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!!
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.