Vega takes on Pinto in the battle of the fireballs
Back in the ’80s I lived on a busy four-lane road in Maryland’s Montgomery County at an intersection that was rated the most (or second most) dangerous in the county. Deceptively dangerous. Didn’t look that bad. But man, some sheetmetal got chewed up there.
One particular afternoon, early rush hour, I was working in my studio when I heard the familiar crunch of sheetmetal. I kept on working until I heard sirens, looked outside, and saw that a hot dog roast was underway. I picked up my camera and hit the scene.
The tan ones will do that
By the time I got outside the Vega was in advanced self-imolation mode. Thankfully, the occupants escaped with minor injuries, but not so the Vega. You weren’t going to be able to buff out this damage.
The angel of death
It didn’t take the Montgomery County FD too long to get the matter under control. The whole time I could help but keep thinking “I thought only Pintos did this!”
One less Vega, the world is a better place
The denouement to an exciting afternoon.
I’ll poke it and see if it moves
I’m not sure if this was a ‘74 or a later Vega, but it definitely had the 5 mph bumpers. The rear looks as though it came through in great shape. Sheetmetal, not so much.
Now that’s what I call a a hot rod
Yep, ’74+, and a coupe (notchback) to “boot.”
Its usual when hotting cars up to pick on the engine compartment not the trunk/boot.
I’ve lived in Montgomery County since ’94 – what intersection was this?
Interesting. I moved to Utah in 1995. But I had lived at 2714 East West Highway-Rt 410, one house away from the intersection of Colston Dr for 22 years. That’s Chevy Chase, MD, not Silver Spring (as Google Maps would have you think) which begins just up the hill at Grubb Road. Colston and Donnybrook Dr, on the other side of EW Hwy were both major tributaries to the great river, East West Hwy. After big rains stopped, drivers assumed that all slipperiness on road surfaces had ceased. But Colston and Donnybrook would continue to flow a good 15-20 min after the deluge had ended. That meant about four inches of water colliding at EW Highway at a tight right hander. Cars coming down EW Hwy would hit this river and decide to continue to go straight. Kablammo into east-bound traffic. Fun stuff.
Sure, I know that area – about a block east of Ohr Kodesh (the Holy Ear, for those of us who like to mix languages) synagogue – but haven’t been there in rainy weather.
We lived between two temples- Ohr Kodesh and Temple Shalom. Congregants at Ohr Kodesh would walk from our neighborhood to services on Saturday. Congregants at Temple Shalom, don’t know how they got there, but the parking lot was full. I used to walk our older son to pre-school at Temple Shalom every day. Didn’t think much about it, but East West Hwy at that point, up to Grubb Rd is fairly steep. By the time he began playing youth soccer, his nickname was “the foot”. He had strong legs. By the way, my son and I both had Benedictine educations.
Must have been pretending to be a Pinto.
Not to minimize in any way the tragedy of the people killed and burned…but some sources now say that the Pinto fire hazard from being rear ended was no worse than any other small car of the time. But the exploding and flaming Pinto image is forever.
I guess this is like saying that when no cars had seat belts or safety glass that people were cut up when they went through the windshield of any car.
There’s also the exploding Sherman tank myth. That is, they didn’t explode because of gasoline; it was usually ammunition cooking off. Not many WW2 tanks besides the T-34 were Diesel anyway; even some Shermans had Diesels, a pair of 6-71s, for the Marines & Red Army. No evidence they were any less vulnerable.
The ammo problem improved in late models which stored it under the floor, in fluid.
Reports at the time put the Pinto right in the middle of the pack on the per capita that caught fire due to rear end collisions. The Datsun B210 in sedan form was the least likely thanks to its gas tank being in an upright position right behind the back seat. The Honda Civic was at the bottom of the pack thanks to its gas tank being inches from the rear bumper. I don’t remember exactly where the Vega fell. Of course the uproar was not about the fact that they could catch fire and everything to do with the fact that the engineers determined exactly how it failed and proposed a solution to make it exceed the then current standards and the bean counters shot it down as too expensive and w/o a economic benefit using the gov’t standard of the “value of a life”.
The “value of human life” memo was standard NHTSA paperwork used by all automakers, and did not refer to the Pinto fuel tank design at all. Someone in the news media got ahold of it, reported it entirely out of context, and the myth took on a life of its own. In any cost:benefit engineering study involving safety (not just in the auto industry), it is standard practice to assign a cash value to injuries and deaths, and the figures are updated every year by the federal government and published. Rutgers Law Review published an excellent summary of the case, which is easily found by Googling “Rutgers Law Pinto”. I could only find it in PDF form and I don’t think the site will allow me to link it directly.
Rather than any lesson about safety, the main takeaway lesson from the Exploding Pinto story is the way misinformation can be thoroughly ingrained in the public consciousness through sensationalism and shoddy reporting.
One thing I noticed Ford did do, at least on the Fairmont, was put a plastic shield between the fuel tank & differential. But I don’t know if this was in response to the Pinto scandal or not.
Even though the Crown Vic’s tank is in a seemingly safer place, in front of the trunk instead of beneath it, they still got sued when some Police Interceptors got hit. Of course they were more likely to burn after such a collision, given the nature of their use (stopping on Interstate shoulders & with weapons in back).
I bet the gas tank was penetrated or buckled, but ignited afterwards by a spark or something.
Not quite relevant, but years ago, my childhood friend swears he saw a Vega’s engine fall out while on the freeway. Hard to believe that engine mounts could fail catastrophically like that, even in a Vega, but the mental picture of it, in light of its reputation, was good for a chuckle.
That being said, I must admit I think the Vega was the best-looking of the ’70s Detroit subcompacts, borrowing design cues from the Camaro instead of frumpy compacts like the Maverick & Hornet.
I’d be surprised if that were the case (but don’t rule it out completely). The mounts were heavy gauge steel, and they mounted to an area on the underpan that was pretty heavily beefed up. When I did the Buick V6 swap in mine, other than drilling out the holes, the new mounts bolted right up (lending credence to the rumor that the Vega was designed from the start for a V6 or V8).
Or maybe someone didn’t install it right.
Thus the Chevy Monza & other H-bodies. That was a saving grace of Detroit: their conservatism in some aspects of design was a boon for customizers & the aftermarket.
I remember the Cosworth Vega, but did the Buick/Rover 215 fit too? That would be a hoot.
The 215 was definitely a swappable engine. In fact, the radiator I used in mine actually came out of an early Tempest (the 215 was gone when I got to it).
I always believed that the best way to get a decent trade-in out of a Vega was via insurance check.
JP, by 1985 I doubt that 1974 Vega owners still had Comprehensive on the insurance policies of their Vegas, especially the tan ones. Plus, drivers would come down this hill very fast. One of our baby sitters had both of our boys in her Sentra attempting to make a left-hander at EW-Colston (something we told her not to do), and got ass-ended by an inattentive driver in the fast lane. Totalled her car (boys were OK-sort of, they’re both kind of strange). She owed more on her car than it was worth so her insurance payout didn’t quite cut the mustard.
I think toward the end of the line the front got smoothened out a bit…the headlight bezels became a tad flatter and the grill was three bright-trimmed lines. Definitely better than the ’74-’76. Didn’t they get the Iron Duke by then?
So I’ll call this a ’77…of course the wagons continued for a couple more years as Monzas.
Chas108,
From Google Images, the 1974-77 Vega front clips were similar with the 74-75 being nearly identical in the grill area with the exposed turn signal housings, the 76-77 being different. The 76-77 models had full louvers all the way across from headlight bucket to headlight bucket, obscuring the front turn signal lamps, which I found sleeker looking. The 77’s got chrome strips for the louvers as the only significant change in the front that I’m aware of.
The headlight buckets all look the same between ’74 and ’77 in so far as their shape, so from the side, it’s kind of hard to really tell the year.
I think these had the square taillights of the 74-75, but can’t tell though due to the damage.
The 76-77 models had not quite square vertical taillights, but had tri color lenses, however the amber turn signals were non functional, why I don’t know, but it was some kind of dumb assed move on GM’s part I think.
I nearly spit out my dinner when I saw the “Vega Supernova” title: my favorite CC Title ever. I couldn’t try to be this clever. Just brilliant Mr. Martin.
I thought the Vega Supernova was a regional special that Omaha Chevrolet dealers cooked up…
So do you take your chances with exposing Vega quarter-panels to water, or do you hope the fire burns itself out?
…decisions, decisions….
No good choice in that.