Any of you old DU fools ever owned a Chevy Vega?

[DemoTex]

I had a '74. I loved the self-changing oil feature. And the May-pop timing belt. And the No-Go fuel pump. What a total POS that was!

[no name no slogan]

1. My grandfather drove one when I was a kid

It had an 8-track player in it. It was actually a very good car for him. He ended up driving it down to Arizona, and used it down there when he spent the winters there. He eventually sold it to my dad, who drove it into the mid-80s. It was a decent little car.

[madinmaryland]

2. 1974 Chevy Monte Carlo.

With a 454 ci big block.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. had a 75 maverick... just about as bad

also had a 70 hornet... even worse

[UTUSN]

4. We might be OLD, but we gots TASTE!1 n/t

[bluesbassman]

5. Had a '72, put steel sleeves in when it started drinking more oil than I drank beer.

Ran pretty good after that. Cool looking and handled ok, Chevy could of had a winner there but sadly dropped the ball.

[DemoTex]

7. Yeppers. I was pouring in the oil and pouring in the beer.

Valid equation.

[SeattleGirl]

6. Guilty!

Didn't have it for long, but yeah, I had one.

[sgsmith]

8. 1974 Silver Kamback wagon

Drove that puppy from Atlanta to Los Angeles to Seattle and back across the upper states. (You know, the ones with straight borders.) But when it started to go bad, it went quickly.

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. The thing to do with a Vega

was to rip out the 140-4, the Opel slush box and the rear end, beef up the suspension and drop in a 327 or 350, a Powerglide or TH-350 and a narrowed GM or aftermarket rear axle.

[DemoTex]

10. I was at the point of doing exactly that!

Then I moved from Atlanta to Houston. I gave the POS Vega back to my brother who had lost his license (DUI) in the first place (my dad had bought the Vega for him while he was a student at UGa .. but dad never bought me a short). The Vega was still registered to me. Big mistake. My brother "sold" the Vega to a guy who was soon murdered by his girlfriend (for picking her up in a total POS?). By that time, the Vega was on blocks at the victim's trailer park.

[NMDemDist2]

17. my buddy had one with a 327

we could change out the spider gears dead drunk in the middle of the night in 20 minutes

:hide:

[Oeditpus Rex]

22. Reminds me of when the clutch went out in my friend's '72

He got a McLeod clutch for it (kind of a waste behind the stock engine, but...) and we set out to do the swap in his back yard. First, we put the disc in backwards. We remedied that, then we discovered the throw-out bearing was also bad.

That was a long day.

[hedgehog]

18. I knew a fellow who did something along those lines, but he left out

a critical step. The first time he fired up the engine, it was so powerful it torqued the entire car!

[Oeditpus Rex]

23. Speaking of torque...

The friend I mentioned just above later had a '68 Barracuda coupe with a 318. One day, he discovered an oil leak. Now, if you're familiar with Mopar engines of that era, you might recall that the oil filter was on a sort of cast-iron tube that stuck out from the block on the passenger side, just above the torsion bar.

We were in his driveway, trying to find the source of the leak, when his dad came out, fired up the engine and goosed it. It torqued hard to the right, and the filter hit the torsion bar, snapped the tube and dumped oil everywhere. :D

[Kali]

11. my best freind, Dave

had one. We called it "the (derogatory cat-like term for female anatomy) Vega"

[Jack Sprat]

12. No, but I had a girlfriend with a Ford Pinto.

It was a year old in 73 and never had the oil changed. You can imagine.
Myself, I had a 60 Chevy Corvair. I carried cases of Gulf oil in the trunk, which was in the front. I had an automatic with a lever gear changer. It was swell. I spent more on motor oil than gasoline. I'll bet that Vega was fine. Liked the body style. Remember the Ford Maverick?

[Tabasco_Dave]

13. My dad had one

He has a knack for buying lemons.

Chevy Vega
Chevy Corvair
Chrysler Cordoba
86 Jaguar
81 Cadillac with a 4/6/8 engine

[EFerrari]

14. Yes! It was a silver station wagon and it saved my life!

I was rear ended in the fast lane of the freeway and it crinkled up like an accordian. The only thing that would have been better would have been if it wasn't running that day like it usually wasn't.

As it was, my brother in law tied it up to a tree, pulled out the rear end and sold it. lol

[Oldtimeralso]

15. '73 GT Wagon

4-Speed, Crager Slotted Disc wheels, AM-FM 8-Track. Drove it 160,000 miles, only problem was valve guide seals at 80,000 miles when first oil usage showed up, did the timing belt at same time as head was off. Also changed water pump at 120,000. Sold it at 120,000 and it needed valve guide seals again. Never even adjusted the clutch, let alone change it.

The car was ziebarted when new and the front fenders rusted went to ziebart and got my money back and the manager told me that GM had a replacement policy for them too. I took the car to the dealer and they replaced the front fenders for free. Brought it back to ziebart like the manager told me to and he reziebarted the replacement fenders but told me since I had my money that he could not re-guarantee them.

I am a retired Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic and always did my own car maintenance. The Vega was a car that had to be cared for, not just driven until it quit.

I think that my Vega was the best small car that I have owed in almost 50 years of driving.

[cwydro]

16. My first car was a 71 Vega

bright yellow.B-)

[seemunkee]

19. Friend had one of the GTs. It handled great

He had wide tires on it and we would drive it down to WV to go climbing. With those tires it and a trunk of camping/climbing gear it was well balanced. Used to scare the crap out of him doing four wheel drifts on the country roads at night.
Of course we had to stop half way there to add oil, but no cars perfect.
I would have liked to try one of the Cosworth Vegas

[old mark]

20. Friend of mine bought a brand new '71 - his first new car. After

he got out of 4 years in the Marines, including 1 1/2 years in Vietnam he treated himself to a blue Vega with a floor shift. Poor guy. The doors were rusting through just as the rearend was making loud noises but the engine went first.

Buy American.

mark

[graywarrior]

21. Hell yeah!

[LostinVA]

24. My aunt had one right out of HS -- I swear it was THE only non-lemon vega ever

She saved her money and bought it new. I was about 12, and thought it was the coolest car ever. She drove that thing for well over a decade, and had little problem with it. I know -- very odd.

[Ohio Joe]

25. I had a 74 Vega myself

It was this wicked ugly orange color.

[question everything]

26. I think that mine was a '76.

Lived in Chicago at the time. We had one of those really cold snap that I had to call someone to start it. After many attempts he did, commenting that most Vegas had to be towed so mine was better... only to realize later that he broke the starter.

After that, I had one of those electric heater for the oil..

Sold it first opportunity when I got a job and could afford a better one - Ford Mustang - which was not that much better in the cold climate of the Midwest. Was the last American car in our household.

[blondeatlast]

27. My older sister did--and I owned an AMC Pacer; I'm NOT joking.

I loved my fishbowl, I really did.

[jrandom421]

28. Not just any Vega

But a 1975 Cosworth Vega! Best stealth street racer ever!

[RebelOne]

29. Nope, but I had a Chevy Corvair. Worst car in the world. n/t

[astral]

30. My first car.

Of course, anybody who knew me then would be dead now so it's not going to break my anonymity here.

Story:

I wanted help picking out my first car.

I knew men knew about cars (hey, I was only 18, I forgive myself!)

A man told me he had a Vega before and it ran great. So I skimmed the papers specifically looking for a Vega.

The guy who sold it to me is dead.

The guy who told me to buy it is still alive.

Oh, the Vega? It ran great til it decided to burn up its valves going down the highway.

My first car. Was awhile before I bothered to get another one. Six years, in fact. I was also 24 when I got my first drivers license. Free hand-me-down car from my parents I didn't even ask for, I figured (sigh!) guess it's time to get a license.

It wasn't a Vega this time ; )

[guitar man]

31. I had one

'73 model. I drove it until it finally threw a rod through the side of the block, then a friend and I got "creative" with it. By the time we were through with it, it was sporting a 283 v8, muncie 4 speed and a narrowed 9" Ford rear end. It was wicked fun then!

:evilgrin:

[hunter]

32. A friend of mine who lived by the beach had one.

It was so rusted out it looked like he kept it parked in the surf. It smelled like that too because rainwater leaked into it. The back window was held in with duct tape.

He didn't drive it much (he lived at the beach for goodness sakes!) so he never got the full Vega Experience of engine problems.

[Midlodemocrat]

33. I had a 1980 Sunbird. Same car I think, just the Pontiac version.

[hvn_nbr_2]

34. A guy I worked with got a new one "loaded" for $4000

Everybody in the office asked "How could anybody possibly spend $4000 on a Vega?"

[Ikonoklast]

35. One of the great POS built by Lordstown GMAD

My gf at the time had one with a rattle in the door, installed at the factory. It turned out to be a Pepsi can tack-welded inside the door by some asshole assembly worker pissed at his job, life, foreman, I don't know, you pick.

Almost made it to 60K before the poorly-designed motor ate a piston.

Piece of shit all around.