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Vehicle Owner

Member ID: bugdewde

Location: East Tennessee, Tennessee

Last updated: May 17, 2009

Hits: 1,127

Dwight’s Chevrolet Vega

  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
4 guestbook comments

1973 Vega GT as purchased on 12/15/07.
Pictures the seller emailed to me. I'll get some of my own posted later.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Front Grille. Lower valance cracked at driver's blinker and in the middle. Some paint runs.....

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Very nice interior. Recovered seats and loop carpeting. Interior plastic has some dried places but overall nice for a daily driver.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Original dash/gauges. A/C-inoperable at this point. 8-track player(probably not original..???)

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Automatic.... also a cassette player added by the previous owner.... Gotta keep up with the times, right? 8-tracks are hard to come by.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Rear seats. Very good condition. Some drying of the plastic panels but overall very good for a daily driver.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Hatchback area. Typical sun drying of the plastic panels but no holes.... Even has the ever elusive cardboard tail light cover!!! Very rare to see one still surviving.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Spare tire well..... always rust here. This one is solid and only has surface rust.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Aluminum block/iron head OHC straight four. 2.3 Liter 140 cubic inches. 2-barrel carb. Not run in 3 years. Has run with fuel poured down the carb. Awaiting further updates and progress on troubleshooting engine.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

Some dents and scratches to match the broken plastic valance around the driver's blinker. Cause unknown. Appears to have had a little bodywork on driver's fender.
Overall, a nice daily driver paint job.... not show quality but complete. Some door dings and a few scratches here and there. Appears to have at least one repaint of the original color. Seller said car was his father's. He worked for GM and owned the car since '78. Supposedly had a sleeved block installed and a higher geared rear end(lower numerically) for fuel mileage. Heavily undercoated ... even the inner engine compartment. The only rust found was under the battery tray underneath the car (normal rust area for Vegas). Car has been stored indoors and looks very solid.

 

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Notice the busted valance around the driver's blinker.
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

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12/26/07 Update
The fuel gauge reads high. 1/4 tank is EMPTY! I added fuel and got the car running last weekend.
Today, I swapped out the spark plugs, the distributor cap and rotor button.... still waiting on a set of spark plug wires to be found. Car runs much better but dies at idle when the automatic transmission is engaged. Got it idled up a bit to compensate.

Here's a couple pics of the car being transported home.......

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

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200+ mile trip through the Great Smokey Mountain Nation Park, several national parks and the infamous "The Dragon's Tail" at the NC/TN border on Highway US 129.  Sort of a first road trip in it.


bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega "The Dragon" Overlook.... gal pal and the dogs.
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Foothills Parkway -- love this stretch of road.  Beautiful scenery here.
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

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Swapped in a Borg-Warner T-50 five speed transmission.  Hated the PowerGlide auto.  Now, I can stay in the power range of the engine by choosing 1 of 5 gears.... much better than only 2.

Entered the car into an autocross school at the start of the summer '08.  Soon afterwards, I lost compression on the #1 cylinder.  After shooting compressed air down the spark plug hole with both intake and exhaust valves closed, I notice air coming out the tailpipe.  Busted exhuast valve!bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vegabugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

 

Had a head rebuilt........bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vegabugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Yep, it's sitting on a new, sleeved block...... for later.

Cleaned up the piston tops a little....... bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

Painted the head with P.O.R 20.... high heat paint. bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vegabugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

 

All buttoned up and run across the Cherohala Skyway......  Beautiful road.  Elevation to over 5400 feet above sea level.  Got into a little cloud cover that turned into a thunderstorm just as we were leaving.  Beautiful weather once we started down the other side of the mountain.bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vegabugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

 

 

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Vehicle Owner

Member ID: bugdewde

Location: East Tennessee, Tennessee