Chevrolet’s first venture into subcompact cars was the 1971-77 Vega. Highly promoted but with questionable engineering, more than two million copies of the Vega were sold during its lifetime. One of the body styles offered was the Kammback, a 2-door station wagon with a sharply raked rear hatch. In 1974, one out of four cars in the Vega camp were Kammbacks, so it was a popular traffic builder in the Chevy showrooms. This ’74 is a survivor with some new parts and is ready to go. Located in Nampa, Idaho, this sporty econobox is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $8,500. Kudos to Steve Hudson for the tip.
Chevrolet touted the Vega as an engineering marvel, yet it soon became apparent that they were rushed into production. The aluminum block engines were prone to overheating and warping, and the cars began to rust prematurely. What may have saved the Vega was the 1973 OPEC oil embargo and America’s flight to economy cars to save gas. As such, the 1974 Vega had its best sales year at 460,000 units, of which 115,000 were Kammbacks like this one.
This survivor is the GT model, which was a trim package with a little tweaking of the suspension. Besides the 2.3-liter inline-4 (has it managed to last 100,000 miles?), the GT has a 4-speed manual transmission and a posi-traction rear end (that much torque?). From all appearances, the little wagon has been well-cared for, as you just don’t see any of these vehicles on the road anymore. The body, paint, and yellow stripes all look good.
New parts include the clutch, fuel pump, and springs, shocks and bushings. The interior looks okay, and we think the bucket seats have been redone because they don’t match the black and white everywhere else in the passenger compartment. The lid of the rear storage area requires a stick to stay in the up position (is this one included?). This daily driver is on the market because of an illness in the seller’s family.
Okay, doors open folks for the LS motor thing,,you know, with as many Vegas that were sold, it only showed how little people really knew about cars. All they wanted was gas mileage, and come heck or high water, it wouldn’t be foreign. Anyone with any mechanical sense, stayed away from the Vega, as reports of engine failures happened early on, and besides, it didn’t even look like a motor. Considering what the Asians were offering, it made a Vega look like a Model T. The car itself wasn’t a bad car, always liked the styling, and I did know a handful of folks that had good luck with Vegas( with religious oil changes), but for the most part, the Vega is one car GM would love to forget. Looking at the price, and “illness forces sale” is what should be on all these overpriced cars. I think it’s an outstanding find, and someone will indeed swap a V8 in this, because that’s all it’s really good for today. I can only speculate why it still remains. The original motor puked a LONG time ago, and it sat.
I always thought the Vega and it’s cousin the Monza were cool cars. This example looks pretty nice! It would be a fun toy for cruise in nights after some cosmetic surgery and mechanical work. I remember 2 Vegas turned into drag cars that won many races at Keystone Raceway back in the 80s. I’d enjoy this car
Vega, $8,500. Who would have ever thought that car would go with that number?
Better deal than the Mustang II listed earlier for $21k!!
That’s a fair point!
Especially with no Marty report. Mustang, not Vega. 😬
Being one of the later models, this little wagon avoided the engine melt downs. The stick isn’t holding up the tailgate, but rather the floor over the spare tire. Those never had any kind of mechanism, so it isn’t broken.
I do wonder why the person who added the stripes made them close together on the front and spread them apart on the tailgate! Rather odd.
A cute little car that’s a good throwback to the 70s. Knock a couple thousand off the price, and you’d have something fun to do the errands in.
Had a 75 and a 76, they all had head block problem , the 76 made it to 124,000 with religious maintenance before popping a head gasket .the 75 had a 74 block, no sleeves , the 76 was sleeved . Had they put the iron Duke engine in them they would have run forever.
I Had a vega wagon yellow blew one engine installed another. I wish I had the money to install a 383 m21 trans shorten 10 bolt rear. I knew someone back in the 70s that had a 350/350 trans. That Vega was fun. I forgot the company that made the complete front end to installed a V8 correctly. What was GM thinking making these 4 cylinder that imploded ! 😂 They could of offered a V6 that would be better. And I bet they would of sold more Vega’s. Good luck to the next owner. 🇺🇸🐻
Cast block with aluminum heads. Technology wasn’t that great back then
Backwards. Aluminum block with steel head.
I think it was Don Hardy that made the V8 front subframe. I had a V8 Vega…..first time I hooked it up on asphalt then stopped for gas and could’nt open the driver side door….ahh those were the daze
As much as everyone wants to drop a Chevy V8 in these. I’ve always thought that a turbo 4 would be a much better engine. Lighter. And with all the performance goodies that’s available, you could probably get 350-400hp or more without the heaviness of the V8
The Buick or olds 215 ci aluminum v8, or the Rover based off the Buick, would be a nice conversion. The v8 weighs less than most 4 cyl and is smoother with more torque.
They actually had a kit for that made by Dan Legrou (sic) D&D fabrications in Michigan. It made for a very balanced spirited car especially with a 5spd. I still have two of the kits but I haven’t been able to find any $100 Vegas for awhile now
That would be fine, until one needed parts for either of those engines.
And Edelbrock makes a four-barrel intake manifold for it, if you find one with a two-barrel intake to drop into it! It makes me wonder what would have happened if GM had stuck with the 215 V8 and worked the bugs out of it, instead of selling the rights and tooling to Rover/British Leyland! That 215 would have been nice to have in the “Malaise Era”!
I have had 26 Vega’s in the 80’s. Buying, selling, scrapping. Favorite was 74 GT Kammbacks with the roof luggage rack. If you dropped in the 231 even fire V6, it was a great combo. Today I would go with a 4.3L.
I wouldn’t go over $4k for what I see here, if only because of the restoration of the interior will be a challenge.
Everyone always talks about dropping a V8 into a Vega… Meh… If I was going to do a swap in one of these, I’d throw a Mazda 13B rotary at it as Gawd and Ed Cole intended…
That said, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Kammback… particularly the pre big bumper vintage… practical, and well styled. And by the ’74 model year Chevy had worked much of the over heating bugs out…
I’ll bet most of those who praise Japanese cars from the early to mid seventies have never driven one. The Corolla was tall, narrow and tippy.
I rented a Corolla in 1972. It had a front bench seat that didn’t slide front and back. Rather it pivoted from the right side, like a gate. At only 5’11” I had to have the seat all the way back so I sat facing the the front left wheel well with my arms and legs canted to the right.
It had an automatic transmission, which came from GM. It absorbed half the Corolla’s meager torque before getting any power to the driveshaft.
Fortunately something—I don’t remember what—went awry before I drive it 10 miles and I had to take it back and exchange it for a 1972 Mercury GT, a much better car.
And at home I had a 1971 Pinto with the 2000cc engine and a four-speed stick, a much better—and safer—car than the Toyota.
I drove a 1975 Corolla for a retro road test for AutoWeek (and have republished it). For 1975, it was the first year Toyota outsold VW to become the number one import. What, a Corolla better than a Beetle? Really, it didn’t take much.
The oil consumption was so bad it had an automatic shut down if if the oil got to low. I had one it used more oil than gas but it was fun to drive on back roads. My brother had a Cosworth Vega it was quick but boy did it rust up fast.
Oil pressure sensor was a three wire setup on the left side of the block under the exhaust manifold. It controlled the oil light and supplied power to the in tank fuel.pump. These sensirs were notorious for failing on all GM cars they were installed on. The oil pumps were fine. Very rare to fail.
If you got stuck on the side of the road with no fuel pump, you could simply grab a piece of wire and short the two outside pins on the sensor, blue and purple wires. Fuel pump would kick back on snd you were golden. I used to buy these cars for $100 or less described as bad pump or engine replacement needed, jump the sensor and drive away.
I used to buy early diesel Rabbits the same way. Owner would sell them cheap because they wouldn’t start. I’d jump out the fuel shutoff solenoid and off I went. bought a few of them that way .
I was 16, my girlfriend was 15. Her father had a silver Kam back and a friend had a yellow one. Both were 4 speeds, we raised hell in those then new cars!
I went to high school from 1972-1976 with several teenage mechanical geniuses. Charley was the first person ever to fit a 289 in a 72 Ford Courier, Henry installed a mid-engine 327 in a 68 Corvair and John was one of the earliest to install a 350 in a 72 Vega. All were clean installations, no hack jobs.
Call me crazy, but I always thought a Cosworth Vega wagon would’ve been nice! It’s time for your medicine now Mr. Atkinson! I’l be right there Nurse Ratched! LOL!
They had a hard enough time selling what they had built. Our local Chevy Dealer had an unsold black 1975 model on display in the main showroom until at least 1979-80. I don’t know if it was ever sold or they just got tired of looking at it. For all I know they still have it.
I always loved the Kammback. I would have bought one but my brother, the gearhead, talked me into a Pinto wagon.
not a good look with the stripes. put a v6 in it for mpg since gas will 5.00 a gallon soon.
Had a partner in my beginning work years at a local, privately held water utility. We changed water meters when they aged out. We drove a Vega wagon with a four speed. It held up well considering the weight of the meters we carried. It was fun to drive on the two-lane back roads. Rest in peace PRR.