End My Oil Crisis

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1955moose

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Oh my God a Vega! You went from a state of the art car, the Z, to one of the worst cars in history, yikes. I owned 2 Z cars, a first year 240, and a 80 280ZX. The 240 had a little rust in the door rockers, normal for those, and the 280 had no rust. Both were parked outside here in Daly City, about 5 miles from the Beach. See I wash and wax my vehicles regularly, is one reason why they don't rust. You guys in the Midwest have that damned salt for the snow that chews through metal like a 1980's Pacman!

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1955moose

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You can sprinkle powdered sugar on a turd, but it's still a turd! No offense but I had a friend that had one, and he kept a spare engine in the garage of his mom's house when the old one gave up the ghost. My 56 VW was just as bad, a fresh engine we called it. My bug and others, started having issues around 50-60k. Just the way it was. I used to adjust valves every 2500, new points/plugs every 3-4k. Don't get me started on how often I had to adjust those 4 wheel drum brakes!

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Machete

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I tricked out a 1972 VW. Cam, dual port intakes, Webber carb, exhaust, it was a sleeper. Fun driver.
 

1955moose

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Yeah, yours at least ran. I think besides strength, they shaped the beetle like a snail, or turtle, because that was about as fast as they went. 0-60 speed, in about an hour! Did yours at least have front disc brakes?

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stamp11127

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Y'all keep talking trash about those Vegas. Mine had a 350 4bolt with 650 dbl pumper, 4speed on a 10 bolt stock rear end. I could melt tires at will...
As they say down here - mash the gas and hold on
 

1955moose

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Well that's a Vega. Wouldn't that have been cool for GM to offer a V8 option. Would have been like Chrysler in the early days , offering anything from the 225 slant six, all the way up to a fire breathing 426 Elephant! Just ✓ the appropriate box. Remember those ramped valve adjusters on Vegas, one setting was too loose, the other too tight. That's why they always had that tick, tick, tick.

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TobyU

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Like the Monza with the 305 in it from the factory. Monza and Vega we're kind of like sister cars. I live about five miles from the racetrack and saw a Chevette up on n a trailer yesterday. Tubbed in the back and at least a small block in it. I think some of them even have Big Blocks.
 

TobyU

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I tricked out a 1972 VW. Cam, dual port intakes, Webber carb, exhaust, it was a sleeper. Fun driver.
I had a 77 I think it was the year turned into a Baja Bug. It had a 1600 dual-port with twin solex carbs and whatever else and it was still an absolute turd.
I think it's top speed was about 58 with a Tailwind. It had some pretty wide nice wheels and tires on it so it wouldn't get rubber on dry pavement even if you dump the clutch.
It was pretty with nice fresh deep blue paint with a little bit of purple tint to it but it was not a performance vehicle.
I bought it from a shop teacher in Kansas after driving around looking for Toto for an hour or so and pulled it all the way back to Dayton Ohio on its tow bar it had on the front. One of my many impulsive eBay good deals.
 

rjdelp7

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Chevy offered a V8 option in the Monza. They raised the price of the Vega, after numerous productions problems. Not many people were willing to pay, close to what a Camaro cost. The Vega had rust issues. They found rust on them, in the showroom. Early models had no plastic fender liners, that added less than $3 bucks to price(Take a look at 2019 Ford F150 rear well wells). My Aunt gave me her orange Vega GT, One Millionth model. The dealer wouldn't take it on a trade. My Father made me get rid of it. I was too young to drive and the car was already falling apart. It did start(1st try) after months of sitting and ran very good. The Lordstown plant(built for the Vega), recently in the news for closing, is where they were assembled. The Vega workers, organized a wildcat strike, to protest layoffs and increased production speeds. I read it cost GM $150M, something General Motors never forgot.
 
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