Think back to the early seventies. Sporty, lightweight coupes like the BMW 2002 lookeld like they were going to be a significant segment of the marketplace. Chevrolet wanted a piece of that action, so they looked to Britain for help in the engine compartment. If you have a hankering for an unusual car with an American body and engine and a British race designed cylinder head, then take a close look at this 1976 Chevrolet Cosworth Vega for sale on craigslist in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a reasonable $3,000. Thanks to Bob Q. for the find!
To understand how the Cosworth Vega came about, you have to understand General Motors and its place in the market during the late 1960s and early 1970s. GM owned so much of the market that there were open discussions about the Feds breaking up the company because its was beginning to, in their eyes, have a monopoly on the marketplace. GM sold nearly everything, from locomotoves and buses to trucks of every size in addition to their automotive divisions. They also had a number of talented executives you may have heard of, like Ed Cole and John DeLorean.
DeLorean was nothing if not agressive, and he had no problems taking risks (this would come back to haunt him). Surely DeLorean saw the rise of BMW’s 2002 and other sporty sedans and must have thought that this was a new market segment opening up. Large displacement muscle cars were out and customers were beginning to show interest in more European designs that also stressed handling. DeLorean also knew that offering an upmarket version of his new Vega would add some sales luster to lesser examples on the showroom floor.
It just so happened that the famed British racing firm Cosworth had developed a double overhead cam cylinder head for the Vega’s relatively radical aluminum four cylinder engine. This engine and the Cosworth cylinder head were being used in Chevron and Lola race cars to good effect. To make a long story short, Chevrolet used this head as a basis for a faster, more agile version of the Vega. Development was hampered by reliability and emissions issues, but a car was ready for showrooms in 1975. Sadly, this special edition only lasted through 1976, and only 3,508 of the cars were produced in both years.
The not running since 1987 model you see here is from 1976. That year Chevrolet decided to offer the Cosworth Vega in colors other than black with gold trim. The not very recently running Cosworth Vega in the ad is painted Antique White and is equipped with what Chevrolet called a “sports cloth” material on the seats. The car also still posesses its special wheels that were exclusive to this edition. It came equipped with a five speed manual transmission and is advertised as a New Mexico car. Despite this dry climate claim, rust is a problem in the lower part of the passenger side front fender and in the wheel well. It has no keys, and you will need to get a bonded title for it at the local tag office.
If you were looking for a funky 1970s project, then you would be hard pressed to find a more unique example. Most Cosworth Vegas we see today are the earlier black cars with gold trim. A white one would be a refreshing change. Hopefully it finds a new home with someone who will get it back on the road.
Have you ever owned a Cosworth Vega, or even a Vega for that matter? What was the experience like?
Could be buying yourself some trouble. Probably not parked because it was in great shape. My sister had one and while it looked ok but underneath it rusted out.That was 35 years ago.
The lead photo is symbolic – mired in mud…
The Cosworth heads didn’t fail…it was the Chevy Vega blocks as so many did.
And the whole motor was not used in racing.The basic head design was used on English Ford motors.
Both the street Twin Cam engine and the racing “EA” engine used the stock Vega block, but Cosworth found the block would develop cracks in longer races, leading to catastrophic failures. The stock block was durable up to about 250 HP, but 250 HP simply wasn’t competitive in F2 racing. GM did finally produce a small batch of blocks with reinforcing stiffeners which solved the problem, but Cosworth had already abandoned the EA engine by that point. “EA” engines can still be found in vintage racing today, and I’m aware of at least one turbo’d engine making a reliable ~300 HP.
I owned CV #2196 for a couple years before I retired, and it was a hoot at autocross. The PO had rebuilt/balanced the engine with dual Webers and it was probably making ~150 HP, which is what the CV should have shipped with instead of the detuned 110 HP (net) required by emissions compliance.
You mean the Vega block with the Teflon bores? Those things barely ran stock.
When you removed the cylinder head, the Siamesed cylinders stood up from the bottom of the water jacket with nothing between them and the outer walls of the water jacket. When they’d overheat, the cylinders would drop, then the head gasket would blow. You could surface the block to get the cylinder walls even with the water jacket (which raised the compression ratio) The block was made from a high silicone content aluminum and during manufacture, they would etch the aluminum away in the cylinders leaving only the silicone. The pistons would ride on glass cyl walls. If you seized a piston, your only fix other than a new block was to sleeve the cylinder. These engines were worthless.
Drop a 4 bolt main 327 with a mild VooDoo cam in any Vega with a beefed up drive line and you’d have a dependable, 300-horse, good looking super fun car to drive at half the cost of all the half-baked technology GM tried to stuff under the hood of those cars that they called an engine.
They were not durable, I had a green vega gt wagon my brother in law gave to me always puffed a blue cloud everywhere it went, was gonna put a 283 v8 in it never did get around to doing that gave it and 200 bucks to oldest brother in trade for a 6 cylinder duster sold to a co worker not long after Vega dont handle very good either.
The interior screams 70’s.I like it.
I owned a 72 hatchback. Green with green vinyl interior. One owner car 22,000 original miles. Sat in the garage for over 13 years. Had a full tank of gas when they parked it was empty when they pulled it out. I’m guessing you all can guess what happened next. Did not know it was full of gas and empty at the same time I put gas in it started to drive it all of a sudden it started to smoke and left me stranded on the side of the road. 2 weeks to clean the fuel system out but it sure was a beauty. One I really regret letting get away
Lucky it didnt explode didnt drain into the engine, the aluminum block was notorious for leaking oil.
I worked at a Chev. dealership in the mid 70. At any one time, we would have up to a dozen to these torn down waiting for engine blocks, cylinder heads or both. These cars were pretty crappy and then, they doubled down with their Chevette. I’ll pass.
My dad had 0037 from 1975. He hoped it wouldn’t stall on the train tracks while a train was coming, because he wasn’t sure he could get out quick enough. These could have been great cars, but emissions regulations strangled them, and the injection system was very hard to service. At one point my dad left it with a shop that would work on them, and 6 years later he went back to get the car unrepaired because the mechanic couldn’t get the GM Cosworth Vega testing unit. In the long run my dad was asked by someone if he was going to repair it, and he said “no, and if you will take it away and never get it in my line of sight again, I’ll give it to you with the title.” The guy took it, and if he was smart he parted it. As I used to hear – the fate of the cosworth vega was known when they found rust on showroom model aluminum bumpers.
Aluminum DOES NOT RUST.
Aluminum does corrode and is much harder to deal with when that happens.
This posting has been deleted by its author.
I had a ’74 Vega in college and had always been curious about the Cosworth cars. Nice find though.
Not running since Reagan? Good luck with that.
My first brand new car was a 74 Vega Gt. Ordered with every option (which wasn’t much by today’s standards). Dark brown with light cream interior with 4 speed. Kept it for four years and never had any issues.
With the gas crises in the early seventies everyone wanted to get out of their gas hogs but there weren’t a lot of good choices, at least I didn’t see them. I traded a 65 Coupe Deville for mine and was happy to do it.
Comes complete with rust.
While stationed at Goodfellow AFB in 1972 I bought a new Vega “GT” from a Chevy dealership in San Angelo, TX.The owner of that dealership hated small cars and couldn’t have been happier making me a deal to get it off his lot!
Since I maintained it adequately it served me for over 150,000 miles and it even became the first car in which I ran SCCA Pro Rally events (in OH, MO, TX and MI).
For stage rally purposes the drivetrain was adequate but the suspension SUCKED and I soon overcompensated by building a Peugeot 504 sedan into a rally car (thanks to my enfatuation with that marque’s success in the East African Safari Rally).
So fas as the Cosworth Vega is concerned, outfit one with Weber DCOE carbs and aftermarket cams and it was plenty stout.
Mentioning “BMW 2002” in the same article as a Vega is sacrilege…to the BMW. And the Cosworth motor and fancy interior was the same as putting lipstick on a pig. Chevy was hoodwinking the public but the public was wise enough to stay away from these.
I love how those that never owned one are the first to call them junk. I have owned 3 Cosworths (210, 2466 & 3087) and they were a blast. The 76 was vastly improved for rust problems and added a 5 speed option. I sold my last one a 76 with 43K original miles last year and miss the fun of taking it to car shows. Brought home many trophies and had lots of fun telling people the history of the Cosworth. You can’t compare a CV engine to a reg Vega as I owned many and the CV will wind to 7000 rpm easy compared to a Vega GT running out of steam at 5000. Most smoking Vega’s had bad valve seals or had been overheated between non existent oil changes.
Okay Paul, it’s got great head…everything else about the Vega is junk… giving credit where credit’s due, Satisfied?
PS: having had to work on those spit (spelling) pieces, certainly cured me of ever wanting to own one.
Poopy car.
I had a 73 vega that I bought new off the showroom floor, I would take it to Bandimere drag strip on Friday nights. It ran the 1/4 mile in the high 19 second range. I once beat a Ford Pinto LOL. Never had a problem with it and I traded it in for a Brand new 75 Blazer that I drove until the rust ate it up.
I saw a similar white one for sale at a car show a few years back. I was amazed that they were able to organize the rust so it moved in sequence, it was that bad. They were looking for 8k for it, got mad as heck when I asked if it included the tetanus shots needed to work on it.