mmarshall

^^^^ Cosworth version







By member-request, a Retro Write-up of the 1971-77 Chevrolet Vega.

IN A NUTSHELL: More handsome in appearance than its domestic Pinto/Gremlin/Cricket competition, but not without major issues of its own.

By the late 1960s, despite still being in the waning days of the Golden Age of large American cars, it was apparent to GM’s management, as it was with competitors Ford and AMC, that a domestic subcompact car was going to have to be developed to counter the steadily-growing popularity of not only VW’s always-popular air-cooled Beetle/Super-Beetle, but also, for the first time, sales of the Toyota Corolla and Datsun (Nissan) 210. Those who wanted something smaller than the typical compacts Detroit was offering were pretty much limited to offerings from VW and the new upstarts from Japan, unless one wanted to take a chance with a unreliable subcompact from France, Britain, or Italy (which were for sale in the the U.S at that time, but with few takers). GM’s own subcompact German-sourced Opel Kadett was available through Buick dealerships, but at that time, was not particularly reliable.

GM, of course, was no stranger to introducing new, radically-designed (for the period) vehicles, as the Front-Drive Olds Toronado/Cadillac Eldorado and the ill-fated air-cooled/rear-engine Corvair proved (see my Corvair write-up). But the Corvair, in early models, for a number of reasons, proved deficient in safety, and the Toronado/Eldorado, with their huge weight and stress up front, had a reputation for chewing up the soft front tires of the period very quickly, even with proper tire rotation/alignment. In fact, Chevy had to bring out the thoroughly-conventional Nova/Chevy II to try and regain part of the compact market-share that the Corvair’s troubles had cost them.

Only problem was…..not all of those lessons had really sunk into the mind of GM’s management, or, if they did, they were soon forgotten. When GM decided to do a domestic subcompact of their own instead of simply selling German Buick/Opel Kadetts, once again, it was back to the drawing board on another new and rather unconventional design that was to become known (after much debate for the car’s name) as the Vega.

The basic layout (front-engine/rear-drive) was conventional enough, but the company (at the insistence of ED Cole, GM’s president, who had helped develop the famous new Chevy V8 in 1955), decided to go with a highly-questionable 2.3L (140 cubic-inch) in-line four, of 90 HP, that used a silicate-aluminum block, a cast-iron head, and cast-iron crankshaft-bearings. Cast-iron cylinder-liners, which would have added more strength, were not used. Not only did this engine have noted noise/vibration problems and made a racket while running, but also oil-consumption, a tendency to overheat, and, when it DID overheat (often, not IF but WHEN)…the aluminum and iron parts expanded and contracted at different rates, warping crucially-important components and damaging (or ruining) the engine. Note also that, except for Chrysler’s 5/50, most drivetrain warranties at this time were 1/12 or 2/24.

Around this time, John DeLorean, who had been at Pontiac for years and was highly-instrumental in the success of Pontiac in the 1960s, was transferred to Chevy as its new Division Chief. He took one look at the Vega’s proposed layout, tossed up his hands, and complained to Ed Cole that this was an inadequate design, asking for trouble, would cost the company too much in liability and warranty-work even with the short warranty. Cole, however, remained committed to the aluminum/iron engine design, and, by then, the car’s design and development had already come along too long to cancel it and start over if GM wanted to meet its introduction-deadline for the 1971 model year. So, Cole ordered it into production, and the rest is history….it’s also one of several reasons why De Lorean decided to jump ship at GM several years later and start up his own auto company.

That’s not to say that the Vega did not have some good features. Personally (and many critics agreed with me), I thought it MUCH better-looking than either its Ford Pinto or AMC Gremlln competitors (Chrysler decided not to go with its own domestic subcompact until 1978, and sold the very unimpressive British/Hillman Cricket/Avenger for a few years in the early 70s). The Vega, although with a very low ground clearance that prevented it from going through some automated car washes of the time, was easier to maneuver and park than most domestic vehicles, Instrumentation/controls were simple and easy to deal with, and, unlike the Ford Pinto, a Kammaback Wagon version (although with only three doors) was available from the starting 1971….the Pinto wagon was not ready until a year or to later. And I was a big fan of the Vega’s looks and body style…….it looked very much like a downsized version of Chevy’s larger Camaro pony car.

The Vega obviously was not as dangerous in a rear-end accident as Ford’s Roman-Candle Pinto, but also, even apart from the noisy and unreliable engine, had other issues as well. Its short wheelbase, light weight, and relative lack of suspension/shock-travel meant a somewhat jittery ride, particularly compared to GM’s silky-smooth large cars. The car sat extremely low to the ground, so one not only had aforementioned troubles with car-washes, but the transmission/drive-shaft tunnel was very high inside the cabin, requiring the four not-so-large adult occupants to essentially sit in four deep pockets, with their feet into narrow footwells. The clatter from the engine (when it ran reliably) was always an issue. Unlike with most other GM products of the time, quality-control at the Lordstown, OH factory was lacking, and trim-parts were loosely-assembled and sometimes fell off. And the car, especially in the Snow Belt where it was built, became known as a rust-bucket due to poor-quality sheet-metal and corrosion-protection.

So, like with the competing Pinto, this car initially sold very well at first, but, as its issues became known, customer-resistance to it became more more pronounced, and sales fell. In 1975, a sport-oriented version, engineered by Cosworth, was offered with a special paint-job, an all-aluminum engine, and electronic fuel injection (the first in a Chevrolet product), but few were built, found few buyers, and was quickly dropped. In an effort to revive the standard version’s sales, a twin-brother Pontiac Astre version was introduced, improvements made to the unreliable engine, a new “Dura-Built” name was given to the revised engine, and it was upgraded to an a 5/60 warranty, outdoing even Chrysler’s 5/50 at the time. Still not much effect on sales…..this car had pretty much run its course, lasted to 1977, and dropped for the upcoming Isuzu-designed Chevette and the wildly-popular-at-first but then really disastrous X-Body compacts, which would debut a few years later. And, for a while in the mid-late 70s, slick offshoot fastback and notchback coupes, done on the Vega’s platform, were sold as the Oldsmobile Starfire, Buick Skyhawk, and Pontiac Sunbird, with a 3.8L V6 and 5.0L V8 available….but these engines, by then, had been greatly emasculated.

I myself did not have a whole lot of personal experience in the Vega, though I did sample a couple in test-drives, a co-worker of mine (who was not at my office very long had a coupe version that I rode in a few times, and a car-pool partner of mine had a related Olds Starfire with the V6 and 4-speed manual. It was funny when I rode in it…..I often wound up in the back seat with almost no headroom/legroom for an adult…in those days before seatbelt-use laws, with my big frame and height, I’d sit crosswise in the back seat, with my long legs across the seat next to me, and my head leaned up against the small rear pillar. Ah, comfort.

And Ah, the Automotive Malaise-Era…..I never tire of writing about it.

And, as Always, Happy-Car-Memories.

MM

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

We owned one, a white 73 wagon with wood paneling. The autos had a tough two speed powerglide transmission.

Also worth mentioning the Cosworth performance model

mmarshall

Yes, the Vega was one of the last GM products to have the fully-automatic 2-speed Powerglide. Depending on the year and version, you could also get the 3-speed Turbo-Hydra-Matic and 2-speed semi-automatic Torque-Drive...which was essentially a Powerglide, without a clutch-pedal, that you shifted manually with the shift-lever from Low to High (and vice-versa) below about 45 MPH. It was marketed as a simpler, less-expensive version of the full-automatic. I did not sample a Torque-Drive in a Vega, but a friend of mine, in high school, briefly had a Camaro with one, which I sampled....one of the very few Camaros ever built with that option.

Was your '73 reliable, or did you have to put up with the overheating/self-destructing engine and body rust?

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

I don’t recall it breaking down or blowing up, but I was in elementary school so wasn’t paying s lot of attention to that, lol

Felix

I had 3 of these Vega's as you could get them kinda fairly cheap specially if it needed a engine. 2 wagons & a hatch.....My uncle Don sold a v/8 kit (mounts/radiator/headers) thru Motion at Long Island, NY which as some know was down the street from Baldwin Chev.....Two were mild 283's w/ early Duntov 097 cams, hooked to 'glides & yea the stock rear end running the oem gt 13'' wheels w/ A70-13's....My last wagon, I ran a mild 327 w/ a Duntov 30-30. With the heavier iron up front it lowered it, which I thought looked cool. I ran Cadillac mufflers to keep the exhaust tone down, which you could still hear the mechanical lifters, the ting of the headers, (exhaust gases thru the steel primary tubes vs cast iron manifolds). For the ignition, I used a Heath kit, which used the points as a trigger for the electronic kit that was a kit you assembled. The last one I ran a Allison xr700 which used a LED trigger. Once you got them rolling about 35-40 mph there really wasn't much catching them. Pedal to the wood, it'd shift at 85-90 mph. Your correct, you sit lower & the car sits lower as well, then a Pinto. I originally preferred the earlier '72-'73 frontend, but grew a liking to the '74 shovel nose front as my g/f like that last one the best. Funny cars in the '70's I liked the Vega's over the Camaro's. Lot more v/8 Vega's & funny cars built then Pinto's....Bob Glidden was the top funny car Pinto guy at the time vs many more guys running Vega's. Fun fun fun, blowing down the freeway & it really cruised effortlessly. A good 283/302/327 is all you really need for cheap fun vs a BBC. Quite a few guys always wanted to buy these as I had no problem selling them. I got quicker & found a few shortcuts & doing each one over about a two & half year period same as my g/f at the time. A good condition original car is 6-10K & a v/8's start at about 15K & go to about 90k depending on the history & who did it. Quite a few were done by performance Chevy dealers & a few had BBC's......

mmarshall

Sounds like you had a lot of fun sticking Chevy V8s into them....and that Caddy muffler was a good idea. You must not have done much driving in winter, on slick surfaces. With a small light car to start with, and most of the weight up front with those heavy engines, little or no weight on the rear-driving wheels, and traction must have severely compromised, even with A70s. Probably easy as heck, though, to do burnouts.

Felix

Living in SoCal.....Long Beach, no issues w/ any kind of winter.....Great for cruises over to Phoenix....

mmarshall

I'd guess probably that the Vega, regardless of powerplant, was not the most comfortable thing on the road for a relatively long trip to Phoenix.

This probably wouldn't apply to the V8 engines you used, ​​​​​but ​​I can just imagine what kind of overheating one could (?) see on that little aluminum four in 120-degree weather between SoCal and Phoenix, across the desert. That engine was prone to overheating and damage even in normal conditions.

Felix

As far as the oem 23 engine, I wouldn't know.....5-10 miles is about all I drove one w/ the oem 23 motor. From what I remember it is very similar to a gen 2 Camaro or a C-3 vette.....The seat was very similar if not the same....Decent leg room as well.....LA to the Phoenix area isn't really a bad trip.....

JDR76

Good timing on this thread. When out for my run yesterday, I actually saw a Vega parked in someone's driveway. It caught my attention. In pretty good shape too. It was a black two door coupe.

Felix

Wow, they're few & far between up here...Down south & Vega's, I see a lot more of them. What area are you at? Oh its a coupe, rarest of all thou....

mmarshall

If it was black, decent chance (but not certain) that it was a Cosworth model. Black was not a popular color in those days, particularly on small cars, but it was one of the Cosworth's feature colors....along with several other dark shades. Relatively few Cosworths, though, of any color were produced.

JDR76

It was in Edmonds. Next time I run that route I’ll bring my phone along and snap a picture.

JDR76

I think it was a Cogsworth. Black with gold wheels.

mmarshall