By J. Smith
07.20.2009
Say it’s 1970. Autumn-football, falling leaves and new car model time. You’re young and want a small, good-looking car. The land yachts your parents drive are too geriatric. And you can’t really afford a Mustang or a Camaro. And that Nova you’ve been driving isn’t all that small and doesn’t really get good gas mileage.
You don’t like VW’s-too slow, and the air-cooled engine doesn’t produce enough heat to tame a northern winter. British cars fall apart in their shipping containers. And you don’t quite trust those strange little tin cans with names like Datsun and Toyota. Foreign cars are cheap tin. Death-traps for college students and professors.
For a while now, GM-the biggest and best company in the world-has been touting its upcoming new import-fighter. It will have an aluminum engine, a completely new design carrying the latest technology. GM whispers of a new rust-proofing technique that will brave even the most determined road salt. It will have the first car body ever designed with a computer. It will be produced in a one new plant, purpose-built with cutting-edge technology, dedicated to building nothing else.
Finally, GM makes good on its word. Commercials abound on television, informing you about the exciting new Chevrolet Vega. It is small. It is efficient, both with gas and space, featuring a hatch-back, quite a rarity in the Nixon-era. And it boasts the best styling you’ve ever seen on a small car.
And the press loves it. Not just newspapers-they liked the Rambler, for God’s sake-but even real enthusiasts gush. Auto scribes weave tales of its disc brakes, near perfect weight distribution, and sprightly acceleration balanced with stingy use of gasoline. Motor Trend says “the Vega GT comes close to what a racing GT car should be, in handling, performance and comfort. Because it’s basically a low-priced compact, the results are all the more surprising and rewarding.” Road & Track goes even farther, finding that “Vega is the best handling car ever sold in America.” Car and Driver makes the Vega its top economy car pick, over the Beetle and the Corolla. Tests show it reaches 60 mph in 12.2 seconds and gets 30 miles per gallon.
You test drive one and love it. You soon part with your hard-earned cash, along with a promise to the bank to make monthly payments for a few years, and drive proudly drive it home to show your wife.
What could go wrong?
That’s exactly what my dad, John Smith, thought. He heard the promises. He saw the commercials. And if my mother is to be believed, he was itching to get a Vega. Car of the future. And, as a loyal GM employee, it was practically a duty to go out and buy one.
It’s not perfect. It’s noisy and the engine vibrates a lot. But, you say, it’s a small car and that’s what they do. It’s still as quick as the average Delta 88 and handles better than your old 442. And looks a damn sight better than the old man’s 1968 Olds 98.
A few months later, you notice something strange. What are those little blisters on the fenders? Couldn’t be rust. You poke and prod at them a little and they burst, revealing surface rust. It’s early 1971 and it’s a 1971 model. The service department at the Chevy dealership shrugs its collective shoulders. They all do this, the service manager says.
It backfires a lot. Once, it blew out the muffler. The dealer fixed it. But the dealer could never quite fix the massive oil consumption. You need to top it with Pennzoil every time you gas it up.
And it seems to get overheated pretty easily. When it’s still less than a year old, it overheats, stranding you on the side of the road. You tow it to the dealer and the mechanic informs you that if blew a head gasket. Oh, and the engine block warped. Needs a new one. Don’t worry, the mechanic says, Chevy will replace it.
It has less than 10,000 miles.
By the fall of 1971, between slurping down motor oil and sputtering to and fro, it has managed to spend as much time in the shop as a four-post lift. Whenever you’re there, which is a lot, you see many other Vegas. Like yours, all of them have rust bubbles on the door edges and rocker panels. And those little rust bubbles you noticed at the end of the winter? They’ve managed to eat all the way through the fender.
Now, none of this deterred John Smith from getting another Vega. He was a GM man and didn’t like to spend a lot of money on gas. But for John Q. Public, it was a far different matter. The Vega was designed to appeal to first-time new car buyers. And it succeeded in its mission. But how many of those people who plunked down the equivalent of $12,000 or so ever bought another GM product? Other than members of the GM family, who would?
My old man ended up getting another Vega. My mom got it in the divorce. The Vega was about two years old and already had to have rust-through on the fender repaired. My grandfather, who was also a GM man-tool and die-with sage Polish wisdom, advised her to sell it. Soon. And get something more reliable. Which would have been anything.
The Vega-so promising, so tragic-was a first for GM: a complete quality disaster. Up to that point, Chevy was considered a reliable brand. The public held GM vehicles in high esteem. But anyone who owned a Vega no longer could hold that opinion. It was the first nail in the coffin. Many more were to come-X-cars, Chevy-mobiles, Cimarron-each one carefully nailed in place by a complacent, arrogant corporate bureaucracy, with the steadying hand of an indifferent workforce.
COPYRIGHT Autosavant – All Rights Reserved
I always thought the Vega was a pretty good-looking car. Very much like a mini-2nd generation Camaro, particularly in the front. I never had the “pleasure” of driving or owning one, but my uncle used to have an ironically-colored rust orange panel wagon.
I was fascinated by the way they used to ship these things – vertically – which is why I posted the second photo. Interestingly, the shipping method didn’t seem to cause problems with the cars.
Oh boy. Chapter One of another series that I could read anywhere else eagerly waiting to kick GM again when they are down. Yawn. What’s done is done. The article last week concerning the on-again, off-again resurrection of G8 carries a lot more weight than why the Vega stunk 40 years ago.
Unlike ‘Steven,’ I’m not yawning. This is an excellent article–perceptive and accurate. GM is guilty of self-inflicted wounds. Are GM fans tired of hearing about the General’s ‘self-mutilation’? Yeah, probably. But as a fan both of automobiles and history, I find it all fascinating. You know how a history of World War II is going to end, but it’s still intriguing. I never had a Vega, so I learned quite a bit here. My mom had a ’72 Pinto which was probably only marginally better. I remember it spending considerably more time at the dealer than her ’66 AMC Ambassador had. But Vegas were cute. I guess you gotta give them that. Or not.
The Lockheed Vega was a masterpiece of an airplane for it’s time and it’s a shame Chevrolet sullied the name with their Vega.
BTW, I don’t think this article is overkill, either. It’s interesting.
Still.
Why did they rust so quickly? Why did the reliability take a nose dive? The quality issues haunt the automakers to this day and people fled to to imports because they were relatively reliable. Was there ever an explaination?
@George: Wikipedia has a few explanations for both of your questions. Apparently the primer dip process that was supposed to reach every nook and cranny in the body actually didn’t because of air bubbles. Coupled with the fact that there were no inner fenders for the first few years, road salt would pack into the completely unprotected metal (by either a coating or an inner fender) and rust would ensue.
As for the engine issues, I believe it was GM’s first sleeveless aluminum block, and it apparently had inadequate cooling and poor valve stem seals, which in turn caused the excessive oil consumption.
Apparently the reliability problems were partially due to indifferent engineering, then later due to labor strife in Lordstown, where production continued at a high speed while the labor force was reduced.
Or so says Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Vega
The arrogance of being first. GM thought that they were on top and that the mere fact that they built it meant people would buy it.
In the business world First isn’t on top, its just slightly ahead of second.
The Vega was GM’s answer to the Ford Maverick. While the Maverick was by no means a great car, it was way ahead of the Vega in quality.
Chris hit on many of the problems. The design was good, but the exectution was not flawed so much as disastrous. The sleeveless engine–disasterous. The rust-proofing–disastrous. The Lordstown plant ran the line at over 100 cars per hour; a line typically moves at 60 cars per hour. GM did not like small cars–small cars = small (if any) profits. So they figured they could make more money by dramatically increasing the line speed. Which dramatically decreased assembly quality. And led to costly wildcat strikes. Which also decreased assembly quality.
As to Steven’s comment, I actually am a member of the “GM family”–3rd generation at that–and used to work on the GM assembly line. You cannot understand GM’s current problems without understanding why a large percentage of car buyers won’t even consider a GM vehicle. Many people automatically consider GM cars to be junk. And a lot of it has to do with cars like the Vega, X-cars, etc. It cannot be said enough: if you shell out 10,000+ for something and it turns out to be complete and utter crap, you’ll NEVER buy from that company again. You’ll encourage others, including your children, to do the same.
Sure, GM’s quality is much better. And some of their car designs are top-notch (their truck/SUV lines always have been). But it will take a decade of good design and quality to erase the damage wrought over 20-30 years of bad cars. Just as a lot of GMs market share through at least the 90s was premised on past brand loyalty, a lot of the current attitude towards it is premised on past bad experiences. Hell, a lot of Toyota’s and Honda’s recent products have some quality issues and are stylistically challenged. The current Acuras are atrocious, Aztek-level exercises in stylistic blindness; the current Accord is tubby; Toyota trucks have had serious frame rust issues, etc. But perception is everything, and it will take years of low-quality duds to dent their well-earned reputation for quality.
Mark: Yes, a lot of that traditional GM begging-the-question arrogance. We’re No. 1 because we are the best. And whatever we do is best because we’re No. 1.
Mark in AZ: The Maverick was spartan, cheap, simple, and cheap. But, according to then-contemporary Consumer Reports data, it was relatively reliable. I had a 1976 Maverick. It had many . . . issues. I should write about that one–shudder.
J.S. Smith,
All US built 1976 cars had serious issues. None of the companies properly designed their drivetrain as a whole, they just slapped catalytic converters on pre-smog engines and called it good. I’m reminded of my grandmother’s 76 Nova, 305 V-8 with 105 HP. *shuder*
My ’71 Olds Cutlass ran like a scalded cat, so GM could make good cars in 1971. (The Vega was not one of them)
I agree Mr. AZ. Even in 1976, GM made some damn good cars, if a but dimmed from the glory days–the Cutlass Supreme was still handsome, if weak. My grandparents old 98 was a good car as well. And my Maverick had over 120,000 miles on it and was 16 years old.
What passed for “compacts” by the mid-1970s were a complete joke–too big, too heavy, emissions-strangled and retro-fitted with safety gear. A 1976 Nova with the 250 CID inline 6 was an economy car only by comparison to a Mack truck. What did they get, maybe 17, 18 mpg? Even my 1976 Buick Electra big block, with 140,000 miles, could be coaxed to give 14 mpg.
To be fair, I recall even mid-90s Cavaliers getting 29 mpg highway with the auto. The only justification for such a purchase was price.
Funny, the Vega was my dad’s first car, purchased soon after him and my mother got married. Shortly following, with my mother 8 months pregnant with me the Vega breaks down.. blown head gasket.
J. S.,
I agree with all of the replies you have posted after my comment. One of the rules by which I live is that “Nothing is harder to earn or easier to lose than your name.” GM is most certainly living proof of that. But names will never be earned back and perceptions will never change as long as people continually re-hash the past. Yes, I know this is also contrary to “Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.” I am just weary from working hard to convince people that much of GM’s and Ford’s product are very competitive now, only to hear them complain about the crappy old Lumina or Trans Am that they used to have. I look forward to the day when sins can be forgiven.
I come to places like this to escape the instant experts over at CNN/Money and similar sites who all stood in line to run thier puff pieces on “The 10 Worst GM vehicles. . .” Seeing it here just made me snap a bit. At least your article and the follow-ups were educational, as I was not quite two years old when the Vega was rolled out.
GM has been / will be fodder for countless business school case studies, and rightly so. Now let’s see if some of the imports who have gotten a little too big for their britches will learn from GM’s mistakes . . .
I hear you, Steven. As a member of the GM family, the long, hard trek to the Bankruptcy Court was a like watching a close friend or family member slowy succumb to alcoholism or drug addition. Living in Michigan makes the pain much more palpable. And I think there’s more than a few imports who need to take in their britches. I offer Exhibit One to the Court: http://www.autosavant.com/2009/07/21/production-near-acura-releases-zdx-photos/. If you are a sensitive man, I urge you not to look too closely at the pictures.
For it’s time, the Vega was an attractive coupe. Too bad about the lousy build quality.
It was good looking. And handled well. And was reasonably quick and fuel efficient. It’s really a tragedy that the execution was so incredibly flawed.
As bad as “incredibly flawed” is, it still does not adequtely convey how bad the Vega was.
Your article is fiction, but some of the facts you included from the wikapedia article I wrote are correct (the mag reviews)
Of the 1.9 million vega owners I guess you don’t know how many had your described experiences. but if it were even half, GM would have been in the red 30 years ago. Most of the Vega’s troubles were due to a percentage of owners who didn’t maintain their cars.
The oil consumption problem was brittle valve stem seals (with age), not a factory defect in the engine’s design.
The rust problem was corrected by the 74 models and the 76 models used galvinized steel. And this car did not effect GM. Not for 2000.- 3000. (a bargin)
Sorry Mr. Spinello, but the Vega was junk. Great design concept, horrid execution. Wedler is spot-on. Many people don’t maintain their cars well–probably most Americans are lax on this. That doesn’t excuse molten engine blocks and instantly biodegradable body panels. Valve stems get brittle with age–but it usually takes more than a few months. Hell, my 1962 Mini is still rolling on what appear to be original valve stems.
Let’s face it–GM would not have, after investing much coin in the 2300, switched to the Iron Duke, for no reason. And that $2,000-3,000 was back in a time when that was real money.
The Vega’s reputation is well-deserved. But, as I’ve said many times, it didn’t have to be that way. I stand by the article, both based on the many reports about the Vega and my own family’s experiences with it.
My first car was 74 vega. Looked great,drove ok until you over-heated the motor.Then it was James Bond smoke screen out the exhaust.The middle cylinders would warp egg-shaped and allow the oil past the pistons. My uncle had a auto repair garage that put a steel sleeved block and an oversized radiator in it and ran decent after what seemed at the time like alot of money-$700- for an 18 yr old with a job that paid $3.75 hr. Sold it to buy a customized van but always had a dream of dropping a small block into another Vega.It is amazing how few are left. They probably live on as 80′s Japanese cars from the crushed steel the USA exported.
One thing that may not be apparent to those who are too young to have lived through the Vega episode is the shock of the fall from grace of GM. They were the Toyota of their day- you wanted a good car? A fast car? A status car? – GM was THE answer. Better than the Fords, more sophisticated than the Chryslers. Mercedes? Who? Oh, that one crazy dentist has one. Wierd looking. BMW? Unknown.
Then GM pulled the Vega. It was sort of like finding out that your uncle had been cheating at cards with your mother – for money – and you caught him taking her last $100. You suddenly realize he’s been doing it for a long time in little ways (engine mounts in the 69 Camaro, anyone?) but you never recognized it… because you trusted him.
If you want to stay with cars, imagine Toyota talking up a super new economy car for two years – and then selling you a Yugo. You can’t imagine that it would even be possible but that’s exactly what GM did. People bought millions of them. Check eBay for 65 Mustangs and count. Then count Vegas. Look for one with the original engine. You’ll be able to put all of them on the head of a pin.
The problem is that the culture that permitted the Vega to hit the market with all its problems still exists.
The
VoltVega wasn’t evolutionary it was revolutionary – a great leap forward. TheVoltVega was forshadowed in the press for years prior to release. TheVoltVega was rushed to market without adequat testing. TheVoltVega engineering group made compromises to keep costs down (like undersizing the radiator). Then theVoltVega accountants cut things out to keep costs down (like no glove box). Management permitted no delays and even then it was late to be released.This is why the Vega is relevant and why the Volt is pretty much doomed. Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
FWIW
great stuff guys, and alot of truth.i’m a vega lover from way back. picture this. it’s 1972, and a young man in the navy, just turned 19, out looking for his first car and runs across a 1971 vega in the GM car lot. he’s taken by the body style,falls in love and buys it. drove this car till he was discharged, and eccept for a brocken timming belt, ha no problems with the car. he drove that car from virginia to california without a single problem. he traded it in(still running fine) a couple months later.(ok it was me) anyway,i started as a mechanic in the late 70s and that’s when i learned about all the problems that car was having.great stories to tell if anyone is interested.
ask me about the vegamino.true story.
OK Dan, I’ll bite. Tell us about the Vegamino.
glad you asked chris. it was a 73 or 74 vega wagon i got ahold of, (i had seven vegas at one time)and i chopped the top off just behind the front seats,and turned it into like a subaru bratt. so i’m driving along and i get pulled over.cop says i have to have truck plates cause it’s no longer a car. well trucks have to be weighed. so i tool on down to the weigh station and they ask me and my friend to sit in the car so they could get a reading. every one there was just bustin a gut to see this tinny car on the scales and all i could do was to say (red faced) THANK YOU. on that day. the vegamino was born. true story. thanks, dan
i think we all agree, the only real problem with the vega was the engine. it was backwards. steel rings on aluminum(that’t gonna work). if it was a cast block with aluminum head,(like nissan and toyota where starting to do) it would have worked. the vega could still be in prodution today. the rusting could have been easly solved just by vibrating the dipping tanks like they do with concrete. no air bubbles.well we can’t go back in time to fix the problem, but i would like to get my hands on just one more to show GM what the vega could have been. maybe drop a 4.3 and a 5 speed tranny in a GT. what do you think? sweet ride. DAN
@J.R. Smith
My parents only purchased GM cars; so when I grew up that all I owned.. and after owning countless GM products and spending seemingly years of my life under car hoods, I have learned the hard way that GM is not interested in quality.. It’s now been 12 years since I’ve owned a GM.. My wife and I took a chance on a new GMC Acadia 2.5 years ago.. 3 weeks ago it’s oil pump self-destructed and took the rest of the engine with it. The car has been in the shop for 11 times over those 30 months, not to mention the 7 recalls on the car. It’s the same old GM; I’ll never own a GM again–maybe I’ll make my two sons own one as their first car, so they can understand how to fix things.
I HEAR YOU. I HAVE AN 03 GMC PICKUP I BOUGHT USED WITH ONLY 14’000 MILES IN 07.IT WAS LIKE NEW. NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS SINCE. EVAP PROBLEMS, THEN THE STEERING STARTED TO RATTLE, THEN THE CD PLAYER QUIT, THE DASH CLUSTER WENT NUTS, AND NOW THE HEADLINER IS POLCKING OUT IN THE CORNERS(not enough material to get behind the trim). THEY WONDER WHY THEY ARE IN TROUBLE.AS A MECHANIC I SEE ALOT OF CARS. AND AS BAD AS THEY ARE, THERE STILL ALOT BETTER THAN CHRYSLER. AT LEAST A GM CAN BE FIXED.DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT GERMAN JUNK THERE MAKING NOW. WOW.EVEN FORD IS KICKING THER BUT’S,
Yep, I bought one back in 71. A great looking little car a hatch back same color as your photo. I never had a problem with the engine but the front fenders rusted through in 2 or 3 years. Another “memorable experience” was going around a curve and having the a rear wheel and axle come out of the differential. On the plus side a good looking car and great gas mileage.
I had several Vegas back in the day, and Pintos too. Maybe I am a glutton for punishment. The first Vega I had was a new ’72 Kammback wagon. I had just sold my ’63 Vette (something I’ll always regret) and I wanted something economical. My brand new Vega got 13 MPG! And, it had tons of problems. It was in the dealer’s service department 19 times in the first 6 months. They just ‘dive bombed’ the mileage problem-rebuilding the carb, then replacing it, then I don’t know what else. But, they never got the mileage anywhere near the claimed 22 MPG it was supposed to get. I sold it to my brother after 6 months. He ripped all of the pollution equipment off and immediately got 22 MPG! A few months later, he got bored and dropped a 302 V8 in place of the 4 cylinder. It still got better than that 13 MPG I got! Why did I buy a Vega again after that experience? I never expected to have a perfect car, just cheap transportation. And, that’s all they were.
Unfortunately this series is about all the GM blunders w/o any praise to some of the best cars ever built in the world. There were many great GM engines (to go with the few bad designs) by all the divisions and even after they went ‘corporate’ –too many to list here. OK here’s just 2 —the Chevy LT1 and the Buick LC2 turbo V6. Probably one of the greatest assembly of enginering minds in the world was under the GM roof. Like with anything, the bean counters screwed it up.
My first car was a 1973 Chevy Vega. My dad bought it on his birthday, October 5, 1972. It was a pewter color with the black vinyl interior and no A/C. We got 110,000 miles out of the original engine. We’d laugh about the cloud of blue smoke that accompanied each start of the car. After moving to Kingwood, Texas in 1977, my Dad installed an after-market A/C to make the car usable in the oppressive heat and humidity of the Houston area.
In 1981, it became my brother’s car. He and my dad dropped a new “Iron Duke” 4 cylinder into it — no more clouds of blue smoke! (They didn’t want to mess with dropping a V8 into it but it was considered.) My brother had it painted “Columbia” Blue, but not before he and my Dad repaired the rust spots that had formed behind the front wheel wells.
In 1986, it became my car. That winter, my Dad suggested that we get it repainted again as a Christmas gift. I suggested black. He and I prepped the body and we also tinted the windows with tinting designed for home use (read: illegally dark). We then souped-up the engine with a racing cam, racing distributor, improved exhaust and a Holley four-barrel carb. We got the 0-60 down to just over 8 seconds. Not bad for a four-banger. The transformation was complete and DARTH VEGA was born!
I give you this history because for as bad a car as the Vega was (thank you, John DeLorean), there are those of us who will always have a special place in our hearts for the little car that only truly did one thing fast: rust.
EPILOGUE: In 1989, we donated Darth Vega to a group of nuns in downtown Houston so that one of their maintenance men would have a car to drive. My Dad still laughs when telling the story of watching two nuns climb into a very evil-looking Vega and speed off down Kingsforest Drive. A few years later, I actually found myself parked next to my old car. It was a bit more beaten up, but it was still running. Cupping my hand against the glass, I could make out the odometer: 201,168. Amazing.
Darth Vega!?! Awesome!
For the record, there’s nothing wrong with the concept of sleeveless aluminum engine blocks; Mercedes and Porsche were already using them and they’re actually quite common now; especially on motorcycles. And the cylinders weren’t exactly linerless, they had a silicon coating which provided a hard-wearing surface.
The real problem with the Vega block was that flexing produced uneven cylinder bore wear. This probably caused head gasket failures as well. When steel liners were installed they stiffened the block keeping the bores round. They weren’t needed because the surface of the cylinders was too soft.
I’m just researching looking for a picture of the Vega for a scrapbook page. My dad owned one. I remember at the age of 3 or 4, I decided to pretend I was driving. So I got in Dad’s Vega and released the brake and shifted the gear. Next thing I knew the car is rolling. I thought that was cool getting to drive. It hit and brush pile. Thankfully the car nor I got hurt…surprisingly not even my butt if you know what I mean!
I’m the quintessential contrarian. In the autumn of 1972 we bought a Chevy Vega. No rust problems, no overheating or warped block, good fuel economy and mysteriously durable. We gave it to our son when it was nearing 200,000 miles on the old chassis. That number is not a typo. Late in 1979, the car met it’s demise when he parked it on top of a hill, forgot to properly set the parking brake, and consequently the durable old Vega took an unscheduled driver less trip landing on it’s nose in the middle of the road. It could have gone down in history as the only reliable Vega in captivity.
My experience with the Vega was really great. I purchased a new 1971 GT and drove the daylights out of it for several years. It had a a four speed manual transmission and that little four cylinder engine had just loads of torque for its size.
At 150,000 miles the engine seemed a little tired and it was overhauled and modified to produce a few more horses – it produced nearly 170 hp on a dynamometer at the rear wheels!
The car was vandalized one night and stripped of its wheels and GT emblems. I gave the remains away and shed a couple of tears as it was truly a really fun car to drive. The balance of the car was pretty incredible and it was a great experience to push it through the curves of a winding mountain road.
Rust was never a problem but the car was undercoated when it was brand new so maybe that made a difference.
I think this article is a biased piece of garbage written by no doubt a rice burner lover, I had a 74 Vega panel express it was one best cars I ever owned It had the GT motor and 4 speed I drove it through 4 Central New York Winters and did not experience the rust issues you describe it had over 100,000 miles on it with no serious mechanical issues and got a constant 32 MPG even though I beat on it constantly I traded it(against my better judgment my wife insisted) for a Plymouth Volare’ which was the biggest piece of junk I’ve ever owned it had rust through after 2 years and 40,000 miles it was my last non GM product I have been driving for 41 years and worked in the automotive field for that long and in my opinion GM builds the best cars in the world
Well, Winch, your guess in the first sentence about the author is wrong. He’s a lifelong Michigan resident, doesn’t own any Asian cars, and used to actually build cars for GM in Lansing before he started law school. Several generations of his family before him also worked for GM.
Just because your Vega didn’t fall apart doesn’t mean that in general the Vega was a good car. The car’s problems are well-documented the bias in this piece is nonexistent.
I refer you to this comment from the author: http://www.autosavant.com/2009/07/20/the-cars-that-killed-gm-chevrolet-vega/comment-page-1/#comment-20100. In it, he said:
“As to Steven’s comment, I actually am a member of the “GM family”–3rd generation at that–and used to work on the GM assembly line. You cannot understand GM’s current problems without understanding why a large percentage of car buyers won’t even consider a GM vehicle. Many people automatically consider GM cars to be junk. And a lot of it has to do with cars like the Vega, X-cars, etc. It cannot be said enough: if you shell out 10,000+ for something and it turns out to be complete and utter crap, you’ll NEVER buy from that company again. You’ll encourage others, including your children, to do the same.”
Bought my ’72 GT when I was just getting out of the Army. I think I paid about two grand. At the time, it was considerd a real winner over the VW Beetle(which was my trade-in) or the Pinto (remember the exploding gas tanks??). Loved driving it, and had no major problem until the engine started burning oil after 18 months. (Damn sleeveless aluminum block!)Fortunately, I was able to get a new block – I recall it weight about 40 lbs! – on the cheap from a buddy who worked at a chevy dealer. Invested in new valves, had the head ported, got some headers and it really screamed – until it rusted out about a year later. So yeah, not one of GM’s best, but it WAS a fun car to drive. In the final analysis, I don’t think it besmirched GM’s name any more than the Chevette did. Now that was a real piece of crap!
I have a 1975 chevy vega and i have a tranny problem and i need someone to help tell me how to fix it.What it does is when the engine is running and i put it in first it dont do anything dont move or anything.Please help me someone.
It’s just incredible that any manufacturer could put that kind of vehicle on the road with a clean conscience.
I heard a story once of a brand-new car in the mid-80s (Chrysler product) where the gear shift literally broke off in the customer’s hand on a test drive. The solution? replace the shift handle with a pair of locking vise grips and send them home in their new ride.
Funny thing is, this was an acceptable solution. Crazy times, those old car days.
I had a 1972 Kammback with the handling suspension (F-41 I believe). It had a problem with the 4-speed sticking in reverse, but an upgraded piece fixed that the third time it happened, and the dealer gave me a loaner while waiting for the improved part to come out.
I lost two oil pans, once on a raised manhole cover, and once when a pipe bounced out of the back of a truck I was following.
I only had the car for two years, because by that time I had hit 60,000 miles, so I traded it for a VW Scirocco, which actually gave me much more trouble.
I know most people had problems with rust, but mine did fine for it’s two years, and did not rust like my 1970 240-Z. Many cars of the early 70′s had rust problems. I would love to find a mint Vega Kammback to photograph some day, but for now I had to settle for the Jungle Jim Dragster one that I spent several months with while it was on display at America On Wheels, where I volunteer.
I had a Vega back in the day my brother-in-law gave to me to take to Giant’s games in San Francisco. It was an attractive vehicle, this one had no rust even while a Bay Area car that spent it’s life outside. It handled like a champ and had plenty of torque. The problem was that they sported a very early aluminum block that was rife with problems including cylinders that took on ovoid configuration over time. I regretfully retired mine when the exhaust smoke began resembling a 747 contrail.
LOVED THE STYLE OF MY VEGA HATCHBACK..HAD A GREAT MECHANIC WHO SERVICED IT FOR THIRTEEN YEARS.
WE NEED TO BRING THE STYLE BACK AND BUILD IT WITH QUALITY THIS TIME AROUND.
COST: $2500.00
The Vega was not a bad looking car, you know that? It’s too bad the execution was so bad.
The title of this post probably should have been “The Cars That ALMOST Killed GM”,since GM is very much alive and prosperous now.
We bought a 73 Millionth Vega new and drove it for 9 years. GM replaced the engine at 49,900 miles and I replaced the front fenders with zinc coated aftermarket fenders about 3 years after we bought it. We enjoyed driving it but our family outgrew it. I just purchased another one exactly like ours and am planning to restore it. It was a one owner and he passed away.
Great article. My story: I owned a 1974 Vega, which was bought used at about 20,000 miles, started acting up at about 28,000 miles, and which died at 39,000 miles (after two valve jobs and countless oil changes) due to problems with the aluminum block engine. My mechanic, who was a performance mechanic, close friend and neighbor, signed an affidavit stating that the cylinder heads had sunk from factory specs to enough of an extent that water from the cooling system was penetrating into the the cylinders, which caused corrosion, a dramatic loss of power and excessive oil consumption, and that the problem was incapable of being repaired. A close friend of mine, whose mother was a GM dealer, told me that GM was well aware of the problems with the aluminum block engine, and had an unwritten warranty on the Vega if one died from those engine problems after the normal warranty period expired, and she said there was an excellent chance that a U.S. dealer would replace the engine if I wrote Chevrolet corporate and made a stink out of it. So I did. And when the Chevy dealer in Waltham MA looked at my terminally ill car (engine seized from the last incident), a few months after my letter writing exchanges with Chevrolet over this, I was asked to produce oil change records (which I was able to produce for the entire duration of my ownership, but not from day 1 because my dad had bought the car used). And so they denied responsibility, because the cylinders had corrosion that might be indicative of inadequate oil changes and unless I could prove that oil changes had been performed regularly from the original purchase as a new car, I was “SOL.” My mechanic had explained under oath that the reason for the corrosion was a defect attributable to the aluminum block (putting aside the fact that the seizure that ended the car’s life caused the engine to overheat and scorch which would presumably leave some residue behind . . . ), but they blew me off. They were much more arrogant and dismissive of their Japanese competitors at GM 35 years ago when this happened.
I wrote GM a letter complaining, and pointing out that, because of this, they were going to lose a customer for life. It did no good. So since 1977, I have bought 8 new cars – a 1978 Toyota Corolla, a 1982 Toyota Camry Wagon (for my wife), a 1983 Honda Accord LX, a 1987 Honda Accord EX, a 1989 Lexus LS 400, a 1999 Lexus LS 430, a 1999 Lexus RX300 (for my wife), a 2008 Lexus GS350, and most recently a 2010 Lexus LS 460 Sport. That’s approx $325,000 in new car sales that GM had -0- of making, thanks to their the inability to accept responsibility for putting garbage out on the road. And not one of those cars has had a serious mechanical problem. I hope they have learned from that . . . but I am not so sure they have.