This is an incredible transformation! It’s hard to believe this dusty barn find Vega turned out to look like this with some elbow grease. This 1976 Chevrolet Vega Estate Wagon sat in a barn for 36 years and is now posted here on Facebook Marketplace in Liberty Township, Ohio, and the seller is asking $17,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Ted for the tip!
This car is amazing! This Vega Estate Wagon sat in a barn in Amarillo, Texas for 36 years and was found in 2019, cleaned up, and everything was gone through to make it like-new again. If this isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime find, I don’t know what is. I know, “But, but, but… it’s just a Vega, they were junk when they were new!!!” Yeah, that’s a myth, one of many sad automotive myths that have hung around too long. Did it have issues? Yes, but so does a new Rolls-Royce or a new Toyota.
Chevy offered the Vega in one generation and from 1970 for the 1971 model year until the end of 1977. They came in only two-door body styles, but that included sedans, hatchbacks, and station wagons. There was a GT version and an Estate version, as seen here, and then there was the famous Cosworth model. Sadly, they never offered a convertible, but I wonder what one may have looked like… Or, a four-door sedan?
This car appears to be a true time capsule, and how that dusty Texas barn wasn’t overrun with rodents who chewed this Vega to shreds is a mystery. It truly looks like a new car inside and out. This “sport cloth” seat fabric is to die for, at least for those of us who are so ridiculously tired of every new vehicle having black, gray, or tan leather…zzzzzzzz… We don’t get to see the back seat or the rear cargo area, but I can’t imagine they don’t also look like new. And, good news, this one has a 5-speed manual rather than an automatic.
How’s that for a clean engine?! The odometer shows 34,972.9 miles, and I believe it. The engine is Chevy’s 140-cu.in. SOHC inline-four with 84 horsepower and 113 lb-ft of torque when new. With the 5-speed manual, this car would be an absolute star at any Cars & Coffee event. This car works like new, and the air-conditioning even blows cold. This is an amazing find and has to be the nicest one on the globe. It’s new-in-1976 cost today would be $19,000, but I’m not sure if they’ll get $17,500 from a Facebook Marketplace listing. Have any of you seen such a nice Vega Estate Wagon as this one?
You forgot the 4 door convertible and the El Camino versions! Just kidding Scotty, always entertaining to read.
Ha, or… hmmm… a motorcycle version… (kidding)
Thanks, Pat!
One of Scottys write ups isn’t one of Scottys write ups….. Unless there’s a drop top or a crew cab version!! Love it, Scotty, you have a knack for doing that. As for this Vega. I love it. I learned to drive in my Grandpas ’79 Monza 2 door wagon. I always liked the Vega nose treatment a little better. The color, woodgrain, interior and condition of this one is just out of this world. The first thing l noticed, no rust. At least none I can see. This is an amazing find, and a huge shout out to the seller who took the time to truly detail this thing and clean it up as nicely as they did. That’s a lot of time and work and very, very well worth it. Great write up Scotty I always enjoy them.
Thanks, sir! That is one heck of a time capsule for sure. I’m cringing, waiting for the asking price comments, though…
Scotty, i think many of us on here are feeling like the prices are a bit steep. But, where are you going to find another Vega wagon thats original and this clean? This has to be one of the nicest ones thats ever been on here.
And it has wood grain decals!
I always like the look of some of the Vegas.
A friend of mine loaned me his ’72 (?) GT,
to take a girl on a date to see “Winterhawk”.
The GT was Dark Green,& it handled well,
but was a little hard to shift.
Never had a second date with Becky.
Do not let Howard read this write-up. If he sees the asking price his head will explode lol.
RKS….Howard will agree this one is better w the manual 🦵 🙌 😎
Good article SG, great find Ted 👍
Thanks, Stan! I was surprised to see how well it cleaned up!
Drop the “1” off the beginning of the price, and I’d be seriously interested! By 1976, Chevrolet had corrected the major issues with Vega (that’s the ‘Dura-Built’ variant of the 2300 engine). With the 5-speed, it should have a double-hole carb, making for a decent driving experience (our family had through two Kammbacks in addition to my notchback and a parts hatchback). $17K is Cosworth territory for the price, even if it is in time capsule condition. Would be interesting to know what took it off the road.
10,000 tops
“But, but, but… it’s just a Vega, they were junk when they were new!!!”
But it is also history, and I am glad examples like this exist.
And I am in full agreement on the seat fabric, so much better than all the gray and black out there today!
I mean its a bit steep, but wow, I’d rock this, best Vega available?
Explode? Nah, charge away you greedy so and sos, thanks to this site, I’ve become shell shocked and it rolls right off,,( cough) but beyond that, what a find. To clarify Vegas body styles,, another, there was. The Vega wagon was the last to offer the Sedan Delivery or Panel Express , with back windows covered and no back seat(?) I believe it was the cheapest Vega offered too, at under $2grand. It’s a wonderful find, but put me in the “it’s just a Vega” camp, and someone will spend a fortune( to me) on one of the crappiest cars made in America. A total of 2,006,000 folks found that out the hard way, but choices were severely limited then, and for some, the Vega was a good car. It took required strict maintenance, something Americans just weren’t used to. That and it didn’t have the oomph the Impala had, and many were driven right foot to the floor. I wonder what sidelined it in the 1st place. People had to know about this car.
A relative had a 79 Vega wagon they bought new. It was junk from the very beginning. At some point, the electric fuel pump in the gas tank suddenly became inadequate, even after replacements, so a second in-line fuel pump was added. The car, like the Chevette, was pitifully and pathetically underpowered. They went from that to a fuel injected 4.3L V6 Caprice, and being used to flooring the gas pedal all the time, found themselves going 85 a few times before getting used to it. The only interesting thing about this Vega, apart from it’s impressive condition, is that it has A/C, which must have slowed it down a lot more.
Ok it cleaned up nice for a Vega but in the pictures of the so called documentation the math doesn’t add up to them putting $8600+ into it. And some of those items listed are cheaper than what they posted, or at least I could have done it cheaper. Its on market place so we will never really know if they actually get the asking price for this $2500 dollar ride ok ok maybe $5k but this is coming from a guy who spent the late80s and early 90s buying these things from abandoned car auctions and out of peoples back yards selling off parts in the little nickel paper and scrapping the rest
One other option, and I don’t recall the year, was a Vega Nomad wagon.
It’s true that most of the Vega’s problems were behind it by 1976, but those problems were definitely not myths. Variations in the casting process led to irregularities in the layer of silicon that was supposed to provide a hard-wearing surface on the cylinder walls, causing scoring and oil consumption. Differing rates of expansion between the aluminum block and the cast iron head lead to head gasket failure, coolant loss, and warping due to overheating. Also, during the various dipping processes for rust prevention and primer, air was trapped in the body structure, leaving areas of bare metal that quickly rusted.
lol 17.5K!! You could buy a gorgeous Lexus for that. I know, apples and oranges but that is one god awful ugly car. I wouldn’t want it for 1750.
I was just thinking, I wonder if Cosworth still has the tooling for the Cosworth Vega heads? Cosworth put iron sleeves in the Vega block as part of the Cosworth conversion, so I could see getting a set of heads or a complete engine for it from a wrecked Cosworth Vega and making a Cosworth Vega wagon!
Red and brown not exactly my favorite color combo
This one is gone, it’s too bad we don’t know how much it sold for.