Vega Stinger ad
 

Came across this the other day

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That's pretty cool! I've never even heard of them before, and I worked for a couple of dealerships...in California. Maybe that's why. I did hear of the Cosworth Vegas, though.

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$75 bucks for a turbo charger kit. Just sounds cheap even for back then.

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Just noticed it's an ad by Yenko chevrolet

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I owned three Vegas. I would have loved one of those.

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I used to buy them with popped engines, fix and flip them. At one time I had 7 of them in the back yard in various stages of dismemberment. The landlord got on me about that. I had one I put a 305 SBC in. It was pretty fast. I also built a panel truck with a GT engine (2 BBL Holley (I think)) and a 3.36 Axle performance axle. It had an automatic, not sure which one. I put a B&M shift kit in it, and it was right quick. The panel truck had sheet metal instead of rear side windows, and no back seat, just a storage space. It raised a lot of eyebrows leaving stoplights. :lol:

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Looks like it came with some nice paint also

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Yenko had a whole Stinger line. They even did Stinger Corvairs. I have a ton of car magazines from the era, lots of ads and articles in them with Yenko.

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...and some suspension bracing. Vegas had coil springs all around, and that blue one has something visible on the left rear that looks sort of like a traction bar. I know that the one I put a V-8 in got the F41 boxed lower control arms after it buckled the right rear lower control arm on hard acceleration, and that was a bone stock 305 with a 2 barrel carburetor. I expect that low-end torque was higher than what the turbo version put out.

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I always thought the first Vegas were good looking.

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Mini Camaro that's why...I had GT wagon with a 327/poweglide. It was a lot of fun!

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I always liked the looks of the Vegas. In high school a buddy of mine had a yellow Vega GT. Nothing special, just stock 4 banger and four speed.

Now, another buddy of mine had a 74 Monza coupe with a 327 and four speed. Cragar SS wheels (14" ha!). That car was fun but probably really way too fast for a bunch of teenage boys to have.

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They engineered things to be just strong enough to handle stock hp . Even their big hp cars if you went to much things break . I know from experience

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I believe they were Motor Trend car of the year when they first came out.

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Good to know they agree with me on that. I'll say I lost respect for what Motor Trend says after they voted the new Matador car of the year. Really? That had to be the worst styled confused pieced together looking junk I ever saw. Looks like a team of seven designers worked on it, all assigned a specific area, and they never talked to each other :lol:

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It was a strange design . One of those cars you really liked or hated. The design worked though for Bobby Allison and the Pensky team . As did the redesigned Javelins in Trans Am racing .
https://bangshift.com/general-news/v...-southern-500/

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Put me in the "Hate it' camp. Those Matador's were about the ugliest cars that AMC ever made and they made some pretty ugly cars. (Think Pacer)

When you look at all the beautifully designed cars that stop you dead in your tracks because they are so stunning and compare it to that mess it makes you wonder what they were smoking.

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What's a Matador?



Sorry I forgot the little trick on embedding videos

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Wow, they picked good angles for those pictures. That's the best I've ever seen one of those things look. You can tell they meant it to be sporty. And then they added the puffy landau top... You have to wonder how somebody ever signed off on that. And of all places for wheels mimicking squarebody rallys to end up...

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I thought of you while posting and wondered if I'd hit a tender spot. Looking for pictures I saw plenty of reminders of the track success the car had. Looks don't win a race and they proved that.

I wasn't liking any of the style changes at that point in time. It was the very early '70s when I first began clutching at the cars that were and turning my sights from anything new.

I liked the style before just fine

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I dont like the the 74 matador . Now a nice 71 Machine I'll take

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I bet it was!
Attachment 2134514

Back to Vega Stingers. how about a wagon (Camback)

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I know this has been posted before, but always fun to see again. Kinda off topic, but do you see what looks like a C-60 front clip way in the back by the Dodge van? Or are these just Sunday morning eyes! :lol:

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Those real cars are crazy. I would have liked to sit in on the meeting where those were originally pitched to management.

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The Kammback was a cool marketing idea... even though it wasn't really a Kammback. But I did love the baby Camaro look of the fastback (which was actually more of a true Kammback). I never did like the notchback, though. I thought those were pretty ugly.

Two of my Vegas ran really well - both of them had the GT package with the two-stage Holley (progressive secondaries). Unfortunately, both of them were totaled - one by a little old lady turning right from a left-turn lane, and the other by a head-on from a drunk driver. I wouldn't mind having one of those back today. They weren't exactly drag cars, but they were fun to drive.

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Stangers

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I really like those, especially the red one.

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I wonder what power enhancements these received. That silver one ain't your straight from Yenko Stinger.

I will show this Vega all by intself so we can appreciate it without distraction

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Nice! It's very sleek looking

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Yeah, really clean. Great photography

Some hot little Vegas here

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Dang it, now I want one. The little Camaro look is great

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Man Tim, that last one is nasty looking. I’m starting to see them in a light I never have before!

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I know what you guys mean. Yeah they look tough alright. To add to that there was about a stigma attached to Vegas back when they were current. In the '60s came economy cars like the Chevy II and the Corvair. The full-sizes were king. Then comes the Vega, GM's answer to foreign competition. That was considered a notch below the economy cars. Then they had problems with the cast iron block/aluminum head design which was a new thing. The name Vega seemed to come with a chuckle for a lot of people. Many not considered GM's best idea. But... they were actually a great foundation for a small block RWD street machine.

My friend ran a Vega for years at the track. I watched that car transform into an 8 second machine.

The notchbacks had a different appeal, but then there were the Euro sedans such as BMW 1600s or 2002s or the Japanese Datsun 510s. This guy did one in the Euro tradition and I really like it

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If Chevy had used the all-iron 153 CI 4-cylinder, you'd probably see still Vegas running around these days; at least a few, anyway. If you've ever seen the head off, you'd see the problem. The water jacket completely surrounds the cylinders, which are siamesed together. When the engine overheats, the aluminum shifts and you have a blown head gasket. This generally happened at 55k miles, give or take a few k, and almost invariably it was from lack of cooling system maintenance.