Ralf K Outtakes: There Are Still Vegas On the Streets in Puyallup, WA
Looks like Ralf K. (Don Kincl) could have won our Great Vega Hunt recently with these two finds in his hometown of Puyallup, WA. This fine '73 (I think) Kammback's little exhaust pipe strongly suggest it still has its original 2300 engine. This little Kammback sure was a fine looking car, such good proportions and lines. That's not to say it was the most practical wagon in the world, but it's mighty cute.
And there's another one…
I loved the Vega's original front end, and rather hated the new "sloper" front end that came along in 1974. I guess it was dictated by the new bumper regs, as well as to look different after three years. It's impossible to tell, but once again, given the stock wheels and otherwise originality of this hatchback coupe, the less-than delicate thrum of a 2300 is most likely to be heard when it starts up.
It sure is a treat to see two of these still on the road. Vegatastic!
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Sure, but are there any Vegas in Vegas? Talk about a gamble. (ba-dum-bump)
I'll be here all week, folks, and next week I'm appearing in the Catskills! Be sure to tip your waiters generously!
azjaeger
That's the thing about Vegas, and why I am surprised they are so rare. Sure, they were rotten cars stock..but they made a zillion of them, a V8 fits and they are RWD and nice looking. You would think there would be a lot of hot rod Vegas around…
ozzy85
These things were everywhere in the '80's to early '90's. Skagit county, WA was quite the gearhead area back then. Lots of V8 Vegas running around. Heavy collision took out a couple of them that I remember, rust got the rest. So rusty. I was offered a '72 (?) for free as a project. I couldn't take it. Giant holes in the floors, you could see your feet when you opened the hatch. Under the hood, the inner structure had rotted and split all the way down to the frame rail. It was all these cars could do to survive 10-20 years.
Evan Reisner (away from password list)
There are. There's a '71-2 coupe parked near McCarran airport. It looks like a re-spray in prosthetic leg beige.
William Stopford
I keep meaning to share it…
Funniest thread ever.
mark reimer
Th Vega was a potentially enjoyable car that was crying out for a SBC V8 engine transplant and Ziebart bumper-to-bumper rustproofing from day one.
nlpnt
Imagine if GM had doubled down on factory rust prevention and saved the money for it by just using the four-cylinder Nova engine or the Opel 1900.
I have always believed that the Opel 1900/Manta was the car that the Vega should had been.
You're not alone. It was only GM management that were convinced they could do it better (i.e., cheaper) than the Opel. In that regard, they actually succeeded. There's no doubt in my mind that GM made a huge pile of money with the Vega.
Of course, the Vega was also the first in a sadly long line of GM mistakes that did long-term damage to the company's reputation and future lost sales.
Canucknucklehead
I was all ready to claim that GM didn't make money on the Vega, but I was totally wrong.
'71 Production-277,705
It dropped off the cliff after this but by this time, the Monza and derivatives were selling well.
I suppose the Vega was the right car at the right time.
https://h-body.org/library/vegabob/vega-history-complete.html
3SpeedAutomatic
Best way to describe the Vega is "could-a, should-a, would-a".
Great potential lost due to arrogance, lack of vision, greed, etc, etc.
(I doubt the wagon has a Vega engine, but the hatchback might for GM did make a series of improvements, but too too late.
The original Vega really nailed the styling – it was just so doggone good looking in a way that the Pinto was not.
Growing up in a GM family and being surrounded by them it was mind-boggling to me that Chevrolet could build such a disaster of a car. Even Chrysler at its very worst couldn't match that one.
GarryM
How true, they were much better looking than many other compact cars at the time. The main reason I bought my GT in 74. I've always said the Vega was well built (first use of robotics in a GM assembly plant) but poorly engineered and designed by committee.
jz78817
amazing, especially since those things could rust away in the Atacama desert.
I do believe that the Kammback is indeed a 1973 model, based on the distance that the front bumper sticks out from the body. 1974's had the big bumpers. And it was likely to either have the Custom trim or the GT option, judging by the extra trim on the rocker panels. The exhaust exit is is the right place for a 2300 engine, so we can at least dream that this car buzzes and roars like it was intended to.
THIS CAR, in GT trim, in Chevy ads in so many magazines from that era, was the exact car that made me fall in love with Vegas and desire one and then fall down the rusty, dusty Vega rabbit hole. I would still like to have one, they are so pretty.
Correct, this is a '73 (assuming original body and bumpers). In a slight twist on the CC Effect, although I haven't seen a Vega on the road for a while, yesterday I did see another car I owned in the '70's (overlapping with my '73 Vega for a few years), a Ford Fiesta.
Craig Dickson
We had one of these when I was a kid, a pewter 72 wagon. I spent many hours in the back seat along the I95 corridor from Philly to Providence and a few times all the way up past Augusta ME. (The latter trips with a canoe on the top that was 3-4 feet longer than the car.) It was certainly more reliable on trips than it's predecessor (2-strike Saab that hated water). But it did have the oil problem, to the point that my father (who was extremely conflict averse) fought with the dealer and eventually GM all the way up to the District Manager to get the engine replaced. No lemon laws then…
OrphanGuy
Posted March 14, 2019 at 10:24 AM
My parents bought a '74 Vega hatch during the Arab oil embargo. It looked an awful lot like that second photo – right down to that dopy racing stripe the dealer gouged them for. Because of the timing it was probably one of the few Vegas Chevy sold at a profit. It certainly wasn't profitable for us. I think the stain on the garage floor from leaking oil is still there. Amazing that any are still running. Must have had Iron Duke swaps somewhere in their pasts.
I had a '71 Vega Panel Express, same color yellow as top feature Kambcack. They really great driving little cars. Heavy for their size. Mine looked looked very similar to this, only mine had black GT wheels and no rub strip down the side.
The feature wagon is a '73.
Howard Kerr
I had a 72 Panel Express in that sort of tangerine orange. I bought it because I believed all the buzz that surrounded the Vega before they hit the showrooms and because 2 cousins had 71 Vegas and thought they were great cars.
Mine was okay, except for the front end that looked like the line workers were channeling Helen Keller the day it was assembled. Some of the worst panel gaps and fits to ever "grace" a new car.
Oh, and I remember nearly getting stuck twice when I made the mistake of stopping on the side of a road with sand shoulders. With one rear wheel in sand and the other on pavement that car refused to budge.
Well, GM did drop a V8 in the Vega, but just called it another name, Monza. For years, Motor Trend talked about how the "upcoming 1975 Vega will get a Wankel engine option!" Well, we know that didn't happen, and the fuel crisis led to huge Vega sales, so the "new version" was put out as separate model.
The '74 looked fine in front to me, more 'modern', but revisionist history dictates that all 5 mph bumpers are "ugly" and car guys was supposed to repeat this.
The top photograph practically and looks black and white until you peer closer. That is a good shot you have there and thanks for sharing these Vegas.
Geeber
The Vega is a very handsome car. Even the 1974 and later models look good, in my opinion. The Vega handled the 5-mph bumper requirements much more gracefully than the Ford Pinto and AMC Gremlin did (not to mention some of the imports).
Unfortunately, the Vega ended up doing almost as much for Toyota, Datsun/Nissan and Honda as they did for themselves. If only as much care and effort had been put into the engineering and build quality of the car as Bill Mitchell's staff put into the styling.
dman63
I haven't seen a Vega here in Ontario for many years, running or otherwise. My oldest sister and her first husband had a silver hatchback in the early '70's, and when I mentioned it to her a few years ago, she still shook her head about what a piece of junk it was. Needless to say, she's never owned another GM product. I still like the styling, but that's where it ends.
WildaBeast
When I was very young my mom drove a burgundy colored Vega hatchback very much like the one pictured here except without the racing stripe. I have no idea what year it was but I'm sure it had the newer style grille. The fact that whenever my mom talks about that car she mentions that hers "really wasn't that bad" makes me think that it probably was one of the later ones with the Dura-Built engine.
I went to the Motorama custom car show in Mississauga, Ontario last weekend. I was surprised to see not one, but three Vegas in attendance. Granted they were all packing V8 engines of various displacement..
Savageatl
I really wonder how the Vega's sales stayed as strong as they did. Its problems showed up early and were fatal, it wasn't like the taurus or Honda weak transmissions which generally didn't show up for years. Despite all of its problems, people kept buying them, unlike the x car, and the 71-72 sales were really strong despite no fuel crisis yet. Why would you buy a car guaranteed to rust while the engine was destroying itself? A hornet, dart, Nova, or maverick, or beetle would have been a million times better. Even a pinto was better.
Re: The vega was designed by committee; really, the engine failure was due to the insistence of Ed Cole, who was also responsible for the revolutionary small Block Chevy, that they use his engine design. At least according to DeLorean in On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors, the Vega proposal was Ed Cole's design and adopted in 1967. Chevrolet had developed another engine, a cast iron, short stroke, crossflow head engine, but Cole insisted on his proposal.
If the Vega had in fact been a committee car, better decisions might have been made. As it was, GM tried to develop a McNamara style car with specifications set out at the beginning and a car built round them, but it didn't work.
acadianidol
I see a 1975 ?? Pontiac Astre 2 door sedan in black matte paint around here in Vancouver, BC every now and again with for sale signs on it. I looked up on Craigslist and did find it, has a V8 in it and a bunch of other modifications. The seller was asking a crazy price in my opinion – if I remember correctly around $9,500.00. I agree with others, the Vega/Astre are handsome little cars in hatchback form. I never cared for the 2 door sedan version.
AMcA
I saw an almost zero miles '71 or '72 Vega notchback at Barrett-Jackson in the early 2000s. Still had plastic on the seats and the window sticker in place.
And it was appalling. I remember you could see places where the top layer of paint just hadn't been fully applied, so there were shinier and less shiny areas. Shut lines were crazy bad. Body trim, what there was of it, was haphazardly applied. And the upholstery had obviously been fitted in a big hurry.
I don't know what it sold for . . . or why anyone put it away for 30 years without driving it. Nonetheless, it was a fascinating time capsule.
The Vega is a handsome little car. The hatchback and wagon of course looked best. While the poor Vega was plagued with mechanical and rust issues (resolved by the 1976 model year), it was too late to save the Vega's reputation from the public.
Vega's had pretty decent handling and a compliant ride for a small car at the time. The Cosworth Vega was the king of Vega's. I had a friend many years ago who had a '75 Cosworth, and while it wasn't a blistering hot muscle car, it was a great driving car. The Cosworth's electronic port fuel injected engine was a milestone at the time. A first for any American made car.
It's really unfortunate that the Vega was brought into production with a number of engineering faults. That has been the case with a number of GM cars introduced in their first model year.
The Vega was a great idea but under engineered early on.
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