HERE'S MORE DETAILED PICS OF THE STRIPPED RUSTY VEGA........ Sort of a walk-around of the car.

This is the famous Vega rusted battery tray. Most all Vegas rusted here first. They were mostly transported by rail on their noses in rail car called a "Verti-Pack". This caused the battery acid to spill straight from the factory. Bad.
These next two show the worst of the battery tray rust. Underside of battery tray.... the battery tray is actually pretty solid.
Also underside of battery tray

THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT

Front core support modded to fit two electric fans and some sort of cooler by the previous owner.
Passenger inner fender. Solid. The battery tray area rust hasn't gotten to the frame rail. Nice an solid.
Driver's side inner fender and frame rail. Solid.
Driver-side engine mount for the 215
Passenger-side engine mount for the 215

DRIVER'S SIDE

Inner fender is nice and solid but has a hole cut in the top for the power antenna that was installed somewhere in it's life... that's what the holes are for.
Front driver's-side wheel well rust. I have a parts car that donate this section if need be.
Driver's-side door opening, dash and floor. Notice the rust hole below the gas pedal at the floor/tunnel junction. My parts car doesn't have this piece. Will have to sheet metal it, I guess.
Quarter window rust under the aluminum trim
Quarter window rust under the aluminum trim
Rear Quarter. Rust in the lower portion at the wheel well.
Driver's rear inner quarter
Close up of driver's inner quarter. Thinking of removing all this in order to allow the exhaust pipe reside up in there like the 2nd generation Trans Ams. Then I could put some Trans Am splitter exhaust tips on there.... Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I'm wanting to convert it into a one year only '73 Pontiac Astre! .... which was only made in Canada. The later model body used in '75-later Astre was what the US used for their Pontiac version of the Vega. I'm a big Pontiac fan.

REAR
See how the exhaust pipes would have to be recessed up in the inner quarters for the Trans Am tips to drop down from under the outer quarter panel?
Bottom of spare tire well is rusty. I have a nice replacement well from a ProStreeted car to replace it....
Also, a good shot at where the Trans Am splitter exhaust tips would have to be recessed up in the quarter panel.
Where gas tank goes.... notice the hole in the side for the later model side fill gas tank that was installed by the previous owner. This whole floor area has been replaced with a later model trunk/hatch floor to accept the larger side-fill late model gas tank. Doesn't look very good but I like the idea of having a few more gallons of fuel. Modded the side fill tank to a rear fill so I can fill in the side fill hole in the quarter panel.
I'm not sure about clearance for the Trans Am style exhaust on this side with the fuel tank installed. Even with the inner quarter cut a bit I may have to shift the tank to the center an inch or so. The Trans Am exhaust idea came to me after the tank was removed, so I didn't measure clearance with the tank installed.
Spare tire well
Spare tire well...Close up... shows the rust better.

PASSENGER SIDE
Passenger quarter.... see hole for the later model side fill gas tank. Gotta fill that in so it looks like the original early Vegas did. They filled the tank from behind the license plate.
Passenger side inner quarter. See the bulge where the side-fill gas tank was added by the previous owner. The whole trunk/hatch area has been changed.... because an original '71-'73 gas tank won't fit. The larger capacity side-fill fits perfectly.... so I had the filler loped off and welded in the rear like the original. I hope to use this tank even if I have to sheetmetal the hatch floor.
Passenger quarter window. Not as rusty as the driver's side.
Passenger floor. A few small holes but I have a parts car that can donate most of the area.
Passenger inner fender. Surface rust but solid.

WINDSHIELD CHANNEL AND WIPER SHAFT NACELLE......... RUSTED BAD!


Patch panel for the wiper shaft nacelle from my very rusty parts car... It will fix the wiper shaft nacelle but the windshield channel part is not much better than the one on the car.
The underside of the wiper nacelle patch panel. Shows the support underneath that re-enforces the wiper shaft.

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Additional pics added with illumination under the car to highlight the rust...........

Under left rear quarter... where I'd planned on cutting out to allow the Trans Am style splitter exhuast tips to reside like on the 2nd generation T/As.

Interior view of the spare tire well without the patch panel in place

Spare tire well patch panel

 Patch in place and illuminated to show what would be cut out for the Trans Am splitter exhaust tips.

Driver's sided front floor board

Passenger side floor.... large illuminated hole is the transmission shifter hole.

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Slowly piecing car back together without performing the bodywork/paint. 

I'm concentrating on the mostly original '73 that I acquired.  Plans are to put it back the way it was before I started tearing it apart with a stock '63 Buick 215 V8..... not the stroker 215 with the 300 crank. 

Just need to find a front windshield and it's driveable again.

More items for the car.....

Front Valance with lower air intakes.  Looks like a "Pig's Snout".    Grill has been modified to hold some form of cooler (not pictured) notice the fins are thinner on the driver's side.  Upper driver's corner fins removed for some reason???

Center Console with various gauges and courtesy lights installed.

'74 and later side fill  Fuel tank that was converted back to rear fill like '73 and older tanks.

Hatch housing a couple of extra dashes (I have 3) and "V" engine configured heat and A/C components.

The orange velvet door panels that were on the car when I got it.  Yep, someone even intalled power windows on this baby.

This is the dash as I got the car.  It had normal GT gauges and an old red digital readout rally computer in the dash.

This Vega is just a storage facility now for old Vega parts.......

Under rear quarter panel where the trans am splitter exhaust was to go.