Cars - Chevrolet Vega

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	Cars - Chevrolet Vega

The Chevrolet Vega was a compact coupé and station wagon sold from 1971 through 1977 as a replacement for the ill-fated Chevrolet Corvair. It was based on the GM H platform and was followed by the 1975-1980 Chevrolet Monza
. The similar Pontiac Astre was available in Canada from 1973 through 1977, and in the U.S. from 1975 through 1977. The Vega 2300 was Motor Trend's Car of the Year for 1971.

When the Vega was introduced, Detroit's Big Three (GM, Ford, Chrysler), along with American Motors, were entering the compact car market to compete with the Volkswagen Beetle along with Japanese imports from Toyota and Datsun.

All standard Vegas and Astres were equipped with a 2.3 L "2300" SOHC I4. The standard engine used either a single-barrel carburetor which produced about 70 hp, or a 2-barrel option which boosted output to 85 hp. These motors had cast iron heads with aluminum-silicon cylinder blocks without iron sleeves; a wear surface for the piston was created by etching the cylinder bore with an electrochemical process. Early models overheated due to poor cooling channel design. Vega engines (except for the Cosworth) typically burned oil not due to cylinder wear (which was the rumor) but instead due to poorly designed valve stem seals. The exception was the limited-edition 1975-76 Cosworth Vega, which used a fuel-injected DOHC 2.0 L four-valve dual overhead cam version of the engine designed by Cosworth Engineering in England and built by Chevrolet at its Tonawanda engine plant.

The Vega was the first automobile that GM produced that offered front wheel disc brakes as standard equipment. It was also the first car that GM produced that used extensive use of robotic welding equipment.

Problems

Forgotten today is that the Vega was a strong seller, especially in the wake of the Arab Oil Embargo, which drove Americans away from traditional large cars in favor of smaller compacts such as Vega, Ford Pinto, AMC Gremlin, and especially foreign imports. Although Chevrolet sold over two million Vegas during its lifetime, the car was plagued with poor reliability and several highly publicized design problems including carburetor fires, engine overheating problems, and premature body rust, which began to affect sales after 1974. The Vega was later dubbed as "the car that began rusting on the showroom floor". Labor/management strife at its Lordstown, Ohio production plant added to the car's woes. Its rival counterpart, the Ford Pinto, was known for ruptured fuel tanks, where the Vega's own defects were the oil-burning engine and body corrosion. To dispel the Vega's sagging sales and reputation, Chevrolet made many internal improvements to the 140 in³ four-cylinder engine for the 1976 model and backed this engine with an unprecedented "5-year, 60,000-mile warranty" at a time when most new cars and their drivelines were backed by one-year, 12,000-mile warranties. By that time, the Vega's sales were sagging further due to new competition from two new small Chevrolet models, including the sportier Vega-derived Monza and the smaller Chevette, which essentially replaced the Vega as Chevy's entry-level model and import-fighter.

In a book later published by John DeLorean who was then president of Chevrolet, he indicated that the prototype car literally fell apart just eight miles into its first road test. Delorean claimed that the car had been designed by GM engineers rather than Chevrolet engineers and said that the car had been forced upon Chevrolet by GM management. He also criticized the engine saying that it, "looked like it had been taken off a 1920 farm tractor."

All these well publicized problems combined with a string of recalls hurt public perception and sales. Forbes Magazine included the Vega on its list of the worst cars of all time.

Production

Vegas sold very well despite their problems, many of which were eventually corrected. In total, 2,154,434 Vegas and Astres were built from 1971 through 1977. A large majority of these were produced at the Lordstown Assembly plant, but some were also built at Saint Therese Assembly in Quebec.

The Vega wagon body continued through 1978 and 1979 as the Monza wagon. About 29,000 additional vehicles were sold under this name. The hatchback body continued briefly in 1978 as the "Monza S", presumably to use up surplus supply of 1977 bodies.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Chevrolet Vega ]

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Cars - Chevrolet Vega

Problems

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