A little spare time to think. Remembering my Chevy Vega..

I remember my step-father deciding to get a Vega over a VW Beetle. I
think it was in 1972. The Vega lasted two years before it was rusted
beyond repair. I remember reading a joke somewhere that said that it was
actually constructed out of compressed rust.

At least during the two years it lasted there was no engine trouble.

 

I've had good luck with 60's Ramblers. '63 Classic, and a
'66....great cars, and the front seat folded down to the rear
seat......perfect.

My brother now has 5 of them, all on good running condition...

'60 Classic (flat head 6), '65 Marlin, '67 Ambassador Convertible
(with an AMC 327), '65 Classic Wagon....hmm, I can't recall the last
one at this senior moment.

 

You would be very wrong... In Europe, many people buy for quality,
or at least perceived quality. Fiat and Lancia suck in this perception
outside of Italia. People outside Italy buy Fiat largely on price.

The quality has improved, but years of rustbucket shitteaux Fiats
still leave a lot of buyers cold.

Many Europeans will not buy a British version of a car (such as GM or
Ford), preferring the German versions. The British have bragged
about quality for years, but sucked.

 

You are right... Only the Sunnen hone treatment could hope to return
one of those shitty engine cylinders to hopefully useable conditions. They
burnished the aluminum away from the granules of silicon (simply put)
in the original process. Sleeving may have worked.. I dont know.

These were truly putzes of an engine.

Mercedes Benz currently uses aluminum alloys that are somewhat similar.

These blocks can only be machined in a few places in the USA (and the
only one I know of is on the West Coast). Last count, it cost $3500 to
machine and refinish a Mercedes block of this type.

 

Yes, but Mercedes and BMW engines are far less likely to need such
service...

nate

 

1000% right. We had one about a year or so ago. But it is unusual for
one of them to fail in this way. I thought all the Vega alloy engines
failed,
but as I posted early, even the worst manufacturer in the world will
occasionally let a good one slip through.

 

I'm not sure why you would say I was wrong. I made no comment about the
quality of Fiat cars nor did I say anything about what Europeans are
looking for when they buy a car.

Obviously, most people would rather have a Mercedes or a Lexus but the
reality is that most people settle for a Chevy over here and a Fiat(or
VW) in Europe.

 

IME VW is a LARGE cut above Chevy... at least the A4 GTI I had felt
like a little luxury car inside, and I had no real problems with it save
for the #@$%@#$ window issues. My mom now loves it too :/ (gotta
figure out how to get her to buy a new car so I can have it back...)

nate

 

I loved the VWs I've had. They did have some problems with the valve
stem seals and the fuse boxes on the early FWD cars. Killer rust
problems. As it goes, any car has it's weak points, well, Chevys and VWs
and Fiats, anyway.

 

Was it true that those 'Special' Vegas came from the factory with
a free case of 24 cans of oil in the trunk, and a special engraved
chrome plated magnetic oil can/spout opener stuck to the
firewall under the hood?

 

Even some dogs can extrude turds that have style.

The KGB quietly bought them all up (running or not) after the Berlin
Wall fell. They wanted their "special electronic equipment" back.

 

My neighbor who had extensive experience with Vegas stated that the
average life of an engine (from new) was about 75K. Sleeving at that
point would make it good for another 200K if the rest of the car held up
and did not rust away...

JT

 

Never saw any sign of rust on mine, but I did live in GA. Average
engine
life about 75k? What was the average life of most engines of the
era? I can
remember cars back then with 50k that looked like they were about
ready
for the junk pile. A lot of it has to do with the owners. I smile
when I remember
back in 1990 when I bought a new Mazda. I overheard a dimwitted
neighbor
tell another neighbor that Mazdas were junk and broke down all the
time.
I still have the car and it still runs as well as my '09 Honda, no
shimmy
either.

Also, IIRC the Vega I had was only about $2K, maybe a little more.
That's less than $10K in 2008 dollars.

 

I can vividly remember breaking the 100 K mile barrier as being the
reason to celebrate. Having said that I also remember my 61 - 225 push
button automatic Valiant having 235 K on the clock.

 

Any car that was reasonably maintained could expect an engine to last at
least to 125K.


I can

Again, it's the issue of maintenance.


I smile

All of my Hondas have more than 100K but they are old. I refuse to own
any car that has a computer and the dreaded "check engine" light.

And for that you can buy a new Kia or Hyundai with 100K/ten year warranties.

JT

 

Yes, almost any well maintained vehicle of the era could exceed 200K.

My old Studebaker T-Cab which I sold a couple of years ago was pushing
300K in actual miles and yes, the engine was beginning to show signs of
being "tired."

JT

 

Had one of those Valiants....got pretty rusted after a lot of years in
NJ winters with road salts. The body didn't even feel like it was
attached to the frame, and the gas gauge was making a hard right hand
turn....if you smelled gas, you had some. Didn't think much about it
then (young and dumb), but now it's pretty seems quite scary.

 

A friend of mine had a Vega back in the day, and considering
that he drove the living dog crap out of the thing, I think it held
up ok. I mean he tortured that car, and drove it like it was a
four banger race car. He tortured everything he drove.
His gas pedal had two positions. Idle, and full throttle. :/

I never had one, but I did have a 77 Chevette back in the 80's.
I never had any real trouble with it. It was eventually totaled
when a 16 year old clown decided to smack my drivers side
with his parents Impala. We were out in the country on a
dirt road, and he was playing Dukes of Hazzard. He came
flying around a corner nearly sideways and I left the road
trying to avoid him, but he still smacked me right in my
drivers door. Pushed the door into the left side of the dash.
I had three people in the car and no one was hurt. I was
wearing a belt, and besides having glass in my hair, no
damage. But the car was toast.
I also rented new Chevettes back in the day from time to time.
I liked them cuz they sipped gas compared to most of the
stuff out there. I probably got 35 mpg on the road which was
not too bad. But on long trips it could get to you because
there was very little room to move your legs around.
But the hatchback was handy. Back then I always had
killer stereos in cars, and I had home speaker systems
laying in the back. It was fairly kick ass.

 

Bwaaaahaha. Memories. I had a '59 Rumbler, stick 6 ("the only foreign car
made in America"). Having done the "nasty" in the front seat of a Hillman
Minx, which requires great agility, effort and concentration, that instant
bedroom feature was a spectacular upgrade. It was also extremely reliable.
The thing would start before you could let go of the key. Also had a '60
American rag top. Very cute, but a real pile of crap, mechanically. Go
figure.

Regarding Vegas, I once had a girlfriend who drove one with that gawdawful
lime green paint. Had to let her go..........................

;-{

 

Anyone that has ever gotten twisted up in the steering column up front
has always appreciated the good sense Ramble had with the fold down
seat design. If they had sold more of them, we might have had another
generation of "baby boomers"...