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By
DAVID PIKE
There appears to be some code amongst US car manufacturers, or it may be
a law of US automotive competition, which requires each manufacturer to
produce a range of models in direct competition with other manufacturers’
model range. Hence when Ford Motor Company released the Pinto, General
Motors shortly after brought out its Vega line. It's fascinating to
recall however, that not only did these two cars share similar features
but by some automotive coincidence they also shared the same poor
quality control and suffered many engineering design problems.
Designed as an all-new sub-compact car, the Vega, like the Ford
Pinto, was built by a company that had never built a sub-compact
before. The Pontiac Astre was Vega's sister product and it shared
many of Vega's woes. The Vega was offered in both sedan and
station wagon models on a 2.4-metre wheelbase for the period 1971
to 1975. The car had a rather insipid four-cylinder engine made of
an aluminium alloy, but its design had not been fully worked out.
The power plant quite often developed warped cylinder heads,
sundry leakage problems, oil burning - from extreme expansion and
contraction of cylinder walls - and main-bearing failure.
The Vega was equipped with a mushbox automatic transmission, or
a trauma-producing mess that passed for a standard transmission.
Neither transmission had the grace to refrain from outright
breakdown. Body rust was a particularly bad problem and Vegas
could be seen rusting with daunting rapidity. Just a few months
after first purchase, the car acquired a patina of bubbles which
soon burst reddish-brown through the finish.
Throttle linkages also tended to kink, producing full power at
the most inopportune times and many Vegas had steering and brake
problems. Drive train problems were rife and rear axles became a
major problem area. In 1975 Chevrolet offered a limited-edition
Vega called the Cosworth Vega, featuring a dual-overhead cam,
16-valve, four-cylinder Cosworth. It didn't serve to redeem the
contemporaneous standard Vegas, but it surely surprised the
unsuspecting. Also in 1975 General Motors began to take steps to
rectify many of the reported faults in this little car, finally
dropping the line in 1977.
Quality problems were not solely confined to cars of US or
European origin. In many of the Japanese Hondas, Datsuns and
Toyotas of the time mechanical quality was marginal, quality
control was doubtful and passenger comfort was often
non-applicable. The main appeal of these cars was their fuel
economy and low purchase price.
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