The rarely seen Chevy Vega Kammback is a favorite of mine, as the two-door wagon body is rarely seen but gave the entry-level Chevy some awesome proportions. Squared up and ready to launch, this stance works particularly well on a drag car, which this Kammback was at one time before its drivetrain got yanked. The seller says the dusty racer listed here on craigslist for $3,750 was a ten-second car back in the day, and we’re hopeful it will once again roar down a 1/4 mile track before too long.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader David for the find. Back in the day, this Vega might have been graced with graphics that said “Orange Crush” or “Sunkist” to capture on its vibrant paint job. The fat slicks and aluminum wheels are a look I’d keep even if this Vega never returned to the drag strip, but if an engine is all it needs to get back to racing, it absolutely should get chance at rejuvenation. Which motor would you swap into this Kammback?
The seller says the Chevy is set up for a small block and that it retains several components that should make it fairly easy to return to road-going use. The Vega comes with six-point roll cage with a narrowed Ford nine-inch rear and 4:54 posi. The body does appear to be quite straight, with no evidence of damage or rot in the lower sills.
As a California car, this Vega would be desirable just for its rot-free sheet metal, but the appeal of a vintage hot rod is hard to ignore. I love the old-school metal license plate frame, and if I lived in California, I’d want to figure out how to retain that vanity plate. The question is, would you restore it as a track monster or as a street-friendly homage to a period-modified Kammback?
Looks like a fun toy for someone. I would suspect that the cage will need updating if the new owner is planning to build this back into a 10-second machine.
A friend whose dad was a senior Chevy exec was able to buy from the dealer- return lot of unsold stock once a year. She got great deals, but drove an endless stream of orange Vega wagons and Chevettes.
Would be cool if one of her Veg-O-Matics ended up here.
I hate to rain on the seller’s parade, but you’re not going to stick a motor in this one and go racing at a sanctioned drag strip. Every piece of safety equipment on that car has an expiration date, and I can guarantee you they are all expired.
Before you bid on it, check with the sanctioning body and get a Summit or Jeg’s catalog and figure in the price of seat belts, fuel cells, bell housings, Trans blankets, etc. The chassis certification might depend on the sanctioning body. The age of the tires could also be a problem. Still not a bad buy if it’s a solid car with good pieces.
But I have a truck and trailer, and an old LT-1 350 on the shelf and still kind of want it . . . . . . . just not the desire to race regularly so it would probably take up space with the street driven cars that I don’t drive as much as I should.
To run 10’s you don’t need a certified chassis, only a 6 point cage built to meet the rules. The belts are $80, most of the other items you mention either don’t have date codes or aren’t required for a typical car running brackets at the ET mentioned in the ad. That doesn’t even consider that cars at grudge nights or T&T’s often aren’t inspected at all.
This car is located several hours away from the nearest racetrack and will likely be turned into a street car.
Steve R
Check out the camber on those front wheels! Imagine what it would look like sitting on the ground. Vega’s were not known to keep their alignments, and with the front end lifting off, like it would most likely do in a 10 second quarter, it will need a lot of straightening and reinforcing to be safe on a track. Or street. Maybe call this one a Kam front!
You’ll often get unrealistic camber angles when the suspension is unloaded & hang freely. Though the extra front end weight can’t have done the suspension any favours.
Steve,
The $80 belts are usually not SFI approved. If you get into brand name stuff that is SFI approved they are usually $250 and up. Summit has been known to sell brand name stuff cheap, but it’s almost out of date. They did that to a friend of mine. That being said, about 40 years ago I drove a friend’s 427 Chevelle that ran in the low 10’s with a lap belt and no roll bar.
I was dumb and going to live forever so it wasn’t a problem. The Chevelle also didn’t have a blow proof bell housing and we shifted it about 6500 RPM. At least it did have a front driveshaft safety loop. Other than that everything was sketchy at best, but that was the 1970’s.
My friends and I dodged a few clutch explosions in the good ‘ol days. But the sanctioning bodies got smarter and I learned to use good stuff, so now I wouldn’t run fast without front line safety equipment and I wouldn’t trust any used safety equipment that I didn’t have a history on.
I agree it’s stupid not to invest in safety equipment. It’s just this car won’t need much to run 10’s.
As for belts, mail order places like Summit and Jegs aren’t going to have belts sit on the shelf for two years. Many racers swear they just bought them and use that as excuse if the dates are checked in tech. More than a few racers think it’s a waste of money to replace them every two years and will run them until they are caught.
I just checked RCI belts, their 5 point SFI harness is $81 on eBay. Simpson and Crow brands are right around $100, name brand cam lock sets are well under $200.
Steve R
Steve, you’re right about buying belts cheaper than Simpson. I just grew up with that stuff (same with Bell) so I tend to stick with them and pay more for the name. If it’s SFI approved it’s good in anybody’s book. Summit does sell stuff that’s been lost in stock and almost out of date. The guy they did it to is notoriously cheap and might have bought it at a discount without realizing it was close to out of date.
But be careful of Summit. They sometimes sell stuff that is re-manufactured without really telling you. They used to sell big block Mopar TCI torque converters for $100 less than you could buy them from TCI direct. TCI had a bad reputation because a lot of them blew up. The local Mopar Man finally explained that a real TCI converter lived behind his 426 Max Wedge, the ones that blew up were rebuilt ones from Summit. And every one that blew up scattered stuff into the transmission and took it out.
I bought my first Bell crash helmet in 1979 right after a friend crashed a 1000 cc Kawasaki and they ended up picking pieces of the $29 K-Mart helmet out of his brain. He’s still alive and OK, but it didn’t do him any good. That got my attention, even at 26 years old. I still have the Suzuki TS 185 dirt bike from 1972. I ride it around the block in the hood a couple times at 30 MPH and put it away. A big trip is a mile into town. It must be old age.
Put it back on the street. Here in the Midwest, a rust free straight early year Vega such as this is a steal at $3750.
Wish it were closer..
My boss back in the eighties got into drag racing, first with a hot late model Z-28 street car, then from there a firebird bracket racer to what I considered an “experienced only apply” Chevy Vega powered by 427 cubic inches of angry rat. I never did see him actually complete one full run as something always broke, even the other two cars were hit and miss, but the Vega was a complete downer, nothing but awe shucks!
No doubt in my mind this one here could run in the tens all afternoon with a decent small block or maybe even lower, just so long as it stays together.
In the 80’s we put a 400 SBC, TH350, and a narrowed 12 bolt in a 76 Vega hatchback without any thought of reinforcing what little of the frame it had. I remember it being a Don Hardy V8 Vega conversion kit. After some street racing miles, it went in for an alignment. The tech had to “camber the frame” due to an onset of excess negative camber. That’s a delicate way of saying the frame needed to be pulled back into position to properly set the camber within specs due to the abuse inflicted upon it. We beat the hell out of that Vega. Lots of fun.
Can someone find me a 4 door vega wagon ? Or a 4 door camaro ? Not goin to happen ! I have a ls 6.0 with nothing to put it in and this would be a good street car .
How about a 4-door Nova?
Comet, your’re correct, a potent small block in a Vega can twist things and actually crack the firewall. A friend did it to a 350/ 4 speed Vega wagon. Then he set it on fire welding on the cracked firewall. Fortunately he put it out before he lost the car and garage.
Steve and I still disagree about how much it would take to put this thing back on the track. But we’re guessing at it from 200 or 2000 miles away. It depends on if you have a “Glass half full” or “Glass half empty” philosophy.
I’m about 85% with Steve, the build quality you see in the pictures looks pretty good, so my guess would be it’s a solid car that you could work with if it isn’t exactly as strong as a 10 second ride should be. And the price is really decent. I’m surprised it’s still there at that price.