You gotta wonder if all the changes they were forced to implement didn’t cost more in the end than cylinder liners.

We raced a Vega at our local oval track for 4 years. With an aluminum engine! BUT, the first thing we did with every engine was sleeve it! We also put a flow restricter in the oil passage to the head. We also JB welded the gap between the #4 cylinder and the corner of the block where the gasket was skinniest and prone to blowout. We also used 250 six cylinder truck connecting rods as they are beefier on the big end but the same length, wrist pin diameter, and crank journal size. A few other tricks as well to get 225 hp out of an engine that originally only made 85.

Cars like this gave rise to the Honda and Toyota cars of that era

Vegas were a great concept, HORRIBLE execution! These cars cost GM millions in bad reputation and lost future sales. They also spawned the sale of imports.

Another example of a huge conglomerate stepping over dollars to pick up dimes. With so many disgruntled buyers swearing they will never buy another GM product i wonder why they still to this day make the same mistakes over and over again. QUALITY, Jackasses! Doesn't cost...it pays

Unfortunately, I owned a 1974 Vega GT. I live in southwest Louisiana where rust is not normally a problem. My car rusted so badly around the windshield, I kept a towel in the car so I could catch water which dripped in around inside the windshield during rain. I also kept extra quarts of oil on hand so I could add as needed - oftentimes before I needed to fill up with gasoline. I had the rust around the windshield repaired at a body shop a couple of times. Of course, after a short time, the rust would return. I also rebuilt the engine myself. I was surprised how light the engine block was. I spoke to a technician at a Chevrolet dealership who advised me to simply install new piston rings and put everything back together. Re ringing the engine helped - for a while. The second time I did a major engine repair, I removed the cylinder head and took it to a machine shop. The valve stems seals were shot. I had very little funds available and I did the best I could. Somehow, I nursed the car along and it got me through college. Finally, I bought a 1982 Toyota pickup truck. What a difference! Understandably, I now drive a Lexus with over 200,000 miles which still runs great and uses no oil between changes. Still to this day I have a low regard for GM products.

My parents owned a Kammback. It destroyed the loyalty of a GM buying family.

My first car was a 1976 Vega Hatchback. It was a used one and I loved it. However about 2 weeks after I bought the car, it developed problems with the engine. Mine had a head gasket leak. The dealership told me: "Oh Well, not our problem!!" My father got wind of this and went to the dealership and told the salesman: "You have 2 choices, you either fix the engine or it's going to be driven through your dealership window!" My father was a big man and very quiet but you didn't make him mad!! I'll never forget the look on the salesman’s face when my father told him that. The dealership agreed to fix the car. They knew they sold me a car with an engine problem and took advantage of a young dumb kid!!

I can't get enough of your Vega videos. From Vertapak to no cylinder liners, it's a story that people love to tell but without the details you provide.

I worked for a Chevy dealership from 73-76. We would get Vegas into the body shop and we would replace both front fenders under warranty that were completely rusted through on the top and when we got done with them the car would go over to service to have a new engine short block installed for smoke and oil consumption .

Great video! I thought you may have mentioned that Vegas uses a ridiculous rubber grommet for an oil cap. I was a young gas pump attendant in years 1972 through 1974. Back then we had to wash ALL windows and check under the hoods of EVERY car. When any Vega with more than about 35,000 to 40,000 miles came in to refuel, it ALWAYS needed oil. Due to the difficulty in removing, handling and replacing the extremely hot rubber plug grommet that GM used as the engine oil fill cap on the Vega engine, adding oil was a lot harder than it needed to be. I recall the grommet oil cap was on a sloping surface and I had to either pry out the grommet with a screwdriver or use my finger nails. It was hot and oily and as such would usually be dropped and roll somewhere under the car. Usually, after adding the oil, it was a challenge to replace the grommet oil cap into the hot engine. Once or twice my oily fingers dropped the silly rubber grommet again! Such a design on an e engine that didn't burn oil would be fine. But using a rubber grommet for an oil cap on a Vega was a curse!

I worked in an automotive machine shop from 77 to 79. As soon as we got a Vega head on the bench it was checked for cracks. They seemed like crappy castings and pretty much cracked in all areas including around the valve springs and combustion chambers. The first place we looked was on the back side of the head around the spark plugs. It was an odd place but I always blamed that huge "fin" of cast iron. That was a lot of material that heated up slower than the lower and thicker bottom. I really felt sorry for the people when you told them their head was junk at 30k. We also sleeved those blocks with great success. We also made a pattern to mill out the water jackets around the block and place an aluminum plate to fill the large open deck. It supported the cylinders and improved cooling. Most of this was more expensive than most owners would ever put into an economy car, especially one that was rusting through around the windows. One of the cool things about that motor though was the adjustable cam followers. It sure was easier than shims. Our shop did a lot of cool things for oddball stuff like cutting a groove for an "O" ring between the halves of a Corvair block. Our shop foreman was an outstanding guy that had a firm grasp on engineering much better than Detroit did. I had forgotten about the Air cleaners though. It seems I remember cutting them open to replace the element. We're the elements glued to the halves? That was a long time ago. I know we put a certain type of oil filter canister in out oven while heat treating our cranks. It melted the glue so a separate filter could be installed instead of the whole assembly. Those had nothing to do with Vegas though as two hands were required to pick them up. I don't recall what they were to or if I ever knew. I loved working in that shop as there was no limit on satisfying the customer. Cheers Terry

My parents bought a new Vega wagon in 1976. It was a 4SPD with A/C. It was driven from the dealership to the Ziebart dealer to get rust-proofing and paint protection. My father was a big believer in preventive maintenance and it was meticulously maintained and even got a yearly inspection at Ziebart. It lasted 12 years and over 100k miles in northern Wisconsin on salted winter roads and was still relatively rust-free when they sold it. I remember taking trips to Colorado California Arizona Maine and New York in it. I asked my father about his ownership experience with it and he said it never failed to start or left anyone stranded and he couldn't remember any major mechanical maladies.

My first car was a 1977 hatchback. It was 10 years old by the time I bought it, so oil consumption was built in. It used a quart of oil daily, just driving to school and home. I rebuilt a 327 V-8 in shop class and swapped that in. No more oil consumption problem, but on those skinny 13 inch stock tires it would get sideways scary fast. I didn't keep it too long after that, needless to say. In my older years, I've often thought I'd love to build another one with a 2.8 or 3.4 V-6 and S-10 brake/axle swap to allow larger 5 lug wheels. Finding an untouched stock one in one piece here in Ontario, Canada, became impossible by the end of the 1980's, sadly. Great video, I very much enjoyed it. Thanks!🙂

I had a new 1974 Vega with A/C and a 4 speed in 1974. It was my first car and I was a soph in college at the time. I had it 18 months and at that time it was like an outboard motor: 1 quart of oil to each tank of gas. Traded it in for a 1976 Nova SS that I special ordered to my specifications. No problems with the 350 4bbl in the Nova. I wish I had both of those cars today.

I was in high school in 1971 and the parents of a friend of mine bought him a Vega. By the time we were graduated in 1973, it was spewing smoke and worse here on the Texas Gulf Coast, it was rusting significantly. Broke his heart 'cause he was so proud of that little coupe when he got it. It was hard then, and is still hard now, to understand how GM could've missed so badly on this design. My parents bought a Beetle for me and I loved it.

My 1974 Vega GT was bad ass, with a 9" ford rear, 327 4v 2 speed power glide. Bitch was a beast , untouchable.

In my '77 Vega, the top shroud that held the radiator in place gradually "bent" upward, allowing the radiator to fall backward into the fan. This happened on the open road at about 50 mph. I heard a "BANG!" immediately followed by the "LOW COOLANT" light coming on. Shut the car off in time (no engine damage), but had to leave the car then return the next day with a new radiator, coolant, turnbuckles and wire to hold the shroud down, ensuring I didn't have this problem again.

I had a 72 Vega GT and the valve seals were the biggest issue. We changed oil and filter always at 3000 miles and never had issues with cylinder oil consumption. When you went to idle from load, it would blow hugh blue smoke as the vacuum sucked oil around the valve stems. Even with this issue, I still got 130,000 miles out of the engine. It was a spunkly engine with the 2 bbl carb and 4 speed manual tranny. I also bought the Fram aftermarket air cleaner kit that allowed you to just change the element, because the AC unit air filter was $15 in 1973! Other issue was the electric fuel pump and low oil pressure shut off. On full throttle acceleration you would occasionally have the engine shut off due to oil going all the way back in the pan giving you momentary low oil pressure. I always carried a jumper wire where I could reprise the fuel system. This car was a bit rough around the edges, but it was fun to drive. You just had to know it's quirks. Not something a non-gearhead wanted to deal with...

I took a metal shop class in high school in the late '70s. We used Vega engine blocks as stock for our metal casting.

I started selling Auto parts in 1981, one of the more common items we carried was a air filter assembly made by a company called Hastings. After you purchase that you could buy a replacement air filter for it. You got to love the ingenuity of the American automotive aftermarket.

What pisses me off with the Vega's engines is that GM had a plethora of small displacement cast iron block 4 cylinder engines to choose from their Opel and Vauxhall brands.

I am an old (77) guy. I have always marveled that GM did not use the Opel 1.9 I had one in an Opel GT. They vwere very good engines.

Fast forward about 40 years, and GM made the Chevrolet Equinox with the 2.4 liter Ecotec engine. The doors were rusting before it was 3 years old, and we got the TSB for burning oil because the piston rings were known to be faulty. Indeed, ours burned through a quart in about 2000 miles, but the dealer insisted we weren't eligible for the fix. You would think they could improve in 40 years, but no.... I jokingly called it the "Veganox".

An early effort in the general motors campaign to increase sales of Japanese cars. This scenario played out repeatedly. Designed something new and interesting; a lot of customers like it and purchase it. Those customers experience big problems because of general motors cost cutting. The financing geniuses always seem to prefer saving one dollar so that they can spend $100 later. Anyway, customers get aggravated, sales drop off a cliff. Eventually General Motors gets around to fixing the problems, which they should've done before, but by then nobody cares. Honda and Toyota dealerships are happy. You said in the video that engineers thought they had solved some of the earlier problems. While I don't know the specifics; I would bet money that the engineers knew they hadn't. But the finance bosses decided to go ahead anyway. Because finance people never believe engineers.

Another great vid ! Had several in my early years. They were so easy to fix, could do a whole engine replacement in like 4 hrs:). What I remember the most was there was an engine builder somewhere in the LA area, that would sleeve and rebuild them for only $350. (Exchange). As long as you had a good head, you were golden again for 100k miles for very little $. We always added a $10 coolant recovery tank also. Aw the golden years of inexpensive car repairs :). lol

I had 2 of them hatch back and station wagon...put small blocks in both. Never had any problems after.

As a mechanic at that time, we regarded the engine problems primarily as lack of maintenance. Keep it from overheating, change the oil and they're not too bad. I think the aftermarket came to the rescue later on the ill conceived air cleaner. The bigger problem we saw was the flimsy unit body structure. You could do a shock "bounce" test with the hood open and watch the shock tower flex. But the biggest deal was the front structure would sag after about 50,000 miles, after that you couldn't get the alignment right anymore. The best you could do was get the caster (sorry, I meant camber here) right and match the caster the best you could.

i bought a brand new Vega hatchback in '71, because Motor Trend magazine was calling it the "Car of the Year". Yeah, right. By '73 and having about 35K on the odometer, it went to the junkyard with a blown engine and loaded with rust. I'm still kicking myself over it!

An interesting follow-up would be why it took GM so long to respond to all these issues. What were the management failures?

the first problem with GM is the mentality and the bean counters, At the moment where that car was on the drafting board, GM had branches in Europe and Asia so they were able to source an engine that would have been much better than the infamous Vega engine. It is the starting point, the rest of that car was developped that way so the car was crappy from the front bumper to the rear bumper. your engine overview is excellent and the clear demo that GM took a good basic idea and made junk with it as usual.

We had a '73 I think and had problems with it right off the lot. Not only that, it didn't weigh much and we lived in Wyoming. My Mom and I literally got blown off the road from a big gust of wind. Traded it for a big, heavy Plymouth station wagon with a monster iron block motor.

Thanks for another Vega video Adam. I grew up hearing the many horror stories of my dad’s brand new ‘72 hatchback. As a kid hearing about his 3 engine failures in 2 years, I didn’t get the concept of the aluminum engine block and lack of cylinder liners. In addition to the car overheating and destroying its engines, my dad’s car suffered from the famous rust and two transmission failures, all within 2 years of ownership. He wound up dumping the car in early 1975 for a ‘72 Catalina, a car he loved for almost 10 years. He also never bought a brand new car again.

I lost a lot of trust in various car magazines, specifically, Motor Trend, Road & track, and Car & Driver. All 3 mags gushed about how wonderful the car and engine was upon the car's introduction. A friend bought a new Vega, It was a 110 hp, 4 speed, Kammback. He let us drive it. OMG, what a POS! Squeaks, rattles galore, and an exhaust note that was highly unpleasant. It made my Corvair seem like a Cadillac. I often wonder if those magazines were paid to play up the Vega, or were given test cars that had been "specially prepared". Typical GM, pays more to fix the crappy cars than it would have to build it right the first time.

The Pinto got a bad rap due to so many people believing that EVERY Pinto would burst into flames for no apparent reason. In reality, if your Pinto never got rear-ended, you had a pretty decent little car. But if you had a Vega, you had problems: period. Now, the way Ford reacted to the Pinto's gas-tank problem (and their refusal to add inexpensive tank protection) was inexcusable.

Pontiac had a version of the Vega as well The Pontiac Astre is the model name of the Pontiac version of the Vega. The Astre is a subcompact car that was first sold in Canada in 1973-1974, and then in the U.S. in 1975. It was available in all trim levels, including 8,339 notchback coupes, 40,809 hatchback coupes, and 15,332 station wagons. The Astre is a rebadged version of the Chevrolet Vega, and is considered a sibling to the Vega. The Vega and Astra were economy cars with four cylinders, and were sold until 1977. Around 1978, the Astra was dropped, but the Vega wagons continued to be sold under the Sunbird name.

The 153 should have been installed instead of letting your customers do durability testing on a new engine.

One would think people got fired over this car but GM kept doing crap like this well into the 80s and beyond.

I bought a first year Vega and finally gave up at about 80,000 miles. You covered almost all the problems I found but I have a couple more. There was a reaction between the antifreeze and to aluminum block that plugged up the tiny radiator and pretty much guaranteed overheat. When you removed the radiator, it truly looked like heater core rather than a radiator. GM was also know for not putting enough paint on their cars and the Vega was an extreme example. I stopped washing it after a few years because it looked about the same dirty or clean. The rust was coming from the outside in, unlike most cars that rusted from the inside out. GFM

I saw on that Vega ad “coupe, sedan, wagon, truck”. I had to look up Vega truck. There’s a story there.

My uncle had a Vega station wagon. He carried a case of oil in the back. When he went to the gas station, it was to fill up the oil and check the gas.

My grandpa bought a Vega wagon brand new - he drove it from his home in VT to our house in upstate NY - he had to stop 3 times to let it cool down and add anti freeze- it was a 4 hour trip that took him 6 hrs in a new car - when he returned to VT he drove it to the dealership and said “you can shove this piece of shite where the sun dont shine” he bought a Datsun B210 and drove it all over for 10 solid years - zero issues -

I could listen to you read stereo instructions and be intrigued. You've got a great voice for this stuff.👍 👍 👍 👍

In regards to the air cleaner, I bought a replacement (for my 72 Vega GT) and when I tried to install it, it didn't fit. I brought it back to the auto parts store and found out some were made in the U.S. and some were made in Canada, WITH THE SAME PART NUMBER.

My parents bought. a 1973 Vega GT during the gas crisis. They used it to commute back and forth to work. When driven in stop and go traffic the engine would overheat. It burned a quart of oil every week. When it rained the Vega refused to start. My parents traded the Vega in for a new Cutlass Supreme in 1976.

This engine block utilizes an open deck design. This design allows an unwanted effect known as "head gasket scrubbing" to occur . This happens when the free standing cylinders move while the engine is running and thus "scrub" the head gasket, which causes the gasket to eventually fail. The open deck engine block design has been revisited over the years, and by several manufacturers, and they still encounter the dreaded "gasket scrub". Great video ! I really enjoy your channel !

It has been said that the most difficult type of vehicle to engineer is a small car. The Japanese had a huge edge over everyone else, including the European manufacturers in this department. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, I knew of many Toyotas, Nissans (then known as Datsun), and Hondas that ran and ran; as the maxim went, you couldn't kill them. If properly maintained, the only things that could kill them were accidents and corrosion of the body and chassis.

When I turned 16 in 1973 I was going to purchase a 1968 Pontiac GTO that was mint for $800.00. When I discussed what I wanted to do with my dad, he said NO and we proceeded down to the local Chevy dealer and we ordered a new 1974 Vega. Needless to say I wasn't overly happy with my Vega, and I will admit in the 2 years I owned it (and being 16) I beat the s...t out of it. It Never let me down, but it was starting to use oil so my dad traded it for a used 1974 Nova. Funny thing about it, the Nova had a bad motor we discovered a couple of days after we bought it. Took it back and got my Vega back! Then the next day I bought my moms 1974 Monte Carlo and got rid of the Vega. Looking back 50 years later, I wish I would have keep the Vega!

For every car that had a huge issue like the Vega engine, there were 10 other cars that were basically reliable but let down by little cost cutting measures, such as poor plastic interiors, door handles that were so cheap they kept breaking, or rust issues due to no fender liners. A friend had a 1980 citation where he had to crawl in from the passenger side because he got tired of taking apart the drivers door to replace the linkage to the handle. My dad had one of the first Dodge minivans that he loved but the first cold winter night the entire passenger side of the dash cracked down the middle. We also had a 1983 escort where the paint started flaking off in a year.

My Father bought a brand new 1976 Cosworth Vega! It was pretty cool! We kept it until 1986!

My neighbor purchased a new Vega with an automatic transmission - it was the most gutless car I’ve ever been in, when “floored” it made a bunch of noise but barely anything happened - I think a dashboard indicator lit up when you floored it that said “please wait“

I started working as a mechanic at the local Chevy dealer in February’78 and there were 13 Vegas sitting behind the dealer waiting for engines….most of what we saw was the cylinders dropped about .025-.030”, causing the head gasket to not seal and start to fill the cylinders with coolant.

I was a vega mech at a dealer in the 70,s. As far as the engine is concerned, the silicone impregnated cylinders was the problem. The gm replacement short block came with steel liners in the aluminum block . Solved all the engine problems

The best fix for the Vega aluminum engine was to remove it and replace it with a 350 Small block chevy. :)

Oooh, now do one on the Monza. I love the looks of the Vega and the Monza

...what a sadly executed flop, I never realized how much stingy, destructive and short sighted engineering this nice little car..essentially saddled buyers with the plague

Ironically GM had a superb steel cam chain Cam-in Head Overhead cam 1.9 liter four cylinder engine with a cast iron block and a cast iron head not significantly heavier than the Vega 2300 Aluminum Block/Cast Iron head engine. That much smoother, vastly more durable engine was the 1.9 liter Opel four cylinder engine paired with the Opel 4 speed manual transmission which was ultimately used by the Vega, in place of the base model Vega 3 speed Opel sourced standard transmission. Because of the American internal inch based dimensions, not metric, used in the Opel engine, it is highly likely that the Opel 4 cylinder and its companion 6 cylinder CIH engines were designed by GM in Detroit for production by Opel in Germany. I had an 1970 Opel GT with the 1.9 liter four which was extremely smooth, durable, and reliably trouble-free outlasting the GT's body which ultimately rusted out by 1976 with approximately 130,000 miles due to Midwest winter salt. I always couldn't understand by GM didn't produce the Opel 1.9 CIH in the USA for the Vega's introduction. My friends with Vegas were jealous about the reliability of my still loved, and fondly remembered Opel GT. Cheers.

I drove a ‘72 Vega Kammback in high school. It had rust and smoked when I started it up but served a purpose and got me where I had to go.

I remember how incredibly fast these disappeared from the roads of Alaska back in the 1970's. The cold weather scuffing problems you mention explain that !! By the early 1980's I saw virtually none on the roads up there.

Someone once said 'Failure is like onions', there is always another layer. That was the Vega. They put too many novel features into the engine, into the manufacturing process and even the shipping. They also forgot that it is your economy buyer who is going to get hurt the worst when a product doesn't live up to what you lead them to expect. And they are usually young, will be buying cars for a long time and will never forgive you. It didn't help that Chevrolet started blaming the owners for the cooling system failures. The open deck block was an experiment. Using an iron head on the aluminum block trying to seal on the unsupported top of the cylinder was an experiment. The silicon lined cylinders were an experiment. The Youngstown assembly plant they built was never a happy place and GM Corporate took over management from the divisions and Fisher Body at this time which was part of one of the longest and most costly strikes in industry history. "Pride go's before a fall' and GM had no shortage of pride when they rolled the Vega out. They thought they could do anything they imagined.

These cars were good for V-8 coversions. Hooker, Don Hardy and others sold kits for these. Did this to my 73 in the mid 1980s. Ran it for 2 years with a 283 v8 and got almost 25mpg with plenty of power. Traction bars were a must to prevent the rear axle from rotating and ripping out the upper control arms from the sheet metal behind the rear seat. Eventually made a pro street car out of it. Added a full frame, 6 pt roll cage, narrowed ford 9", 383 "destroked 400 route" Nitrous powered. It was a bike killer. Ended up selling it for a down payment to buy a house. Change in priorities as life goes on.

Excellent video. You are one of the few who understand the actual issues with the Vega engine. I had one and kept the coolant full and the oil changed and put over 190,000 miles on it with no major problems.

Build quality suffered because workers were mad about robot automation taking over factories in that era plus they went on strike at that Vega plant in Lordstown, Ohio...

The Vega, Pinto and Gremlin were low cost, entry level APPLIANCES. They were meant to be used for 3-5 years and maybe 50-60,000 miles and thrown away. My first car was a 1975 Vega Kammback. By then the radiator was HUGE, avoiding any overheating issues. The radiator went across the entire front of the engine bay. I drove it 66,000 care free miles and sold it to a Chevy Dealership mechanic. I bought a 1979 Chevrolet Malibu with a 267 cu in V-8. Both were fine cars for the price.

A friend and I put a 327 4-speed in his Vega Wagon. It was a blast to drive. About three months later we put in a custom Ford 9-Inch. Fun little car with the proper engine.....

Very interesting episode! The Vega came out while I was in high school, and as a kid dreaming of a first car, it really caught my attention. I liked the styling very much, and was fascinated by all the dealer options you could get. Remember the tent attachment that fit into the hatch opening? Fun stuff. I even built a model of the Vega. Alas, I never owned one - and I guess that was for the best - but all these years later I still think it’s a nice looking car, certainly better than its rival, the Pinto. My opinion, of course. 😊

Small radiator and NO overflow tank! Not a good combination.

8:40 Vega radiator is about 1' x 1' ... thus allowing a single part to serve as either a heater core, or a radiator. [/sarc; well, kinda]

One thing I remember when I bought my new 74 model GT it came with seat belt interlock system that prevented engine from starting until both driver and passenger buckled up. I had a friend who refused to ride with me because he said it was stupid that government forced him to buckle up. This was the only car I fully ordered from dealer as I remember selecting the color, I interior colors and the herringbone fabric for the seats and the mag style wheel design. Full instrument gauges. I think it took about 4 weeks to get my order. Overall the car was as solid as a rock. The unitized boby was solid as a rock and had no problems with rust or paint problems.

My folks had a vega and my Dad called it the Veg-O-Matic. He doubled and then tripled down on questionable GM's getting a Citation and then a mid 80's Cavalier station wagon before swearing off GM to get an early 90's Mercury Sable station wagon in seafoam green. Love the stories, keep up the good work!

I had a 75 in 84 it was a rust bucket but it had a great manual transmission it was fun to drive and as a teenager i beat the crap out of that engine never had a problem other than carb heat didn’t function so you had to wait in the winter for it to warm up. I used amsoil in it exclusively the same oil i used in my formula- v car. Ran it for two years hard. Oh yeah i put a dress up chrome air filter housing and a two stage washable filter on it from some old vw dune buggy. What killed it for me was the rear end drag link attachment rusted completely so it pulled the rear axle at an angle and ruined all the axle holding points. I welded up a shop made subframe and sold it.

The early models were pretty decent looking cars. Even a 2.5 Iron Duke would have been a better choice, had it existed at the time.

I bought one of the last models, it's the engine where they finally installed the steel cylinder liners - that car was excellent, never burned any oil, was fairly peppy for a 4 banger and I drove it for over 100 thousand miles before I finally needed a larger car. I remember that they were desperate to sell it, they finally had a "fish on the hook, me" - the Vega's reputation was so terrible that the dealership just wanted it gone - don't remember the actual numbers but I know it was a steel looking back.

Very good review. I was shopping for a "work" car when the Vega hit the market. The undersized radiator and lack of cylinder liners were a big red flag. Otherwise it was a sharp looking car but everyone I knew that bought one had problems. Instead I bought a Pinto with the 2L German engine and 4 on the floor...drove it to work for several years and had zero problems with it.

Had a 1973 Vega GT wagon.... Loved the styling...... absolutely hated the engine......

I really don’t know much about this but I had a friend with a Cosworth model. Were they reliable?

I guess I was lucky. I had a new 72 Vega and never had any of these issues. I lived in Ft Worth Tx. Drove it to school and back. After work at night a would cruse the streets at night. Avg temps in the 80 to 90 at night in summer. Burned about tank of gas every night? Put 95k miles before sold after I got married. Had AC. Never had overheating issues. Drove it to Shreveport and back several times.

Loved my little 72 Vega. The car cost me 200 bucks and I got 30k miles out of it (city driving). It had some cooling system issues that I sorted out with a little patience. It smoked, got good mileage.

They should have just dropped in the 153 four banger from the chevy II.

Check the gas and fill it up with oil‼️ Always had a case of oil in the trunk.

My family bought a new Ford Pinto in 1971 after test driving Verga as well. I was eighteen and had two younger siblings, we all learned stick-shift on that Pinto and my mom drove it to work every day. My brother totaled it with over 100k miles. 2 liter overhead cam engine and overall a great little car. Vega was crap built with the GM cost-cutting mentality, it's amazing that GM still survives.

I had a rattle trap 1975 Vega Kamback GT. In the time I owned it, it had three engines, one transmission, the garbage "air cooled" Turbohydromatic 200, and one axle. The third engine was a salvage yard steel sleeved engine from a very low milage wreck. That engine lasted, but the rust eventually ate the car. I welded in new body panels over the years, but the rust was relentless. My Vega also had power steering and A/C. When that compressor engaged, it was like dragging a 55 gallon drum of concrete, though the A/C cars had a much larger radiator to help with cooling a little bit. The Vega introduced the cycling clutch, due to the TXV system not fitting under Vega's hood. The Vega also stood on end in rail cars for transport. I did like the styling John DeLorean did on the Vega though, a much better looking car than all the other compact economy cars of that era. My Vega was not that economical, as it only go about 20 mpg, plus the cost of keeping it going. I replaced it with a Ford Country Squire in 1981. Been driving Ford's since then.... but I still own a Chevrolet, a 59 Bel Air, which I owned before the Vega. Thats why I kept the Bel Air, the Vega was always braking down and the Bel Air always cranked right up and was always reliable.

The transmissions weren't much better.

The block was made out of the same grade aluminum as Briggs and Stratton used in their engines. I wonder when the light bulb moment was someone said " lets make a car engine out out of this SH**". Those Briggs bores would wear out very fast.

Great content as usual Adam!! Bravo!!!

Adam, I am a huge fan of your channel and watch every single episode. I did want to correct one piece of information that you had mentioned, and that’s that the Vega had a one by 1 foot radiator. That is definitely not the case. I know the radiators were about 26” by 20”. To your original point however, they were certainly undersized. To be fair to GM too though, no radiator was as small as 1 foot on any Vega that I know of. I am a former ASE master auto technician and worked for all of the big three at one time or another.

8 flipping dollars omg.

the japanese two stoke manufacturers used a nikasil coating on there bores but there is much more oil present on these designs and lower torque ratings.

I was an automotive machinist in the late 70s and a significant part of our business was patching up Vega engines. The wore out between 40 and 45,000 miles. I've bored those aluminum blocks to re-sleeve them with cast iron- the correct material for the job. Later models got the "Iron Duke" cast iron block, it was too little too late. The cam operated on a cup directly over the valves, it had no rockers or adjustment, hense the noise. They could get stuck and you had an instant burned valve. I did dozens of valve jobs on them. It was common to see rust holes on the top of the fenders over the front wheels. With no liners rocks and salty water were thrown against their underside which quickly ate through. Here's the kicker: many of the owners bought them new and still owed money on them. They were forced to spend good money to fix engines less than 3 years old. I spoke to angry people that had to fix it, they still owed money on it. This was during a major recession, inflation, and high unemployment. They could not afford to do otherwise. Reboring a cylinder including all the labor to remove it and put it back in was about 2 to 3 week's pay for a lot of people. I heard second hand tales of people driving their smoking, rusting 3 year old Vegas back the the dealerships, refusing to make any more payments, and throwing the keys at the salesman, and swearing they would never buy another GM car as long as they lived. GM sold a lot of Toyotas and Datsuns in the 80s.

I was 16 when i steel sleeved the engine for 200$. The car then ran for 165k. Very cool little car.

I remember back in high school auto shop, someone stuffed a 283 V8 into the engine bay of a Vega.

I looked at Vegas and Pintos as a first car. The Vega looked great to me. Couldn't quite do it, though, and bought a Super Beetle. Sad. Another case of an American manufacturer throwing the country away.

I had the Pontiac version of the Vega; the Astre. Mine was the very rare panel express model. And it was a bit later; 1974 IIRC. Instead of the earlier Open transmission version, it had the Saginaw which was far better, and had a nice solid shift. You can tell the difference because for the reverse lockout, the Open trans models had a round ring just below the shift know. The Saginaw had a chrome T to lift up on. Back at that time, I worked for a large Chev-Olds dealer and we drove a lot of those cars. The first time I drove one with the Saginaw tranny, I knew that I would buy one. It was a great car for the 2 years or so that I owned it.

I'm a GM guy. But what the heck were they thinking???? GM had soooo many great engines at this time.... until this. Uggg. Morons.

In its last days, my 71 Vega Notchback carried a case of motor oil in the trunk. We replaced the head gasket but it never solved the oil burning. The little cloud of blue smoke out the tailpipe was priceless. Oh, and the inner wheel wells rusted away in 4 years, kicking all the road water, snow, road salt, up into the engine bay. That was lovely.

Those little cars were great for v6 and v8 engine swaps. I saw and heard one...that was amazing. I think the first year was the best looking year. Thanks for sharing.

The Vega was a gift that kept giving as well. I remember friends and neighbors of my parents saying they weren't interested in a GM product because so and so down the road bought a Vega and had nothing but trouble with it. Though in the 70's and 80's there were so many troubles with all American brands that usually turned into people saying they weren't interested in any American car because they had seen so many problems with them. In the town where I lived people would drive 100 miles to buy a Datsun or Toyota rather than go to the local Ford, GM, Chrysler, or American Motors dealers. In a very short time you went from hardly ever seeing a foreign car to seeing them everywhere. We really blew it on that one.

I worked at a gas station during high school. News flash! You would pull in, stay in your car and someone would fill your tank wash your windshield and even check you oil and other fluids. All for the low price of 80 cents a gallon. The Vega was a favourite as we made commission on oil. "Check the gas and fill up the oil" was the joke with us attendants. A quart of oil was 1.25. I have seen EMPTY cans for sale for 5 bucks at vintage stores. Oh, but had I kept all those old Quaker State and Valvoline cans! Vega is a VERY rare sight.

Love watching one of these vids on my break

I loved my Vega. I rebuilt the motor and sleeved it fixed the head . I remachined and sleeved many Vega owners cars. Plus I made money ,hahaha they loved them and so did I. Us I had a Vega v8 racer .. great car .