I personally worked on the car Don is driving. I am 71 years old, and it's the 2nd Cosworth I've ever been arround The first was when I was an apprentice at NASA Langley Research Center in 1977. A guy that I worked with had one just like this one. The car you see here is a nice upgrade to the Vega as compared to the 4 cylinder that came in the car from the manufacturer. Regardless still a cool car to drive!!! Thanks Don for mentioning our team and all the work we did to provide you a car that you can enjoy driving and share with everyone!! Respectfully Joe Epps, Audrain Motorsport/Museum Automotive Team
Ps : thank You, for commenting……I had a thought briefly, on one of these, but ,defaulted in 1976 to ordering a1977 Trans Am/SPECIAL ED/ loaded/Hurst Hatch ( kind of from seeing the “”Black/ Gold 1976;50 TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION TR@NS AM””). Incidentally, my 1977 TA/ SE seemed to be best driver , Driving We ever had..(* admittedly, I had to use HO PARTS, NUNZI PONTIAC, KONI STUFF to power up)
Brings back memories. I never had a Cosworth but I had 2 Vegas; both of which I bought with 4 bangers and later converted to V8s. They were fun little cars to drive.
Back around 1980 I bought a used 74 Vega hatchback and, as usual, after awhile that aluminum engine started burning oil. I got a sleeved short block and put a hotter cam, bigger carb, headers, low flow muffler and A60 tires and mags on it. It was my little roller skate hot rod. You hear of all the problems with the Vega but, outside of the engine, I didn't have any of that. Of all the cars I've owned , that is definitely my favorite. But you know what, if I wasn't in a wheelchair I would love to track down a Cosworth Vega.
Love the Chevy Cosworth Vega, I believe it was the first Chevy to have electronic fuel injection, last car show of the season there was a really nice low mileage original owner 75 black and gold one. 👍
I've always liked the Cosworth Vega. I personally like the dark red ones but I think the black paint must have been more common as many that are still around are that colour. I've seen white and green ones as well. It's a shame these better engines weren't engineered and offered right from the start. The Vega could have been a legend by now. My dad had two of the standard ones (one was an Astre) and they were comfortable cars that felt much more comfortable that the imports of the time but once that blue smoke started from the tailpipe... When Dad's little Astre (sort of a red-brown colour in hatchback form) started blowing blue I begged him to let me take it to my shop class and drop in a small block Chevy or even a V6 but he only considered for about a day and then traded it off. Shame in my eyes. Of course I probably would have totaled it if the V8 had been installed.
I will never forget: early one autumn morning my father and I were going somewhere. The sun had not fully risen and I saw the silhouette of this car. Dark Blue and its stance seemed so tough. I must have been 15 and I liked the car! But, before I even knew it, the car was in the shop NEVER to be seen again! I believe the engine melted! Very cool to see it again!
Owned two Vegas both GT models... Fastback and Camback. Always thought they were a nice looking car although under powered. I believe that they had iron blocks and an aluminum heads. The early 60s GM all aluminum 219 V-8s were about the same weight.
😂 Glorious seatbelts .. I'd pull them all the way out and use a clothespin to hold the slack out ..🤷 Vega was a great car for a motor swap 👍 I used a 1964 Buick 300 4 barrel in mine 😉👍 Happy Motoring ✌️
It looks like the seats were reupholstered with a different vinyl and the hoop for the shoulder belt is missing. If you look, you would see a plastic tab at his chest saying "Read Owners Manual". This tab is to adjust to the hoop, so the belt wouldn't creep up.
I had a standard 1973 Vega. Really enjoyed driving it but living in the Midwest it rusted away in front of my eyes. It also burned so much oil I knew I had to add two quarts every week!
In the early 1980’s, I learned to drive behind the wheel of a Red Orange ‘76 Vega GT with a five-speed. While certainly not a straight line performer, it was delightfully nimble on curvy secondary roads. The Vega turned in well, braked more than adequately, and the modest horsepower insures that oversteer doesn’t bite an unwary, inexperienced driver. What a great learning tool. I’ve long held the belief that it is more fun to drive a slow car fast, than to drive a fast car slowly.
The Cosworth package almost made it as fast as a 6 cylinder. But the package was better than the steel sleeve aluminum block. It was a designed failure to bring back Camaros.
Way to much credit to this automobile. You think he would be trying to sell it today. My step mother had one back in the day and it was average at best. When we are comparing the automobile to the Pinto you know where we are at. The Pinto was worse not better but they are only worth mentioning because they are a part of history.
Don's remark that the Vega was not built as well as the Pinto is the most damning review of a car that you could imagine. Putting a Cosworrth into a Vega is the literal embodiment of putting lipstick on a pig.
Not any different than Ford Europe putting a Cosworth in an Escort. Same size car, same market segment. Yet one is remembered and the other one forgotten. Now that's because the Escort Cosworth has a racing history and the Vega doesn't, but had the Cosworth Vega come out in the early 70s, I think the story might have been quite a bit different.
As long as it is legal to ride bicycle in traffic to go buy smokes, it should be legal to buy and drive new cars with no more safety equipment than these have. Just imagine what a car like this would be able to get for mileage with the modern turbo 4 and a 6 speed.
nothing really wrong with the Vaga, everyone blames the engine aluminum. no less, but it wasn't the engine it was the cooling, engines shouldn't at the drop of a hat overheat if they didn't, they wouldn't warp, Americans just couldn't get with the aluminum engine program those early years. Ford Chrysler did it too
I lost a car enthusiast friend who left one of these. Original unrestored low milage barn find. Similarly stored when new. This is a barn find that I do not have the heart to pursue. Too sad. I just wanted to mention to any car enthusiast folks that there is another unknown one here in the Golden State. I understand it has been stored from when new until now. The car is not for me. Too sad.
Back in the day the Europeans and Japanese were very good at making small cars feel big while here in the US, the auto companies made their small cars feel like shrunk down big cars. They just couldn’t get it right. My cousin had a regular Vega. It was a piece of crap. Sorry.
That car was junk from day one. No power even with that cosworth treatment. Adjusting valves is an all day affair. The hot set up back then was to swap in a small block v8.
More context: the 1976 Corvette was rated at just 180hp for the base L-48 and 210hp for the L-82. These were very dark times for (non-exotic/domestic) performance.
At 110 hp that puts it only about 35 hp more than the regular Vega GT. For all the complexity and expense it truly wasn’t much more of a thrill to drive than the standard one. Your money would’ve been much better spent buying a Corvette. Back in the day, I test drove one and didn’t think it was worth the price by a long shot.
I bought a 75 Cosworth (number 1103) in 2006 and kept t for about 6 years or so. It was a lot of fun. Mine had the Saginaw 4 speed, and plastic chin spoiler and deck lid spoiler, and a white interior. The 5 speed was only available in 1976 as an option. Regarding the seat belt, it looks like this one in the video is missing the seat belt guide that attached at the headrest area of the seat. They were very common on most of the mid 70s GM bucket seats (e.g. Camaros, etc), so tracking a set town shouldn’t be too hard.
Last ditched effort to save a real bad car with a real bad motor. It started with a car that has a 0 to 60 in 19 seconds smoking all the way, to a car that raced to 60 on 16 seconds.
The production Cosworth Vega was rated at an unimpressive 110 hp. All the talk about how fast they were is pure mythology. I was a tech at a big Chevy dealership from 1971-77 and worked on and drove quite a few of them. I wasn't impressed. And then there was the problem with the hard to find and ridiculously over-priced Cosworth parts (and the usual severe rust problems that the Cosworth shared with all Vegas). I guess somebody who would think a DeLorean was a good car might like a Cosworth Vega?
My brother bought one of these in 1976. I renamed it the Cosworthless Vega. That engine was a piece of crap. It spent more time in the shop than the garage. I went with my brother from Mpls to OKC and by the time we got there it was running on 2 cylinders. That was just one of the many times it failed. Good riddance to that piece of crap.
Wow《☆》A pristine less than 200 mile Cosworth Vega. I was trying to zoom in on the Grille during the exterior driving footage. Apparently it was a Large Leaf getting sucked in. Much better than a Chevette or Garden Variety Vega✌🏼😎☯️
GM in the mid/late 70s could only be described as hapless. I owned a 78 Olds and it was junk when it came off the line. I traded it on an Accord in 86 and was grateful the dealer didn’t charge me to take the Olds to the junkyard.
My first car was a 1973 Vega. All I did was pour money into it. A very poorly built car. In the end the piece that went from the rear end to hold it in place pulled out from where it attached due to rust out/stress. Almost flipped the car when that happened. Had the same thing happen when a Vega GT landed in my lap. I kind of laugh at those saying how great they were for V-8 swaps. They couldn't handle the four cylinder or normal driving without falling apart. Really to safely put a V-8 in them you have to put a race chassis under them. Its a shame as I really liked the mini Camaro look of the Vega. GM wasn't known for building quality cars then and more than any of the other big three drove Americans to buy Japanese. They were Rot boxes also in that time period.
I knew a guy in the service that had two of them. He was the expert on them. One he daily drove to work and the other one was his car he drove on special occasions to keep the miles and condition preserved. At the time we all had cheap muscle cars that could easily dust one of those. I never thought much of them. This video explains many things he used to talk about. It was comical hearing him brag about how great his Cosworth Vegas were. We all kind of snickered back then. An expensive Vega with a special high revving little motor that our three to four hundred horse motors could blow by. Of course it got mileage and could handle well which we could not afford but we just laughed at those Vegas. They were no threat to what we had for moving fast.
I started driving during the OPEC days. Sadly, I've never owned a V8. All 4-bangers or V6's. I completely get the snickers and smirks from the muscle car guys. Hard for me to win any water cooler talks with, "No, it's not fast. But it's quick as dammit and handles like a rabbit." Major "fun to drive" ratio. Some V8 guys just can't get used to having their butts that close to the ground (w/road noise) on a daily basis - after years of bigger/muscle cars. I get it.
260HP? that would have been way better than the Vet at that time! Too bad they didn't keep it because it would have been a praised car. I had a 1975 Vega and when I went to the service stations I would check the gas and fill the oil. It was too slow to even outrun it's own exhaust! Not to say you would get zero dates when they saw what you were driving.
I worked at a garage in the mid late 80s. I was in my early 20s. One of our main repairs was radiators and heater cores. We had to put a heater core in a Cosworth Vega. It was a pretty expensive repair and the customer was not happy with the bill. Used to see them every now and then but have not in about 20 years now. I know people bought them and put them away thinking they would be worth some money one day but I do not think they ever rose much above the original sticker price. They may be worth more now I do not know. One of my brothers had about 3 Vegas . One notchback , one was a wagon and one was a GT. They looked nice but were really cheap made. I remember Pontiac came out with the Astre (rebadged Vega) and ended up putting a Iron Duke 4 cyl in it because the Chevy motor was such hot garbage.
The Iron Duke in the Astre was a reliable game changer. The Iron Duke was originally a Chevy 250 inline six redesigned with two center cylinders removed and made into a four cylinder for use in the Chevy Nova in the mid sixties. Pontiac installed an aluminum head in place of a Chevy cast iron head.
The Vega was one of the first to be robotically welded -- we made components for the UniMate robots that welded them. They also pioneered running the pistons on aluminum -- Reynolds 390 -- that became more widespread. The original 2.3 litre had an iron head and all aluminum block, which when overheated, ruined the block. The Cosworth was an innovative design with its fuel injection and stainless headers - my Dad had one. Later you could get different colors, but as far as I know, none had airconditioning as an option. The steering was heavy with its Goodyear tires, the shifting of the (Muncie?) four speed was clunky and the clutch was a bear. GM was an innovative company --perhaps it still is if you look at the C8 Corvette - they even shipped the Vegas vertically in special train cars! My Dad always liked unique cars, but this one was not missed when we sold it.
The Vega was so unique and innovative on all levels. From the all aluminum engine to the neat body style to the special battery that had to be designed because of the special rail cars it was transported in, nose down. Funny how the hood bulge and protruding headlights remind me of my Triumph GT6 MK3 slightly.
To this day I still think the fastback Vega was a beautiful style in the sheet-metal department. I always marvelled that a big company like GM couldn't put a decent inline 4, a V-6, or even a small V-8 under the hood instead of staying with their own failed 4 cylinder engine.
Great video. I loved the appearance of the 2nd Gen Vegas to begin with. But with both Vega and Pinto, there were known quality issues. This car (per the internet which is always right) had 140hp (give/take) and a '76 MSRP of $5995.00. For context, my '77 Corolla SR5 Liftback had
These cars had an aluminum engine that destroyed the mark. Good looking body though. This would be the only one worth owning to collect. But no thanks for the rest. My neighbor growing up had a Vega. And that car sounded like a bucket of bolts rattling down the street. 😂 ❤💙😁👍😎
I knew a man who purchased one new in 1976. He liked it a lot after waiting for it quite awhile. My best memory of it is it failing to start after a sports car club event the first time he brought it out to show it off. Ignition module I believe was the problem. It was a very beautiful car.
I grew up in the 80's and I don't recall ever seeing a Vega other than on television. But I have always liked the styling of them. Same with the Monza that came later. I would love to have either of them. I would be happy with one that was barely roadworthy
I disagree. Exterior styling is very poor and unattractive, especially the front end, but overall too. AND, despite what you may believe, it has NOTHING in common with the Great European Designs of the time or earlier. THOSE had CHARACTER, they were ICONIC, this is NOT.
In the winter of 1973-1974 I was working in sales at a Chevy dealership in southwest Connecticut. Chevy issued press releases on the Cosworth Vega as early as 1973 and we had people coming into the dealership interested in one. Unfortunately, the only people at the dealership who even heard of one were guys like me who read the sports car magazines. By the time the Cosworth was available the reputation of the Vega was in the sewer and a person could buy a Datsun 280Z, that was actually a good car, for the same or less than a Cosworth. The stock Vega engine was cast from silicon/aluminum and iron cylinder liners were NOT used. Needless to say the, the engines would wear out well before 50,000 miles and like all cars at the time it had serious body rust problems. In other words the Vega had a reputation for being a pile of junk by the time it was paid off.
My late friend had a Vega cam back wagon as I believe it was called. Compared to the Pinto, it was a much nicer looking vehicle, particularly the inside. However, the poorly engineered aluminum block self destructed at 11,000 miles and he got rid of it. I bought a '73 Pinto hatch back and put 43,000 trouble free miles on it and only sold it when I moved to Florida (no A/C). The Olds dealer commented on how clean and new it looked and decided to buy it for his son in Georgia. I purchased and Olds Starfire - same as Chevy Monza, with the odd firing V6 and 4 speed. Never understood why they made it odd firing? It was a torquey little mother but it had 14" wheels that always felt out of balance. The dealer tried different rims and tires but it still had an annoying vibe over 40-45 mph. That was the last GM car I ever owned. My choice if I were looking to buy a Corvair based vehicle would be John Fitch's one off Phoenix. The plan was to build 500, but Ralph Nader's book, Unsafe at Any Speed killed that.
A friend of my dad bought one as a grad presentnfor his daughteR. She was a good driver and loved it right up until a hot summet day when the dash curled up like a taco.
I had one of these - one of the first 1975 models with a low three-digit serial number. As soon as it was announced in "Road and Track" (or was it "Motor Trend?"), I rushed down to the local Chevrolet dealership, Cable Chevrolet in Independence, Missouri, and ordered one. About a year later, it showed up - and wasn't the same car. Over the year between the announcement and the actual delivery, the performance had been clobbered by additional mandated emission controls. Also important. This is a Cosworth designed DOHC fuel-injected 16-valve HEAD on a standard Vega aluminum block! That head is the only thing "Cosworth" about it. Other? The "turned gold dash" is a decal that deteriorated over time. The gold "Minilite"-looking wheels also turned gray rapidly along with the gold pinstriping. In short, just another Vega - "with aspirations." A nasty, underperforming, quality-control nightmare of a disaster.
I remember seeing one exactly this color in 1984 at a car lot in the showroom. I believe they wanted like under 4000. Looked low mileage. I knew it was a special car then at 18. For under 4K they had a 1971 Dodge Charger with a 440 4 speed and in a beautiful red color and black top. OR A 1967 Buick GS 400 4-speed for 2995 because Nobody wanted a Buick like a Chevelle.i went to the Air Force and i wish i had bought the Buick. Love the Bowtie by the way. It goes with the car. Get it Chevy Bowtie. Lol great review. Hello from Lubbock Texas. You are very articulate . Thanks
I have a regular space model 1976 Chevy Vega and it is somewhere to Vega that I learned how to drive on when I was a little boy. My 76 Vega just turned 30,000 miles, and runs like a champ and is very solid, but I do not let it in the snow or get rained on. I would like to get the bright orange repainted to a nice blue.
The Vaga came out in 1971 and it had one of the worst engines ever built next to the tin Crosley engine . I mean the engine was bad really bad . The body of the Vaga was not ugly and may even be beautiful for the most part . Got to remember the Vaga was to be an affordable compact car . So GM cant put in the suspension it needed to make a true sporting car . But to compete with Ford and Chrysler 's compact cars like the Pinto and Colt . Basic as it gets of the time . This was do to the growing Japans auto market as well that started it all some 13 years earlier . GM's idea . GM hands Cosworth this Isuzu engine to make something of it . Cosworth put a twin cam head on it and called it good for the day . GM added black paint and Gold stripes and a little bits of everything else then called it a day . Cheap junk bling . What GM should have done was to make up their own engine being ether an all aluminum V8 or a supercharged I-4 in it and call it a year . But Amirican auto companies are cheap and do vary little to really make a car . So GM comes up with this Turd and called it good . In 1971 Ford had came up with the Pinto . A vary well robust german engines of 1.6 L I-4 engine and the 2.0 L I4 engine . Then later came up with the 2.3 L I-4 German engine . A lot of people thought these engines was from England . Well that was not so true . The engine was German Design the product out of WW2 and so was the Ford V6 2.6 - 3.0 . It was Ford of Germany that produce these engines before , during and after the WW2 . Yes Ford had operating plants in Germany during WW2 . The government knew it . Those German Ford plants was never bombed . All the while Henry Ford never seen Prison in his part of the war . OK I am done being piss off . GM is know better . Because GM was dealing with Japan during the same War . . These bog companies away with everything . The real traitors are the ones that sets in office . Then and now . Not just the Democrates . It is to the fault of the GOP . Yes I made political .
Nor quit as good as a what??? A Pinto! But cost as much as a Vett. Humm. I had a 1973 new it came from the factory wired WRONG. Go figure wouldn't change the battery at times. Chevy fix that and I wasn't a bad car for first new car for me. It was 1800 dollars and best part of it all it got some really good gas mileage. With a 10 gallon tank. But forget about it in the snow useless in the snow. Anything more then an inch . LoL
Kinda like putting a 60's hemi in a Studebaker! "lipstick on a pig?" If they took all the emissions crap off the mill, the car would have performed very reasonably.
I owned several Chevy Vegas in the 1970s-1980s. They were very dependable cars when maintained well. With all the bad reviews about Vegas they were cheap cars to buy.
I think this was a fun review, but I have to think that even Cosworth engineering could not save the Vega. Admittedly my experience was with the Pontiac variant, but the handling and feel of the car was that GM wanted to make CHEAP car as opposed to a small car. They wanted you to hate it so you would buy a full size car.
People think modern vehicles are an improvement over cars from the 60's to 80's. But i completely disagree. Engine technology and occupant safety has been improved. But due to regulations they've been taken to extremes. The 80's was the last good decade for American cars. And it wasn't great. But compared to the garbage crossovers people drive today. I'd rather have the worst 80's car than one of the disposable appliances made today
No matter what is under the hood no doubt the worst vehicle ever built. If you didn't need a vehicle it was the one you wanted to own. The list of problems, horrible design, horrible engineering and horrible build quality is endless. At best they were 25,000 mile cars.
just saw one just like this on marketplace maybe 2 months ago somewhere around the Seattle area. it obviously wasn't as nice as this one, but it wasn't bad everything was there, you find a lot of old cars in the PNW we don't have the salt...
There was one of these near where I lived in late 80's, good looking car and had a JPS color scheme. The engine was always intriguing, but they made a few of worse cars ever top ten list.
I actually thought we were going to make it through a whole episode without Donald over-pronouncing something. We were so close..... I'd hate to be around him when he orders a burrrrrrrito !
When people my age hear "Cosworth Twin Cam" thoughts go to the 3-Liter DFV Ford V8 that Cosworth designed and built for the Lotus 49B that Jim Clark raced in F1. This car is no Lotus and Colin Chapman had nothing to do with its design. It's just an old Chevrolet Vega with an OK small engine for its time. The Corvette was a much better car for the price at the time.
This car was a blast to drive in its day . I had 2 v8 camaros and my boss and friend had the orange cosworth that i used to run arands for him in , the tone of the engine and pipes sounded great. It handled good too . wasnt anything like a regular vega.
Saw an ad in Hemmings motor news many years ago. It was the third one built and that the first two were junked. Same block as the regular Vega. Had a different head. Same overheating problems.
Where did you get your info from? 0001 has been at Sloan museum complete with clear hood. The Cosworth did not suffer from overheating, nor did the standard vega by the 74 model. Neglect would cause the earlier engine to overheat, and Chevrolet even offered owners a retrofit free through the dealers on earlier engines. They also had a 60k mile warranty on the dura built motors in the later models, and that is the same 2.3 as the earlier engines, not the iron Duke engine.
Like I said. It was from an ad in Hemmings Motor News. I never checked the validity of the ad as I would have never purchased a Vega under any conditions. Worked as a Chevy technician in the 70's and all I did was replace Vega engine blocks for 23 months. The two Cosworth we sold both had engine failure. The 1974 models for some reason were not included in the Government forced free engine replacement. The people who had 1974 models with bad engines were pissed! The twin cam cosworth gave a miniscule amount of extra horsepower over the one cam engine due to pollution controls added that year. All Vegas were junk. In my and many other's opinions it was the worst car ever produced in the U.S. @@07ssmonte
Awesome look back - just subscribed! These were around SoCal when I was a kid in the mid late ‘70s lol. I like your Mario Andretti impersonation ha 🇮🇹🇺🇸🇬🇧🏁
I'd guess the Cosworth had only 14" or 15" tires (much better than a stock Vega), but nothing like tire technology now. Some new compacts ('sport' models) come with 18's out of the box. As a younger man I would've been ruining rims and the low sidewall tires for sure (potholes, etc).
I'd be surprised if Cosworth were to blame for the poor reliability as they have a good reputation in that area. Sometimes the problem lies in the installation, Maclaren F1 found that out the hard way when they partnered with Honda and rushed the development of the engine inside the tight engine space. Honda went on to win championships with Red Bull Racing.
Put 90k on mine and sold it. I outgrew the car and parts were hard to get . Only had one problem with the Bendix electronic fuel injection. It would idle at 75 RPM as I drove it to the Cosworth expert at the dealer, it was a broken wire. Name me any engine that will idle at 75 RPM to drive. After that only miner maintenance .
Maybe it's the trick of the camera but I don't remember Vegas looking this good. I was passed by one heading south toward New York after the Canadian Gran Prix many years ago. It was quick.
I personally worked on the car Don is driving. I am 71 years old, and it's the 2nd Cosworth I've ever been arround
The first was when I was an apprentice at NASA Langley Research Center in 1977. A guy that I worked with had one just like this one. The car you see here is a nice upgrade to the Vega as compared to the 4 cylinder that came in the car from the manufacturer. Regardless still a cool car to drive!!! Thanks Don for mentioning our team and all the work we did to provide you a car that you can enjoy driving and share with everyone!! Respectfully Joe Epps, Audrain Motorsport/Museum Automotive Team
Ps : thank You, for commenting……I had a thought briefly, on one of these, but ,defaulted in 1976 to ordering a1977 Trans Am/SPECIAL ED/ loaded/Hurst Hatch ( kind of from seeing the “”Black/ Gold 1976;50 TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION TR@NS AM””). Incidentally, my 1977 TA/ SE seemed to be best driver , Driving We ever had..(* admittedly, I had to use HO PARTS, NUNZI PONTIAC, KONI STUFF to power up)
Awesome great story - thanks for sharing!
Brings back memories. I never had a Cosworth but I had 2 Vegas; both of which I bought with 4 bangers and later converted to V8s. They were fun little cars to drive.
Back around 1980 I bought a used 74 Vega hatchback and, as usual, after awhile that aluminum engine started burning oil. I got a sleeved short block and put a hotter cam, bigger carb, headers, low flow muffler and A60 tires and mags on it. It was my little roller skate hot rod. You hear of all the problems with the Vega but, outside of the engine, I didn't have any of that. Of all the cars I've owned , that is definitely my favorite. But you know what, if I wasn't in a wheelchair I would love to track down a Cosworth Vega.
Love the Chevy Cosworth Vega, I believe it was the first Chevy to have electronic fuel injection, last car show of the season there was a really nice low mileage original owner 75 black and gold one. 👍
I've always liked the Cosworth Vega. I personally like the dark red ones but I think the black paint must have been more common as many that are still around are that colour. I've seen white and green ones as well. It's a shame these better engines weren't engineered and offered right from the start. The Vega could have been a legend by now. My dad had two of the standard ones (one was an Astre) and they were comfortable cars that felt much more comfortable that the imports of the time but once that blue smoke started from the tailpipe... When Dad's little Astre (sort of a red-brown colour in hatchback form) started blowing blue I begged him to let me take it to my shop class and drop in a small block Chevy or even a V6 but he only considered for about a day and then traded it off. Shame in my eyes. Of course I probably would have totaled it if the V8 had been installed.
I will never forget: early one autumn morning my father and I were going somewhere. The sun had not fully risen and I saw the silhouette of this car. Dark Blue and its stance seemed so tough. I must have been 15 and I liked the car! But, before I even knew it, the car was in the shop NEVER to be seen again! I believe the engine melted! Very cool to see it again!
Owned two Vegas both GT models... Fastback and Camback. Always thought they were
a nice looking car although under powered. I believe that they had iron blocks and an aluminum
heads. The early 60s GM all aluminum 219 V-8s were about the same weight.
😂 Glorious seatbelts ..
I'd pull them all the way out and use a clothespin to hold the slack out ..🤷
Vega was a great car for a motor swap 👍
I used a 1964 Buick 300 4 barrel in mine 😉👍
Happy Motoring ✌️
yup, drop a 350 in it & you have a speed demon like my buddy did with his back in the early '80s
It looks like the seats were reupholstered with a different vinyl and the hoop for the shoulder belt is missing. If you look, you would see a plastic tab at his chest saying "Read Owners Manual". This tab is to adjust to the hoop, so the belt wouldn't creep up.
I had a standard 1973 Vega. Really enjoyed driving it but living in the Midwest it rusted away in front of my eyes. It also burned so much oil I knew I had to add two quarts every week!
In the early 1980’s, I learned to drive behind the wheel of a Red Orange ‘76 Vega GT with a five-speed. While certainly not a straight line performer, it was delightfully nimble on curvy secondary roads. The Vega turned in well, braked more than adequately, and the modest horsepower insures that oversteer doesn’t bite an unwary, inexperienced driver. What a great learning tool. I’ve long held the belief that it is more fun to drive a slow car fast, than to drive a fast car slowly.
We agree with the "slow car" sentiment.
My 1971 Vega hatchback is still one of my favorite cars I ever owned! Would love to have it now!👍
Unibody. Same as the Monza. They need a subframe even for a 327. Or you will twist it up launching them.
The Cosworth package almost made it as fast as a 6 cylinder. But the package was better than the steel sleeve aluminum block. It was a designed failure to bring back Camaros.
I had a 75 and loved it
Way to much credit to this automobile. You think he would be trying to sell it today. My step mother had one back in the day and it was average at best. When we are comparing the automobile to the Pinto you know where we are at. The Pinto was worse not better but they are only worth mentioning because they are a part of history.
Don's remark that the Vega was not built as well as the Pinto is the most damning review of a car that you could imagine. Putting a Cosworrth into a Vega is the literal embodiment of putting lipstick on a pig.
My pig would go from 0 to 60 in 7 seconds !
Not any different than Ford Europe putting a Cosworth in an Escort. Same size car, same market segment. Yet one is remembered and the other one forgotten. Now that's because the Escort Cosworth has a racing history and the Vega doesn't, but had the Cosworth Vega come out in the early 70s, I think the story might have been quite a bit different.
As long as it is legal to ride bicycle in traffic to go buy smokes, it should be legal to buy and drive new cars with no more safety equipment than these have. Just imagine what a car like this would be able to get for mileage with the modern turbo 4 and a 6 speed.
Nice car. I wish more cool cars WITHOUT v8s were featured.
What was the Chrysler/Dodge compact car (ie: Vega/Pinto)?
Chrysler never built their own car but did import them from Mitsubishi and rebadged them as the Dodge Colt/Challenger and the Plymouth Arrow.
My late neighbor had one of these.
nothing really wrong with the Vaga, everyone blames the engine aluminum. no less, but it wasn't the engine it was the cooling, engines shouldn't at the drop of a hat overheat if they didn't, they wouldn't warp, Americans just couldn't get with the aluminum engine program those early years. Ford Chrysler did it too
I lost a car enthusiast friend who left one of these. Original unrestored low milage barn find. Similarly stored when new. This is a barn find that I do not have the heart to pursue. Too sad. I just wanted to mention to any car enthusiast folks that there is another unknown one here in the Golden State. I understand it has been stored from when new until now. The car is not for me. Too sad.
We're sorry for your loss.
@AudrainMuseumNetwork Thank you. The friends in car collecting are the real thing.
Back in the day the Europeans and Japanese were very good at making small cars feel big while here in the US, the auto companies made their small cars feel like shrunk down big cars. They just couldn’t get it right. My cousin had a regular Vega. It was a piece of crap. Sorry.
It was a smaller version of the Camaro in the '70s.
That car was junk from day one. No power even with that cosworth treatment. Adjusting valves is an all day affair. The hot set up back then was to swap in a small block v8.
How is that Corolla working out for you bastard !
I remember them, always wanted one. But instead I got a 71 Vega and stuffed a 283 4 barrel with a LT1 cam and two speed Powerglide. Much more fun. :)
LOL. You were that guy. We could hear you coming all the way across town.
Did you reweld all the body parts ?
More context: the 1976 Corvette was rated at just 180hp for the base L-48 and 210hp for the L-82. These were very dark times for (non-exotic/domestic) performance.
At 110 hp that puts it only about 35 hp more than the regular Vega GT. For all the complexity and expense it truly wasn’t much more of a thrill to drive than the standard one. Your money would’ve been much better spent buying a Corvette. Back in the day, I test drove one and didn’t think it was worth the price by a long shot.
Emissions killed it. Chevrolet offered a lot of performance parts for the engine, and 190-230 horses wasn't all that difficult to achieve.
I bought a 75 Cosworth (number 1103) in 2006 and kept t for about 6 years or so. It was a lot of fun. Mine had the Saginaw 4 speed, and plastic chin spoiler and deck lid spoiler, and a white interior. The 5 speed was only available in 1976 as an option. Regarding the seat belt, it looks like this one in the video is missing the seat belt guide that attached at the headrest area of the seat. They were very common on most of the mid 70s GM bucket seats (e.g. Camaros, etc), so tracking a set town shouldn’t be too hard.
Last ditched effort to save a real bad car with a real bad motor. It started with a car that has a 0 to 60 in 19 seconds smoking all the way, to a car that raced to 60 on 16 seconds.
The production Cosworth Vega was rated at an unimpressive 110 hp. All the talk about how fast they were is pure mythology. I was a tech at a big Chevy dealership from 1971-77 and worked on and drove quite a few of them. I wasn't impressed. And then there was the problem with the hard to find and ridiculously over-priced Cosworth parts (and the usual severe rust problems that the Cosworth shared with all Vegas). I guess somebody who would think a DeLorean was a good car might like a Cosworth Vega?
My brother bought one of these in 1976. I renamed it the Cosworthless Vega. That engine was a piece of crap. It spent more time in the shop than the garage. I went with my brother from Mpls to OKC and by the time we got there it was running on 2 cylinders. That was just one of the many times it failed. Good riddance to that piece of crap.
Sounds like over rev and a missed gear assignment !
Wow《☆》A pristine less than 200 mile Cosworth Vega. I was trying to zoom in on the Grille during the exterior driving footage. Apparently it was a Large Leaf getting sucked in. Much better than a Chevette or Garden Variety Vega✌🏼😎☯️
GM in the mid/late 70s could only be described as hapless. I owned a 78 Olds and it was junk when it came off the line. I traded it on an Accord in 86 and was grateful the dealer didn’t charge me to take the Olds to the junkyard.
Twice the price of a standard Vega and not too far off from a Covette retail.
The grin on this man's face speaks loud and clear that he's genuinely loving his on-road experience behind the wheel of this time capsule. 😉👍
Donald was definitely enjoying himself! Consider subscribing to see more content! bit.ly/3RjleYp
In the early 90s, there were two cosworth vegas in the local junk yard. Not smashed, little picked apart. Easy to spot car and engine with hood up.
First US car with port injection but many owners pulled that system off and installed Webbers.
My first car was a 1973 Vega. All I did was pour money into it. A very poorly built car. In the end the piece that went from the rear end to hold it in place pulled out from where it attached due to rust out/stress. Almost flipped the car when that happened. Had the same thing happen when a Vega GT landed in my lap.
I kind of laugh at those saying how great they were for V-8 swaps. They couldn't handle the four cylinder or normal driving without falling apart. Really to safely put a V-8 in them you have to put a race chassis under them.
Its a shame as I really liked the mini Camaro look of the Vega. GM wasn't known for building quality cars then and more than any of the other big three drove Americans to buy Japanese. They were Rot boxes also in that time period.
I knew a guy in the service that had two of them. He was the expert on them. One he daily drove to work and the other one was his car he drove on special occasions to keep the miles and condition preserved. At the time we all had cheap muscle cars that could easily dust one of those. I never thought much of them. This video explains many things he used to talk about. It was comical hearing him brag about how great his Cosworth Vegas were. We all kind of snickered back then. An expensive Vega with a special high revving little motor that our three to four hundred horse motors could blow by. Of course it got mileage and could handle well which we could not afford but we just laughed at those Vegas. They were no threat to what we had for moving fast.
I started driving during the OPEC days. Sadly, I've never owned a V8. All 4-bangers or V6's. I completely get the snickers and smirks from the muscle car guys. Hard for me to win any water cooler talks with, "No, it's not fast. But it's quick as dammit and handles like a rabbit." Major "fun to drive" ratio. Some V8 guys just can't get used to having their butts that close to the ground (w/road noise) on a daily basis - after years of bigger/muscle cars.
I get it.
So glad the Audrain shares these videos showing what it's like to drive cars like the Cosworth Vega.
260HP? that would have been way better than the Vet at that time! Too bad they didn't keep it because it would have been a praised car. I had a 1975 Vega and when I went to the service stations I would check the gas and fill the oil. It was too slow to even outrun it's own exhaust! Not to say you would get zero dates when they saw what you were driving.
I worked at a garage in the mid late 80s. I was in my early 20s. One of our main repairs was radiators and heater cores. We had to put a heater core in a Cosworth Vega. It was a pretty expensive repair and the customer was not happy with the bill.
Used to see them every now and then but have not in about 20 years now. I know people bought them and put them away thinking they would be worth some money one day but I do not think they ever rose much above the original sticker price. They may be worth more now I do not know.
One of my brothers had about 3 Vegas . One notchback , one was a wagon and one was a GT. They looked nice but were really cheap made. I remember Pontiac came out with the Astre (rebadged Vega) and ended up putting a Iron Duke 4 cyl in it because the Chevy motor was such hot garbage.
Ones in nice shape and low miles have gone up in price quite a bit 💲20k and up easy.
The Iron Duke in the Astre was a reliable game changer. The Iron Duke was originally a Chevy 250 inline six redesigned with two center cylinders removed and made into a four cylinder for use in the Chevy Nova in the mid sixties. Pontiac installed an aluminum head in place of a Chevy cast iron head.
@@ronhall3686 The Iron Duke and Chevy II 153 are completely different engines.
The highest price for a Cosworth was 48 thousand. Wikepedia ,
The Vega was one of the first to be robotically welded -- we made components for the UniMate robots that welded them. They also pioneered running the pistons on aluminum -- Reynolds 390 -- that became more widespread. The original 2.3 litre had an iron head and all aluminum block, which when overheated, ruined the block. The Cosworth was an innovative design with its fuel injection and stainless headers - my Dad had one. Later you could get different colors, but as far as I know, none had airconditioning as an option. The steering was heavy with its Goodyear tires, the shifting of the (Muncie?) four speed was clunky and the clutch was a bear. GM was an innovative company --perhaps it still is if you look at the C8 Corvette - they even shipped the Vegas vertically in special train cars! My Dad always liked unique cars, but this one was not missed when we sold it.
That's quite interesting. Thanks for sharing!
If memory serves me right, it was a close ratio Saginaw if it was a four speed, and a T50 Borg Warner if it was a 5 speed.
The Vega was so unique and innovative on all levels. From the all aluminum engine to the neat body style to the special battery that had to be designed because of the special rail cars it was transported in, nose down. Funny how the hood bulge and protruding headlights remind me of my Triumph GT6 MK3 slightly.
God what crap cars Americans made in the 70's shame shame shame.
To this day I still think the fastback Vega was a beautiful style in the sheet-metal department. I always marvelled that a big company like GM couldn't put a decent inline 4, a V-6, or even a small V-8 under the hood instead of staying with their own failed 4 cylinder engine.
Lee and the entire Audrain team do amazing work keeping these cars on the road!
Thanks Alex!
Great video. I loved the appearance of the 2nd Gen Vegas to begin with. But with both Vega and Pinto, there were known quality issues. This car (per the internet which is always right) had 140hp (give/take) and a '76 MSRP of $5995.00. For context, my '77 Corolla SR5 Liftback had
These cars had an aluminum engine that destroyed the mark. Good looking body though. This would be the only one worth owning to collect. But no thanks for the rest. My neighbor growing up had a Vega. And that car sounded like a bucket of bolts rattling down the street. 😂 ❤💙😁👍😎
I knew a man who purchased one new in 1976. He liked it a lot after waiting for it quite awhile. My best memory of it is it failing to start after a sports car club event the first time he brought it out to show it off. Ignition module I believe was the problem. It was a very beautiful car.
The Shoulder Belt looks very uncomfortable , I would have it adjusted somewhat . Great Car and Great Motor 🙏🙏💯💯
I grew up in the 80's and I don't recall ever seeing a Vega other than on television. But I have always liked the styling of them. Same with the Monza that came later. I would love to have either of them. I would be happy with one that was barely roadworthy
I disagree. Exterior styling is very poor and unattractive, especially the front end, but overall too. AND, despite what you may believe, it has NOTHING in common with the Great European Designs of the time or earlier. THOSE had CHARACTER, they were ICONIC, this is NOT.
Like a Saab? The roofline always look hunchbacked and ugly. Well made for the era but a beauty is skin deep car.
ΝΟ, you damned fool, I did not eve3n think of that loser!!!! THINK MERCEDES JAGUAR PORSCHE AUDI, IDIOT
@@captlazer5509
In the winter of 1973-1974 I was working in sales at a Chevy dealership in southwest Connecticut. Chevy issued press releases on the Cosworth Vega as early as 1973 and we had people coming into the dealership interested in one. Unfortunately, the only people at the dealership who even heard of one were guys like me who read the sports car magazines. By the time the Cosworth was available the reputation of the Vega was in the sewer and a person could buy a Datsun 280Z, that was actually a good car, for the same or less than a Cosworth. The stock Vega engine was cast from silicon/aluminum and iron cylinder liners were NOT used. Needless to say the, the engines would wear out well before 50,000 miles and like all cars at the time it had serious body rust problems. In other words the Vega had a reputation for being a pile of junk by the time it was paid off.
My late friend had a Vega cam back wagon as I believe it was called. Compared to the Pinto, it was a much nicer looking vehicle, particularly the inside. However, the poorly engineered aluminum block self destructed at 11,000 miles and he got rid of it. I bought a '73 Pinto hatch back and put 43,000 trouble free miles on it and only sold it when I moved to Florida (no A/C). The Olds dealer commented on how clean and new it looked and decided to buy it for his son in Georgia. I purchased and Olds Starfire - same as Chevy Monza, with the odd firing V6 and 4 speed. Never understood why they made it odd firing? It was a torquey little mother but it had 14" wheels that always felt out of balance. The dealer tried different rims and tires but it still had an annoying vibe over 40-45 mph. That was the last GM car I ever owned. My choice if I were looking to buy a Corvair based vehicle would be John Fitch's one off Phoenix. The plan was to build 500, but Ralph Nader's book, Unsafe at Any Speed killed that.
A friend of my dad bought one as a grad presentnfor his daughteR. She was
a good driver and loved it right up until a hot summet day when the dash curled up like a taco.
I had one of these - one of the first 1975 models with a low three-digit serial number. As soon as it was announced in "Road and Track" (or was it "Motor Trend?"), I rushed down to the local Chevrolet dealership, Cable Chevrolet in Independence, Missouri, and ordered one. About a year later, it showed up - and wasn't the same car. Over the year between the announcement and the actual delivery, the performance had been clobbered by additional mandated emission controls.
Also important. This is a Cosworth designed DOHC fuel-injected 16-valve HEAD on a standard Vega aluminum block! That head is the only thing "Cosworth" about it.
Other? The "turned gold dash" is a decal that deteriorated over time. The gold "Minilite"-looking wheels also turned gray rapidly along with the gold pinstriping. In short, just another Vega - "with aspirations." A nasty, underperforming, quality-control nightmare of a disaster.
I remember seeing one exactly this color in 1984 at a car lot in the showroom. I believe they wanted like under 4000. Looked low mileage. I knew it was a special car then at 18. For under 4K they had a 1971 Dodge Charger with a 440 4 speed and in a beautiful red color and black top. OR A 1967 Buick GS 400 4-speed for 2995 because Nobody wanted a Buick like a Chevelle.i went to the Air Force and i wish i had bought the Buick. Love the Bowtie by the way. It goes with the car. Get it Chevy Bowtie. Lol great review. Hello from Lubbock Texas. You are very articulate . Thanks
I dodged a bullet. My roommate had one in 84 wanted to sell it to Mr 3k. I bought his mom's 72 400ci impala. Much more practical
I have a regular space model 1976 Chevy Vega and it is somewhere to Vega that I learned how to drive on when I was a little boy. My 76 Vega just turned 30,000 miles, and runs like a champ and is very solid, but I do not let it in the snow or get rained on. I would like to get the bright orange repainted to a nice blue.
The Vaga came out in 1971 and it had one of the worst engines ever built next to the tin Crosley engine . I mean the engine was bad really bad . The body of the Vaga was not ugly and may even be beautiful for the most part . Got to remember the Vaga was to be an affordable compact car . So GM cant put in the suspension it needed to make a true sporting car . But to compete with Ford and Chrysler 's compact cars like the Pinto and Colt . Basic as it gets of the time . This was do to the growing Japans auto market as well that started it all some 13 years earlier . GM's idea . GM hands Cosworth this Isuzu engine to make something of it . Cosworth put a twin cam head on it and called it good for the day . GM added black paint and Gold stripes and a little bits of everything else then called it a day . Cheap junk bling . What GM should have done was to make up their own engine being ether an all aluminum V8 or a supercharged I-4 in it and call it a year . But Amirican auto companies are cheap and do vary little to really make a car . So GM comes up with this Turd and called it good . In 1971 Ford had came up with the Pinto . A vary well robust german engines of 1.6 L I-4 engine and the 2.0 L I4 engine . Then later came up with the 2.3 L I-4 German engine . A lot of people thought these engines was from England . Well that was not so true . The engine was German Design the product out of WW2 and so was the Ford V6 2.6 - 3.0 . It was Ford of Germany that produce these engines before , during and after the WW2 . Yes Ford had operating plants in Germany during WW2 . The government knew it . Those German Ford plants was never bombed . All the while Henry Ford never seen Prison in his part of the war . OK I am done being piss off . GM is know better . Because GM was dealing with Japan during the same War . . These bog companies away with everything . The real traitors are the ones that sets in office . Then and now . Not just the Democrates . It is to the fault of the GOP . Yes I made political .
Nor quit as good as a what??? A Pinto! But cost as much as a Vett. Humm. I had a 1973 new it came from the factory wired WRONG. Go figure wouldn't change the battery at times. Chevy fix that and I wasn't a bad car for first new car for me. It was 1800 dollars and best part of it all it got some really good gas mileage. With a 10 gallon tank. But forget about it in the snow useless in the snow. Anything more then an inch . LoL
RT: cosworth, Penske and myself. Along with my mercury motors. Came up with a great 2 stroke engine. Details later !!!! See you hopefully soon !!
Kinda like putting a 60's hemi in a Studebaker! "lipstick on a pig?" If they took all the emissions crap off the mill, the car would have performed very reasonably.
Hello. Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
I owned several Chevy Vegas in the 1970s-1980s. They were very dependable cars when maintained well. With all the bad reviews about Vegas they were cheap cars to buy.
I think this was a fun review, but I have to think that even Cosworth engineering could not save the Vega. Admittedly my experience was with the Pontiac variant, but the handling and feel of the car was that GM wanted to make CHEAP car as opposed to a small car. They wanted you to hate it so you would buy a full size car.
People think modern vehicles are an improvement over cars from the 60's to 80's. But i completely disagree. Engine technology and occupant safety has been improved. But due to regulations they've been taken to extremes. The 80's was the last good decade for American cars. And it wasn't great. But compared to the garbage crossovers people drive today. I'd rather have the worst 80's car than one of the disposable appliances made today
I wanted one of these when they were new.
The Sloan auto museum in Flint Mi had one on display back in the day that had a see-thru hood.. beautiful car
This car is currently on display in our museum! www.audrainautomuseum.org/technological-marvels-a-story-of-evolution
Kind of a shame they didn't drop this engine in the sportier (but heavier) Monza body. Emission regulations were catching up with them, I guess.
No matter what is under the hood no doubt the worst vehicle ever built. If you didn't need a vehicle it was the one you wanted to own. The list of problems, horrible design, horrible engineering and horrible build quality is endless. At best they were 25,000 mile cars.
just saw one just like this on marketplace maybe 2 months ago somewhere around the Seattle area. it obviously wasn't as nice as this one, but it wasn't bad everything was there, you find a lot of old cars in the PNW we don't have the salt...
There was one of these near where I lived in late 80's, good looking car and had a JPS color scheme. The engine was always intriguing, but they made a few of worse cars ever top ten list.
I actually thought we were going to make it through a whole episode without Donald over-pronouncing something. We were so close.....
I'd hate to be around him when he orders a burrrrrrrito !
I want song in a magazine don't remember which one. A guy put a Cosworth V8 in his 1977 Cosworth Vega
When people my age hear "Cosworth Twin Cam" thoughts go to the 3-Liter DFV Ford V8 that Cosworth designed and built for the Lotus 49B that Jim Clark raced in F1. This car is no Lotus and Colin Chapman had nothing to do with its design. It's just an old Chevrolet Vega with an OK small engine for its time. The Corvette was a much better car for the price at the time.
I have always liked the Cosworth Vega. I like it even more because Donald Osborne likes it as well.
I always thought that it was cool 😎
This car was a blast to drive in its day . I had 2 v8 camaros and my boss and friend had the orange cosworth that i used to run arands for him in , the tone of the engine and pipes sounded great. It handled good too . wasnt anything like a regular vega.
What junk
Boy that went over like a turd I had a 73 with 350 Corvette love the car but I traded it to shop to get a two broken head bolts out of 66 Fairlane
Everyone wanted this car. This is the Vega that should have been sold from day one. :/
Saw it over the weekend at the museum
Thanks for visiting! Hope you enjoyed!
I like it when you smile while enjoying your drive. Translates the fun you're having. 🍻🇺🇲
Saw an ad in Hemmings motor news many years ago. It was the third one built and that the first two were junked. Same block as the regular Vega. Had a different head. Same overheating problems.
Where did you get your info from? 0001 has been at Sloan museum complete with clear hood.
The Cosworth did not suffer from overheating, nor did the standard vega by the 74 model. Neglect would cause the earlier engine to overheat, and Chevrolet even offered owners a retrofit free through the dealers on earlier engines. They also had a 60k mile warranty on the dura built motors in the later models, and that is the same 2.3 as the earlier engines, not the iron Duke engine.
Like I said. It was from an ad in Hemmings Motor News. I never checked the validity of the ad as I would have never purchased a Vega under any conditions. Worked as a Chevy technician in the 70's and all I did was replace Vega engine blocks for 23 months. The two Cosworth we sold both had engine failure. The 1974 models for some reason were not included in the Government forced free engine replacement. The people who had 1974 models with bad engines were pissed!
The twin cam cosworth gave a miniscule amount of extra horsepower over the one cam engine due to pollution controls added that year.
All Vegas were junk. In my and many other's opinions it was the worst car ever produced in the U.S.
@@07ssmonte
Exactly as you state "your opinion " as they sold 2 million of them through their production run, so not everyone was turned off by them.
Yes, and most were severely dissapointed. Funny how time re-writes history.@@07ssmonte
It's a shame that at that price point, they didn't do something with that homely Vega face.
I saw a cogsworth Vega in a car lot in about 1978, it was cool.
I was always a Mercury Capri RS type of guy...👋😎👍
as a cosworth owner i can tell you, a non cosworth, original vega is way harder to find.
I remember the print ad "One Vega for the Price of Two."
Awesome look back - just subscribed! These were around SoCal when I was a kid in the mid late ‘70s lol.
I like your Mario Andretti impersonation ha 🇮🇹🇺🇸🇬🇧🏁
Thank you very much for your subscription!
Woulda been cool to see the Stig drive a Cosworth Vega on Top Gear's test track!
I'd guess the Cosworth had only 14" or 15" tires (much better than a stock Vega), but nothing like tire technology now. Some new compacts ('sport' models) come with 18's out of the box. As a younger man I would've been ruining rims and the low sidewall tires for sure (potholes, etc).
Yep, I owned a 1976 model, tried putting hotter cams in the engine, but the car never performed to my expectations
At one time, Ford partly owned Cosworth.
I'm sure your team replaced the timing belt
That Cosworth really does sound nice.
I'd be surprised if Cosworth were to blame for the poor reliability as they have a good reputation in that area. Sometimes the problem lies in the installation, Maclaren F1 found that out the hard way when they partnered with Honda and rushed the development of the engine inside the tight engine space. Honda went on to win championships with Red Bull Racing.
Put 90k on mine and sold it. I outgrew the car and parts were hard to get . Only had one problem with the Bendix electronic fuel injection. It would idle at 75 RPM as I drove it to the Cosworth expert at the dealer, it was a broken wire. Name me any engine that will idle at 75 RPM to drive. After that only miner maintenance .
Maybe it's the trick of the camera but I don't remember Vegas looking this good. I was passed by one heading south toward New York after the Canadian Gran Prix many years ago. It was quick.
No camera trickery! This car looks that good!