(first posted 2/6/2018) It may seem like some rather unlikely pairings, especially the first one, but R&T decided to pit sporty sedans with sports cars in three price classes. And the results are a bit unlikely too, especially the first one. So here goes…
The odds that another Vega was built like this one are probably zero. An LX sedan with all the hi-po goodies? Oh well; and I’m sure it was carefully prepped by Chevrolet. Not that it would take much to walk away from a 57 hp Triumph Spitfire.
Weird, I doubt Dad would have cross shopped his Vega against a Spitfire.
However a Jensen Healey VS Vega engine reliability matchup is quite a valid comparison.
Except the 907 engine got better, while the Vega motor didn’t.
The Vega engine did get re-engineered into the “Dura-Built” version,, with better oil control and hydraulic valve lifters, but by then the word was out and no one wanted them. Still noisy and buzzy, no doubt. The LX in the test here looks to have full wheel covers and a vinyl roof-GM’s idea of “sporty?” I liked my 72 GT better. Those final drive ratios/mph per 1000 rev numbers are appalling-did we really drive up and down the Interstate revving that high, back when we could actually hear what our motors were doing?
Some interesting comparisons of some choices that are not at all intuitive today.
I knew a kid who bought an X/19 near the end of high school. I was not that excited over it, but then I never drove it, either. I also drove an Audi Fox once and was surprised at how much it loved the highway.
The British cars still said “sports car” to the average American in the mid 70s and Americans wanted to like them. Unfortunately the Germans (and even Italians) progressed while the British designs didn’t in too many ways. Today the Spitfire and X/19 have their fans among the sports cars and the 2002 is well loved as a sports sedan. The rest have been either forgotten or have been remembered with little fondness. Too bad about that Jensen Healey.
That bit in the introduction about how the first MG drivers found themselves out accelerated by domestic sedans reminded me, last night I was driving behind a beautifully preserved 1960s era MGB. Once I got into the other lane I was able to easily walk away from it in my Corolla, although that might say more about how much cars have improved in the past 50 years than anything about MGs versus sedans. Even so, I think I’d rather be driving the MG. I bet they were still having more fun.
Yup, I’ve ridden in an MGA and a Dodge Viper, and I would rather drive a slow car fast, than a fast car slow.
Strange comparos, sedans matched against open top sports cars, the Jensen is basically a kit car assembled by a factory Vauxhall motor and front suspension Hillman gearbox, by the way that engine in either SOHC or DOHC was from the GM UK parts bin and could have been in the Vega had Chevrolet wanted, but the BMW is all one manufacturers effort and should be a better car.
The little Spitfire looks the part untill you push one hard on a twisty road, the MK4 shown was an improvement on earlier versions but they arent nice to ride in.
I would have pitted the X/19 against the Spitfire and the Vega against the Dasher. I think the comparisons (low powered sports car handling shootout and FWD vs. RWD comparo) would have been more better. Besides, if anyone bought a Vega for the handling, they bought a GT, not a LX
Look at the results after a bit of judicious swapping of the data:
Comparing the Vega against the Spitfire isn’t all that odd – if you’re old enough to have lived and driven back then.
In the first half the of the 1970’s the Vega GT was all that you had if you wanted an American “sports car” (yes, I know it’s a sedan) in an easily affordable price range. When it came to American sports cars, your choice was the Corvette. Period. The second generation Camaro was finally heading into a decent blue-collar GT class, but for the cheap stuff, you could either spec out a Vega GT to your liking . . . . . or buy a Ford Pinto with the 2.0 engine and plan on spending a weekend or two and a couple hundred bucks working on the suspension. And strap an after market tach on the steering column.
That’s it. That’s your choices. And welcome to why my first modern car was a ’73 Vega GT. Given that: 1. I was part of the Road and Track readership (Car and Driver was trying to be too cool by half), 2. Dad was only willing to shop Chevrolet for my graduation car, 3. There was no way he was going to spend the money on a Corvette for me, 4. The Camaro at that time was still more muscle car than GT, and, 5. A Camaro was way too big and heavy to run autocross and sprints.
We only remember what a failure that Vega was. We have long forgotten that it had a whole lot of expectations put on it in a lot of different categories . . . . . and it was succeeding at them all pretty well, until it was discovered that the engine was made out of used tinfoil.
There were lots of Vega GT’s on the street between ’71 and ’74. And most all of them were owned by people who wanted an “American sports car”.
“and it was succeeding at them all pretty well, until it was discovered that the engine was made out of used tinfoil.”
Well, that and the bodies being made of press-formed iron oxide. 🙂
You make a great point, “sports cars” were few and far between in the American market after WWII. There were oddballs like the Crosley Hotshot and the Nash Healey but the Corvette was the only thing with any staying power at all. The Corvair was a kinda-sorta as was (maybe) the Avanti, though it skewed more to the GT car. Pickings were slim.
You’d see five or six Vegas running SCCA autocross every weekend there was a meet in the NY/PA/OH area, about the same whenever they were running sprints at Nelson’s Ledges. The SCCA, in our area, back in those days, was European car centered and really didn’t like the American cars being around at all (I can tell you some nasty/hilarious stories from those days, you just have to pick up the bar tab). But half the B-sedan class on any given weekend was Vegas and Pintos, and the organizers certainly made enough money out of us.
Of course, if three BMW’s showed up on a given weekend (and we were always guaranteed two guys out of Pittsburgh), we knew where the trophies were going.
I always felt the Vega GT was intended to be the successor to the Corvair Monza/Spyder/Corsa.
While our ’71 was a base model with only an AM radio and the 4-speed manual for options, my Dad very likely bought it (used, 1 year old, before the engine had had time to start showing its bad side) for this very reason. Our next door neighbor had a TR3 that Dad was very envious of. The Vega was the closest he could get to having a ‘real’ sports car at the time.
Was the Vega a failure? Production of 277K first year, then 400K, 427K, 460K, 207K, 160K, with final year 78K Then revamping the Vega into the H bodies with similar high production figures up the 1980. Production like that doesn’t indicate failure, only big profits for GM and Chevy. Check out the Vega groups on Facebook and see their praise for the car today.
+1
Those braking stats of the MG are scary! Wow.
My sentiments exactly – in fact all of them!
I have never driven a Spitfire, although I’ve been a passenger in one and held wrenches for a friend working on one – he invited me over to help do some small maintenance tasks, which included putting oil in the carburetors (yes, I’m serious). The Spit was always kind of hard for me to take seriously in the early 70’s. However it did have some things in its favor: it was a foreign convertible, hence exotic; it was cheap; it was easy to work on; the sense of speed in one was amazing. 50 mph felt like a Bonneville run. I must also be fair and say that 57 horsepower, while slow, was not (quite) as slow as you’d expect because a Spit only weighed 1800 lbs wet and it was probably no slower than a contemporary Beetle. There was really no competition between American pony cars and sports cars; they sneered but otherwise ignored each other. The owner of a car that takes 15.3 seconds to get to 60 soon learns to ignore being passed.
The X-19 was also a puzzle to me although everyone I know who has owned one remembers it very fondly. Although they weighed almost 200 pounds more than a Spitfire, somehow they seemed even tinier to me. They had a 0-60 time of 15.4 seconds, so you’d think the sensation would be the same as in a Spit but in the X-19 the feeling was less one of tempting fate by foolishly attempting to accelerate, than one of waiting for the engine (screaming at 6,000 rpm right behind your head) to explode.
In the days before the Vegas all suddenly started to die off like Martians from H.G. Well’s “The War Of The World’s” they seemed like a lot more car than either a Spitfire or an X-19, and a safervbuy. One just assumed that they would have the usual (in the 60’s) reasonable GM reliability, and that you could get parts and service anywhere. Most American mechanics didn’t care to (and still don’t!) work on British cars, and in those days only speciality shops even had metric wrenches…. let alone Fiat parts.
As for the others in the article, Jensens were long gone from the market before I ever saw one… having died of reputation. Dashers I knew and was impressed by as a friend’s dad had one. Both he and my friend loved it until it dissolved into rust one day.
The poor review of the BMW surprises me as we thought of a 2002tii as the pinnacle of (non-Porsche) sport cars. I actually wanted to buy one (in 77) but the dealer refused to take me seriously since I was a kid, and I ended up with a 74 Alfa Spider instead.
I cant find imperial spanners lately I been putting a Hillman back together and rebuilding a MTD lawn tractor both AF spanner sizes and I have some missing.
Like Syke, my ‘73 Vega GT was my first modern car and I actually remember this test well (published a year or so before I got my Vega), and was also confused by the test car’s configuration. However, I can’t see anyone cross-shopping a Vega with a Spitfire; by ‘75, the Spitfire was horribly dated and underpowered. The Vega certainly had drawbacks but it had decent acceleration for its class, and with wide tires and well-controlled body roll, it handled very well on smooth roads. Wish I had some pictures of me on an auto-x course in ‘77-78. Not many Spitfires were out there by then, in the stock classes.
‘74 X1/9 was my first new car purchase and I absolutely loved that car. It could barely get out of it’s own way, but that little oversquare engine was a willing revver and the car never cost me more than recommended maintenance, tires and 1 set of brakes over 99k miles and the 6 years I owned it. And I still regret selling it, even though I own a nice ‘81 today. Great memories!
IIRC the Vega hatchback coupe had a lower overall height and more sweeping roofline than the notchback, hence the unicorn spec tested here to have a “sedan”. I guess people who thought it mattered in the real world went all-out and got the wagon, which was available with the GT package while the notch wasn’t.
I saw an X1/9 here in Japan recently, I a parking lot….l waited for the owner to come out of the store. He said he had owned a lot of sports cars, but this was the one he could drive the heck out of without getting tickets….totally fun, but slower than practically anything else on the road.
I owned two of the sports cars in this comparo, the FIAT and the J-H. Loved the Jensen – fast, comfortable, and mine was dead reliable – one of my absolute favorites. The X1/9? Well, FIAT does stand for, “Fix It Again Tony,” and I swear, when it broke, it broke in Italian. It was such a bad car that when I found an MGB on a lot in the next town to trade it for, it took 3 tries before it successfully made the 20 mile trip without leaving me on the side of the road.
What a fun read! Car reviews were so much more interesting before they were perfected, regulated and harmonized.
I came close — as close as the next car parked alongside – to buying a Spitfire, right out of college. It drew my attention first, low, racy and gorgeous in green. But once I tried to erect the canvas pup tent that served as a convertible top, I saw the limits of British engineering. The red car beside it had a wonderful hinged top that could be raised in a single motion, even while in the driver’s seat. This was the one I wanted to face Tennessee thunderstorms (a year-round occurrence) in. And it had a 5-speed, which was the state of the art. And so, in this battle, the Spitfire was not triumphant.
I only kept that red car for a year. Wish I had it now. Restored, it would concours at the shows and sell for tens of thousands. I’ve learned it’s styling was cribbed from a Ferrari. Nobody else remembers the Fiat 1500 Cabriolet, but I do.
The first time I saw a Fiat 1500 was at the tail end of the movie. The Pink Panther.
No, it was not a Fiat, but a Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet.
However, it LOOKED like a Fiat 1500!
In 1969, I noted a red 66 Spider at a used car lot for $1200, and after a test drive, bought it on the spot.
It was food looking, comfortable, quick, and yes- the top worked flawlessly.
Unfortunately, I did not notice the leaky rear seal that cost me a quart every 300 miles!
Fortunately, I was able to unload it for the same $1200.
Other than the oil use, I really enjoyed that car.
It’s funny quite how similar some Ferraris and FIATs looked back then!
I had a couple of X1/9s and loved them. Apart from the constant fiddling.
I sorely missed the handling in the MX-5 that replaced them – although it was a far better car in every regard.
Bear in mind that our 1500s had a heady 85 BHP, which made a difference.
Still a bizzaro test, however!
What a great car that Jensen was, better engine, brakes and steering.
Here a nice article about it:
https://silodrome.com/jensen-healey/
I was around all these cars as a child of the 60’s and drove most. Owned a BMW 1600 and regularly drove a 2002 Tii. Though I was young, I’d already driven a bunch of cars and those two drove like nothing I’d ever driven. A friend had an X/19 another friend had an Austin Healey Sprite. Ya, slow cars but we were so busy having fun didn’t notice. Amazed at how small they were. Death traps?