Other than loss of compression and huge clouds of blue smoke, no problem at all.

The popular fix of the day usually consisted of a small-block transplant.

For us, the popular fix was to hope for an accident big enough to total the car. Or to send it to the junk yard.

And yet, some people still drive Cavaliers.

_{(But they must be running O.K. because we don't seem to get those questions anymore.)}

I miss those questions.

"My car stopped running and its dripping something on the ground. What's wrong with my car and how do I get it running? I'm late to my job at McDonalds."

"My car won't start. Should I fix it? How much is it worth?"

"My car is making this terrible noise. What should I do?"

"The used car lot offered me $100 for my old car. Isn't it worth more than that? I'm using AAA to get the car there, so they don't have to pay for towing."

"I have a Gray color car that has smoke coming out the back. The weather is hot and the air conditioning doesn't work. What should I do?"

A Vega smoking for the right reasons.

That's the 1971 GT model. Quite a bit of HP from a little 2.3L 4 banger.

Dad bought mom a Chevy Vega Kammback in 1973. Bright yellow, automatic transmission, air conditioning, power steering and maybe power brakes. With a wonderful am radio - we loved am radio back then! Bought at Jenning's Chevrolet in Glenview, IL!

After a few years and a little over 20K miles, the car was totalled in an accident. Side street in our neighborhood - maybe 20-25 mph. The other person blew a stop sign and hit mom's Vega. At those high miles, the car was leaking oil (puddles on the driveway and garage floor), had a rough idle, the carb needed warm weather and cold weather adjustments (four nuts to take off vs one wing nut on a normal car) and of course the doors that wouldn't close (the hinges had bushings that wore out prematurely). Mom liked the small size. Dad thought the aluminum block was a technological marvel, but was not happy with the problems.

Fast forward a couple years, my sister just got her license and didn't want the big family boat - a 1973 Buick Centurion with a powerful V-8. So, someone at dad's work was selling their 1975 Chevy Vega Kammback. Dad was told that the engine was improved and it would be a reliable car. Dad brought the white car home - big dent in the door, interior torn up and not running well. He fixed it, had our neighbor shoot it in that metallic blue that Chevy used on the Corvette. White vinyl seats dad got from a junk yard finished off the interior. Carb rebuilt, new battery, brakes, tires and we have an almost new car! In a unique color - only one in that color! She drove the car for a few years. Oil leaking, rough idle, carb adjustments twice a year, door sagging, etc. The only difference I can remember was the front end. The 73 had a different grille and bumper - I liked the look better than the 75.

As a two Vega family, I can say that these cars were poorly engineered, with terrible build quality. It's a shame, because the Big Three needed an import fighter. The Vega and Pinto were not the answer. Then again, if it weren't for the Vega, we may all be driving Malibu's, Equinoxes and XT5's and that could be a really bad thing!

How about this one. A Notchback model = with a trunk. Looks a little like a Nova.

The Chevrolet Vega received a lot of positive remarks in the automotive magazines and such magazines as Popular Mechanics and Popular Science before its introduction in 1971. I made the mistake of trading in a very nice and very reliable 1967 Volkswagen Beetle for a brand new 1971 Chevrolet Vega. The problem with the Vega engine was that it had a die cast aluminum block with siamesed free standing cylinders beneath a cast iron head. Chevrolet went with the aluminum alloy block in part because they wanted to make use of their aluminum casting facility in Massena, NY which had been developed for the Chevy Corvair engine. The engine also had a single belt driven cam shaft which was another innovation. The aluminum alloy block had a certain percentage of silicon added so that the machined bores could be acid etched to a very hard surface. The Vega engine had a tendency to overheat and after a while the aluminum alloy block would start to warp which would lead to excessive oil consumption and eventually engine seizure which happened to me on a very cold morning while driving to work in Buffalo, NY, in January of 1977. The Vega engine was not a durable engine unlike the air cooled VW engine of my very first car. The upstart of the Corvair and the Vega was that Chevrolet soon introduced the Chevette which was designed and engineered in Germany. Frank Neal Jr.

Dad most likely read about the Chevy Vega in Popular Science. In Chicago, we get a lot of snow. We melt the snow with salt - good for safety, but bad for steel. Dad thought that Aluminum was the answer - he would've loved to see how much aluminum is in our day to day lives now. But back in the 70's and 80's we were still a nation built on steel factories.

I remember hearing him tell me about how advanced the Chevy Vega motor was. 140CI 4 cylinder with an overhead cam, aluminum block and no iron sleeves - piston rings running up and down the aluminum cylinder wall. Dad believed in the Vega so much that he bought mom a shiny new Vega Wagon (Kammback) in 1973. After mom was T-Boned and the car was totaled, he didn't give up and bought my sister a 1975 Vega Wagon (used car). Neither blew a motor or overheated. They were both just junky cars.

Funny thing, in 1980 he bought himself a Datsun 210 wagon in bright red. We kept the car for only a year and he got rid of it. He would take the expressway home sometimes and he told us that the car was too light and unstable. He was worried he'd get in a bad accident. Not a single thing went wrong with the car in the year we owned it. Next up was a shiny new 1981 Monte Carlo in Maroon, with a Maroon Cloth interior and a 267 CI V-8. 2bbl carb and decent throttle response off the line, but not a lot of horsepower. Mom really liked the car and we kept it for years.