No Wonder Vega's were a POS!

[vintageracer]

GM shipped them like the Sardines they were!

[MarkM66]

That's cool. I wonder if any came unhooked.

[JEFFTATE]

I didn't know they shipped them on their noses ..
How'd that work ???

[moreHP]

I had never seen cars shipped that way before!

[Mach Par]

I didn't know they shipped them on their noses ..
How'd that work ???

From the lack of gap in the wheel wells it looks like they chained them down maybe? Whatever it is it's kinda cool.

[fbody_mike]

Wow? I wonder if the cost benefit was worth it? Seems like alot of labor and risk.

[oestek]

See the GT with the black stripe?

[Nothingface5384]

haha, that hilarious...never would I have thought that's how they shipped some cars back in the day..

[Yelcamino]

That's pretty cool actually.

[Nothingface5384]

it actually is.

[6'9"Witha69]

Looks like they could transport 2x the cars for the same space. I bet you could do it with civics and Corollas nowadays.

[Bill Howell]

They must have shipped them without oil, etc? Maybe the chemical reaction during the shipping sped up the rust process. I have never seen many that were not rust buckets, even back in the day.

[Ron S]

Maybe thats why the engines failed so quickly also, kinda hard on the thrust, on an aluminum block. I still love these little cars, the fact that the iron worms took most of them away, makes them harder to come by. The Monza's, Vega's and Pinto's were it for the American compacts of the 70's, total POS, but nothing a little Pro Touring tech. couldn't fix.

[jon72vega]

No Wonder Vega's were a POS! GM shipped them like the Sardines they were!

Below is some info on the shipping of the Vega copied from Wikipedia.

Vert-A-Pac

The Vega was designed to be shipped vertically, nose down. Special rail cars known as Vert-A-Pac cars designed jointly between General Motors and Southern Pacific and held 30 Vegas versus 18 in normal tri-level autoracks. Each Vega was fitted with four removable, cast-steel sockets inserted into the undercarriage.[103]

30 Vegas in a single Vert-a-pac



Vegas loaded on Vert-a-pac


Chevrolet conducted vibration and low-speed crash tests to make sure nose-down Vegas wouldn't shift or be damaged in railcar collisions. Chevrolet's goal was to deliver Vegas topped with fluids and ready to drive to the dealership. To do this Vega engineers had to design a special engine oil baffle to prevent oil from entering the No. 1 cylinder, batteries had filler caps located high up on the rear edge of the case to prevent acid spilling, the carburetor float bowl had a special tube that drained gasoline into the vapor canister during shipment, and the windshield washer bottle stood at a 45 degree angle. Plastic spacers were wedged in beside the powertrain to prevent damage to engine and transmission mounts. The wedges were removed when cars were unloaded. The rail car doors were opened and closed via forklift.[104]



Here's the link to the complete info the Wiki has on the Chevy Vega if you want to read it in it's entirety.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Vega

[twosaturns]

it's a shame that all the effort that the engineers went through to ensure safe transport couldn't have been applied to making a better product.
vegas rusted on the dealer lots, the unlined aluminum cylinders scored easily, and lots of other stuff I've read about but don't remember (d'oh!)

[JEFFTATE]

That could have been a good car , if they'd just got the bugs out of it.
It was ahead of its time .
The technology just wasn't available to meet the requirements set forth for the car.

[78 Type-LT]

That is a cool method of shipping

[David Pozzi]

They had one of the first side terminal batteries, but the vent caps were to the rear of the battery top so it wouldn't leak when the car was shipped on it's nose.

[Kenova]

Say what you like about the Vega and it's siblings. I see more of them every year than the Japanese imports of the same era.
Rusting on the dealers lot!? Urban myth.
The much maligned (although imperfect) aluminum block!? GM sold the technology to Porsche.
POS!? Perhaps, but they do have potential. Take a look at what it takes to beat Jeff Schwartz's Flying Turd.
The main reason you don't see many today is because they were throw away cars, just like the Corollas of the same period.

Ken

[a73formula]

don't forget 71 was motor trends car of the year.