.
@Intellectual Ammunition Only time will tell. I wouldn't be surprised if they picked a bone with vanilla ice cream. They once tried something with milk but I think they're brazen and emboldened and will go after the White House.
@@sebastianfibes2126 How is a video on the Vega not common drivel?
Thanks for the blast from the past. As a teenager, the Vega was my first car, and it was brand new at that, because of its affordability. Most kids had their dad's old cast-off clunker. I had that brand new car the same month that I got my driver's licence. I saved money for two years at odd jobs. Of course, I took a lot of ribbing because it was a small car and those were the days when your manhood was judged by the horsepower of your muscle car. The car lasted almost eight years, requiring only one engine transplant because of warping of the aluminum block, but GM paid for that. It was zippy (had a manual transmission) and luckily mine didn't have a lot of other quality issues. The most notable was that it couldn't take cold weather and regularly needed to be towed to a heated garage to get it to start. I had the clutch cable snap as well, and that was a bummer. I started the car, and went to put it in gear, and the clutch went to the floor and stayed there. As it got older, you pulled into a full service gas station and said "Fill up the oil and check the gas".
I loved the car. It gave me freedom as a teenager when many of my friends and peers didn't have transportation. I was quite popular because of my Vega. My girlfriend destroyed it in a collision.
Thanks for this trip down memory lane. I still have the owners manual, and it is one of the most treasured books in my library.
Still have my 72 Vega, gave $100 for it in 1992. Now has a 377 cid small block, th 350 trans, narrowed 9" with 4.86 gears.
Body has all original sheet metal, no rust ever, only the windshield was replaced. 99 times out of a hundred, when I go to a car show or cruise night, I've got the only Vega there.
Still see them on the drag strip a lot, very light car.
So to hear of your addiction. 😀
See that's really cool.
This sounds like a strip car now. Quarter times?
Also MPG with 4.86 ears? just curious.
One of my friends shoehorned a 350 into a Chevy LUV pickup. He had to put sandbags in the bed to keep the truck from burning rubber when pulling away from the curb!
Doing willies with those 486 gears
My sister had,a Vega , never a lick of trouble , bought new , drove it for more than 10 years , sold it to another college girl, last we heard was still going strong , so not all of them had problems,, thanks for memories , from history deserving of being remembered, this one was definitely in the “ 5 percent “ thank you History Guy
I have a nice 73 in my garage right now , and it is not rusted out and the best part is it now has a V8 in it and is a blast to drive plus no one knows what it is !
Ur going against group think.
@@fieldinglover I had a 73 . That we bought used. It was beat. Overheated ....And so it lived up to being a oil burning rusty peace of shit. So l bough a 75. That had a engine fire . But was in mint condition used the 73 for parts. To fix it. Than I junked the 73. Big mistake. Young and STUPED. I was 17. The 75 ran like a raped ape. But now 6 VEGAS later my 72 GT. Ralley green with white stripes and swing out windows. Is my face. I lost it in a bad storage deal. I have a 79 monza 2+2 nowadays. It's ok but its not the. 72.
@@fieldinglover LS?
@@GD1082 No in the early 60's Buick and Oldsmobile both made an Aluminum V8 215 with a 4 bbl carb and I built one and put it in my Vega and it will pull the front wheels off the ground ! they also put these little V8's into a lot of Jeeps because they make good torque plus they get good gas mileage when you don't have the throttle pegged !
my dad and I restored a 1973 Vega we put in a Buick v6. Once you fix all the issues its a very nice car with allot of power.
Yes indeed
"Once you fix all the issues" is not a ringing endorsement.
GM should have fixed all the issues before they sold the cars.
My dad had a Pontiac Grand LeMans that had a Buick V-6 put in it. That car was actually quite fast
those are some narrow hoodledges- and they tie the whole front suspension together- how did you do it?
“I was part of a GM experiment “ is the free T-shirt all of us unfortunate Vega owners should receive!
You should receive a lot more than that!
Well done!
My first new car was a 1973 Chevy Vega. Within 5,000 miles, the engine burned a quart of oil per tank of gas. It (the entire engine) was replaced under warranty. I sold the car with only 30,000 miles on it. The person who purchased it worked at the same plant that I did and I occasionally saw the car coming in the main gate. Within a few years, the paint had worn off of the roof and there was rust all around the rear window. I would be very surprised it there were very many of these cars still in working order.
I joined the Air Force in September of 72'. When I finished with my school, my first base was in Austin, Texas. I wanted a Vega GT so bad, I could taste it. But thankfully I ended up buying a VW Super Beetle. And boy am I glad. The Vega was well known for the oil burning and oil dropping. And My VW was a dream to drive. They almost got me!!!
Hitlers revenge were never a good car. Noisy, slow, handled bad. And a VW without oil leaks? Clearly it had no oil. Yet Nader never got into them, much.
Hey what are you smoking dude?
VW beetle is one of the great automotive success stories in the world
My Vega never burned or leaked oil but it was a 73 with steel sleeved cylinders. Never overheated and I ran the shit out of it. I lived in California so no worries about rust. The only knock I had on it is that it needed a five speed. Wish I had it back.
I had a '74 Vega GT. I was popular at outdoor parties, as I could let it run for about 15 minutes after I got there, and the clouds of burning oil fumes would keep mosquitoes away for hours.
Great story. Just curious what part of the country?
Haha! My first car was a '74 Vega GT (red), and I know exactly what you're referring to! I have very fond memories of that old car because it was "my first." I also enjoyed the handling and seating position (probably also because of my inexperience). The interior had a muscle car vibe to my teenage mind, and while the worn-out 4cyl had no power, I did have fun racing and drifting around on country gravel roads pretending I was Steve McQueen. :D
@@ORflycaster My mother bought one new in 73, I got my license in 76, so I learned to drive in it. I had tons of fun in it. I also loved playing on dirt roads. It did burn a ton of oil by the time my mother sold it in about 1978.
Oh, ya' killed me with that one!
@Douglas Farshtey Eventually I started feeding mine the used oil I drained from other vehicles. That probably accelerated her demise, but eventually I realized the relationship wasn't meant to last........
When it was turned into a hot rod after the production died, it became an icon for drag racing and high school hot rods
You're right, about the only time you see a Vega or a Monza is at the drag strip.
And most of them were back halved with an aftermarket chassis.
A guy I worked with put a 327 in a Vega for our boss. Had to have the drive shaft shortened at some place in Charlotte. It had amazing acceleration thru all the gears!!
In the late 70's my dad put a Corvette LT-1 in his...so much power for such a little car lol
@@dough6759 I put a 327/375 in mine when the original engine died with 18000 miles on it. 327 2 speed powerglide out of a wrecked chevelle cut my owen driveshaft swapped in a 9 inch rear with 3.90 gears. This car was a street terror for years til the frame rusted away.
As a front suspension mechanic in the 70s, I became very familiar with the Vega, it had an issue with the chassis spreading at the point where the lower swing arm was adjusted, it would spread so much you couldn't adjust out the negative camber, thus causing tires to wear out faster than they should. There were a few aftermarket kits developed to try and resolve this but for the most part it only slowed the eventual failure. Moog even had special offset bushing to help reduce the problem. What is curious to me is the lack of coverage about this issue. Maybe eclipsed by all the others, but as a suspension mechanic it was often I had to tell the Vega owner the bad news.
Great insight for those of us who owned a Vega, but who are not (or never were) motorheads. Mine burned oil like diarrhea.
In 79, my wife was talking to her sister on the phone. When asked "what are you two doing today?" she answered "We're sitting on the front porch and listening to our Vega rust."
I laughed but that was not far from the truth.
I think there was a rust race between the Vega and Datsun 240Z.
@@mediumal4563 They were bad but no where near the Vega's rusting as you watched. It was a great idea for a small car but the execution was horrible
After 3 years commuting in Chicago in our '73 GT wagon I called my wife out to the garage and said "Shhh. Be quiet and listen. Can you hear that?" She said "Hear what?". I said "The Vega....it's rusting". Two years later the RR lower control arm bracket was so rusty it was detaching from the "structural metal". We were one of the luckier ones and got 75K out of it until it overheated. I sorta miss that little car.
@@georgezap1906 The idea of the car was top notch. The execution then less so but even today with good execution it would be a good car.
Back then all GM vehicles were rusting at the dealership...brand new. I know, I used to work there.
'77 Chevy pick-up bed rusted in a year. "Rusty Jones" was a VERY poor advertising choice at the time! It rusted alright!
@@justme_gb Ha Rusty Jones. That's a name I forgot as in 1985ish I was working at a Porsche/Audi/VW dealership and they charged $180 (I think) for a 2 part Rusty Jones treatment that consisted of a hole being drilled in the lower part of a door in the jamb and a rod inserted and we pulled the trigger as we removed the rod getting points for spillage then spraying the bottom of the car with the same material that was like tar but dried hard finishing up by putting a 2 part wax on the paint that would wash off with a few washes. People rolled it in with the bank loan and almost every car got it. Time proved that those untreated cars didn't tend to rust that bad except the Audi's.
We were all car mad back in Middle School and these kinds of problems were well known to us even then.
In 1973-74, my friends and I used to sum up the worth of the Vega with this: "The Vega takes longer than any other American car to go from 0 to 60, AND it takes longer than any other car to go from 60 to 0."
Nono the 47buick
@bad dog friend had one stick was still bad was a convertible . The 41 had dual carbs saw one once .what's amazing caddy had ohv engine 8 12 16 cyl in thirties..ford had a flathead 12 also .in lincoln's .🤗
Bob: 74 Vega 0-60 0-60 12.4 sec 74 Datsun 610 15.2 sec -B 210 17.8 sec 74 Dodge Colt 13.3 sec 74 Fiat 128 12.3 sec 74 Pinto 14.4 sec 74 Mustang 15.5 sec 75 Honda CVCC 15.3 sec 74 Mazda 808 14.5 sec 74 Opel Manta 18.2 sec 74 Subaru 17.4 sec 74 Toyota Corona 15.4 sec 74 Corolla 16.0 sec 74 VW Dasher 14.9 sec 74 Volvo 142 12.4 sec. Just saying!
@@richardwarren7492 I had a 1981 Datsun 210 deluxe Station wagon. It was by far, the slowest car I've ever owned but I wish I still had it today.
@@Nothingtoya Sometimes slow is just fine. Had many the VW .
I'm 70 and have owned over 40 different vehicles. The used Vega I drove in 1981 was far and away the worst of them all. My kids probably have undiagnosed PTSD from all the breakdowns, the pulling over every 25 miles on long trips to put another quart of oil in and so on. Best day was when I sold it.
I bought a used '74 Vega in the early '80s. Maybe it was the Herbie the Lovebug of Vegas, because it ran great. Previous owner treated it gently, as did I. I hate to say that I LIKED the car, in the context of this video, but the guy or gal before me babied it, as did I. In those days, people were used to great big, bulletproof V8s, which in those years were very forgiving of hard use and indifferent maintenance.
I liked the way it handled. I loved the fold-down rear seat. I slept in the back of my hatchback many a time. I don't even remember when I sold it or traded it in, but I pretty much went with pickups after that. Not as good to sleep in, but room for all my camping gear!
In my college days I had a Vega station wagon I could fold down the back seat and sleep in along with other “things”.
You were lucky to sell yours. All 3 of mine ended up getting junked, in one way or another. I remember too, having to stop to put oil in. My girlfriend at the time wasn’t impressed at all, to say the least.
It sounds like you got a lemon. I had a 1972 Vega gt that used absolutely no oil. It was one of the best cars I ever had. Then I bought a 1973 Vega wagon. Loved that car too. 25 years ago I bought a 73 Vega gt of which I still have. I feel bad you had trouble. People like you give cars such a bad name for no reason at all.
@@petecoffman9048 a friend of mine had a Vega that 4 of us piled into for a road trip to Montreal to see ELP for the Works tour. On the way back the car died, not due to engine failure but because the alternator bracket broke probably due to the engine shaking. I don't recall how we got home other than it was sometime after sunrise......
Vegas were already showing rust new on the dealer lots. The siliconized cylinder walls provided the hand grenade engine!
They didn't have inner fender wells....
QuantumRift where did he say that
6 stages of rust improvement.
@@QuantumRift The vega's inner fender wells can be clearly seen at 6:34 .
As I understand it the Vegas were made with a lower grade of imported "dirty steel" and with out rust prevention measures rapidly corroded.
@@georgemckenna462 The two Vegas I owned, first production run, didn't have them..they had some sort of lame thin plastic deflector installed.
This video is incredibly accurate about the Vega and the corporate thinking that was going on at the time at GM. I lived through the Vega fiasco. It spread to all the GM brands. Chrysler made the best engineered and reliable cars of all. Then 1957 came and Chrysler was no longer run by engineers. They retired. The accounting department ran the company until their 1980 bankruptcy. Their cars were the worst . Every corner was cut to save a dime at the expense of quality. What was missing in your Vega story the great engineer and chairman of the board ED Cole retired in 1970. The company like Chrysler was now being run by accountants. Roger Smith who by 1976 had had the company under is total control was an accountant who knew nothing about manufacturing, design or engineering. He single handedly destroyed the car giant.
Have you heard a Vega rolling across a highway? If you stood close enough to the tailpipe, you thought someone who drank Coca-Cola all day was burping and let all the gasses out. At idle, you could hear all sorts of clanking and clattering as if the pistons and combustion chambers were made with beer cans! The Vegas were that bad.
Say that interesting. As a fellow engineer I can relate to that kind of corporate heavy handedness. It like in that show the Office where we kinda look at each other or off into space when some know-nothing acts like a boss. Messed up.
@@Frederick314 Messed up, huh? And the exhaust note at the tailpipe was an obvious red flag!
Accountants, huh? More like Ferengi, all they care about is profit. Corporate has its head up its ass because corporations are run by Ferengi. All any of them care about is stuffing their own coffers with other folks' $. The business world is just a den of thieves, cutting each other's throats for greed.
@@CrazyBear65 , Really? REALLY? Not really, at all. "The business world" is NOT all a den of thieves... especially compared with some other countries.
The 140 cu in aluminum in-line 4 was a POS. I used to go to K-mart to buy oil by the gallon to keep oil in it. Bright side is you never needed to change the oil because every 50-100 miles you needed to add a quart. We used to refer to them as 2-strokes.
There's a 1.8l Eagle Talon/Mitsubishi Eclipse engine that I had that experience with, too. It was SOHC and you could basically fill it up before you left and it would be empty by the time you were home. The valve cover gaskets are crap on them.
@@checkwikipediasrsly9274 I know just what you mean. I was a Mitsubishi tech in the late 80's early 90's, I remember a TSB on the valve cover gaskets but I don't recall them burning a lot of oil.
LOW maintenance?
I kept 3 or 4 cans of oil in the car just in case - on a long (200 mile) drive I'd usually top up once.
My father, an engineer, did all the research. Motor Trend Car of the Year, Consumer Reports Best Buy. He bought a ‘71 Vega. Damn that car. Passed on to me after college. I vowed I’d never again own an American made car. And I haven’t.
I thought my dad was a gear head by choice but the ownership of his Chevy Vega now makes me think otherwise lol. Rip poppy
Some people are born gear heads, others have it thrust upon them.
Actually, the Vega would have been a great car if it had, like, any quality control whatsoever. The Cosworth and Monza were hot little compacts.
Out of all the comments i can relate word for word to this one because i was the one who had to hand my dad tools when all i wanted to do was go play outside with my friends. And to this day i think that's the car that made my dad turn to the darkside.
I've often thought automotive 'journalists' were highly susceptible to the Long Liquid Lunch and 'entertainment'.
Still are, but bigger $$$ involved now with internet professional testers.
The "entertainment" being a
gentleman's club, lol.
anyone ever having doubt to the fact cars bring people together needs to read this comment section!!!! zero ill words zero bad feelings towards each other .... great job yall!!!! great job
it's something ( cars) we all have in common
Grady, read my exchange with dehoe disc in the replies to RGC2005's comment 4 or 5 comments up there ☝before yours. You might revise your opinion.
@@budlewis721 tryin to be positive mr Lewis i saw none at the time however i didnt/cant/wont dig to find it? not worrh the effort sir i will take yer word fer it.... this is an amazing channel that ive been impressed with and tell everyone about all the time.....
My younger brother bought a Vega in1972 and babied it almost religiously and it actually never gave him any problems. It was yellow with a black interior and had a floor shift manual transmision.
11:39 Manual is the key term. Here
My 1st car, you hit the nail directly on the head with the facts! I remember carrying used oil in milk jugs in the back, when the oil light came, on twice a week, I would pull over and add used oil.
Bulk oil 20ce nts a quart at swifty gas stations.every day 2 to 3 quarts after only 30,000miles
my first car 63 chevy same used oil. if the light just came on going around a corner ok but if it stayed on then add a gallon. piston pin gouge in the cylinder wall cleaned up with .060 over bore.
😅😅
My first car was a Vega too. I eventually had to put in a new engine becasue of the oil issue. The stuck throttle happenend to me as well. I was on the highway and the car started accelerating and I couldn't do anything. The problem was the spring that puts tension on the idle screw failed. I wrapped a little piece of paper (I found a straw wrapper in the back seat) around the screw to keep it in place and made it home. Still...I loved that car.
My '76 Vega station wagon stayed on the road until a driver ran a stop sign and T boned me on 87. I spent hours on keeping it in shape thanks to the Air Force having Hobby Shops on most of its bases. I put aftermarket steel sleeves and numberous other mods that were available, but one thing kept it running more than mail order parts. That was the fact that I could and did buy numberous other Vegas from the local junk yards to use as spare parts when a "big ticket" items like rear axles needed swapped out. In fact I bought one from a junk yard and drove it home under it's own power more than once. Though usually after I put a set of tires on it. In those cases imagine sputtering and banging down the road while laying down a smokescreen that could have hidden a fleet of tanks and you are close to the mark. Ah the good old days!
Cool story. Too bad it's bs.
@@mikaelgaiason688 Nothing there to BS about I don't think. Forgot to mention it was Vega Yellow though. Lots of lemon jokes there.
@@-jeff- You put steel sleeves in it? Do tell... As a master mechanic I feel like you're about to teach me something, otherwise you're talking out of your ass to tell a YT story
@@mikaelgaiason688 Nope. You had to bore out the cylinders and press in the sleeves. Look around because there was not only the sleeve kits but some companies had custom blocks with the sleeves already inserted. Heaven knows that somewhere on the internet you might find either the sleeves or the custom blocks. Basically either way, getting rid of the stock aluminum sleeves was the only way to keep it from eventually burning tons of oil.
@@-jeff- I'm aware of the process and the equipment needed to do it, hence why I know you didn't do it yourself.
My first car was an 18 year old 76 Vega. I loved it, even though it was a bit of a junket. Thanks for the walk down memory lane!
a 'junket' is actually a trip- a walk down memory lane- you could use a good dictionary.....
I bought a well used '75 in '84 when I was in the Navy at NAS Miramar. We had a great auto hobby shop on base, and it lived there for a bit while I went through the engine, and shot a coat of Pennzoil yellow lacquer on it. Out of the Navy, back in IL/IA, took me back and forth to NAS Glenview for reserve duty. Loved that car!
🤪
That's great! My stepdad bought a rusty green '71 Vega with a dead engine in it when he was stationed at San Diego in '72. He and his friends put a 350 in it and tried to make a street racer out of it. It didn't win many races because none of them knew how to mechanic or drive very well. What it did give them was a lot of fun and a lot of stories to tell over the years. He managed to get it home to East Texas but by the time I was old enough to drive, it had been in the junkyard for years.
Mr Flintstone Got one of the runners! Mr history should interview you. 😂
@@OptimiSkeptic Lol, late night, my friend would jack his dad's Vega. We'd cruise up to chantry flats in Ca. Lol, it was like driving a 3 legged turtle, whatta pile..... But some people landed on a good one. 🎉
In the early '70s, I spent much of my off-duty time in the auto hobby shop with my fellow aircraft mechanics. Our sergeant successfully installed a small block Chevy into a Vega. He used it strictly as a drag-strip car. 😉
I had some of my best walks when I had one of these cars.
LOL
I learned about how to hot-wire an electric fuel pump in my 77 Aster. The oil pressure switch prevented the pump from running before the engine had oil pressure. This made it a race between the engine wheezing to life or the carb running out of fuel. After I bypassed the switch with a small piece of a coat hanger, the car became reliable.
...always, always subscribe to AA. lol
😀😃🤣
Had a 72 Vega in the family for several years. Never an issue. Was absolutely great! Slow, but great!
Best quote on the Vega, “customers lost confidence in a car that began to rust on the showroom floor.”
Most American cars arrived on the lot rusted. The Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare had rusted bumpers on delivery... and those were chromed!
@@deadfreightwest5956 But the Volare DID have a very catchy radio jingle! Volare! Come see! Plymouth Volare! What a new car should be!
they were rusting on the line....
I remember the Vega. I own a 1977 Dodge Aspen. I bought it from a private seller in 1987. I drove it until 2010. I drive a 1994 Ford Ranger which I bought from a private seller in December of 2009. I want to get the Aspen back on the road again and I have did repairs on it over the years.
@@Grimenoughtomaketherobotcry I remember that song and ad campaign ;-)
My auto shop teacher was able to get a brand new Vega from a local Chevrolet dealership that had the engine fail for nothing so that we could convert it to a V-8 powered car. We spent a couple of months doing the work. We were able to hone our skills and had a running car in around 4 months. It was a very fast car. Very reliable transportation.
@ Carlos Ojeda God bless you. My friend who passed away just a few months ago bought a black 77 vega and put a 350 chevy in it. That car was fast he used to come down our street burning rubber all the time. This brings back so many memories lol.
why put a V8 in it? chevy reworked its 140 motor and so should have your shop class. you guys would have learned a lot more than simply bolting a built-up V8 engine in. your teacher probably sold the V8 car for a profit that he promptly pocketed....
My brother had iron sleeves and a turbo installed on his Vega wagon and had lots of fun out running many Cameros!
My family had one of these. A yellow two door. It was a heap of junk. I remember whenever mom would hit the brakes, you would hear water whooshing forward inside the chassis. This was Louisiana, rarely a week passes without rain, so the car never fully dried out. It was always a little waterlogged like an old galleon. This car was purchased new by the way. Yes I am from teh 70's. My mom was pretty proud when she drove it home. Her first new car!
It eventually blew up on us in third grade.
A Sister at the Catholic school was talking to my mom after school. Telling her how I was a trouble maker and never paid attention, probably headed straight to hell... then Boom!
Someone had crashed into our Vega going about 20 miles an hour and the gas tank blew up like WW II.
I thought it was cool because of giant explosions well known appeal to 9 year old boys.
But also because I knew this erased my horrible scholastic behavior from my mom's mind.
We actually went out for dinner. The next day the sister was very nice to me.
Moral of the story, The Vega is a bad car for everyone except 9 years olds.
Lol
And here’s a fun fact for you, the Chevy Vega hold the distinction of being the first car ever offered as a prize on the current version of the price is right on September 4, 1972
What car did the winner get? ;)
It was a blue Kammback wagon with a suggested retail price, nicely equipped, for $2635.00
the car was third prize...second was a 4 slice toaster...
first was a year's supply of turtle wax
I WATCHED THAT EPISODE NOT TO LONG AGO! IT CAME WITH A YEARS SUPPLY OF OIL!😂
@@Montyhugo that's a lot of oil. ... a lot of vegas were used in mosquito control after about 50,000 miles.
Dear History Guy, As a young man in 1973 I owned a Vega and traded it back to GM in less than a year. I did not experience the problems you mentioned but the one I experienced was what convinced me to get rid of the car. Some my say it was a small thing and it may have been but I hated it. The problem I had with the Vega was that after a rainfall the water on the highway would come up between the gaps on each of the hood and splatter onto the windshield right in your line of vision. So I traded it in so I missed all of those REAL problems that were coming. Boy, am I glad. Thanks for the video.
Car and Driver: "The Chevy Vega is the best economy sedan for three years running!"
Chevy: "To be clear, we never actually said a Vega would run for three years."
Good one!
It’s cheaper to pay off Car & Driver for good reviews than it is to build a good car.
@F Trakk Nice! How many engines did that take? 🤣
I got about three years. Warped. Better than my Saab 99 which lasted about 3 weeks. Transmission. Yup, make a bad car and I'd buy it.
@@jonljacobi Yeah, I’ve heard a lot of Saab story’s.
i still own and drive my 76 vega, love the car.
I bet you watch Smokey the Bandit too !!! 🚗😂
@@JB-rt4mx hell yeah. jackie gleason is bad ass in that movie.
@@JB-rt4mx the 76 had the iron duke in them,,,my sis inlaw had a one,,4 speed too...you cant hurt that engine ,,
holy S__t! Good for you man. Had any offers on it?
I have a 76 kamback with 4speed and air conditioner
Despite all the flaws, they still look cool, especially the longer panel versions. I'd love to get my hands on one now.
Thanks for this👍👍
Yep, I had a '73 GT station wagon and it was the most fun car to drive I've ever had! I had none of the problems that are frequently told. I had no engine heating issues, no rusting, no oil consumption or leaks and got around 30 mpg. It would also do 115 mph! I paid $1700 for it in 1975 and sold it when I left Alaska for $1300 a few years later.
Like a mini Camaro
My mom had a '71 Vega Wagon and we loved this car!
Big buzz at the Vega Owner’s Club: “Hey did you see the History Guy’s video on the Vega, he almost made it sound like a good car.”
The key word..... almost!
Had a 76 station wagon, wasn't hard to drive it into the ground. Easy to replace engine extended its life, even though it drove like a biplane after that.
I had a '75 hatchback that had been converted into a drag racing car - when I got it, the engine had been blown up but after the rebuild, I thoroughly enjoyed the car. I sold it for 3 times what I paid for it after my grandma gave me a '74 Malibu Classic (now that was a serious car).
@Rick Charles I had quite a few of them. I liked them all. 8)
Did you even watch the video? He really didn't. Especially what he said at the very end.
My first car was a "74 Vega which I bought from my grandma while I was in high school. After the engine gave up the ghost, I bought a 325 hp 327 small block, which I was rebuilding for it. An older gearhead friend of mine was going to help me make the necessary modifications to install it. One day I came home from school to find my car gone. My mother said she had the junkyard haul it away, which (needless to say) infuriated me . I rushed down to try to recover my car, or at least the cylinder heads and pistons which were in the back. When I got there and asked where it was, the worker pointed to the top of a pile of junk cars and said "Sorry, kid".
Ahh...memories of my youth.
Jeez, that's rough. My mom threw away my baseball card collection that would have been worth a ton of money if I'd kept it. Sometimes moms do stuff...
That motor would probably twist the frame
@@roberthickmon2442 No, it wouldn't. My father put a 350 chevy in one and it didn't even have the torque to do that. If the metal was weak enough to bend from the engine, think of how useless it would be in a crash. Come on.
My first car was a 1973 Vega station wagon, complete with "wood grain" on the sides. My brother had purchased it new and it was handed down to me since he had purchased a Toyota Supra in 1979. In 1975 my brother had the engine rebuilt and steel cylinder liners were added to the block, it ran well, never used oil, but it had very little power and with the A/C on, it struggled to get above 65 mph on flat ground with no wind, he should have gotten the manual transmission! It did have an interesting engine sound though, when any other car's engine sounded in need of repair, a Vega was running great.
The trick was to only turn on the air when going down hills...
The lack of power was an issue with all small cars then unlike today where even the smallest engines put out 150HP or more. American cars did suffer a bit more because of pushrod OHV engines instead of the OHC engines that the Japanese were using but even those engines could only do so much.
@@thomasb1889 The Vega (and also the pinto) had an overhead camshaft engine - for the Vega, it was an aluminum block with a cast iron head. The Cosworth Vega was an all aluminum, double overhead cam, 4 valve per cylinder, fuel injected 2 liter engine in 1975/1976. Cosworth of England was getting around over 260 hp out of the engine - from GM, after reducing the compression ratio, adding the old highly restrictive pellet style catalytic converter, and some emissions related detuning, the power output was down to 110 hp. With some slight re-tuning, and a less restrictive catalyst and exhaust system, 150hp is common.
I am an avid follower of your channel. I am only getting around to watching this video. Boy, I am glad i did! When I was a teenager my brother's first car was a brand new 1974 Vega. He spent 3 years cursing that car for the non-stop breakdowns and repairs. I never saw him as happy as the day he sold that rusted out shell of a car. His joy was short lived, however, as his next car was a Mustang II. The car that almost killed the Mustang.
Again, when those who own the stock of GM, Chrysler and Ford call the shots on profits being eaten by costs associated with manufacturing excellence and build quality, expect the opposite! That's why the Japanese did the opposite-build quality and the demise of the big three was, well...............
your full of crap, i owned a 74 and they were not rust buckets like the korean designed 72/73. they were in fact good cars. diff engines and a camaro 4 speed. best economical car on the market.
I had one, 73' GT hatchback. Can't complain, always got me home!
I had one of those as my first car. That thing was awesome till I crashed it.
Back in the day on a quiet night, you could hear a Vega rust.
Only if there wasn't a Ruster (er, I mean Duster) in the area...
that was the front fenders
Rust never sleeps.
The Japanese imports of the 70's were THE ABSOLUTE WORST, when it came to rusting. I had two Vega's, and I had a friend who had a Datsun B-210. His was just a few years old and the entire outside of his driver door was nothing but rust.
ROFLMFAO!!
When I test-drove a Vega in 1972, the dealer told me that it was only available with the 2-speed transmission and the standard engine. I got in, pulled out of the lot and mashed the gas pedal. When I looked in the mirror, the kid on the Schwinn was definitely gaining. Needless to say, I kept my Triumph Spitfire.
LOL! those Schwinns were Fast!!
@@Zombeegun Nah, the kid delivering papers had more horsepower than the Vega.
I bought a 76 Vega with a 5 speed transmission and a slightly hopped up engine, had some Cosworth parts on it. The 5 speed needed rebuilding after about 10K miles but after that I put over 100K on the car and sold it for $600. It turned out to be a great car!
I grew up in a '74 Vega Kammback. A good looking little car, and reliable. We had that car from '77 to '84, and I don't remember it ever letting us down.
I used to work in a machine shop rebuilding engines. I remember these engines coming in. We actually sleeved them with sleeves for 9n ford tractors. Most customers that had a vega would have a 350 chevy built to install for racing
I had two of these back in my college days. I liked them a lot.
The family car of my childhood was the first 1971 Vega GT hatchback delivered to the Cincinnati market. The little car worked great for us. We even welded a hitch to the back to tow our 17' boat! I spent many happy hours playing in the hatchback on long family drives. The odometer broke at 180,000 miles, and we kept it another 3 years after that - until the thing finally rusted away in 1982.
I owned a '72 Vega Hatchback, and lovrd it.
When I was in the Navy my immediate supervisor offered to sell me his second car. It was a six year old Vega with body rust unlike anything I'd ever seen. I passed on the car.
@Todd Brooks Not like the Vega. This one had holes rusted through the body panels.
I loved the way it looked.
I and many friends stuffed V8's in these little race cars. My favorite was the maverick. Beautiful car. Dodge had the horizon. Then there's the AMC hornet. My friend and I drove across the country in a gremlin. Bread and butter. Stop for gas only. 156 bucks. 1976.
My first car at age 16 was Monza, similar to the Vega. I liked the look of it. Unfortunately it had it's issues. Had fuel intake problems (and didn't seem to be the fuel pump) and lost power. Then just wouldn't start. It was kind of a crappy first car. My 2nd car was a Grand Prix which was significantly better.
Me too , its too bad about the Reynolds Wrap engine. Should have gave it a V6 from the start.
The Vega looks like a Camaro in the front.
I bought my ’74 Vega in ’76 when I was home on leave from the Navy. I bought it used in Wisconsin and drove it to San Angelo, Texas for the next phase of my training. It was a great car to drive, but less than 15 miles from home, the chrome-colored plastic trim on the right-side rain gutter started flapping in the wind. Duct tape to the rescue, until I reached my destination and could epoxy it back in place. The rest of the trip, and time in Texas was great. A comfortable car to drive, and sporty enough looking for a 19-year-old. After Texas, another trip to Wisconsin, then to my permanent station in Homestead, Florida. Again, driving those distances was a dream. No engine issues driving from sun-up to well past sun-down. I arrived at my base in south Florida, less than mile from the ocean, and a couple months later, spent my first winter on temporary assignment down the road in Key West, literally feet from the ocean. Ocean, as in salt water, salt spray, and rusting Vega. Years later someone tried to tell me it was the 2 years up north that caused the rust, but road salt rust occurs in places like wheel wells, and the bottom of the car. My Vega rust (and it was very noticeable on a white car), was the air vent below the windshield, eventually causing rainwater to leak into the cabin by way of the radio. Rainwater running down the back hatch would drain down the back of the Vega above the brake lights, until the rust surrounded the lights. But the death knell came when my Navy work site put in speed bumps. The Vega engine sat so low that they put in steel X plate under it to protect it, but the constant banging on the speed bumps eventually messed up the transmission and I had to get rid of it… before I was even finished paying for it.
But it was my first car so I do have fond feelings for it (and blame Florida for being near saltwater, and the Navy for concrete speed bumps). I found a die-cast version of the ’74 Vega on eBay so I’ll always have my first car with me.
after years of blaming the wrong people- you finally realized why people slow down for speed bumps.....
Back in the 70's a friend of mine had a Vega and I had Ford Pinto. We usually took my car because it was reliable at getting us home.
My second car (at 16) was a 1972 Vega. It took me from coast to coast a couple of times while I was in the Marines. I loved it so much, that I rebuilt it when a tractor-trailer totalled it in VA in '76 (I only had minor injuries). When I bought a 1978 Chevy van, my Air Force buddy begged me to sell it to him & he promptly drove it non-stop cross-country again. As far as I could tell, if you took care of a Vega, it took care of you. BTW, my brother had a 1974 that he loved, and my dad got a Cosworth that he kept for 20 years. His Cosworth was never 100% dependable, as fuel injection & computer designs were still evolving.
The injectors in the early Cosworth were Bendix if I am not mistaken -- when they were replaced with a set of (Bosch? Lucas?) performance was notably better.
I worked at Delco-Remy in the 70's, where we had an engine room to test ignition and charging systems for endurance. Most engines would run for weeks; the Vega engine rarely made it through an 8 hour shift.
Anderson IN? I've talked to someone who worked at Borg Warner in Muncie. He did driveline studies and had several V8 Vega tests.
@@brianjackson1835 Yes, plant 18, advanced engineering building. Most of the stuff we were testing was for future products. Tested in house and police and taxi fleets around the country. Pretty interesting job!
@@keithblaney9064 I bet, working at Subaru in Lafayette I always stopped by the Dyno room to see what was going on. But there was no testing there or anywhere else in plant like you described. I have three H bodies all Buicks so they have the 3.8 V6. Just looked at a 76 Chevy Monza Spyder that has the durabuilt 4cyl. Ran great and was a 5spd manual. My Dad worked at Delco for 31 years. I know he worked in plant 18 for awhile. Small world 😀
@@brianjackson1835 That 3.8 V6 is a real workhorse, and will run a long time. Good luck with the Monza!
@@keithblaney9064 I didn't buy it my wife would kick me out 😀 Buick guy 100% but like them all.
I bought a Chevy Vega station wagon new in 1975. It came with a 5 year 60,000 mile warranty. I drove it many years and my daughter started driving it when it had about 80k miles on it. I never had any problems with it. I just put one battery, one set of brakes in it. My daughter drove it and then gave it back to me because her friends made fun of her car. It was running when I parked it with 172k miles on it. It never burned oil, and was great on gas and still was fast! The machining process of silicon impregnated cylinder walls was copied by Porsche. The only problem earlier Vegas had was if it lost just a small amount of radiator water, it would overheat. So in '75, they put a much bigger radiator in them and they never had that problem again. I still have it stored and is in great shape for never being in an accident.
Greatest thing about the Vega was having a Compact car that you could shoehorn a 350 into ..
The monza was better for that transplant
It fit easier than that. Lol. It could hold a big block. GM seems to always made a vehicle that could hold a V8. The S10 pickup kept this tradition.
350 V8 Chevette ::mic drop::
True, but the unibody frame couldn’t keep the rear end in place for long.
I wanna see a front engine ls swapped corvair, with the original engine still in back
As a 21-year-old, my parents helped me buy a brand new 1976 Vega when I was just finishing college. I only later on heard about the problems with the earlier year models. I loved the car. I put over 33,000 miles on it in less than a year and a half. It was great. Unfortunately it was in a serious accident at that point and was totaled.
I also had a 76 as my first car which was my aunts(bought brand new) first car and given to me. I had zero issues with that Vega other than just normal maintenance things. I went all over the north Georgia mountains in that car and have great memories with it. When I sold it it had just over 120k miles on it.
I had a 76 Vega GT and got 120,000 plus miles out of it
After watching your video I realize how blessed I was when I purchased a new Vega in 1972. I didn’t have any problems with it but as I recall I traded it in for a Datsun station wagon. Between the Vega and the Datsun we had 2 children born thus a “larger” vehicle was needed.
Now a Datsun,, there is your rustbucket
Vega Veteran, New Orleans chapter here. I had a '72 miniwagon, drove it to my commuter college from 1977 to about 1981. My dad worked on tugs & supply boats. The oil burning got so bad that he'd come home with gallons of waste oil from the shipyards in gallon jugs. I'd just pour some in every week. I had school friends who lived in New Orleans East. When I drove over what we call the Highrise, a plug would inevitably get fouled and I'd lose acceleration. Yes, I kept spare plugs and a wrench. This experience made me swear that my children would always have safe, reliable cars when the time came.
In Québec, we called those cars "Dégât", which sounded like Vega...
In french, dégât means mess, huge damages, etc
I had a friend who called his Vega "The Verga" means genitals in Spanish~!!
WEIRD.... We CANADIANS ... call the québécois something similar.... only with a more precise descriptor....
INGRATE.
In Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries the Chevy Nova’s name did not go over well. Nova was to close to the Spanish for ‘does not go.’
And the Pontiac Astre we call Désastre for disaster
We called it the Vegematic out in Ab. I drove in one that had a 50/50 chance of a door flying open whenever you made a turn
My dad had a Vega wagon when we were kids. My brother's and I were horsing around and the emergency brake was released. The car rolled down the hill and crashed. Our dad smiled and brought a van
Dad's accountant loved his Vega, which he bought new, when they first came out, but he kept it garaged, and he was ahead of his time, as he was a stickler for mantinence in a time, when people almost never changed their oil or checked fluid levels. Also, not everyone had a garage at both their home & work, like Dad's accountant. The Vega had zero tolerance for any lack of maintenance.
Rust was addressed from the very first Vegas by dipping them in a tank to galvanize the metal. Unfortunately, air pockets in vulnerable places such as the wheel wells would form, blocking the steel from the zinc coating, because they just dipped the Vega body straight in and pulled it straight out, and no one noticed or cared, so the Vega ended up rust proof only on paper.
Just a lttle less apathy & a few changes during it's inception, and the Vega could have been one of the most successful cars ever. ...What a shame.
There are a small group of Vega owners that boast of high mileage even today. Its an anti-status symbol. They are better than Yugo, you can say that much! Every time you drive the car check the oil and coolant levels - many beaters will just keep going when you pay attention.
GM did sell every one they could build, and every one was a perfect reason to buy a Honda the next time around.
what an ignorant comment
I worked mainly on Vegas from 77 to 80 in a chevy dealership. Once you replaced the engine with the warranty chevy steel sleeved motor, there was no problem with them
My dad turned wrenches at a GM dealer during the seventies and eighties. He dealt with the atrocious 8-6-4 setup that never worked right, Buicks that would continue running after shutting off because they were carboned up so badly. But easily the dumbest thing GM did during the time, aside of the 4100, was converting the small block to a Diesel engine. And the terrible thing the buyers dealt with was paying a premium for the option, then getting punished with a lower than normal trade in value because of the engine.
That said, he had several stories about customers who were livid after GM got rid of division engines, turning the Chevy engines in “corporate motors” for all to use. Buyers of brand new cars would pull up so quickly, you’d think it was a robbery, only for an older guy or woman to get out and holler why their Buick, Cadillac, or Olds “had a F$&king Chevy engine! If I wanted a Chevy I’d have bought one!”
Funny thing was, the Chevy engines were better than other GM models.
I am probably gonna get hell for that last line from the fanboys, but it’s true.
Edit: one more funny story: customer special ordered an Opel from Europe. After customer takes ownership, he keeps coming back because of a noise in the rear of the car he can’t pinpoint. Dad figures out that the noise is coming from a small space on the underside that’s welded shut.
They fly the Opel rep to the dealer, outside Philly. Dad explains the situation. Rep says he can cut it open.
Two Heineken bottles fall from the compartment. Apparently, Fritz & Franz got a little loaded at work. Probably one of those cars built on a Friday, before a holiday weekend
Chevy's engine had the highest performance, but each manufacturer had different bore/stroke and breathing characteristics. I owned 5 ('67 thru '70) Camaros and 2 Chevy pickup trucks ('68, '69). For example, Buick's 350 had a longer stroke, had more low end torque and was quieter. These differences were even greater with the big block V-8s.
Gregory Parrott their small blocks were also heavier than Chevy, which sold in far higher numbers with acceptable torque and hp curves for the entire corporation. Made sense to standardize across a line considering they were using corporate chassis platforms since the mid 20s.
@@redram5150 ...and they eventually did consolidate, but having a bunch of branches trying to develop engines (Pontiac also had their own distinct 350 with different valve angles) wasn't a terrible idea. The same thing happened with the 400 and the 455. You try different things and eventually get to choose the "best" one
Doctor Smith you misread my comments. I’m fully aware each brand had their own engines
One of my instructors in college worked at a Chevrolet dealer from the mid 70s to early 90s. A co worker of his found a soda can riveted inside the front fender of a Citation, and found another soda can behind the dash above the hvac plenum of another Citation. There were some real assholes in those factories in those days
I'm embarrassed to admit it, but , yes, I DID own a Vega. I remember having to invent new swear words, because the ones I knew weren't enough.
Ugh, my parents bought a Vega... 3 weeks later they forced the dealer to take it back...
Did you watch this video? As many as half-a-million Vegas were recalled for various safety and durability concerns.
Mine too. 1972
In 1976 I owned a '73 Impala 4dr; came down on orders to Europe so I traded it in for a '75 Vega GT 4spd thinking it would be better for secondary roads in Europe. Loved that Vega; it took me all over Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands never letting me down-wish I had it today!