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Cheyv Sportback! Vega's semi-rise from the dead!


Faust

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A friend and reader messaged me a while ago and asked what had happened to my losers. I mean, everyone knows I love loser cars, but I had drifted a bit away of late. I had a good influx of WWII planes and especially those that float, and I’ve gotten into Brass Era stuff a lot more lately. To be honest, I’d not even noticed my “loser output” had fallen! I promised him that I’d redeem myself before spring, and I’m here today to do just that.

Because, when you want to show you’re strong with the Losers, you can’t just show up with anything. You can’t just bring a ’79 Mustang to a Mustang II fight. No. You have to go WAY stronger. You have to go beyond loser, beyond econobox… you have to BECOME shameless badge engineering and parts-bin commonality.

And what, dear friends, could exemplify this more than the 1978 MPC Chevy Sportback?? The Monza S was a Vega body with a Monza nose, and the kit is just a Vega Promo with a Monza nose. It’s genius, it’s cheekiness and it’s completely cheap and dirty, malaise-era corner-cutting at both 1:1 and 1:25 scales!

So, go and check out one of my rarest kits, one of my most loser of loser cars, and remember, be glad they don’t make ‘em like this any more!

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/mpc-1-25-1978-monza-s-chevy-sportback-oob/

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I think the earlier MPCs can be built stock, too. My brother has the Promo for the '77 version, and the kit is likely a knockdown of that. 

I'm glad to see some stock Vegas; Not sure why so many drag kits but so few stock were made. 

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Since their inception via MPC's annuals (1971-1980), they were buildable as stock, custom, or drag --some included the Wankel engine. 

I have an unbuilt 1974 annual. It has the stock 4 cylinder (with a TH-200), a "stock" V8 (the factory 262 V8 didn't premiere until the '75 model year), and race car options for the aforementioned 'generic' V8 (same stuff found in the refreshed & reissued Grumpy's Toy and the Larson USA-1 Pro Stock kits).

The moulded-on exhaust is absent from the c.1980 Twister and from the subsequent, aforementioned Pro Stock kits. Likewise, the rear wheel "cutouts" on the frame have been widened.

That "random" Keystone Klassic which is still present in the newer issues is a leftover from the 1974 annual (later issues had Cragar S/S).

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On 3/17/2022 at 2:36 PM, Oldcarfan27 said:

👍👍👍👍

Way to go buddy! Keep it up, glad to see them.

Thank you fans, thank you! That one was entirely for you, my good man! 

I fear you're likely right, that the suckage of the real Vega likely tainted the models of the real thing. Although, Pinto kits did well enough, and they never bothered to package them with firecrackers for scale explosiveness... now that would have rocked! :)

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38 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

ever see a California beach-area vehicle?

Yeah. Helped my ex's ex repaint a 76 280Z in 1980-81 that had spent most of its (short) life outside in Santa Barbara. Needed a junkyard hatch due to rust around the window and a bunch of other repair around the windshield.

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I started in the car business in '74 just north of Santa Barbara in Santa Maria. I had a customer pull into the lot one day wanting to trade her Vega Hatchback. I was standing on the showroom floor and her car was a good 50 feet away outside. I could see thru the body panel below the hatch between the taillights and the license plate all the way to the back of the back seat. Other than that, and the oil burner engine the car was pretty clean. 

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I had a 1973 Vega GT. Red, black stripes, white raised letter tires and a 4 speed. I LUVED that car. Fun to drive with the 4 speed. No engine problems I traded in for a 1976 Buick Regal. When I was growing up once you paid off your car it was time to buy a new one.

Mike

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32 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

IIRC, MPC made one in 1975 or 1976.

Not quite. While they did make Vega annual kits in those years, the Cosworth is a twin cam, fuel injected upgrade that almost cost double the amount of a standard Vega.

Base Vega had 75hp and did 0-60 in 14.5 seconds. While the rev happy Cosworth had 110hp and 0-60 times in 10.5 seconds. A 35% increase in horsepower and a four second improvement in acceleration times was impressive given the climate of automotive performance in the dark 70s. 

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Back in teh day, I called the little Ford Aspire, an A**biter since they were so small and hard to get into. The GM at the dealer bought a lot of them at the Auctions, and I got to do the First Inspection, before they went on the line. Changed a huge number of Oil & Air Filters on the little beasts.

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