We’ve given the Vega a lot of tough love here over the years, including my second GM Deadly Sin ever. That was back in 2009, when piling on Chevy’s (non)love child was still a fun activity. Back then there were still a few chugging along on the streets, at least hereabouts. But those days are long gone, and original unmolested Vega sightings have become rare. So it perked me up to see this fine ’75 Kammback GT at the Cohort, posted by Yubby Ol’Cone.
It appears that it’s come to this location for a consultation; I can understand that; we all could use some professional help once in a while; some of us more than others. And how long have you been feeling ostracized? Forty-seven years! Why didn’t you seek help sooner?
What a nice looking car, especially from this angle. To bad that beauty is often only skin-deep, and the Vega’s skin was exceptionally thin. This one has been spared the ravages of terminal veganoma, despite being in Ithaca, NY. It must have lived a very sheltered life, given how shiny its paint still is. I’m not sure what happened to it on this side, but a bit of body work would have it looking as pristine as its other side.
See what I mean? So maybe the consultation is to determine just how valuable this Vega would be if it gets that bodywork. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more than what you and I might throw off the top of our heads. Malaise cars are hot, and this is as malaise as it gets.
Well, strictly speaking, the ’74 and ’73 were even more malaise, as hp ratings had reached their nadir then and were headed up, a whopping three more (78 hp) in 1975, thanks to the addition of a catalytic converter. And the GT model got the two-barrel version, with 87 hp!
Oops; that was short-lived; by 1976, ratings were back down to 70 and 84. Oh well. Who’s counting anyway. The good news is that by this time, the three-speed T-H had replaced the Powerglide.
I had an older friend in Towson, who was driving his grandfather’s 1962 Cutlass, with the four-barrel 215 V8. I got within 2-3 mph of doing my first century in that car, on the way out to Ocean City, when a sudden plume of steam blocking my night time visibility robbed me of that milestone. I was fifteen at the time — it was part of my “pre-driver’s ed”; kind of like kindergarten. I wanted to make sure I was ready for that when the time came.
That was a pleasant digression, because when I came back to Towson the first time after I left home in 1971, he was now driving a brand new 1971 Vega hatchback. Really? I guess he had a predilection for GM’s aluminum engines. I had of course read plenty about it, and already had my doubts, despite lots of positive early press. Of course I grabbed the keys from him and we went for a drive. This one had the base engine and…the two-speed Powerglide. The not-so-good vibrations from the big four were not encouraging, and taking off down Towsontown Boulevard with a full throttle felt like it was a very early Powerglide, where one had to select Low to get a first gear start. Oh my…and on the Beltway, it was obvious that this Vega would never dream of hitting the century; even 75 was a strain.
Something bad eventually happened to this hatchback, and it was replaced by a Kammback, but it was no better otherwise. But when I came back for Christmas 1974, he was rocking a brand new VW Rabbit, the $2,999 special with cardboard door trim. But what a difference! It was like a rocket in comparison to his Vega and my VW 1200. Its little 1.5 L mill revved like unlike anything I had driven before. The shifter clicked off the gears. The handling was unreal! And genuine space utilization!
I knew we had finally entered a new automotive era. The Vega and the Rabbit; as different as a dog and hare.
Related reading:
CC Chevrolet Vega: Winner of C/D’s Small Car Comparison and GM’s Deadly Sin #2
Back in 1974 a co-worker bought a twin to this car, though his had a manual transmission. He had traded a fairly decent MG Midget for it, I guess so he could get A/C and more space. I don’t remember it being all that trouble-prone, though I would be transferred before the Vega got too old, but on one of its visits to the local Chevy dealer for I am guessing recall work they gave him a 75 Monte Carlo as a loaner. Actually, I don’t think that it was as much a loaner as an inducement to consider trading up to a better car. He seriously considered trading for the Monte but in the end the price just was a bit too rich.
I owned a 72 Panel Express with the higher horsepower engine and 4 speed manual transmission, back then it was an okay car.
Nowadays, you are about as likely to see a Corvair, Vega, Citation, or Chevette as you are an Edsel…or Pinto.
A fair number of Pintos show up at the annual Carlisle Ford Nationals. The wagons seem particularly popular.
The only Vegas that show up at the GM Nationals are the Cosworth versions, which must have a 99 percent survival rate.
I’ve always liked the looks of these, probably because I’ve always liked the shooting brake concept. The Vega was a good chance blown.
I know exactly where that Vega is parked. I may have eaten pizza from that Pudgies 25 years ago – and no sooner, because Pudgies was disfavored among my group of friends.
The town I grew up in was/is quite small, we only had an A&W root beer ” stand ” as our only franchised/chain restaurant for the longest time. Pizza restaurants, locally owned, have come and gone or if they hung around they changed owners/management. Then, at some point, we got a Pudgies restaurant that apparently got a leg up on the other restaurants due to its location. That restaurant was less than a block from the town hospital. I never ate in a Pudgies, tho I may have had a pizza or two from there. Nowadays my family often gets pizza from of all places…a Dandy Mini Mart.
At first glance I thought the snow behind it in the lead picture was a plume of smoke coming out of the tailpipe.
It’s for comments like these I would use the Like or thumbs up button enthusiastically.
Google is your friend. There are also single like buttons, and plenty of thumbs up images out there too.
Memories, memories. 73 Vega GT, three years SCCA B-sedan auto cross, and it was still running well. 76 Monza 2+2, a nice blue collar GT. 79 Monza Kammback V-6, the worst POS I’d ever had, put me of totally towards Chevrolet for decades. There’s only been two since that car, a 94 S-10 (decent) and my current Bolt (love it).
I wish this body style (which, like Alan above, I consider a shooting brake) was more available today. The closest I’ve owned were a pair of Opel 1900 wagons… way back when. More recently, a couple of GTI’s and a 2017 QX50 have largely filled the bill. Today, it seems the Porsche Macan is the nearest to my personal ideal: a moderately-sized, athletic touring car that can take a couple of people swiftly and comfortably on a trip, along with assorted golf clubs, shotguns and fly rods. A somewhat more sleek two-door version would be better yet… and while I’m dreaming it would have three pedals in the footwell.
Surprisingly, my family and friends avoided the Vega. A Nova would show up now and then, but no Vegas. I guess the Vega Curse was already well known enough by even the staunchest Chevy fans. These were very nice looking cars and I know that Americans wanted to like these nice looking cars and really gave them a try. These cars sold, and then burned most of the buyers. Worse, GM didn’t support their devoted buyers – they let their newest and youngest generation of buyers, eat crap.
Shame on GM. They deserve the infamy.
In part, that’s the curse of being a car enthusiast.
There’s often a gap between how we see our car and how the rest of the world sees it. Our enthusiasm for the object of our affection bridges that gap and enables us to withstand a far greater degree of automotive abuse from it than others would be prepared to tolerate. We want to believe the best of it because it’s an ‘insert marque here’. Others just see it as an unreliable heap of junk, and shake their heads at us for putting up with so much from it.
Buyers wanted to believe the best of their Vega, because it was a Chevy. Until the driver-vehicle relationship reached breaking point. Automotive breach-of-promise. Was GM ever held to account for psychological abuse to Vega buyers? 🙂
Want! Especially with four intact wheel trim rings. Those disappeared off my Vega GT at some point … they were very popular for adding a bit of style to other cars with plain 13” steel wheels, of which there were many in those days.
Friend in HS had a ’73 GT Wagon, green with black vinyl, 4-speed.
For the time, actually a nice driving car. Drove and handled well, but was afflicted with the Vega’s oil-burning reputation. Took about a quart per tank of gas.
Was retired for a ’78 or ’79 Sunbird coupe.
The little tar-paper stone guards on the leading edges of the Rabbit’s rear fender flares bring back memories. Those early Rabbits sold so well where I lived. The very earliest were really austere cars, almost like the trim equivalent of the stripper regular Beetle they offered in the US towards the end. Sadly, the value of the dollar was…doing the same thing then that it is now. Rabbits got expensive fast, but they also got better in their first couple of years of production, before getting bland and being surpassed by many of their imitators.
When performance cars from the factory died out in the seventies, a lot of street-rodders went back to building their own, and a very popular choice was a SBC into a Vega. There were even kits to help do it.
Although the most common model for the engine swap was the hatchback, a few used the Kammback, and if someone were really lucky, they were able to find the even more rare 2-seat panel delivery wagon version with the blocked-off quarter windows.
These were exceptionally nice looking cars for the time, especially in GT trim like this one. I always thought Pintos looked awkward in comparison.
I don’t know why people bought the hatch and sedan versions.
Yeah, that space utilization thing.
But it’s a tragedy that GM hit it out of the park stylistically with this – the ultimate poison apple (one metaphor is simply not sufficient).
Sudden fantasy of a Vega Kammback with the roughly contemporary Volvo B1800 four-cylinder. That could potentially lure me back into car ownership! 🙂
I replaced my B18 powered Volvo 122S with a ‘73 Vega GT and other than durability, I liked the Vega motor better.
“…hp ratings had reached their nader then…”
There, fixed it for you! 😉 An appropriate malaise variant spelling. Remember you read it first here on CC. 🙂
But seriously, congratulations on a different Vega article. An ongoing transcript of the ‘therapy session’ between the consultant and the Vega would be fascinating; cast the consultant as a therapist, Vega as the patient, suffering from abusive formative years, unwanted in the home, failure to measure up to parental expectations, continual ill-health…. A good writer with some knowledge of psychiatry could have fun with all that!
Is the Vega the most written-about car in all of CC? I’m still just amazed at the corporate culture (I guess you’d say), that festered this car. Having said that, it’s good to see one that has survived and looks to just need some panel work to continue surviving. It would have to be a labour of love though.
My parents had a ’75 Kammback in a metallic brown. Decent looking car but that engine was the worst ever. The car was constantly smoking and had no power. Part of that was the automatic transmission but you definitely didn’t want to take it on the highway for any distance without extra oil. They finally sold it to the son of my dad’s coworker and it died a month later after a tornado blew a tree down on it. He probably came out ahead after the insurance payout.
When our 67 Saab 95 2 stroke ate it’s transmission after 5 years of general unreliability (especially in the rain), my parents decided to try American and replaced with a pewter 72 Kammback with a stick. Frying pan, fire, etc.
My usually conflict-averse father ended up having to yell at the Chevy zone manager to get the engine replaced after leas than a year. It was ok after that, though when teenage me would no longer fit in the back in 77 it was starting to use oil again. Apparently didn’t turn them off to Chevy or to first-model year cars: it was replaced with a 77 Impala wagon which was the best car they ever had.
In the end, Paul has again given the poor, suffering Chevrolet Vega another dose of tough love!
I also like Peter Wilding’s use of “festered” in place of “fostered!!”
Peter again: “…it’s good to see one that has survived and looks to just need some panel work to continue surviving. It would have to be a labour of love though.”
But think of how therapeutic all that hammer work would be for a Vega owner!
Thanks! 🙂 I like having fun with words. I drive the folk in my writing group to distraction sometimes, when the imagination kicks into hyperdrive….
Let’s see… front fender coming away at the bottom, door damage, lots of rear quarter ripples – yep, plenty of scope for hammering there. Each whack could be dedicated to a different GM executive.
Too bad, it was a contender .
Same on you Chevrolet Division ! .
This one looks nice, I wonder how it missed the tin worm .
A few years back a cherry rust free top of the line Vega station wagon appeared in my local LKQ, I mentioned it, no one cared .
-Nate
A neighbor had one like this sitting in their driveway when I was a kid. I never saw it move until they moved away around 1995 or so, and it was presumably scrapped
Like davidjoseph1, I also know _exactly_ where this car was photographed. My hometown. Auto consultants has one of Those dealer licenses that allows them to sell any model brand new car. Recall my first reborn MINIs in the flesh there. Early 2003 when _ No one_ even their dealerships could get stock. Dint inquire on the price to Possess either of theirs. Seeing an extinct GM albatross captured down there, on this site is a hoot, mostly cuz I have been out of town for a few days and would have missed seeing this lovelorn survivor in the tin.