I have these Chevy guys living down the street and I guess the one guy needed something to tool in besides the vette so he found a little Panel Vega. I had to snap the picture.
High_Horse
Now there's a shot from the 70's!!!
WOW!!!
That is the COOL early vega!!!
I like it!!
What's the matter with you Tony? There is nothing COOL about a Vega man! Just kidding.
I think the Pinto CW looks a lot better than the Vega panel.
Mike, nice shot, and yes, looks like a picture from the late '70's, when Tony was still in diapers!
Dave
Wow there are at least 2 vegas still around. I saw a brown 72 window wagon at a show last weekend He got 2nd place in his catagory and i got 3rd in my catagory.
Phils toys
Are those panels on the Vega factory or an add-on?
Quote from: phils toys on July 27, 2007, 04:03:07 PM
Wow there are at least 2 vegas still around.
Phils toys
Wow Two are still around?
I thought they all became part of mother earth by disintegrating due to them rolling off the assembly line and starting to rust in shippment to the dealerships! ;D
turbowagonman
He needs to cut that bumper on the Vega and give it that old split bumper Camaro look. They look sharp with the split bumper. I had a 76 vega wagon with a 283 in it
(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k46/robsta11111/PictureorVideo001-1.jpg)
(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k46/robsta11111/sales-0341.jpg)
(http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k46/robsta11111/sales-0351-1.jpg)
car was a blast to drive. I hope to have my little pinto as crazy looking before long.
There are a lot of them still around although most of them have more than 4 cylinders now.
Remember, even Pick-A-Part wouldn't accept them.
"We will pay you $$.$$ for any car except Vegas And Ramblers"
People couldn't junk them so they just put them away in the back yard.
I have sold some tail lights and trim from a wrecked sedan from my favorite junk yard on E-Bay.
In all fairness to Chevrolet, their rush to put a gas saver on the road during the ole' odd & even license plate days of the early seventies energy crisis was a bit premature as far as the Vega goes, in my opinion anyway. Too much advertising with untested results. Not that uncommon even now. Ford came up with our beloved Pinto, Dodge came up with the Colt ? ? Try finding one of those.
Anyway, I think that the transition was already being made from the acronym " Made In Japan " from a slur to a serious force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately Detroit did not take it seriously at the time.
As I recall, the aluminum four cylinder engines were prone to overheating and burned up with regular frequency.
If it was cooling problems or something else I'm not sure, but few invested much to correct what was I think rumored to be a factory defect.
With all of the spotlight focused on the Pinto's negative issues at the time, it, ( the Vega ), seemed to slip into obscurity. I think that at the time there were weren't many tears shed at General Motors. Perhaps the Vega had the same issues as the Pinto but was never brought to the media's attention.
What vehicles remain I would hazard to guess are almost all V-8's.
One thing is certain, there are a lot of Vega lovers out there as there of us. Well maybe not as many but certainly as dedicated. I think that this is a good thing as it helps folks to better understand that time frame of our heritage, especially when Vega and Pinto are parked side by side.
As I observed from the bidding for a pair of tail lights, I wish I had a complete early seventies, ( not sure when they first came out ), Vega sedan or better yet, wagon.
I think I could retire with the bid. Perhaps not as much as the fabled grill cheese sandwich, but close.
By the way, if anyone knows of an interest, I have access to a Vega sedan drive train, but it will soon be on it's way to China.
Al
Quote from: UltimatePinto on July 28, 2007, 04:28:11 PM
Dodge came up with the Colt ? ? Try finding one of those.
Even harder is finding somebody that has an interest in having an early Colt again.
someone in my town is running around with a 76ish colt-its silver with red accent strips- not sure if thats factory, but it looks like it could be. Anyway, it's a pretty sweet looking little car, i'd drive one! :)
:) ;) :D ;D ;D ;D ::)
BGP
in the early '70's there was a vega club here in whittier where i lived at the time. i had a lot of run-ins with those guys back then. there were a couple of them that had SBC in them. one a sedan the other a wagon. in fact i built the exhaust systems for both of them and the headers for the wagon at my shop. we all used to go at it nearly everyweekend on the streets around her. man it was a lot of fun. my '71 Pinto NEVER let me down against either one of those guys. never lost a single race
.........and on the subject,,, the colts were a pretty darn good running little car. there were a couple of guys that used to club race out at riverside raceway back in the day that always used to give me fits. one weekend i would beat one of them but not both...one weekend they would both get me clean. those early colts were good runners and could handle real good
I am not sure what they did to get them going but every early Colt I drove, the rear wheel drive versions, were powerless.
I bought a 1979 Dodge Colt with the power stick and theat was a fairly decent car.
My point still is that you would be hard to find somebody that still wants an early Colt like a Pinto.
I haven't seen one on Ebay in a long time.
Try searching for a Ford Fiesta. NONE.
Mason66 you're thinking too late in the model run. The ones that I had experience with ( and a LOT of other guys too) were cars from the 1st couple model years. I'm thinking 1971-1972. They were light and responsive and had a chassis that responded well to normal tweaks as did the Pinto
QuoteAre those panels on the Vega factory or an add-on?
Dholvrsn,
Yes, Those are factory panels. The picture does not show it but that Vega has a fair amount of rust. He does drive it to work occasionally. I will have to give him a Pinto escort some morning. I do admit...I always did like that front grill. It just screams P40 WarHawk.
High_Horse
So which came first the Vega panel van or the Cruisin' Wagon?