U.S. Automotive History and the Chevy Vega
- Thread starter GURPS
- Start date
It was a crappy engine, but when you dropped a 350 in it it was a good car for a while. The next problem though was the car was built for a tiny engine and when you nailed the gas on the SBC eventually it twisted the frame.
mitzi
Well-Known Member
I know. I'd have the pedal to the floor and it still wouldn't get up any speed. It would be a little scary at times.
mitzi
Well-Known Member
That's what I thought it was, but I figured there had to be a more technical name for it!
There may be, I don't know
My two forays in to the POS car world were a 1974 Gremlin X, totaled when a girl putting on her makeup ran the red light. It really wasn't a bad car and I never had to put much in it but it was just so stark. And my pinnacle of buying crap was a 1976 Fiat 128 3P. I had to carry a spare clutch cable because they broke every 5-10K and the oil sender units would start leaking every few K miles. My grumpy old man named it Mussolini's Revenge but he did help me keep it going.
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I've been lucky I guess...have owned countless cars and trucks since the early 70s and not one of them were in the turd category. I sure wish like hell I could get some of them back though:
1963 El Dorado convertible
1966 Mustang (two..both V8 4-speeds..one was a GT)
1957 Chevy Bel Air..with a '67 vette 327 in it
1967 Jaguar XJ6
1964 Buick Riviera
1970 Road Runner, 440-6 pack, 4 speed.
1972 Pantera
1959 Triumph Tr3
1975 Lincoln Continental 2-dr
..and a ton of '66-77 Broncos...'78-95 Broncos and pickups...and more old VWs (including two Meyers Manxs) than I could possibly count.
If we'd only known...
1963 El Dorado convertible
1966 Mustang (two..both V8 4-speeds..one was a GT)
1957 Chevy Bel Air..with a '67 vette 327 in it
1967 Jaguar XJ6
1964 Buick Riviera
1970 Road Runner, 440-6 pack, 4 speed.
1972 Pantera
1959 Triumph Tr3
1975 Lincoln Continental 2-dr
..and a ton of '66-77 Broncos...'78-95 Broncos and pickups...and more old VWs (including two Meyers Manxs) than I could possibly count.
If we'd only known...
I neglected to mention my $40.00 brush painted Kelly Green 1961 Rambler station wagon. For a young high schooler it was Caesars Chariot. It made many beer trips for Friday nights at the lake and with the back seat folded down it made quite a comfortable place for young ladies and I to read the bible and quote scriptures. It was actually a really good solid car. Alas, my errant brother tried to play Baja race driver with it and smoked the tranny.
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Kinnakeet
Well-Known Member
440 6 PACK 4 SPEED CAR TRY TO FIND OR BUY 1 NOW..THOSE THINGS WERE FASTER THEN THE HEMI POWERED CARS
GregV814
Well-Known Member
1966 mustang, 1965 Chevy Van, 1965 MGB, (2)1931 Model A's, 1967 Cutlass, several 1950-52 chevy coupes, 1937 Ford, 1939 Master Deluxe, 76 Monza (crap), 73 Polara, 69 Nova, 3 Model A trucks, 52 chevrolet 1 ton panel, 65 austin Healy sprite, 76 TurdBird, 2 vettes, 84 elcamino, 70 Impala, 67 F100 shortbed, 85 silverado, ...... lost count...
worst car without a doubt was the 1976 Monza....worst, worst
worst car without a doubt was the 1976 Monza....worst, worst
SandieGarry
Well-Known Member
My first car was a brand new Chevette. Bought it at Ritter's Chevrolet in Mechanicsville. Kept it for about 4 years. Great little car, drove from Mechanicsville to Alexandria, Va every day for work.
Chevette's were not terrible ...... just slow and under powered
my EX FIL had a 1979 model .... he put a $ 50 Core Motor or long block that was lying over in the dirt, at the junk yard swapped over all the stuff ... and put about 80k miles on that car as a courier
my EX FIL had a 1979 model .... he put a $ 50 Core Motor or long block that was lying over in the dirt, at the junk yard swapped over all the stuff ... and put about 80k miles on that car as a courier
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Grumpy
Well-Known Member
This post made me think and try to count the cars I had at one time or another..Worst of the lot was a 74 Vega, then a 72 Capri. Best car I had was probably an 06 Mustang GT..Had 186k miles on it when I got rid of it, still ran like it was new. Never burnt oil, only issue I had was changing plugs, big problem with those engines. Had a 63 Mercury Marauder with a 390 that you could stand next to and never know it was running..Quietest idling car I've ever been around. When this thread started, I would have guessed I had had around 25 cars over my lifetime, earlier today went back through the years counting and got up to 35 cars, lot of memories with all of them.
yeah I've had a bunch .... all through the 90's various VW Beetles ... a 78 VW Westfalia , 85 Ford LTD .... in the 2000's still driving a 69 Baja Bug ... then I bought this 95 Saturn that already had 135k and put on a 125,000 in 12 yrs ... probably the longest I ever had a vehicle besides an 83 Jeep Cherokee Full Size [ last yr the Cherokee nameplate was on a Wagoneer - in 84 the XJ came out and that was the Jeep Cherokee from there on out The Wagoneer FJ was the Grand Wagoneer after that ]
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
My dad's broke a timing belt (chain?) Out in the middle of no where. My mom and I sat in it for two hours until he came back with a tow truck, some cows were starting to get curious about it sitting there.
black dog
Free America
The Chevette and the T1000 had a timing belt, the ones that tended to break timing belts also had P/S and A/C and the crankshaft pulley bolt snapped and the crankshaft belt pulley went forward and that allowed the bottom timing belt drive gear to so walk forward on the crankshaft and shut down the engine... Thus having the need to drill out the broken bolt and setup both timing belt gears and install a new belt.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
Yep both his had PS and AC, I think they were Chevette LE
black dog
Free America
I drilled out dozens when I worked as a line mechanic for Tom Hatton Pontiac in Rockville as a young man. LOL...