by herkey43 » Sat Dec 07, 2013 12:08 am
Its actually snowing on the Oregon Coast today. I'm not too far from my pellet stove, thinking this would be a good time to step out of the shadows and talk about my old vega Hot Rod. First, I need to say that the collective knowledge and experience of this forum is amazing, and has contributed greatly to the project success. Thanx for that...
Part 1
In 1974 I bought a new Vega GT Kammback for my wife. I often found myself in the garage with the hood open thinking... Damn! This would make a great Hot Rod. Small Block Chevy would drop right in. Well, it took 10 years to get around to it. I was building a 350ci Chevy for the Vega, while shopping for a decent '74 Vega Wagon. I found exactly that in an unfinished project car. No running gear, or interior. The Dashboard and boxes of wiring for at least 3 cars of unknown origin, and a load of misc stuff was piled in the back. But when it rolled off the trailer, I was a Vega guy. The car was very straight, and a lot of time and money had gone in before me. It has a Don Hardy narrowed 12 bolt rear end on Vega 4 link suspension. Don Hardy also provided front 5 lug hubs, front springs, and motor mounts, all nicely installed. Not bad for $700..
Soo... Long story short, I built that 350 SBC with 4 bolt mains, Fully balanced, 2.02 heads, Edelbrock with 650 Holley, Mallory distributor and MSD ignition, and Don Hardy full length headers. I came up with a B&M TH 400 tranny to hang the shifter on. I worked out few more details, welded up a couple brackets, twisted some wires together, and I had a hot rod. For 2 years it was my only daily driver/street racer while I kept working on it. I had a lot of fun cruising, local shows, blowing the doors off (most) detroit muscle, and trying to ignore annoying teenagers in a Honda Civic. Eventually my cooling problems wore me out, and the Vega wound up under a cover for the following 15 years.
Part 2
In 2010, while moving, I fired up the Vega, and drove it to my sons place for an undetermined future. He has a nice shop on his property, and is an accomplished car builder himself. One weekend we had it on his 4 post lift, havin' a couple shots, and talking about making a few upgrades and putting it back on the street. So... What follows is a chronicle of the fun we had and a syndrome I call ...Creeping Elegance.
Here is a shot of the car while upgrades and design were being planned.
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