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For One Diehard, This ’71 Vega Still Burns Bright
My first car was a 1971 Chevrolet Vega Notchback sedan. Now, more than 50 years on, I still own it and drive it regularly.
In my mind’s eye, I can still see my father back in 1973 pulling it into our driveway in Athens, Texas, for the very first time. He bought it to commute 50 miles each way to his job in Terrell. I learned to drive on it a few years later and started doing tune-ups, oil changes, and such to keep it running. As soon as I had a license and a job, I started bugging him to sell it to me. He finally did, in 1979. I thought it handled and looked better than my friends’ Mustangs, Firebirds, Hornets, etc., and it was easier to figure out and work on. It also got 30-plus miles to the gallon, which was very important to a poor college kid during the energy crisis years.
By 1982, it had 200,000 miles on it and had been in five crashes. But it was always easy to repair. It has since spent life slogging up and down the Central Expressway to Love Field Airport in Dallas or the Gulf Freeway to Hobby in Houston, so it has always been a workhorse. As it closes in on 400,000 miles, it is still my primary car in months of mild weather. In the hot Texas summers, however, I primarily use my ’74 Vega Panel Wagon, since it has nice cold A/C. I also have a ’75 Cosworth Vega, which I bought as my second car in 1983.
My ’71 has never been restored in the traditional way. I have just fixed things as they come up. At around 50,000 miles, the motor blew—probably due to a steel head gasket corroding or it being a Texas car with the 12 x 12-inch “postage stamp” radiator and no overflow tank. My father complained to GM, even though it was out of warranty. They told him to take it to the Arlington assembly plant. I am not sure if they replaced just the block or the whole engine, but they did it for free. When he got it back, he immediately put in the bigger A/C-type Vega radiator.
I ran that engine until 217,000 miles and rebuilt it in 1984. I added a three-row radiator later. I did a valve job in late ’90s, and I replaced the front crankshaft seal about five years ago, but I have not been inside the lower end since that rebuild. I never let my engines get over 190F, but I admit I am paranoid an greatly favor cool-running engines and gentle warm-up periods every day.
To that end, my Cosworth Vega also has a three-row radiator and the biggest Vega fan, and my ’74 Vega Panel has a four-row radiator, the big engine fan, and an electric fan in front of the condenser. It does not get over 180F, even on the very hottest days in stop-and-go Houston traffic. I have not been inside that engine at all in 131K-plus miles since I rebuilt it in 1992.
Clearly I have a thing for Vegas, but, curiously, Jaguar E-Types, too, and for the last 25 years I have owned a 1968 fixed-head coupe. In fact, I have only ever owned Vegas and E-Types. One of the guys in the Jaguar club once told me, “You are probably the only guy in the world that can say that.”
One final thought on Vegas, though, and the ’71 particularly: I think it is quite good at its core purpose as a good-handling, simple, and economical commuter car. Not too bad for what many folks consider to be the worst car GM ever produced. I never listened much to the bad press, since we figured out early on how easy it was to correct the reliability flaws. My ’71 will always be my favorite possession, but I still like driving it too much to retire it as my daily from October to May.
Impressive. Kudos to keeping it and driving it so much.
Had a Panel Wagon in the late seventies, great car. Still have the XKE.
The Vega really was a good car. The over all concept and design was fine. The issues with the sleeveless cylinders was just a bit too early. BMW uses this same tech today.
The other issue was the lack of rust controls. If both these issue had not happened the car would have had a much better rep.
To be fair the pinto not any better in terms of rust. It did have a better engine. But the Vega was a better driving and riding car.
We had these for beater cars in the 80’s. They always started and ran. They were cheap to buy and cheap to repair. For oil we saved oil from oil changes and just dumped in used oil.
A neighbor had one he saved from a junk yard. He drove it several years in the salt. He then junked it but then someone else bought it and drove it several years.
The fact is the difference from a great car to a poor car can be as simple as just one or two issues. .
Great and unexpected story. I remember when the Vega was introduced, and how well they drove: actually pretty sporty.
Seems to me that the “bean-counters” at GM have done more harm to the company than every other factor combined.
When I think of “Burning Bright” I think of Pintos, not Vegas.
Tow of my buddies had Vegas back when they were new. The orange automatic station wagon version took us all over the province and was a reliable car albeit a bit too much cheap plastic. My other buddy had a blue manual coupe which he beat regularly. It handled fairly well but the shift linkage was not very smooth. Once coming back from a hockey game the engine oil light came on. He ignored it but eventually after me cajoling him, he pulled over and checked the oil dipstick. Nothing showing. Since it was late at night and late in the winter, we carried on home. A few days later we were out for a ride and there was a loud bang and clunking sound. We pulled over, lifted the hood and saw that the number three connecting rod had decided it wanted some fresh air and was laying on the side of the big hole in the block sans piston. He drove the car the same way for the rest of the summer, never adding oil or fixing the engine. He liked to show the rod flopping around to anyone who wanted to see what the racket was. As noted, looking after cooling and rust would have made them a better car.
Very cool. I always thought the Vega was a great looking car for its segment. Nice to see a Cossie out there too.
Pardon my ignorance here, but how does one go about submitting these Member Stories?
I have not seen a Cosworth engined Vega in my life. Looks like a cool combo for that car.
They are cool, and you haven’t seen one because they didn’t make very many. No one bought them because they are Vegas and were nearly double the price of a non-Cosworth Vega.
Yup, something went wrong with the import exchange rate, when they brought the engines over. I glanced at one of them, new in ’77, a leftover ’76. Sticker was around $10K! The same price as a new Corvette, at the time. Too bad they didn’t just stick a V8 in there, instead.
A coworker of mine (in the Detroit area) bought a new Vega. Several years later, he removed the front fenders to address the rust issue. He found there was not enough metal remaining to reinstall them.
My sister bought a used Vega. Gas mileage was her primary concern. Eventually, the hood hinges rusted through (or perhaps it was the panel to which they were welded).
Another coworker bought a new Cosworth Vega. At my last contact with him (1994) he still had it.
A talented mechanic/fabricator friend of mine had a Vega hatchback back in the day. Small bumpers, but I can’t recall the year. He decided to put a V8 in it and looked into kits you could buy. I believe Hooker made one with motor mounts and other parts, but you couldn’t keep the AC. Not wanting to go without AC, my buddy fabricated everything himself, including a modified fiberglass box for the AC unit on the firewall. Everything fit nicely, but the exhaust was a challenge. He ended up fabing the main exhaust manifolds from 2×4 rectangular steel tubing and ran a cool side-by-side shotgun exhaust out the back. Though the manifolds didn’t last (I think we ended up replacing them with modified stock steel GM manifolds), for the time they were in the car they looked great and always started great conversations at the local hangout. He painted the car black with custom made steel wheels painted gold. Very fast car with upgraded brakes and rear end. Smoking tires were standard…
Love the Vega! If Chevy put some quality in it and sold it for a decent price people would stand in line to buy one today. Nice 2 door hatchback, easy on gas, easy to park. What’s not to like? If only mine wasn’t so “used”.
I have a 1975 Cosworth Vega, no. 0841. I bought it from the original owner in 1980. Drove it for thousands of miles and had a good time doing so. Always was an attention getter, especialy when I just beat their midsize v8. If Mr. Barnes would like to add to his twin cam stable, I am looking to sell. No rust and no wrecks.
Where are you and the car at ?
In the late 70’sto early 80’s I owned various Vega’s. My favorite was 1971 Kammback with manual trans. I did the a/c radiator and sleeved block repair on that one and it went 200k until a lower rear axle mount on the body rusted away. It had the Opel trans which shifted nicer than the later Borg Warner 4 speeds. I’d buy another if I came across one.
Love it; good for you! Maybe the largest still-surviving fleet of Vegas anywhere! (LOL) I always thought the Vega was unfairly maligned, could have been a great car with the Chevy small-block (popular aftermarket swap). Family & friends had a fleet of Vegas in the late 70’s. Great commuter car, inexpensive, and easy to keep running. I read somewhere (possibly at Hagerty?) the original design concept was the aluminum block was supposed to be easily & inexpensively replaced? Dubious idea if so, but horrible timing regardless, with rise of consumerism and regulation (i.e. EPA) in the early 70’s. By the time they started sleeving the block (1976?) the P/R damage was irreparable. Wish I could have my ’76 back again. Sigh…
I remember a Chevy print ad illustrating the pop-up hatchback canopy! Very cool!