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Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:59 am
by ski.dive
HERE'S MY 1977 CHEVY ESTATE WAGON: POSSIBLY THE LAST VEGA EVER BUILT, ENJOY ...LOL :th: :th: :th:

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:40 pm
by marco_1978_spyder
The color makes sense.. The Very first production Vega is a robins egg blue model..It would stand to reason that the last one would be the same color.

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 6:12 pm
by gotmud7
If this is the last "Vega" wagon down the line, then the car right after it would be a 1978 Monza S wagon. They would be identical looking besides the front end. From what I thought, there was a surplus of Vega wagon bodies so Chevy put on a Monza front end to use up all the Vega bodies. No 1978 Vegas built.

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 8:01 pm
by marco_1978_spyder
Well right...so this is the last Vega -well quite possibly the last one. No real proof yet, but some solid evidence.

Sure the Vega Hatch and Wagon's carried on as as the Monza S and Monza Wagon (And Sunbird Safari Wagon)...But they weren't badged as Vega's.

Lets see...the last 'technical Vega body' to roll down the line would have to be the last Monza wagon built in 1979.
Last Vega Hatch was the last Monza S coupe in 78.

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:50 pm
by DrCAS
I believe that H Bodies were manufactured at the St Therese, PQ plant and not Oshawa, ON facility. I know that Astres were manufactured at this plant starting in 1973.

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:33 pm
by stage169
Great looking Wagon!

If you add up the TC cars with the Vega's made at Lordstown for 77 it comes to 84,632. Mix in the Chevy Van with the same sequential number first digit (1) and another whole Month of production I think the chances are slim. But it sure would be nice to find out.

Brian

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:38 pm
by marco_1978_spyder
I asked GM about the Van's...and they were built in a totally separate plant, and didn't share any numbers or assembly line space. It was Lordstown, but a totally separate building simply on the same piece of land.

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:50 pm
by stage169
I was cornfused ( :shock: ) when Jim Vehko from GM Heritage told me the sequential number of the VIN for the Chevy Van started with the number "1" just like the Monza & Vega. What little I've looked into this stuff most models have a different first digit. I could see all the H's having the same but a Van? I don't know I wish there was a resource that would give us the answer!

This 77 was on ebay and here is it's VIN# CGL157U178260 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1977-che ... 20c4925f09

Jim said their search function uses the last eight digits of the VIN. That gives you the year, plant and then the sequential number. He said there are no duplicate numbers???

Brian

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 11:49 pm
by cosworth0135
couldn't help myself but i pointed out to the owner of that van that it has a 8.5 ten bolt instead of the listed 12bolt,TImmy

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 1:48 pm
by res0o7eb
stage169 wrote:I was cornfused ( :shock: ) when Jim Vehko from GM Heritage told me the sequential number of the VIN for the Chevy Van started with the number "1" just like the Monza & Vega. What little I've looked into this stuff most models have a different first digit. I could see all the H's having the same but a Van? I don't know I wish there was a resource that would give us the answer!

This 77 was on ebay and here is it's VIN# CGL157U178260 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1977-che ... 20c4925f09

Jim said their search function uses the last eight digits of the VIN. That gives you the year, plant and then the sequential number. He said there are no duplicate numbers???

Brian
I would assume he meant that there are no duplicate VINs. Based on the info in this thread, a search of the database on just the last 8-digits of the VIN would certainly show multiple results. From Brian's example, a search for '7U178260' would show a result of the ebay van with the ''CGL157U178260' VIN.
QUESTION : Could the last 8 digits of a VIN be on more than one H-Body?
Using the van as an example '2H77V7U178260' - would be a 1977 Pontiac Astre Hatchback with a 151 cu. in. I-4 engine. But, it could also be '1R07U7U178260' - a 1977 Chevrolet Monza Hatchback with a 305 cu. in. V-8 engine (not sure which year Monzas had which V-8 engines - the FAQ isn't clear). Correct?

My guess (I am an IT professional) is that Jim at GM is probably searching an ancient database that hasn't been migrated to a more modern system with better search criteria and data structure. It is conceivable that the search only returns one result, even if though there could be more results. It is also conceivable that not all of H-bodies built are in that database or that some of the data is corrupted.

Still, the OP shows a Vega that just doesn't match the numbers that we have in the FAQs.
My 1976 Vega GT was built in the 2nd week of August in 1976 based on the trim tag. It has a VIN that indicates it is one of the last Vega cars built in 1976 (See the link to my blog in my sig below). But, the VIN is LESS THAN the total number of cars built in 1976 according to the FAQs. We have speculated that GM stopped production for a couple of weeks for a model-year changeover, but production ran into August.


Can we see a picture of your trim tag? 7/77 isn't how GM listed build dates - it would be 07(A,B,C, or D). See this listing for pictures of trim tags - viewtopic.php?f=16&t=26455&start=15
Look on first postion of 3rd line of your trim tag for the build date. The body number would be helpful, too.

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 6:38 pm
by marco_1978_spyder
So if Vans shared the same vin numbering style as the vega and monza (100,001) It still wouldnt affect the total number of Vega's and there corresponding vin numbers.

They could both share the same vin numbers...

""Jim said their search function uses the last eight digits of the VIN. That gives you the year, plant and then the sequential number. He said there are no duplicate numbers??? "" Jim would have to be wrong here...there would definitely be duplicate "final 8's" The total vin wouldn't be a duplicate, but both a Van and a Vega could have been 7U134567, So the search terms do duplicate.

but Vega number 134,567 was indeed the 34,567th vega out of the plant. There were no Van numbers mixed in here..

However....the Van Body Numbers (bare steel shell) are shared with the Vega and Monza (also called the Body Sequence number)... the number is on the Cowl tag as well. Apparently fisher body counted the Vans in so for example the body number on a very late production 78 cowl tag and matching buildsheet was in the 444,000 range while the vin was correctly near the 138,832 mark. Most likely it helped the bodies stay organized thru the painting process where they wouldnt be able to have a buildsheet attached to the body. Not sure if the Van bodies shared painting operations, but it seems possible.


Finally the OP's vin indicates an error of only 870 unit's (has anyone checked the number of Exported Vega's? Would explain everything if there were something around 800 exported.

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:04 pm
by stage169
res0o7eb wrote:Jim said their search function uses the last eight digits of the VIN. That gives you the year, plant and then the sequential number. He said there are no duplicate numbers???

I would assume he meant that there are no duplicate VINs. Based on the info in this thread, a search of the database on just the last 8-digits of the VIN would certainly show multiple results. From Brian's example, a search for '7U178260' would show a result of the ebay van with the ''CGL157U178260' VIN.
QUESTION : Could the last 8 digits of a VIN be on more than one H-Body?


My guess (I am an IT professional) is that Jim at GM is probably searching an ancient database that hasn't been migrated to a more modern system with better search criteria and data structure. It is conceivable that the search only returns one result, even if though there could be more results. It is also conceivable that not all of H-bodies built are in that database or that some of the data is corrupted.


I think he meant no dublicate year, plant - sequential numbers. I got the impression that he didn't really know and had to ask someone else there. After the first email it just went down hill. I should call that is a lot quicker than trying to explain/understand through emails.

The 1979 Buick micro film I got to look at has the sequential numbers right on, they match the production total. I haven't a clue how many 77 Vans were made but it wouldn't take very many for that sequential number to start with "2". I guess its possible they had another database like a tape reel or something then I could see the migration thing happening. I need to call. Brian

marco_1978_spyder wrote:So if Vans shared the same vin numbering style as the vega and monza (100,001) It still wouldnt affect the total number of Vega's and there corresponding vin numbers.

They could both share the same vin numbers...because there totally different vehicles and the rest of the vin was totally different.
both a van and probably many other chevies had the same numbers. If they all shared than the final vin number of these cars would be more than 6 digits.


The Lordstown H body production total is 84,632. Most sequential/Body sequence #'s start with a different number for different models from what I've seen but I'm certainly no expert. Here is a quote from Jim
Brian,
No, they would not be identical. I pulled a higher number (7U183121) at random and it came out a Sport Van, which was also built at Lordstown. The search function won't let us separate by model only by the last eight. There is no way that I can look for the last Vega without having records go through thousands of records.


If their search doesn't give them a Van and an H body with the last eight digit numbers he used (7U183121) then I would say that there are no identical sequential/Body sequence #'s. I don't think he is correct but I surely don't know! We need to call.

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 8:35 pm
by marco_1978_spyder
So why not punch in the OP's vin number then the one right after and see if it goes from Vega to Van.

And also have them try to punch in a number a little lower, that both Van's and Vega's would have shared and see if it pull's up 2 records.One for a Van and one for a Vega. If it doesn't then that data is either useless or corrupt, or GM indeed is trying to keep everything shrouded in mystery to avoid the real numbers that would amount to thousands in unpaid taxes.. :lol: dare I say.

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:38 am
by stage169
:th:

It would be nice to get this figured out completely. I'll try and call today. Brian

Re: POSSIBLE... LAST VEGA EVER MADE

PostPosted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 3:49 pm
by gotmud7
This post kind of got off topic. It's a nice Vega wagon anyway. How about we all agree that this might be "possibly the closest to last Vega still in existance".