When I got Bach from Vietnam in 71, my wife needed a car, and she liked the looks of the Vega. So we went to the local Chevy dealer and took a nice looking fastback for a test drive. The salesman was retired Navy. During the drive he asked what I did. I told him about being military and just retiring from the war zone. When we got back to the dealership, he asked my wife how she liked the car. She really loved it, which kind of put me at a disadvantage negotiating for the out the door price. But the salesman asked us to walk over to the corner of the dealerships lot. He pointed to the VW dealership next door and said the VW was a way more reliable car, and less money. He said he felt badly for anyone buying a Vega as the engines were crap. He asked us not to mention to anyone what he just told us, but we should also look into the service bay and pay attention to how many of the cars were Vegas. We did, and were surprised how many Vegas were in there. We walked next door and ended up with a new VW . A rare honest salesman indeed.
Thanks for going to Vietnam. You are right, an honest salesman who looked out for you. My Aunt went to buy a 71 Thunderbird at the local Ford used car lot. The salesman, about her age, talked her out of it, saying that he knew the previous owner and the car had almost no maintenance and the odometer man had visited the lot before the car was put out for sale.
Great story. The sad thing is my dad's brother was the salesperson that sold him his '72 Vega. Since he was new at sales at the time, I'm hoping that he honestly didn't have the insight your salesperson did. And thank you for your service sir.
The salesman must have retired from the German Navy ? I have always been appalled and disgusted by what Nader did to our fantastic Corvair , a car that would have lasted to 1974 , like the VW did, they were designed to run on leaded gasoline. Had the Corvair still been around like it should have in 1971 than , likely you would have bought a better air cooled car !
I bought a 76 Vega from a private party. I'd heard about the problems, but he'd already had the cylinders sleeved. I drove it for a total of almost 160,000 relatively carefree miles other than the normal consumables. It was parked on the street and a delivery truck sideswiped it from bumper to bumper, totaling it. The Cosworth version was actually pretty cool. People bash on the Vega, but I had relatives buy a brand new Chevette--a car that made the Vega look like a Rolls-Royce
Yeah, but the Chevette has German DNA, Thats OPEL, as many cars including Cadillac! Not to mention my superior 74 Opel Manta which never fails to start, and drives flawlessly. RIP GM.
I had a Vega GT I bought it new in 1974. Kept it for 10 years. That engine was a nightmare. I knew someone who bought a Chevette in 1985. I bought a VW Jetta at about the same time. The Chevette cost more than my Jetta! Jetta's still here with over 400,000 miles on it.. I'll bet the Chevette was junked long ago.
@@ARISTOILET The relative was management in G.M..They bought the Chevette as a third, errand car, despite having Cadillacs and no kids at thome. The wife thought it was cute and bought it on a lark. By year 2, the Michigan winter had already taken it's toll...rust spots were forming. I think they had it for like 4 years and despite having less than 10,000 mile on it, they donated it.
The Opal GT is going to be my donar car to first finish making it look like a smaller version of a 1968 Corvette then shoehorn a pimped out Rat Motor in it. Similar to a Rat Fink car
I had an early model (slim bumpers) back in the 70s. The piston ring seal (lack of seal!) got so bad that I would put in about a 50/50 mix of goopy STP oil treatment and straight 40 weight oil. It still smoked. The only good part is that the man across the street bought it for his daughter. She and I clicked and eventually got married in 1980. We're still married, so the car was good for something!
Yea, every high school kid had a friend that did that conversion somewhere. Scary quick too. But most high school boys left the stock differential in place and that caused a lot of wrecks when it exploded.
As a kid the neighbor wrench head built up a Vega wagon with lifted rear end, suspension and motor. They would start at the bottom of the hill and lay rubber all the way up and then get out and measure it. Woodman valley rd.
@@jeffrobodine8579came out with a V8 262 in monza coupe in 1975. I bought 1 in 1984. Wasn’t a bad car. I drove it through college. Then I put a 350 truck eng in it. When the trans went out I sold it for almost as much as I paid for it.
If ONLY they'd spent a little more time and money on it. Such a good-looking little car, and with just a bit more engineering it could've been at least not bad and maybe genuinely good. A baby '70 Camaro that was reliable and economical would've been GREAT.
I agree. So many times GM has just done enough when introducing a car without thinking about the long term outcome of half-stepping through product development. It is surprising that the 1977 full-sized downsized cars were so good because most efforts after that were doomed from the start by mediocre efforts.
The problem was they spent way too much money on engineering here. All new engine, new processes, new delivery methods, etc. Just not money spent in the right places engineering wise.
@@laserwizard2 The only reason the 77 downsized cars were 'so good' was that they were a 5 year old design just with new sheet metal. The 1977 GM B bodies were just reskinned 73-77 intermediate A bodies (Monte Carlo, Chevelle, etc). Right down the their 116 in wheelbase. GM really pulled the wool over every one. Look it up.
In 1978 my brother dropped by to show me the 1972 Vega he had just picked up. It was a nice looking car but I had heard all the stories. He popped the hood and it had V8 transplanted from a Corvette. He asked if wanted to go for ride, I had a 70 GTO at the time so I wasn’t expecting much. I’d never seen a speedometer needle move so fast, of course it only read to 100 I think but still. I was impressed.
My first car was a 1975 Vega notchback. Paid $25 for it in 1986; got it home and cleaned it out and recovered almost $18 in change so it was really only a $7 car.
We bought a used Honda and it had a coin drawer where when the drawer was full the over-flow coins would fall out the back of the drawer to a catch-basin under the floor mat ! I removed the floor-mat and used a stick with glue on the stick to put in the hole where the coins had collected and pulled $124 dollars out of the hole - my grand-daughter named it Grandpa's Gold Mine ! :-)
Great video! My dad had a black Corvair when I was born in 1964. A couple of cars later, he bought a dark green '72 Vega GT with Wide-O-Oval white letter tires, rally wheels, a "widish" black stripe from nose to tail and a four-speed manual. What a looker! I used to drive it from the carport to the back yard and wash it for him when I was 10 or so. One of my absolute all-time favorites!
My first new car was a 75 Vega GT hatchback with a 4 speed, matching color wheels, GT trim. I never had any issues with it overheating at all...Chevy put a bigger radiator in them in 74 which helped solve some of those problems of burning oil. I put 128K on mine, no rust at all, only thing that went out was the fuel pump at about 22K miles. I traded it for a Monte Carlo in 81 and saw the Vega still running over a year later still looking good. It was a good car in the snow which surprised me and with the 3.42 rear axle it had some get up and go being a 4 speed I would wind it up to 4500 rpm and it handled it well.
I had a Vega and like most, it had a bad oil burning problem. But I solved it with 3 simple digits..... 3-5-0. Never burnt a drop after that. Lots of gas, lots of rubber, but no oil.
@@tommurphy4307 When I was in HS in the mid/late 70s, there were about 10 vegas that people had done the Rat-motor swap to in order to cure that anemic wee 4 banger sewing machine that came from the factory!! Some were quite impressive with blowers or superchargers poking up out of the hood atop that big mill!!! Ahh, I sure do miss the 70s!!
I owned a 74 Vega for almost 5 years. It spent its entire life outside and never rusted. It also ran like a Swiss watch for five years. I musta got a good one.
In the fall of 1971 I went to the car dealer with my then girlfriend now wife along with her GM employed father to buy a new Vega. We married a few years later and that car would be with us for several years more. We had all the problems associated with that car but managed to work through most of them. We like the hatchback because it fit many of things a growing family needed to haul around. We have fond memories of that little car and feel the body style was one of GM’s best! Thanks for taking us down memory lane.
Thanks much for the video. Kept a 74 Vega on the road in Michigan for ten years by periodically spraying the interior sheet metal panels with rust preventative and finding a replacement sleeved engine in the junkyard at 77,000 miles. Never bought another new GM product.
My first car was a 73 GT. I loved it! It had a blown engine when my parents gave it to me with loads of miles on it, and I put a Chevy 200 V6 in it. The car itself must have been a unicorn- no rust at all, and the only flaw with mine was that the left headlight burned out once a year. It cornered like a race car on Eagle GTs. These really handled very well.
@@grandinosourThose were pretty common. Vega's were dirt cheap and 327's were a dime a dozen and a powerglide worked fine in the little Vega with the V8. Cheap go fast fun!
I had a 1973 Vega Station Wagon Estate my parents got me at 15, and it had problems like rust in the funder near the windshield on the passenger side, but I loved it. They paid $150 for it at the swamp meet we sold stuff at. I later brought a 1975 Vega GT for $600 and fix it up. I loved that car and drove it like crazy. Furthermore, I put a V8 in it and raced it as I had blown, the engine, it had. Not much was able to beat me. That car was fast. I nearly died in it many times. I have had better cars since then. And I still miss and love my Vega. It was first love I learn so much in.
The Vega's exterior was sporty and attractive. It had a lot of room and huge storage when back seat was flattened. Vega had so much potential, but really it just exposed how bad GM was.
Back in the day I had a '77 Chevy Monza with a 140 CID 4 cyl engine with a 4 speed manual transmission. The body on that car was crap ($100 beater) but it run great. Eventually I came across a '77 Vega Hatchback with a perfect body but needed a motor. I spoke to the guy and agreed he would keep the transmission in the car and the price was $50. I pulled the motor and transmission from the Monza and put it in the Vega. Changing from an automatic to a manual was not difficult to do. The brake/clutch pedals were mounted to a bracket that bolted right in and the hump between the bucket seats had a plate that unbolted and allowed the shifter plate for the manual transmission to fit right in. My only issue was adjusting the clutch properly but a friend and I got it sorted out. I drove that car for several years with zero issues and the only other thing that I did to it was replace the shocks and tires as well as regular maintenance. It was one of the best cars that I have ever had and the best part was that I was getting close to 40 MPG on the highway.
To this day, I still remember my parents buying one in 1974 and literally not even out of the dealership, the rear view mirror fell off the window when my Dad adjusted it. But we had it for years till it ended up in the rust heap. Crap quality from the start!
I had relatives who bought a Chevette off the showroom floor-brand new. On the drive home it started to rain really hard. He turned on the wipers and they worked for about a minute then stopped. They were lucky they could get off the freeway safely. They waited for the cloudburst to pass and took it back to the dealership. It was in the shop for 2 days. A couple of weeks later she takes it to the store. Goes to leave the parking lot and the car won't go shift out of park. Towed to the dealership. Within a year rust spots started to appear. Nothing but trouble.
My first car was a 1975 Vega Hatchback in dark Brown “taupe”/with beige interior with manual transmission. I ordered it from our local Chevy dealer, and when it finally arrived, I was in Heaven. It was a fantastic car and I loved it.
My first car was a 1973 Kammback, and I loved it. The last Vega I owned was a 1977 Kammback. I drove that car from a junkyard in Arizona all the way back to Ohio with zero problems. They always ran like a top, and religious maintenance was my key to keeping them going far longer than other Vega models.
I worked as a Sunoco gas station attendant in the mid 70s before self-service eliminated that job. We would clean windows and check oil for each fill-up. Every Vega that came in needed a quart or two of oil, and there was a little trick to balancing the oil can because of the filler cap location.
In 2004 a good friend's dad bought a 74 Vega GT. He's a car guy but cooked the motor after a couple weeks. We ended up swapping in a Toyota 22r motor and transmission. That became the most reliable Vega left on the road.
Graduated H.S. in 73. My dad brought me down to Zele's Chevrolet. I walked out with a new 2dr. Vega, hatchback in silver. The price O.T.Door was $2,600 tax and all. I had saved up a $1,000 and my parents gave me a passbook with enough money for the rest which I used for what was called a collateral loan. I got busy customizing the car with the little funds I had. I dropped the back seats (they folded down flat) and carpeted the entire area in red. I spray painted the rims black and added chrome rings and chrome lug nuts! WoW! A week later the car was burning a quart of oil for every tank of gas. Fortunately the dealership was supplying the needed oil. Did I mention all of the fouled spark plugs I replaced? Long story short, 16 months later, on a winters night, I was visiting a girlfriend in Southern Ct State. Another plug had fouled. My dad came down with his 69 or 70 2 dr. Impala. We rope towed the car home (42 miles). Well, part way.. There was an accident on RT 8 North so we had to pull over. The State Trooper wasn't happy with us being on the highway rope towing. He was scolding my dad (I was in the non-running Vega, freezing) standing between my car and my dads. All of a sudden I see the two of them bail over the guard rails. A drunk driver ricocheted off of the left quarter panel, crushing it, smashing out both drivers side windows and totaling the car. The DUI car did a couple of 360's and ended up in the same guard rail hole that they just removed the first accident from. The Officer was FIT TO BE TIED! That's another story. It was the best thing that happened to the Vega! Happy New Year!
Both the Corvair and the Vega were sabotaged by GM's cheapness. The design timeframe was fine.. The stupidity though was not. They had a perfectly good OHC 6 that could have been shortened to a 4 quite easily and cheaply.
Same with the Fiero. By the time they decided to do everything to make it a great car, people were tired of the problems. It's kind of GMs mo. They did the worst job with the NorthStar. Took them around 12 years to finally fix the head and main bolt problems (kind of) and then it was over.
What also push the Corvair to the grave was that, the rear engine was seen as weird to people and as the final nail in the coffin Nader book did the rest.
@@dustin_4501 Having a rear engine didn't seem to bother VW. And, I would point out that Corvair sold like Krispy Kreme doughnuts for several years after introduction. The Ralph Nader hit piece on the car just killed it though.
@@dustin_4501The Corvair could have been America’s “Porsche” had GM done a little outside-of-the-box thinking and redesign to address the mostly inaccurate complaints of Nader’s book.
I had a hatch back Vega with the high output engine and a 4 speed transmission. It was a great car for the short time I owned it. The AMC Gremlin also made the same mistake of not using wheel well liners in the front, and had the same problem of road debris accumulating on the top of the motor compartment front side rails and rusting thru the front fenders from the inside out.
Great summary Adam. I remember Vegas being great handlers, could out corner most contemporary American cars. I also remember most people were skeptical of an aluminum engine without steel cylinder sleeves, so when they began to burn oil at low milage it just confirmed everyone's skepticism. A friend had a 77, he loved it and it was very reliable.
@@tommurphy4307 The Pontiac Iron Duke motor never made it into a Vega from the factory. I had a 77 wagon and it had the Dura Built in it. I believe it was the Chevette that had the Pontiac motor in it.
When you need to design something quickly, it's not the time to innovate with the engine, the rust protection, the paint process, and the shipping method. Vegas arrived at dealerships already rusting.
I was a mechanic in the mid 70’s in a ford garage! A customer brought in a vega for a tuneup! I found that the engine was extremely detuned! So I gave him noticeably more power that made him happy! As he drove away I crossed my fingers behind my back🫣!
I remember that when these engines started failing in large numbers, rebuilders with often board the cylinder block and install sleeves. Once they did that, the rebuilt engine was much more durable than the original.
I worked at used car lot in the late 70’s. We never had any trouble selling Vegas, just keeping them running. I remember having the engines sleeved left and right.
The major issue with the 3 engines I had replaced on warranty was, in addition to the block warping and blowing the piston rings, was that the head also warped, but differently from the block due to aluminum/iron mismatches, thus head gaskets blew, and then mixed oil and anti-freeze and........
I bought a '72 Kammback GT new. Lime green metallic, manual trans, went through 3 engines in 18k miles, all covered by warranty. Finally dropped a 283 in it, and it became a really nice car. And yes, they were an esthetically beautiful design.
Thank You! I was looking forward to seeing this one! A major factor in coolant loss was the head gasket that had to work with both the aluminum block and cast iron head. The two metals expanded at different rates. Mixing of coolant and oil from failed gaskets compounded by failure of valve sealing that lead to oil burning didn’t help.
My wife won a new '75 Vega in a Dept store raffle. It actually had no issues. Around 120,000 miles though, the cylinder walls got scored and it burned a lot of oil but still ran good. Got a lot of good use out of it in our early days
@@LynneTimko LOL. Exactly. I also kept a case of oil in the hatchback. I went to the same gas station then. The running joke was "fill the oil and check the gas"
I bought a '72 sedan model in that green colour for $650CAD in '78 drove it for about 7 years it got me through commuting to college and my brother after me. It was hard starting in the cold and it blew a timing belt once but it must have been a non-interference engine, new belt all good. Replaced a rust fender they were bad for that. No regrets owning an original Vega. Thanks for this video I learned more about my fond memory of the Vega.
I took my daughter to the auto show. We saw a rebuilt Vega. I told her that this was why most Americans drive a Toyota or Honda. She was confused but a bunch of old guys gathered to tell her how awful this car was. One told her that that this was the only one he ever saw without rust. Another suggested that he hoped that the guys that designed it, died in it or broke all his knuckles. She got this 'hate session'.
I knew a Seattle man who in the late 80s installed the alum 215 V8 from an early 60s Olds Cutlass into a Vega. The alum V8 was equipped with a Buick 300 cu in V8 crank which brought the 215 V8 up to 262 cu in. It used a Buick 350 electronic ignition distributor setup, also he adapted a GM T 350 auto trans. This V8 was a tight fit in a Vega. He reported that the alum Olds V8 set up actually weighed about 50 pounds less than the Vega engine. He successfully drove this so equipped vehicle for several years, I personally rode in it once.
Completely bizarre choice of engine when gm Europe had the Opel cih engine or the vx 2300 ohc engine that had similar capacities, more power and torque, and weren’t designed to fail .
Those were excellent engines indeed. Wasn't it because GM (after the Corvair demise) was stuck with this Alu-engine foundry that they choose to make the most of it?
That 2300cc (and other smaller capacities) Vauxhall ohc engine was the basis of the Lotus 917 engine used in the Lotus Esprit, Elite, Eclat etc and also the Jensen-Healey. It was an alloy 4-valve head on an alloy block derived from the Vauxhall. Early prototype 917 engines used remachined (iron) Vauxhall castings. Later, Vauxhall used the Lotus head on a Vauxhall iron block in the Chevette HS 2300 rally homolgation cars. The point is that if Chevrolet had drawn on the expertise of their European subsidiaries they would have made a better car, quicker, and been able to make a 4-valve engine much sooner too. Yes, I know the early 917 was unreliable, mostly due to the alloy block being under-developed. They should have gone into production with the iron block, and only gone over to alloy when it was ready. Hindsight.....
It was during that time frame that Japan caught up to us and started to surpass us. I owned a Ford Maverick, a Plymouth Duster and a Chevy Vega. All were scrap. I bought a 1963 Chevy Impala for a fair price, had it checked over and then drove the wheels off of it. With the exception of a charging system problem, that car never let me down.
The car was one of the nicest styled cars ever made from GM. There was huge potential for this car. Both in motors and upgrades but unfortunately the only choice was the oil burner 4. They did have a Cosworth but very limited. The bodies would rust like crazy if they used steel sleeves it worked much better. Sad it was such a disaster
I owned a 73 GT hatchback and bought a used 72 hatchback with a Jasper sleeved block. Very affordable cars--I couldn't afford the GTOs and chevelles my friends drove. I bought the 72 for
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My father bought a '72 Vega wagon from the original owner. She had just had a sleeved engine put in by a dealer at 50,000 miles and no longer trusted the car. He drove it another 50,000 and the engine blew up, it barely made it 1/2 mile over to my house. I fixed it up for daughter to drive to college. Short blocked it and the rebuilder found it had a cracked head and found a better one. Great little car, I loved it and DID NOT ABUSE IT IN ANY WAY! Never used any oil, had minor rust but in SoCal it was not an issue. After I reached 50,000 miles with it there came a morning when it would not start. Took out a spark plug, it looked a little wet. Poured water into the radiator and it immediately poured out of the spark plug hole! Towed it straight to a wrecking yard and got $25 for it. All of the cars in my family had been big Buick, Cadillac, and Chevrolet V-8s, all went to 150,000 miles without any engine work at all. Vega ate three (3!) engines in the same mileage.
Freshly out of the Navy and freshly married, we bought a 1976 Vega Estate wagon for $3666. It had a 5 speed OD manual. I had heard the bad reports on the early Vegas but also heard about GM's fixes. So we bought it. I had that vehicle until 1989 and had over 213,000 miles on it when I traded it in on a Chevy Astro Van. I rebuilt that Holy Webber several times with a $28 rebuild kit, rebuilt the starter once with $18 worth of parts, the timing belt twice (each time I added a new water pump to the job) and replaced the rear axles once (the axle was the inner race for the barring). Other than those items, I only did regular maintenance and tuneups. The car was a great vehicle for our young family. I don't think I have had better value for my dollar since.
I had a 71 Vega. As you correctly noted, it was a nicely styled car, especially when compared to its direct competition...the Pinto, Gremlin and Beetle. The interior was nicer and more thoughtfully designed, as well. One glaring omission in your review is the Vega's outstanding handling. Road & Track said it was the best handling passenger car made in the U.S. You made a mistake, early base Vegas were supplied with single barrel carburetors. I never experienced nor did I ever hear of the carb problem you mentioned and I drove mine from my last year of high school through graduation from law school. It had horrible rust issues, but those were resolved in 1976. I put two engines in the car, but again, those issues were resolved in 76 with the Dura-Built. GM even starting using the iron duke 4 in the car. The Cosworth was nice, but the unavailability of AC was an issue. By 1976, the car was a solid vehicle with its issues having been resolved, but by then the damage to the car's reputation was done. But your title in inaccurate, it should read 1971-1975. The 76 and 77 model years shouldn't be lumped in with the earlier car's shortcomings.
The abysmal quality and reputation of this car were entirely due to GM's thrifting at every possible opportunity. This resulted in a car with so many issues and a reputation so poor. I do agree that it was a good-looking little car.
I really hope the bean counters at GM were happy in that all they succeeded in doing with the Vega was creating a whole lot of future Toyota, Datsun and Honda customers. That was at a time when it was absolutely critical for GM to establish itself as a leader in small car development, but they really botched it badly.
@@chevycamaro78 Yep. I would have bought a Chevy or Oldsmobile in 1970, but by '75, I would have been looking closely at either a '75 Beetle, Toyota or Datsun. The speed limit was 55 anyway.
My parents had a yellow 1976 Vega, and I had a 1977, both hatchbacks. These had the Durabuilt variant of the 2300. In fact they were pretty good cars for the time, and actually pretty much trouble free. Two great things about these cars; 1) The handling was excellent. 2) They would go through the snow like a tank.
I had a 75 hatchback gt with a 4 speed and it did go thru snow quite well and was pretty sure footed. It was my first new car and I put 128K on it only replacing a fuel pump. Traded it for a Monte carlo in 81 and saw the car about a year later and it was still going and looking good mine never had a rust problem.
True snow story have 71 gt w fact posi, drove to boulder from denver to school thru winter carried1 chain c posi never put it on, has alum 215 0lds w saginaw 4 spd
As an aspiring young gear head in the early ‘70s I was fascinated by the Motion Industries kits that provided the hardware to install small or big block Chevy engines into the Vega. Being a fan of Bill Jenkins only added fuel to that fire.
Enjoyed the video, thanks. As the owner of a 1972 hatchback vega, the hood latch on the forward hinged, rear latched hood, with a cable running into the passenger compartment was not reliable and made accessing the engine compartment difficult if the cable malfunctioned.
Thanks for this one, Adam ! Such a shame about Vega, it was a promising idea, but sadly the execution left a lot to be desired. John Z DeLorean said he had been pressured by GM corporate office to overstate his confidence in the car.
Delorean revealed how the testing of early prototypes had the inner fender supports tearing away from the cowl area during vigorous driving. GM's fix was to double the supports for more strength, but the sandwiched metal didn't last long when rust and salt took over. Almost planned obsolescence. @@renardfranse
I never owned one, but the Corvair and the Vega are my favorite Chevrolets as far as looks go. I've always been more of a Chrysler guy, owned a couple and no complaints. I really like the Corvair, the way it looks, the rear engine and the size. My uncle had a junkyard and there was an example of every year ever made, he kept a couple just for that reason. Another great video!
My parent bought a used 1974 Vega. My Dad drove it, never changed the oil because of how much oil it burned. It was also a rust bucket. It’s life ended when my brother drove it off the freeway into the highway median and basically imploded in a pile of rust.
Ah, ELPO. In my former career I worked for BASF and we made millions of gallons of ELPO for various auto manufacturers. Great stuff if applied correctly electrolytically in the dip-tank. Not so great, as you stated, if the manufacturer wasn't careful designing his coatings processes (we'd send techs and engineers to assist but sometimes, due to cost, they were ignored).
My sister owned a '74 Vega coupe. The main thing I remember about it was that occasionally, when it started running poorly, you would get out, pop the hood, and tighten down the mounting nuts on the carburetor. Then it would run better. Always carry tools with a Vega.
My first car was a new 1973 Millionth Vega GT. It was orange with a white stripe. This limited edition had an upgraded interior - Camaro-like bucket seats and European styled upholstered interior door panels, instead of the standard plastic door panels. It was fun to drive, and a great car EXCEPT FOR THE 3 REPLACEMENT ENGINES it received during the 18 months I owned it. The rings kept abrading the piston walls. Chevrolet refused to replace the engine a fourth time so I sold the car. I heard the buyer got drunk and drove it into a lake shortly after purchasing.
First car was a '74 Vegs GT. I loved it. Had it 3 years with no trouble. Got rid of it, I wanted a Jeep for the beach. At the time, I lived just over the bridge from the Outer Banks of NC.
My soon to be wifes father, a general manager of a Chevy dealer brought her home a brand new '71 Vega stick shift and said "just make the payments" With about a thousand miles on the clock he took it off her to bring in to the shop. A tech bulletin revealed a serious engine overheating problem and that a "coolant recovery system" was needed. They installed it and twelve years later I sold it to a friend who drove it for four more years. OK so the body needed a couple thousand dollars in rust repair but it was one of our most reliable cars.
Greetings from Ottawa, Canada! I have been a car guy since childhood, and I barely remember the Vega - they used to rust out so quickly in our salted northern climate. The memories I have of seeing Vegas driving around in the late 1970s and early 1980s were always just total piles of rust, traveling down the Queensway with their quarter panels flapping like sails in the wind. There was a Canadian book series called the Lemon-Aid Used Car Buying Guide, and I remember the author's concise two-sentence review of the Vega and its Pontiac Astre twin: "GM's first disposable car. Use either car once, then throw it away." In another, later edition of the book, "Do not buy a Vega unless you have a burning desire to learn mechanics quickly." John Delorean wrote about how the first prototype broke apart after only 8 miles on the test track, about how Chevrolet and Pontiac executives hated the car that GM developed and forced onto their brands, about how Vega (which is an ugly name) should have been named the Gemini (say it out loud as you think GM!), and about how the engine shook and rattled like an old Eastern-European farm tractor. All that and more in Delorean's book, "On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors". The worst thing about the Vega, the most frustrating thing about the car, is that it was on the cusp of greatness. Thank you for another great video. Lawrence www.youtube.com/@BrainDamageBBQ
I have studied this fiasco, as I inherited one when I married my wife in 1975. It is a bad idea to combine an iron head with an aluminum block. The hottest area in an engine is the combustion chamber, which is in the head. Since cast iron expands and contracts more than aluminum, it works fine to have an aluminum head on an iron block, because the temp difference works well. When the hottest area is cast iron, this expansion/shrinkage shortly blows the head gasket, and can crack the block. This was made worse by the pitifully small cooling system, which was marginal even under ideal conditions. Add to this the issues with piston/cylinder scuffing, and long life was unlikely. I knew several people who had their engine removed, and had the cylinders re-bored to take iron liners. Then they followed this up by replacing the miniature factory radiator with a larger unit, and installed an larger overflow container. One guy I knew drove his nearly 150,000 miles after the mods. Typical GM-let the customer be the development engineer!
I thought they had fixed the rusting problems toward the end. I bought a new 76 GT and it didn't start any rusting until the mid 2000's when I let it sit outside for several years. And even then, it wasn't that bad. It is currently being restored. It was my first car.
Got a 1975 Vega brand new in 1975 after having to give up my gas guzzling 1971 Pontiac GTO in order to drive 90 miles a day roundtrip to go to university. I loved the way it looked and drove even though no real torque. It was pretty gas efficient back then and it got me through 65,000 miles and 3 years on the road. I never had an engine issue with it. I had a standard shift clutch and some small part broke (plastic I was told) cost $25.00 to replace for the part and $100 to repair. Other than replacing tires and changing oil that is all I spent. Looking at the car today, I still like it. Maybe I was the one that got a good car.
You know how you find something that interests you and then look for a video to go into some detail? You can look for ages and just find a load of rubbish. Not today! This was a bullseye, a beautifully produced, authoritative and comprehensive look at this vehicle and engine. More than I could expect. Really good. subbed.
I had a '74 Vega hatchback wagon for years, but it had a 4 cylinder Iron Duke engine out of a Chevy Monza in it. The car was admittedly built on the cheap, but it was fun to drive, and I got at least 100 K miles out of it. I just had to keep repairing the motor mounts... That's okay, though, because that engine ran great. I think I paid $400 for it in 1981.
RIP Frank and Harry. I used to know two guys who would come to our shop in the late 70s' and early 80s' and get Chevette engines from us to install in Vegas. After quite a bit of Shade Tree engineering, they managed to create what we came to call, the Chevega. They built a few dozen of these things and other than the sheet metal rotting, they were pretty decent. Also, as far as the valve seals, apparently no one could make good valve seals back then. A lot of the first jobs I had in the early 70s' was putting valve seals in engines. I still have the valve spring compresser tool that I used to put a billion valve seals in Pintos.
One of my brothers had a Vega, and it was really nice. Red color, and just the perfect size for a young man just starting out. And he was working at a dealership as a mechanic that had already been to Mr Goodwrench school. Shortly, after he was in this new car, it began to smoke quite badly. He fixed the engine by replacing it, and promptly sold the car (which was now much better), and bought a GMC pickup.
I bought a 1973 Vega brand new. Spent $2400.00 on it. Loved it with the manual 4 speed, forest green & took great care of it. Oil changes every 3000 miles. Motor was shot at 65,000 miles. Sold it for $16,00.00 The body looks good still, and the guy that bought it, made a drag race car out of it. He basically said he only wanted the body!
Owned a ‘72 hatchback Vega in that odd green. I liked driving the car and it handled great for being so small. Of course I had the usual engine failure, and rebuilt it with a fitted block. I even toyed with the idea of a 283 v8, and dad said “ no, you’re not”. The engine failed because of overheating you couldn’t idle one for very long. Looking back, my ex-stepson had a Mustang II with Ford’s 2000cc engine, I believe the radiator was much larger in it than the Vega had. I didn’t have any rust issues with the car, the body looked very good when it took its final ride on the tow truck. My seats, however, were another matter, living on the Western Slope of Colorado, not far from Steamboat, the extreme temperature changes from summer and winter really did a number on the vinyl. If I had the car now, the complete interior would be redone in cloth and I would put a Vortech V6 in it, like what is in my GMC Sonoma I now own. I remember companies making a lot of accessories for the Vega especially the hatchback model, the one that stands out in my mind was the Vega Tent. This went over the open hatch, covered the windows and had a small area where you could stand? at the back of the car. Over all GM really missed the boat with the Vega and Astre. These both could have been mini muscle cars had the engineering been a little better.
I had several Vegas that I bought used and very cheap. All had aftermarket electric fuel pumps that were directly wired to the battery. I guess someone diagnosed no fuel pressure without understanding the oil pressure link in the system. The guys in my shop always got a laugh out of that. The Vega I drove for almost two years was an oil burner. I kept a case of oil in the back. It needed two quarts of oil every time I filled the gas tank. Oil was cheap then so it didn't matter so much. It handled great so it was a fun car to drive.
Guys would buy up those bad Vegas, put out the engine and trans install a healthy small block. They made good hot rods/street racers for the time. A kid I grew up with had a '71 Vega, the body was rough but it did run good. Before he got it, it had a new sleeved engine installed, with the 4sp manual it got good mileage and was very reliable. Don't remember whatever happened to it, but as far I know he drove it until the wheels fell off. There was a young lady in my neighborhood who had one of those Cosworth Vegas, it was a good looking car but unfortunately it caught fire one night and that was the end of that. It was a shame to see it burn by the time the fire dept arrived it was too late. Thanks again Adam for another great video! Keep up the great work.
I had 3 Vegas. 1- 76 or 77 hatchback my mother gave me as a graduation present. Stick shift I learned to drive on.. The other a 74 that burnt a qrt. of oil every 100 miles. lol it was my winter car, to save my 1970 Chevelle SS from the salt.. And a 75 White station wagon I used to haul my Drums around in the young band days.. With all there Faults.. I have alot of great memories of the VEGA lol
Vega should have used the 153 pushrod four that the '62 to '70 Chevy II/Nova used. It was based on the Chevy inline six. Engine coolant level should stay constant unless there is a leak or the motor overheats and coolant is pushed out
Yeah, good point, don't know if these early cooling systems were closed on the Vega. Many cars of this era didn't have a closed system (coolant recovery/overflow tank)
@@tomwesley7884The early Vegas did not have a coolant recovery tank. It was added later, and may have been retrofitted to early cars as part of a recall.
Those motors are great, Midget racers used them for years adapting V8 heads to them. They still make that engine last time I looked for boats and Industrial uses an no its not the Iron Dookie engine. Completely different engine than 153
I bought a 1972 Vega new and after 172,000 miles and one trip from L.A. to Seattle Washington, also to Colorado and once to Niagara Falls and back, and never had a problem, besides I loved outrunning 240 Zs. I took good care of the maintenance of my Vega and loved it.
I purchased a new Vega panel in 1971 and loved it. I kept it until 1974 and only had two issues. It overheated on a trip from California to Nevada and the issue was a bad thermostat. The other issue was a plus for the Vega. I had the car serviced at an auto dealer and when I picked it up, it only ran for a few seconds and then shut off. It turned out that they forgot to put oil in it after they changed it. I have very fond memories of that car.
I purchased a special Vega in 1973 it was a special edition 1 millionth Vega. In a special orange and a unique interior. When I met my future wife I agreed to pick her up at her office. I told her to look for the brightest car in the parking lot. That worked. We went all over the country in that car. Never had a problem with rust. It used oil but when it got low it wouldn’t start due to a look oil sensor . I kept a case of oil in the hatch and just added a couple of cans and it startedright up. That was a good idea.
My brother had a '72 Vega. It was decent looking and fun to drive, but as the video shows, had major issues. Another issue that was not mentioned in the video was that the Vega was all metric. So, as my brother found out, you couldn't just take it to the local service station for routine maintenance like oil changes, alignments, etc. because back then, service stations were not familiar with metric and often didn't have the proper metric tools. In order to get proper maintenance work done, one had to go to the dealer. Not a popular option, even today. So, a lot of folks just didn't do the maintenance that should have been done. I remember seeing quite a few Vegas with alignments that were so bad that it was quite noticeable, causing the tires (bias ply at the time) to wear out quickly. The bumpers were so bad that a minor parking lot mishap (which did happen to my brother when a lady backed into his Vega) was very expensive to repair because the bumpers provided almost no protection. The horn was not loud enough for the lady to hear my brother's attempts to warn her before she hit his car. My brother kept his Vega about a year and got so fed up with it he bout a Ford and never bought a Chevrolet product ever again.
The fact that the 1920 era tractor was still around in the 1970's to be compared with the Vega, clearly endorses the phrase, "It's what's inside that counts".
As a counterpoint to all of the comments about how bad the car was, let me say that my family had three Vegas, a ‘74 Kammback, a ‘75 hatchback and a ‘76 Kammback and not a one of them ever had the slightest trouble. I drove the ‘74 all the way through high school and college, carrying ski equipment, camping gear and surfboards nearly every day. The only trouble I ever had with it was a broken air conditioning belt in Las Vegas at 3 AM on a Sunday night but that just meant driving back to Orange County with the windows down. I loved the things and it’s sad that so many had horrible experiences with the cars.
I'd love to have a Corvair, Vega, and a Monza. I don't care what people think about them. They look great and I'm a decent mechanic, fabricator and body man. So I could fix a lot myself
I sold my Vega for $75 in 1978. I was lucky to get that. In addition to the other defects, the electrical system was a wreck; the girl who bought it drove off in a rainstorm without functioning wipers. I felt like giving her back the $75.
In November of 1972, I bought a Kammback GT 4-speed. I drove it for over 30K miles in about 10 months with very little issues. In 1975, I was told my 1970 Torino GT would be too big for Germany, so I bought another Vega, Hatchback GT with a blown engine. I put a steel block in it, a new head and took it overseas. It was a great handling little car and did us well for two years, until a friend drove it for over an hour at 100 miles an hour. The #3 sleeve came loose. I then bought a 75 Vega GT Hatchback and we had that (while it was rusting out) for about 6 months, until my In-laws came over for a month and we swap with a guy for a full sized 1973 Plymouth station wagon. (much bigger than my 70 Torino! And drove it all over Europe) After returning to the States, I bought a 1977 Chevy Monza notchback with a V8 (305). That car could move! We had it for just over a year and because our family was going from 4 to 5, my wife talked me into trading it for a Slant 6, Plymouth Volare station wagon. Then in 1985, I was riding my motorcycle home from work and it started snowing on me. That night I found a 1976 Pontiac Astre station wagon for sale. Due to the (Vega) engine making a noise (it was shot), I bought it for $150 and drove it home. But before I got it home, I blew it up! I put another rebuilt, steel sleeve block in it and drove it for a year and the transmission went bad. I found a wrecked 1979 Monza station wagon with a V6 and only 33K miles on it. I swapped out the drive train and suspension and interior and had a really nice little commuter for a few years. I still like the Vegas.
One of my first cars was a gift . A Vega wagon with a 231 v6 Buick swap. Rough but cool starter car. I kinda wish i had that car and knew what i know now. Traded it for a 81 Rx7 12A rotary . The Vega was a beautiful car . Growing up in the late 70s and 80s i fondly remember wanting them.
GM *should* have learned a lot of lessons off this car that guided the X-car development process, but instead doubled-down on the same kinds of mistakes that sunk the Vega.
In college, my friend asked if I would replace his Vega's rear brakes. Sure, no problem, I was in the sports car club and did all the work on my 1966 Austin Healey 3000. I told him he would have to buy a repair manual. On the arraigned day, he showed up with a set of new shoes and a new manual. I immediately opened the book to the the BRAKE chapter, it was one page and this is what it said, "The brakes on this car are too complicated for the average person to replace/repair, so if you do not have the necessary mechanical skills, you need to take it to the dealership or professional brake shop". I had no idea what could have been so complicated but I did know that I was not going to find out and refused to do the brake job.
As a young person I bought a low milage 1972 Vega in 73 my first newish car. At 60K the engine failed. GM did reimburse me majority of the replacement cost. At 100K it was absolutely worn out. The transmission failed but there were out too many other things wrong to be worth replacing it. The first 50K miles it was a fun economical and reliable car.
I drove and flew a 71 with a 74 engine (I put in) while in high school in 1981. My friends called it Air Vega. All I needed was the right railroad tracks. For real. I built a front spoiler and cut the bumper to look like a Camaro. Bought a box of used performance parts for 50 bucks (bigger carb, header, dual point dist), added a glass pack and embarrassed some V8s on the boulevard. Had to race from a roll bc the rear end would hop from a dead stop. I have had a bunch of cars, but I miss it the most. NO ONE could touch it in a game we called "rat chase", a cat and mouse car game. I could not be caught, nor could I be lost. The 4 speed and steering ratio was unrivaled. It was also entertainment for the teen blvd crowd doing dry donuts and "rockfords' in the mall parking lot. the engine gave out and it joined the rest of the vegas in car heaven.
I had a 1973 hatchback I bought for $150 in 1977 in high school. Never had to change the oil as it went through a quart a week. 3 speed manual. Hatchback glass had to be duct taped in place due to rust. From what I was told by a Chevy executive the Vega was originally designed to be a better car. GM top dogs needed to cut the cost before production so the removed inspectors off the line, used a untested rustproofing method and also had a better engine design but chose the awful one . All this to get it to market quick. I also bought a Pinto brand new, a '79 model in fall of '78. Got 204,000 trouble free miles outta it !
@@rogerdodrill4733 That's funny. Most people thought it was a good looking car. I did. Sorta looks like a Camaro of that era. Chevy made it such an awful car in almost every way.
What a fine video; very well done. I was a European car fan during the period (and a senior in H.S. in '71), but even so thought the styling was very attractive. In '74 a friend bought a new (orange) hatchback and I really liked it. Now, after a lifetime of being a "car guy", looking at the photos in this video is a reminder that GM had some great automotive designers. But, then & now, questionable cost-cutting has taken the shine off most of their vehicles... so you have this "if only" feeling each time a new car is introduced.
I had a 4 speed fastback. For about 20,000 miles I loved it. It was reasonably quick for the time and very torquey so it pulled well. And it handled way above average for the times. It's too bad GM rushed it to production. An excellent car was lost. By the way a few years later both Mercedes and Porsche used similar unlinered alloy blocks and I don't recall bad reports for them. It could have been done.
Before I got the engine fixed in mine---a master mechanic who owed my Dad money fixed my car for free---my Vega used so much oil that my Dad once quipped, "This car needs so much oil that it still uses oil even when the engine is turned off----because it is trying to catch up".
When I got Bach from Vietnam in 71, my wife needed a car, and she liked the looks of the Vega. So we went to the local Chevy dealer and took a nice looking fastback for a test drive. The salesman was retired Navy. During the drive he asked what I did. I told him about being military and just retiring from the war zone. When we got back to the dealership, he asked my wife how she liked the car. She really loved it, which kind of put me at a disadvantage negotiating for the out the door price. But the salesman asked us to walk over to the corner of the dealerships lot. He pointed to the VW dealership next door and said the VW was a way more reliable car, and less money. He said he felt badly for anyone buying a Vega as the engines were crap. He asked us not to mention to anyone what he just told us, but we should also look into the service bay and pay attention to how many of the cars were Vegas. We did, and were surprised how many Vegas were in there. We walked next door and ended up with a new VW . A rare honest salesman indeed.
But what was Bach doing in Vietnam?
;-)
Great story. Couldn’t resist.
A classic musician and anti-communist soldier. Bach really was an exceptional individual.
Thanks for going to Vietnam. You are right, an honest salesman who looked out for you. My Aunt went to buy a 71 Thunderbird at the local Ford used car lot. The salesman, about her age, talked her out of it, saying that he knew the previous owner and the car had almost no maintenance and the odometer man had visited the lot before the car was put out for sale.
Great story. The sad thing is my dad's brother was the salesperson that sold him his '72 Vega. Since he was new at sales at the time, I'm hoping that he honestly didn't have the insight your salesperson did.
And thank you for your service sir.
The salesman must have retired from the German Navy ? I have always been appalled and disgusted by what Nader did to our fantastic Corvair , a car that would have lasted to 1974 , like the VW did, they were designed to run on leaded gasoline. Had the Corvair still been around like it should have in 1971 than , likely you would have bought a better air cooled car !
I bought a 76 Vega from a private party. I'd heard about the problems, but he'd already had the cylinders sleeved. I drove it for a total of almost 160,000 relatively carefree miles other than the normal consumables. It was parked on the street and a delivery truck sideswiped it from bumper to bumper, totaling it. The Cosworth version was actually pretty cool. People bash on the Vega, but I had relatives buy a brand new Chevette--a car that made the Vega look like a Rolls-Royce
Yeah, but the Chevette has German DNA, Thats OPEL, as many cars including Cadillac! Not to mention my superior 74 Opel Manta which never fails to start, and drives flawlessly. RIP GM.
Ah, yes, the shovette, as my brother pronounced it, did make the Vega look like a Rolls Royce, but in only very relative terms.
I had a Vega GT I bought it new in 1974. Kept it for 10 years. That engine was a nightmare. I knew someone who bought a Chevette in 1985. I bought a VW Jetta at about the same time. The Chevette cost more than my Jetta! Jetta's still here with over 400,000 miles on it.. I'll bet the Chevette was junked long ago.
@@ARISTOILET The relative was management in G.M..They bought the Chevette as a third, errand car, despite having Cadillacs and no kids at thome. The wife thought it was cute and bought it on a lark. By year 2, the Michigan winter had already taken it's toll...rust spots were forming. I think they had it for like 4 years and despite having less than 10,000 mile on it, they donated it.
The Opal GT is going to be my donar car to first finish making it look like a smaller version of a 1968 Corvette then shoehorn a pimped out Rat Motor in it. Similar to a Rat Fink car
I had an early model (slim bumpers) back in the 70s. The piston ring seal (lack of seal!) got so bad that I would put in about a 50/50 mix of goopy STP oil treatment and straight 40 weight oil. It still smoked. The only good part is that the man across the street bought it for his daughter. She and I clicked and eventually got married in 1980. We're still married, so the car was good for something!
😁
That's a nice story
Great ending. Thanks for sharing.
off-topic
Thanks for sharing, that’s a great story!
The coolest thing about a Vega was that a 350 engine fits nicely in it and JC Whitney used to offer conversion motor mounts just for that purpose.
Yea, every high school kid had a friend that did that conversion somewhere. Scary quick too. But most high school boys left the stock differential in place and that caused a lot of wrecks when it exploded.
Then in 1976 Chevrolet finally released the Monza Spyder with the ootional 305 V-8.
Yep, that was common in the late 70’s and 80’s. The bodies rusted like crazy tho, they were gone from the road by about 85, as were Pintos.
As a kid the neighbor wrench head built up a Vega wagon with lifted rear end, suspension and motor. They would start at the bottom of the hill and lay rubber all the way up and then get out and measure it. Woodman valley rd.
@@jeffrobodine8579came out with a V8 262 in monza coupe in 1975. I bought 1 in 1984. Wasn’t a bad car. I drove it through college. Then I put a 350 truck eng in it. When the trans went out I sold it for almost as much as I paid for it.
If ONLY they'd spent a little more time and money on it. Such a good-looking little car, and with just a bit more engineering it could've been at least not bad and maybe genuinely good. A baby '70 Camaro that was reliable and economical would've been GREAT.
I agree. So many times GM has just done enough when introducing a car without thinking about the long term outcome of half-stepping through product development. It is surprising that the 1977 full-sized downsized cars were so good because most efforts after that were doomed from the start by mediocre efforts.
They're extremely attractive little cars. It's a real shame.
Hasn't that been the GM way several times? So near, and yet so far.
The problem was they spent way too much money on engineering here. All new engine, new processes, new delivery methods, etc. Just not money spent in the right places engineering wise.
@@laserwizard2 The only reason the 77 downsized cars were 'so good' was that they were a 5 year old design just with new sheet metal. The 1977 GM B bodies were just reskinned 73-77 intermediate A bodies (Monte Carlo, Chevelle, etc). Right down the their 116 in wheelbase. GM really pulled the wool over every one. Look it up.
In 1978 my brother dropped by to show me the 1972 Vega he had just picked up. It was a nice looking car but I had heard all the stories. He popped the hood and it had V8 transplanted from a Corvette. He asked if wanted to go for ride, I had a 70 GTO at the time so I wasn’t expecting much. I’d never seen a speedometer needle move so fast, of course it only read to 100 I think but still. I was impressed.
My first car was a 1975 Vega notchback. Paid $25 for it in 1986; got it home and cleaned it out and recovered almost $18 in change so it was really only a $7 car.
Good rebate!
You overpaid.
@@oby-1607 No I didn't. I sold it for $200 3 months later and used the proceeds toward a 1972 Impala Custom Coupe. I traded up.
We bought a used Honda and it had a coin drawer where when the drawer was full the over-flow coins would fall out the back of the drawer to a catch-basin under the floor mat ! I removed the floor-mat and used a stick with glue on the stick to put in the hole where the coins had collected and pulled $124 dollars out of the hole - my grand-daughter named it Grandpa's Gold Mine ! :-)
@@oby-1607 LOL
Great video! My dad had a black Corvair when I was born in 1964. A couple of cars later, he bought a dark green '72 Vega GT with Wide-O-Oval white letter tires, rally wheels, a "widish" black stripe from nose to tail and a four-speed manual. What a looker! I used to drive it from the carport to the back yard and wash it for him when I was 10 or so. One of my absolute all-time favorites!
As others have noted, it was a handsome design. A decent engine/transmission and better rustproofing and it could have been a classic.
It was light years superior in design compared to the exploding Ford Pinto. It had that baby Camaro vibe with the egg crate grille.
then i wouldn't have gotten free fenders and paint from my local chevy dealer...the engine was okay just made of the wrong material.
Hard to believe that inferior/impure steel didn't contribute to all the rust.
If it wasn't for government handouts, GM wouldn't exist.
I think GM galvanized the rust prone sheet metal surfaces in the later Vegas.
My first new car was a 75 Vega GT hatchback with a 4 speed, matching color wheels, GT trim. I never had any issues with it overheating at all...Chevy put a bigger radiator in them in 74 which helped solve some of those problems of burning oil. I put 128K on mine, no rust at all, only thing that went out was the fuel pump at about 22K miles. I traded it for a Monte Carlo in 81 and saw the Vega still running over a year later still looking good. It was a good car in the snow which surprised me and with the 3.42 rear axle it had some get up and go being a 4 speed I would wind it up to 4500 rpm and it handled it well.
I had a Vega and like most, it had a bad oil burning problem. But I solved it with 3 simple digits..... 3-5-0. Never burnt a drop after that. Lots of gas, lots of rubber, but no oil.
i used a 454 in mine and now it does wheelies full of hot chicks
Did you use a Doug Thorely kit?
@@tommurphy4307 When I was in HS in the mid/late 70s, there were about 10 vegas that people had done the Rat-motor swap to in order to cure that anemic wee 4 banger sewing machine that came from the factory!! Some were quite impressive with blowers or superchargers poking up out of the hood atop that big mill!!! Ahh, I sure do miss the 70s!!
So far mine has had the 3-4-6, 3-6-4, and 3-7-6 fixes. If I get real crazy maybe it'll get the 4-0-3 or 4-1-6 treatment...
Yes, indeed. I'd imagine those fixes would work very well.@@webn8
I owned a 74 Vega for almost 5 years. It spent its entire life outside and never rusted. It also ran like a Swiss watch for five years. I musta got a good one.
In the fall of 1971 I went to the car dealer with my then girlfriend now wife along with her GM employed father to buy a new Vega. We married a few years later and that car would be with us for several years more. We had all the problems associated with that car but managed to work through most of them. We like the hatchback because it fit many of things a growing family needed to haul around. We have fond memories of that little car and feel the body style was one of GM’s best! Thanks for taking us down memory lane.
Thanks much for the video. Kept a 74 Vega on the road in Michigan for ten years by periodically spraying the interior sheet metal panels with rust preventative and finding a replacement sleeved engine in the junkyard at 77,000 miles. Never bought another new GM product.
My first car was a 73 GT. I loved it! It had a blown engine when my parents gave it to me with loads of miles on it, and I put a Chevy 200 V6 in it. The car itself must have been a unicorn- no rust at all, and the only flaw with mine was that the left headlight burned out once a year. It cornered like a race car on Eagle GTs. These really handled very well.
I had the same car - blown engine also!
I dropped a 327 small block in mine and had a ball driving it.
sure ya did@@grandinosour
In some places, like Arizona, cars just don't rust. I have a 50 year old Pinto with zero rust.
@@grandinosourThose were pretty common. Vega's were dirt cheap and 327's were a dime a dozen and a powerglide worked fine in the little Vega with the V8. Cheap go fast fun!
I had a 1973 Vega Station Wagon Estate my parents got me at 15, and it had problems like rust in the funder near the windshield on the passenger side, but I loved it. They paid $150 for it at the swamp meet we sold stuff at. I later brought a 1975 Vega GT for $600 and fix it up. I loved that car and drove it like crazy. Furthermore, I put a V8 in it and raced it as I had blown, the engine, it had. Not much was able to beat me. That car was fast. I nearly died in it many times. I have had better cars since then. And I still miss and love my Vega. It was first love I learn so much in.
The Vega's exterior was sporty and attractive. It had a lot of room and huge storage when back seat was flattened. Vega had so much potential, but really it just exposed how bad GM was.
Well said
It wasn't. Typical 1970's US el cheapo.
I liked them at the drag strip they made for good pro and super stock racers.
The Vega's exterior was made from painted waxed paper. It was that thin.
The cosworth Vega is still in my top ten most desirable cars.
Back in the day I had a '77 Chevy Monza with a 140 CID 4 cyl engine with a 4 speed manual transmission. The body on that car was crap ($100 beater) but it run great. Eventually I came across a '77 Vega Hatchback with a perfect body but needed a motor. I spoke to the guy and agreed he would keep the transmission in the car and the price was $50. I pulled the motor and transmission from the Monza and put it in the Vega.
Changing from an automatic to a manual was not difficult to do. The brake/clutch pedals were mounted to a bracket that bolted right in and the hump between the bucket seats had a plate that unbolted and allowed the shifter plate for the manual transmission to fit right in. My only issue was adjusting the clutch properly but a friend and I got it sorted out. I drove that car for several years with zero issues and the only other thing that I did to it was replace the shocks and tires as well as regular maintenance. It was one of the best cars that I have ever had and the best part was that I was getting close to 40 MPG on the highway.
To this day, I still remember my parents buying one in 1974 and literally not even out of the dealership, the rear view mirror fell off the window when my Dad adjusted it. But we had it for years till it ended up in the rust heap. Crap quality from the start!
Super glue not perfected in 74
I had relatives who bought a Chevette off the showroom floor-brand new. On the drive home it started to rain really hard. He turned on the wipers and they worked for about a minute then stopped. They were lucky they could get off the freeway safely. They waited for the cloudburst to pass and took it back to the dealership. It was in the shop for 2 days. A couple of weeks later she takes it to the store. Goes to leave the parking lot and the car won't go shift out of park. Towed to the dealership. Within a year rust spots started to appear. Nothing but trouble.
@@weirdshibainushoud have been named shitvette
My first car was a 1975 Vega Hatchback in dark Brown “taupe”/with beige interior with manual transmission. I ordered it from our local Chevy dealer, and when it finally arrived, I was in Heaven. It was a fantastic car and I loved it.
My first car was a 1973 Kammback, and I loved it. The last Vega I owned was a 1977 Kammback. I drove that car from a junkyard in Arizona all the way back to Ohio with zero problems. They always ran like a top, and religious maintenance was my key to keeping them going far longer than other Vega models.
I worked as a Sunoco gas station attendant in the mid 70s before self-service eliminated that job. We would clean windows and check oil for each fill-up. Every Vega that came in needed a quart or two of oil, and there was a little trick to balancing the oil can because of the filler cap location.
In 2004 a good friend's dad bought a 74 Vega GT. He's a car guy but cooked the motor after a couple weeks. We ended up swapping in a Toyota 22r motor and transmission. That became the most reliable Vega left on the road.
no small-block chevy story?? youre no fun.....
22R was the big block Toyota for its day@tommurphy4307
The 22R will outlast the Earth itself.
A GM-Toyota joint venture years after NUMMI.
Smart move, I loved all my 22r’s!
Graduated H.S. in 73. My dad brought me down to Zele's Chevrolet. I walked out with a new 2dr. Vega, hatchback in silver. The price O.T.Door was $2,600 tax and all. I had saved up a $1,000 and my parents gave me a passbook with enough money for the rest which I used for what was called a collateral loan. I got busy customizing the car with the little funds I had. I dropped the back seats (they folded down flat) and carpeted the entire area in red. I spray painted the rims black and added chrome rings and chrome lug nuts! WoW! A week later the car was burning a quart of oil for every tank of gas. Fortunately the dealership was supplying the needed oil. Did I mention all of the fouled spark plugs I replaced? Long story short, 16 months later, on a winters night, I was visiting a girlfriend in Southern Ct State. Another plug had fouled. My dad came down with his 69 or 70 2 dr. Impala. We rope towed the car home (42 miles). Well, part way.. There was an accident on RT 8 North so we had to pull over. The State Trooper wasn't happy with us being on the highway rope towing. He was scolding my dad (I was in the non-running Vega, freezing) standing between my car and my dads. All of a sudden I see the two of them bail over the guard rails. A drunk driver ricocheted off of the left quarter panel, crushing it, smashing out both drivers side windows and totaling the car. The DUI car did a couple of 360's and ended up in the same guard rail hole that they just removed the first accident from. The Officer was FIT TO BE TIED! That's another story. It was the best thing that happened to the Vega! Happy New Year!
Both the Corvair and the Vega were sabotaged by GM's cheapness. The design timeframe was fine.. The stupidity though was not. They had a perfectly good OHC 6 that could have been shortened to a 4 quite easily and cheaply.
Same with the Fiero. By the time they decided to do everything to make it a great car, people were tired of the problems. It's kind of GMs mo. They did the worst job with the NorthStar. Took them around 12 years to finally fix the head and main bolt problems (kind of) and then it was over.
Yep the bean counters ruined alot of good things.
What also push the Corvair to the grave was that, the rear engine was seen as weird to people
and as the final nail in the coffin Nader book did the rest.
@@dustin_4501 Having a rear engine didn't seem to bother VW. And, I would point out that Corvair sold like Krispy Kreme doughnuts for several years after introduction. The Ralph Nader hit piece on the car just killed it though.
@@dustin_4501The Corvair could have been America’s “Porsche” had GM done a little outside-of-the-box thinking and redesign to address the mostly inaccurate complaints of Nader’s book.
I had a hatch back Vega with the high output engine and a 4 speed transmission. It was a great car for the short time I owned it. The AMC Gremlin also made the same mistake of not using wheel well liners in the front, and had the same problem of road debris accumulating on the top of the motor compartment front side rails and rusting thru the front fenders from the inside out.
Great summary Adam. I remember Vegas being great handlers, could out corner most contemporary American cars. I also remember most people were skeptical of an aluminum engine without steel cylinder sleeves, so when they began to burn oil at low milage it just confirmed everyone's skepticism. A friend had a 77, he loved it and it was very reliable.
well by then they were using pontiac motors
@@tommurphy4307 The Pontiac Iron Duke motor never made it into a Vega from the factory. I had a 77 wagon and it had the Dura Built in it. I believe it was the Chevette that had the Pontiac motor in it.
A good looking car and a good size for the time. Excessive cost cutting and risk taking ended up costing money, reputation, and future customers.
Sounds like the normal GM way of doing things.
@@61rampy65old habits never die it seems with general motors
Bean Counters strike again !
When you need to design something quickly, it's not the time to innovate with the engine, the rust protection, the paint process, and the shipping method. Vegas arrived at dealerships already rusting.
One note, no Detroit car at the time came with rustproofing, they all rusted out. The panels were not galvanized and the frame rails used to rust.
I was a mechanic in the mid 70’s in a ford garage! A customer brought in a vega for a tuneup! I found that the engine was extremely detuned! So I gave him noticeably more power that made him happy! As he drove away I crossed my fingers behind my back🫣!
I remember that when these engines started failing in large numbers, rebuilders with often board the cylinder block and install sleeves. Once they did that, the rebuilt engine was much more durable than the original.
I worked at used car lot in the late 70’s. We never had any trouble selling Vegas, just keeping them running. I remember having the engines sleeved left and right.
well, duh- are you the Iron Duke?
I remember having a Repco Vega hop up parts catalog in the 1980s. They offered Vega block sleeving service.
The major issue with the 3 engines I had replaced on warranty was, in addition to the block warping and blowing the piston rings, was that the head also warped, but differently from the block due to aluminum/iron mismatches, thus head gaskets blew, and then mixed oil and anti-freeze and........
Board the cylinders ? ? ? 😅😂🤣
I bought a '72 Kammback GT new. Lime green metallic, manual trans, went through 3 engines in 18k miles, all covered by warranty. Finally dropped a 283 in it, and it became a really nice car. And yes, they were an esthetically beautiful design.
Thank You! I was looking forward to seeing this one! A major factor in coolant loss was the head gasket that had to work with both the aluminum block and cast iron head. The two metals expanded at different rates. Mixing of coolant and oil from failed gaskets compounded by failure of valve sealing that lead to oil burning didn’t help.
That was a huge issue as well, I'm surprised Adam didn't mention that one.
The 12 x 12 inch radiator core didn't help. Air conditioned models got a 12x17 one.
My wife won a new '75 Vega in a Dept store raffle. It actually had no issues. Around 120,000 miles though, the cylinder walls got scored and it burned a lot of oil but still ran good. Got a lot of good use out of it in our early days
Glad you had a good experience. I always liked the styling of the Vega.
Loved my Vega! It ran on oil not gas so I kept a case in the back. Great in the snow unless deep the lowest of low gears could make it up any hill
@@LynneTimko LOL. Exactly. I also kept a case of oil in the hatchback. I went to the same gas station then. The running joke was "fill the oil and check the gas"
I bought a '72 sedan model in that green colour for $650CAD in '78 drove it for about 7 years it got me through commuting to college and my brother after me. It was hard starting in the cold and it blew a timing belt once but it must have been a non-interference engine, new belt all good. Replaced a rust fender they were bad for that. No regrets owning an original Vega.
Thanks for this video I learned more about my fond memory of the Vega.
I took my daughter to the auto show. We saw a rebuilt Vega. I told her that this was why most Americans drive a Toyota or Honda. She was confused but a bunch of old guys gathered to tell her how awful this car was. One told her that that this was the only one he ever saw without rust. Another suggested that he hoped that the guys that designed it, died in it or broke all his knuckles. She got this 'hate session'.
My 16 year old dream car was an orange and black Vega station wagon...
I gave up this dream once I drove one.
liked the Vega gt wagon
@@youtubecarspottersguide1 I bought an an MG midget instead.
the kaamback reminded me of the silly nissan pulsar sportbacks- what an abortion that was.@@youtubecarspottersguide1
@@tommurphy4307 pinto wagon looked as bad
You're fortunate to only have had a 16-year-old's wet dream and not the nightmare of actual ownership ;-)
I knew a Seattle man who in the late 80s installed the alum 215 V8 from an early 60s Olds Cutlass into a Vega. The alum V8 was equipped with a Buick 300 cu in V8 crank which brought the 215 V8 up to 262 cu in. It used a Buick 350 electronic ignition distributor setup, also he adapted a GM T 350 auto trans. This V8 was a tight fit in a Vega. He reported that the alum Olds V8 set up actually weighed about 50 pounds less than the Vega engine. He successfully drove this so equipped vehicle for several years, I personally rode in it once.
Completely bizarre choice of engine when gm Europe had the Opel cih engine or the vx 2300 ohc engine that had similar capacities, more power and torque, and weren’t designed to fail .
Those were excellent engines indeed. Wasn't it because GM (after the Corvair demise) was stuck with this Alu-engine foundry that they choose to make the most of it?
Totally agree. Perhaps in house rivalry prevented the the european engines coming to our shores that engine killed the poor car
I worked at a Buick/Opel dealership in the 70’s. The Opel was no prize either.
at least the vegas didn't leak oil onto the showroom floor.@@dave1956
That 2300cc (and other smaller capacities) Vauxhall ohc engine was the basis of the Lotus 917 engine used in the Lotus Esprit, Elite, Eclat etc and also the Jensen-Healey. It was an alloy 4-valve head on an alloy block derived from the Vauxhall. Early prototype 917 engines used remachined (iron) Vauxhall castings. Later, Vauxhall used the Lotus head on a Vauxhall iron block in the Chevette HS 2300 rally homolgation cars.
The point is that if Chevrolet had drawn on the expertise of their European subsidiaries they would have made a better car, quicker, and been able to make a 4-valve engine much sooner too.
Yes, I know the early 917 was unreliable, mostly due to the alloy block being under-developed. They should have gone into production with the iron block, and only gone over to alloy when it was ready. Hindsight.....
It was during that time frame that Japan caught up to us and started to surpass us. I owned a Ford Maverick, a Plymouth Duster and a Chevy Vega. All were scrap. I bought a 1963 Chevy Impala for a fair price, had it checked over and then drove the wheels off of it. With the exception of a charging system problem, that car never let me down.
The car was one of the nicest styled cars ever made from GM. There was huge potential for this car. Both in motors and upgrades but unfortunately the only choice was the oil burner 4. They did have a Cosworth but very limited. The bodies would rust like crazy if they used steel sleeves it worked much better. Sad it was such a disaster
I owned a 73 GT hatchback and bought a used 72 hatchback with a Jasper sleeved block. Very affordable cars--I couldn't afford the GTOs and chevelles my friends drove. I bought the 72 for
My father bought a '72 Vega wagon from the original owner. She had just had a sleeved engine put in by a dealer at 50,000 miles and no longer trusted the car. He drove it another 50,000 and the engine blew up, it barely made it 1/2 mile over to my house. I fixed it up for daughter to drive to college. Short blocked it and the rebuilder found it had a cracked head and found a better one. Great little car, I loved it and DID NOT ABUSE IT IN ANY WAY! Never used any oil, had minor rust but in SoCal it was not an issue. After I reached 50,000 miles with it there came a morning when it would not start. Took out a spark plug, it looked a little wet. Poured water into the radiator and it immediately poured out of the spark plug hole! Towed it straight to a wrecking yard and got $25 for it. All of the cars in my family had been big Buick, Cadillac, and Chevrolet V-8s, all went to 150,000 miles without any engine work at all. Vega ate three (3!) engines in the same mileage.
Freshly out of the Navy and freshly married, we bought a 1976 Vega Estate wagon for $3666. It had a 5 speed OD manual. I had heard the bad reports on the early Vegas but also heard about GM's fixes. So we bought it. I had that vehicle until 1989 and had over 213,000 miles on it when I traded it in on a Chevy Astro Van. I rebuilt that Holy Webber several times with a $28 rebuild kit, rebuilt the starter once with $18 worth of parts, the timing belt twice (each time I added a new water pump to the job) and replaced the rear axles once (the axle was the inner race for the barring). Other than those items, I only did regular maintenance and tuneups. The car was a great vehicle for our young family. I don't think I have had better value for my dollar since.
Heck, I bought a new Vega in 1974 and I loved it - my first new car! I drove that baby for 44,000 miles before the aluminum engine blew up! Great car!
I had a 71 Vega. As you correctly noted, it was a nicely styled car, especially when compared to its direct competition...the Pinto, Gremlin and Beetle. The interior was nicer and more thoughtfully designed, as well. One glaring omission in your review is the Vega's outstanding handling. Road & Track said it was the best handling passenger car made in the U.S. You made a mistake, early base Vegas were supplied with single barrel carburetors. I never experienced nor did I ever hear of the carb problem you mentioned and I drove mine from my last year of high school through graduation from law school. It had horrible rust issues, but those were resolved in 1976. I put two engines in the car, but again, those issues were resolved in 76 with the Dura-Built. GM even starting using the iron duke 4 in the car. The Cosworth was nice, but the unavailability of AC was an issue.
By 1976, the car was a solid vehicle with its issues having been resolved, but by then the damage to the car's reputation was done. But your title in inaccurate, it should read 1971-1975. The 76 and 77 model years shouldn't be lumped in with the earlier car's shortcomings.
The abysmal quality and reputation of this car were entirely due to GM's thrifting at every possible opportunity. This resulted in a car with so many issues and a reputation so poor. I do agree that it was a good-looking little car.
Part of GMs long relentless persuit of bankruptsy.
I really hope the bean counters at GM were happy in that all they succeeded in doing with the Vega was creating a whole lot of future Toyota, Datsun and Honda customers. That was at a time when it was absolutely critical for GM to establish itself as a leader in small car development, but they really botched it badly.
@@chevycamaro78 Yep. I would have bought a Chevy or Oldsmobile in 1970, but by '75, I would have been looking closely at either a '75 Beetle, Toyota or Datsun. The speed limit was 55 anyway.
My parents had a yellow 1976 Vega, and I had a 1977, both hatchbacks. These had the Durabuilt variant of the 2300. In fact they were pretty good cars for the time, and actually pretty much trouble free. Two great things about these cars; 1) The handling was excellent. 2) They would go through the snow like a tank.
Cool! see what I just posted, above.
I had a 75 hatchback gt with a 4 speed and it did go thru snow quite well and was pretty sure footed. It was my first new car and I put 128K on it only replacing a fuel pump. Traded it for a Monte carlo in 81 and saw the car about a year later and it was still going and looking good mine never had a rust problem.
True snow story have 71 gt w fact posi, drove to boulder from denver to school thru winter carried1 chain c posi never put it on, has alum 215 0lds w saginaw 4 spd
As an aspiring young gear head in the early ‘70s I was fascinated by the Motion Industries kits that provided the hardware to install small or big block Chevy engines into the Vega. Being a fan of Bill Jenkins only added fuel to that fire.
Enjoyed the video, thanks. As the owner of a 1972 hatchback vega, the hood latch on the forward hinged, rear latched hood, with a cable running into the passenger compartment was not reliable and made accessing the engine compartment difficult if the cable malfunctioned.
Cables are prone to malfunctioning, ask any mc rider
Thanks for this one, Adam ! Such a shame about Vega, it was a promising idea, but sadly the execution left a lot to be desired. John Z DeLorean said he had been pressured by GM corporate office to overstate his confidence in the car.
read "on a clear day you can see general motors" by JZD.
Never trust a drug dealer’s word…
@@BarneeFife Cheap shot much?
Delorean revealed how the testing of early prototypes had the inner fender supports tearing away from the cowl area during vigorous driving. GM's fix was to double the supports for more strength, but the sandwiched metal didn't last long when rust and salt took over. Almost planned obsolescence.
@@renardfranse
I remember in 1973 one of my neighbors put a 429 CJ with a blower sticking out of the hood in his Vega. Looked awesome
I never owned one, but the Corvair and the Vega are my favorite Chevrolets as far as looks go. I've always been more of a Chrysler guy, owned a couple and no complaints. I really like the Corvair, the way it looks, the rear engine and the size. My uncle had a junkyard and there was an example of every year ever made, he kept a couple just for that reason. Another great video!
My parent bought a used 1974 Vega. My Dad drove it, never changed the oil because of how much oil it burned. It was also a rust bucket. It’s life ended when my brother drove it off the freeway into the highway median and basically imploded in a pile of rust.
Ah, ELPO. In my former career I worked for BASF and we made millions of gallons of ELPO for various auto manufacturers. Great stuff if applied correctly electrolytically in the dip-tank. Not so great, as you stated, if the manufacturer wasn't careful designing his coatings processes (we'd send techs and engineers to assist but sometimes, due to cost, they were ignored).
Imagine implementing a dipping process which left air pockets. Was that never checked?!
I had a corvair and a Vega! Loved them both! Fun to drive as well! You can find bad in all vehicles!
My sister owned a '74 Vega coupe. The main thing I remember about it was that occasionally, when it started running poorly, you would get out, pop the hood, and tighten down the mounting nuts on the carburetor. Then it would run better. Always carry tools with a Vega.
My first car was a new 1973 Millionth Vega GT. It was orange with a white stripe. This limited edition had an upgraded interior - Camaro-like bucket seats and European styled upholstered interior door panels, instead of the standard plastic door panels. It was fun to drive, and a great car EXCEPT FOR THE 3 REPLACEMENT ENGINES it received during the 18 months I owned it. The rings kept abrading the piston walls. Chevrolet refused to replace the engine a fourth time so I sold the car. I heard the buyer got drunk and drove it into a lake shortly after purchasing.
First car was a '74 Vegs GT. I loved it. Had it 3 years with no trouble. Got rid of it, I wanted a Jeep for the beach. At the time, I lived just over the bridge from the Outer Banks of NC.
My soon to be wifes father, a general manager of a Chevy dealer brought her home a brand new '71 Vega stick shift and said "just make the payments" With about a thousand miles on the clock he took it off her to bring in to the shop. A tech bulletin revealed a serious engine overheating problem and that a "coolant recovery system" was needed. They installed it and twelve years later I sold it to a friend who drove it for four more years. OK so the body needed a couple thousand dollars in rust repair but it was one of our most reliable cars.
Greetings from Ottawa, Canada! I have been a car guy since childhood, and I barely remember the Vega - they used to rust out so quickly in our salted northern climate. The memories I have of seeing Vegas driving around in the late 1970s and early 1980s were always just total piles of rust, traveling down the Queensway with their quarter panels flapping like sails in the wind. There was a Canadian book series called the Lemon-Aid Used Car Buying Guide, and I remember the author's concise two-sentence review of the Vega and its Pontiac Astre twin: "GM's first disposable car. Use either car once, then throw it away."
In another, later edition of the book, "Do not buy a Vega unless you have a burning desire to learn mechanics quickly."
John Delorean wrote about how the first prototype broke apart after only 8 miles on the test track, about how Chevrolet and Pontiac executives hated the car that GM developed and forced onto their brands, about how Vega (which is an ugly name) should have been named the Gemini (say it out loud as you think GM!), and about how the engine shook and rattled like an old Eastern-European farm tractor. All that and more in Delorean's book, "On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors".
The worst thing about the Vega, the most frustrating thing about the car, is that it was on the cusp of greatness.
Thank you for another great video.
Lawrence
www.youtube.com/@BrainDamageBBQ
How did they compare to the 71-73 Firenza?
I have studied this fiasco, as I inherited one when I married my wife in 1975. It is a bad idea to combine an iron head with an aluminum block. The hottest area in an engine is the combustion chamber, which is in the head. Since cast iron expands and contracts more than aluminum, it works fine to have an aluminum head on an iron block, because the temp difference works well. When the hottest area is cast iron, this expansion/shrinkage shortly blows the head gasket, and can crack the block. This was made worse by the pitifully small cooling system, which was marginal even under ideal conditions. Add to this the issues with piston/cylinder scuffing, and long life was unlikely. I knew several people who had their engine removed, and had the cylinders re-bored to take iron liners. Then they followed this up by replacing the miniature factory radiator with a larger unit, and installed an larger overflow container. One guy I knew drove his nearly 150,000 miles after the mods. Typical GM-let the customer be the development engineer!
I thought they had fixed the rusting problems toward the end. I bought a new 76 GT and it didn't start any rusting until the mid 2000's when I let it sit outside for several years. And even then, it wasn't that bad. It is currently being restored. It was my first car.
Got a 1975 Vega brand new in 1975 after having to give up my gas guzzling 1971 Pontiac GTO in order to drive 90 miles a day roundtrip to go to university. I loved the way it looked and drove even though no real torque. It was pretty gas efficient back then and it got me through 65,000 miles and 3 years on the road. I never had an engine issue with it. I had a standard shift clutch and some small part broke (plastic I was told) cost $25.00 to replace for the part and $100 to repair. Other than replacing tires and changing oil that is all I spent. Looking at the car today, I still like it. Maybe I was the one that got a good car.
You know how you find something that interests you and then look for a video to go into some detail? You can look for ages and just find a load of rubbish. Not today! This was a bullseye, a beautifully produced, authoritative and comprehensive look at this vehicle and engine. More than I could expect. Really good. subbed.
Adam knows his sheet
I had a '74 Vega hatchback wagon for years, but it had a 4 cylinder Iron Duke engine out of a Chevy Monza in it. The car was admittedly built on the cheap, but it was fun to drive, and I got at least 100 K miles out of it. I just had to keep repairing the motor mounts... That's okay, though, because that engine ran great. I think I paid $400 for it in 1981.
I had a 72 Vega. Bought it new and drove it from Fl to San Diego six times . Sold it for 1800 dollars.was a great car for me.
RIP Frank and Harry. I used to know two guys who would come to our shop in the late 70s' and early 80s' and get Chevette engines from us to install in Vegas. After quite a bit of Shade Tree engineering, they managed to create what we came to call, the Chevega. They built a few dozen of these things and other than the sheet metal rotting, they were pretty decent. Also, as far as the valve seals, apparently no one could make good valve seals back then. A lot of the first jobs I had in the early 70s' was putting valve seals in engines. I still have the valve spring compresser tool that I used to put a billion valve seals in Pintos.
I bought a used 1974 Vega GT for 400 bucks and drove it for a very long time. Really had no problems with it.
One of my brothers had a Vega, and it was really nice. Red color, and just the perfect size for a young man just starting out. And he was working at a dealership as a mechanic that had already been to Mr Goodwrench school. Shortly, after he was in this new car, it began to smoke quite badly. He fixed the engine by replacing it, and promptly sold the car (which was now much better), and bought a GMC pickup.
I bought a 1973 Vega brand new. Spent $2400.00 on it. Loved it with the manual 4 speed, forest green & took great care of it. Oil changes every 3000 miles. Motor was shot at 65,000 miles. Sold it for $16,00.00
The body looks good still, and the guy that bought it, made a drag race car out of it. He basically said he only wanted the body!
Those late model Covairs were really nice looking cars.
Agreed. Learned to drive on a 1965 4 speed. Good looking car but utter rubbish.
Owned a ‘72 hatchback Vega in that odd green. I liked driving the car and it handled great for being so small. Of course I had the usual engine failure, and rebuilt it with a fitted block. I even toyed with the idea of a 283 v8, and dad said “ no, you’re not”. The engine failed because of overheating you couldn’t idle one for very long. Looking back, my ex-stepson had a Mustang II with Ford’s 2000cc engine, I believe the radiator was much larger in it than the Vega had. I didn’t have any rust issues with the car, the body looked very good when it took its final ride on the tow truck. My seats, however, were another matter, living on the Western Slope of Colorado, not far from Steamboat, the extreme temperature changes from summer and winter really did a number on the vinyl. If I had the car now, the complete interior would be redone in cloth and I would put a Vortech V6 in it, like what is in my GMC Sonoma I now own. I remember companies making a lot of accessories for the Vega especially the hatchback model, the one that stands out in my mind was the Vega Tent. This went over the open hatch, covered the windows and had a small area where you could stand? at the back of the car. Over all GM really missed the boat with the Vega and Astre. These both could have been mini muscle cars had the engineering been a little better.
I had several Vegas that I bought used and very cheap. All had aftermarket electric fuel pumps that were directly wired to the battery. I guess someone diagnosed no fuel pressure without understanding the oil pressure link in the system. The guys in my shop always got a laugh out of that. The Vega I drove for almost two years was an oil burner. I kept a case of oil in the back. It needed two quarts of oil every time I filled the gas tank. Oil was cheap then so it didn't matter so much. It handled great so it was a fun car to drive.
Guys would buy up those bad Vegas, put out the engine and trans install a healthy small block. They made good hot rods/street racers for the time. A kid I grew up with had a '71 Vega, the body was rough but it did run good. Before he got it, it had a new sleeved engine installed, with the 4sp manual it got good mileage and was very reliable. Don't remember whatever happened to it, but as far I know he drove it until the wheels fell off. There was a young lady in my neighborhood who had one of those Cosworth Vegas, it was a good looking car but unfortunately it caught fire one night and that was the end of that. It was a shame to see it burn by the time the fire dept arrived it was too late. Thanks again Adam for another great video! Keep up the great work.
The Vega marks the GM falling from a great car maker from "We don't care, we are big, we have money, we are GM..."
Yes GM excelled at _arrogance._ They still do
I had 3 Vegas. 1- 76 or 77 hatchback my mother gave me as a graduation present. Stick shift I learned to drive on.. The other a 74 that burnt a qrt. of oil every 100 miles. lol it was my winter car, to save my 1970 Chevelle SS from the salt.. And a 75 White station wagon I used to haul my Drums around in the young band days.. With all there Faults.. I have alot of great memories of the VEGA lol
Vega should have used the 153 pushrod four that the '62 to '70 Chevy II/Nova used. It was based on the Chevy inline six.
Engine coolant level should stay constant unless there is a leak or the motor overheats and coolant is pushed out
Yeah, good point, don't know if these early cooling systems were closed on the Vega. Many cars of this era didn't have a closed system (coolant recovery/overflow tank)
@@tomwesley7884The early Vegas did not have a coolant recovery tank. It was added later, and may have been retrofitted to early cars as part of a recall.
Those motors are great, Midget racers used them for years adapting V8 heads to them. They still make that engine last time I looked for boats and Industrial uses an no its not the Iron Dookie engine. Completely different engine than 153
@@tomwesley7884most did not
I bought a 1972 Vega new and after 172,000 miles and one trip from L.A. to Seattle Washington, also to Colorado and once to Niagara Falls and back, and never had a problem, besides I loved outrunning 240 Zs. I took good care of the maintenance of my Vega and loved it.
I purchased a new Vega panel in 1971 and loved it. I kept it until 1974 and only had two issues. It overheated on a trip from California to Nevada and the issue was a bad thermostat. The other issue was a plus for the Vega. I had the car serviced at an auto dealer and when I picked it up, it only ran for a few seconds and then shut off. It turned out that they forgot to put oil in it after they changed it. I have very fond memories of that car.
Pontiac had the car with the iron Duke engine!
Ah yes dealership always had great employee, kinda like govt workers, don't give a sheet
I purchased a special Vega in 1973 it was a special edition 1 millionth Vega. In a special orange and a unique interior. When I met my future wife I agreed to pick her up at her office. I told her to look for the brightest car in the parking lot. That worked. We went all over the country in that car. Never had a problem with rust. It used oil but when it got low it wouldn’t start due to a look oil sensor . I kept a case of oil in the hatch and just added a couple of cans and it startedright up. That was a good idea.
Still have 1 now,wish it eas new
The beginning of the car as an appliance era...
My brother had a '72 Vega. It was decent looking and fun to drive, but as the video shows, had major issues. Another issue that was not mentioned in the video was that the Vega was all metric. So, as my brother found out, you couldn't just take it to the local service station for routine maintenance like oil changes, alignments, etc. because back then, service stations were not familiar with metric and often didn't have the proper metric tools. In order to get proper maintenance work done, one had to go to the dealer. Not a popular option, even today.
So, a lot of folks just didn't do the maintenance that should have been done. I remember seeing quite a few Vegas with alignments that were so bad that it was quite noticeable, causing the tires (bias ply at the time) to wear out quickly.
The bumpers were so bad that a minor parking lot mishap (which did happen to my brother when a lady backed into his Vega) was very expensive to repair because the bumpers provided almost no protection. The horn was not loud enough for the lady to hear my brother's attempts to warn her before she hit his car.
My brother kept his Vega about a year and got so fed up with it he bout a Ford and never bought a Chevrolet product ever again.
So sad ,stuck w fords forever
John DeLorean once described the Vega engine as looking like "something from a 1920 Farmall Tractor". I think he nailed it LOL.
The fact that the 1920 era tractor was still around in the 1970's to be compared with the Vega, clearly endorses the phrase, "It's what's inside that counts".
As a counterpoint to all of the comments about how bad the car was, let me say that my family had three Vegas, a ‘74 Kammback, a ‘75 hatchback and a ‘76 Kammback and not a one of them ever had the slightest trouble. I drove the ‘74 all the way through high school and college, carrying ski equipment, camping gear and surfboards nearly every day. The only trouble I ever had with it was a broken air conditioning belt in Las Vegas at 3 AM on a Sunday night but that just meant driving back to Orange County with the windows down. I loved the things and it’s sad that so many had horrible experiences with the cars.
I'd love to have a Corvair, Vega, and a Monza. I don't care what people think about them. They look great and I'm a decent mechanic, fabricator and body man. So I could fix a lot myself
And you’d get a good workout on all 3 aspects.
come get this corvair, then. all it needs is a new radiator and its yours!
I have all 3, not for sale.
I sold my Vega for $75 in 1978. I was lucky to get that. In addition to the other defects, the electrical system was a wreck; the girl who bought it drove off in a rainstorm without functioning wipers. I felt like giving her back the $75.
Good boy, take advantage of dumb girl, u pay later for greed
Rare because they have all rusted out and returned to the earth.
Or turned into a drag race car.
In November of 1972, I bought a Kammback GT 4-speed. I drove it for over 30K miles in about 10 months with very little issues. In 1975, I was told my 1970 Torino GT would be too big for Germany, so I bought another Vega, Hatchback GT with a blown engine. I put a steel block in it, a new head and took it overseas. It was a great handling little car and did us well for two years, until a friend drove it for over an hour at 100 miles an hour. The #3 sleeve came loose. I then bought a 75 Vega GT Hatchback and we had that (while it was rusting out) for about 6 months, until my In-laws came over for a month and we swap with a guy for a full sized 1973 Plymouth station wagon. (much bigger than my 70 Torino! And drove it all over Europe) After returning to the States, I bought a 1977 Chevy Monza notchback with a V8 (305). That car could move! We had it for just over a year and because our family was going from 4 to 5, my wife talked me into trading it for a Slant 6, Plymouth Volare station wagon. Then in 1985, I was riding my motorcycle home from work and it started snowing on me. That night I found a 1976 Pontiac Astre station wagon for sale. Due to the (Vega) engine making a noise (it was shot), I bought it for $150 and drove it home. But before I got it home, I blew it up! I put another rebuilt, steel sleeve block in it and drove it for a year and the transmission went bad. I found a wrecked 1979 Monza station wagon with a V6 and only 33K miles on it. I swapped out the drive train and suspension and interior and had a really nice little commuter for a few years. I still like the Vegas.
Wow. You were committed!
@@RareClassicCars 'TOTAL COMMITMENT'. LIKE THAT GENERAL ON THE MOVIE DR STRANGELOVE",, LOL..
@@RareClassicCarsif u like something u will strive for it, no like, no try
As a friend of mine once said: the vega is vaguely a car.
I loved my Vega wagon that I owned in high school. I wish I still had it.
I enjoyed the predictability of one litre of oil per tank of gas.
Fill it with oil, and check the gas
One of my first cars was a gift . A Vega wagon with a 231 v6 Buick swap. Rough but cool starter car. I kinda wish i had that car and knew what i know now. Traded it for a 81 Rx7 12A rotary . The Vega was a beautiful car . Growing up in the late 70s and 80s i fondly remember wanting them.
GM *should* have learned a lot of lessons off this car that guided the X-car development process, but instead doubled-down on the same kinds of mistakes that sunk the Vega.
And the mistakes continue to this day...
In college, my friend asked if I would replace his Vega's rear brakes. Sure, no problem, I was in the sports car club and did all the
work on my 1966 Austin Healey 3000. I told him he would have to buy a repair manual. On the arraigned day, he showed
up with a set of new shoes and a new manual. I immediately opened the book to the the BRAKE chapter, it was one page and this
is what it said, "The brakes on this car are too complicated for the average person to replace/repair, so if you do not have the
necessary mechanical skills, you need to take it to the dealership or professional brake shop". I had no idea what could have been
so complicated but I did know that I was not going to find out and refused to do the brake job.
As a young person I bought a low milage 1972 Vega in 73 my first newish car. At 60K the engine failed. GM did reimburse me majority of the replacement cost. At 100K it was absolutely worn out. The transmission failed but there were out too many other things wrong to be worth replacing it.
The first 50K miles it was a fun economical and reliable car.
I drove and flew a 71 with a 74 engine (I put in) while in high school in 1981. My friends called it Air Vega. All I needed was the right railroad tracks. For real. I built a front spoiler and cut the bumper to look like a Camaro. Bought a box of used performance parts for 50 bucks (bigger carb, header, dual point dist), added a glass pack and embarrassed some V8s on the boulevard. Had to race from a roll bc the rear end would hop from a dead stop.
I have had a bunch of cars, but I miss it the most. NO ONE could touch it in a game we called "rat chase", a cat and mouse car game. I could not be caught, nor could I be lost. The 4 speed and steering ratio was unrivaled. It was also entertainment for the teen blvd crowd doing dry donuts and "rockfords' in the mall parking lot.
the engine gave out and it joined the rest of the vegas in car heaven.
Needed torque bar from r end to tranny that later monza came with to not hop
I had a 1973 hatchback I bought for $150 in 1977 in high school. Never had to change the oil as it went through a quart a week. 3 speed manual. Hatchback glass had to be duct taped in place due to rust. From what I was told by a Chevy executive the Vega was originally designed to be a better car. GM top dogs needed to cut the cost before production so the removed inspectors off the line, used a untested rustproofing method and also had a better engine design but chose the awful one . All this to get it to market quick. I also bought a Pinto brand new, a '79 model in fall of '78. Got 204,000 trouble free miles outta it !
It’s funny that a pinto was a better car than the Vega
@@gerryvandepol7630 but it certainly was ! I don't think too many cars were good then.
but had style of a tin can
@@rogerdodrill4733 That's funny. Most people thought it was a good looking car. I did. Sorta looks like a Camaro of that era. Chevy made it such an awful car in almost every way.
What a fine video; very well done. I was a European car fan during the period (and a senior in H.S. in '71), but even so thought the styling was very attractive. In '74 a friend bought a new (orange) hatchback and I really liked it. Now, after a lifetime of being a "car guy", looking at the photos in this video is a reminder that GM had some great automotive designers. But, then & now, questionable cost-cutting has taken the shine off most of their vehicles... so you have this "if only" feeling each time a new car is introduced.
I had a 4 speed fastback. For about 20,000 miles I loved it. It was reasonably quick for the time and very torquey so it pulled well. And it handled way above average for the times. It's too bad GM rushed it to production. An excellent car was lost. By the way a few years later both Mercedes and Porsche used similar unlinered alloy blocks and I don't recall bad reports for them. It could have been done.
Porsche engine was high silica al Chevy missed that bit
Before I got the engine fixed in mine---a master mechanic who owed my Dad money fixed my car for free---my Vega used so much oil that my Dad once quipped, "This car needs so much oil that it still uses oil even when the engine is turned off----because it is trying to catch up".