America's RARE Forgotten Canyon Carver - The 1975-1976 Chevrolet Cosworth Vega

In this Rare Cars documentary, we go in depth into the misunderstood and largely forgotten Chevrolet Cosworth Vega. This compact canyon carver was build in a very unique partnership between GM and Cosworth to create a compact sports car for Chevrolet to use to compete with the smaller more nimble European cars.

But did it succeed? Watch the video to the end to find out for your self!

*Note, we are not historians. If you see an error in our research then please mention it in the comments!

[rarecars]

EDIT: The Vega's 4 cylinder is NOT based on the QUAD 4 pictured from the Oldsmobile...It is based on the GM 4 cylinder that is also referred to as the "Durabuilt-4", the Quad 4 name came after. I must have gotten the two confused when I spoke on the video so please take the "quad four" and replace that with the 'Durabuilt-4" and all the other facts are the same. Apologies for the misspeak!

[frestkd]

The Quad4 was designed and developed by Oldsmobile not Cosworth. GM Cosworth engine was designed before the quad4.

[kendanielson]

I came across one while driving on the Oregon coast (twisty road) back in the early '80s. That Cosworth Vega could get with it! I was impressed.

[Demonbfg]

I bought one new in 75, good and fun car. Thanks for the memories.

[mutantryeff]

Did you know that GM special trains built so that they could stack Vegas vertically while being transported instead of horizontally like most cars? They could get more Vegas onto a single special transport train car to reduce the costs of selling the vehicles.

[fideauone]

Had a 75 Gt. Loved that little car. always wanted a Cosworth, even now.

[michaelwright]

My father sold cars in Pontiac Michigan, a Chevy dealer that is no longer there. They had a new one of these on the showroom floor... I fell in love with what was under the hood, it was simply incredibly cool back then. The car was a metallic green with gold pin striping if I remember correctly, maybe it was black. My buddy had a Vega, we went everywhere in that car, manual transmission. Out on the trails, the woods, it went everywhere. My neighbor bought one, and stuffed a 350 chevy 4 bolt under the hood with a manual transmission. And yes, they rusted. Fun times.

[chrisbailey]

The Torana hatchbacks coupe had very similar lines.

[davedifranco]

I had a 72 Vega GT..stuffed a 350 w/ aluminum heads underhood..4 sp and narrowed rear end came out of a 70 chevelle ss..custom drive shaft and suspension....a REAL HOOT!...wish I still had it!

[gordonstroup]

I am, a Vega lover. I only love the 1971-1973 body style, though. They were kinda fashioned like the Camaro of the same years.
I actually had a 72 GT hatchback, and a 72 GT wagon. The hatchback was the dark orange with a black stripe, and the wagon was metallic silver with the black stripe. The hatchback, I rebuilt the engine, steel sleeves were pressed in for better piston ring sealment. The pistons were changed out to be 10 to 1 compression. The block and head were milled to also bump up the compression. It ended up to be
10½ to 1 comp. I installed a nice little bumpy camshaft too.
A larger capacity radiator, changed the intake to a 4 barrel and installed a 550 Holley carb. A good style header for the exhaust, a new dual exhaust system, a stock 4 speed manual transmission, a posi unit in the rear axle, a set of Lakewood slapper traction bars, and some wider tires on all 4 corners made it a pretty quick little car. I drove it everywhere, here in Arizona. The cornering was great, the horsepower gain was awesome, and it was a perfect sleeper.
Now the wagon.... I bought this from a friend. He had already installed a 6 point roll cage, subframe connected together, also a narrowed 12 bolt Chevy rear axle with 5:13 gears, hand made 36 inch long traction bars that bolted up to the subframe right under the front seats. They really transferred the weight and the little wagon could hop the front tires off the ground when you got on it. It had a BorgWarner 4 speed and a Hurst Super Shifter. The engine that I put into it was a 65 Corvette 327. I did quite a few changes to it, and turned out to be a ground pounding, loud thumping, wheel pulling, fast little bitty street station wagon, perfect to drive to the grocery store anytime at all, ha ha 😅.
Fun times at
Central Cruise night.
Thanks for sharing your video.
Y'all take care now, ya hear? 👋🙂👍 ✌️😊👌

[GavinByrneLand]

I'm a new and very happy subscriber. This channel is fantastic!

[stevengagnon]

My first car was a 75 Opel 1900 sport wagon built in Germany. It certainly was a good handling little wagon. The best part wss in 1975 they put a Bosch full multi port fuel injection system in the 1900. Definitely a better engine than the rest of the Vega offings plenty of torque and a bit of horse power at the top. A "Vega " that was also fun to drive...it's ultimate demise was Wisconsin Winters . It had 175, 000 miles which wasn't to bad for the time since the engine was still running perfectly.... that engine now lives in an Opel GT replacing the 1.1 liter. I have a set of front shocks that never made it into the wagon left yet.

[douglasmcdowall]

I loved this video, I always had an interest in these cars because of another odd car I used to have. It would be cool to see a video on the Merkur XR4Ti!

[Tramp-dmxr]

Drove my 1st car/77 vega hatch up and down east coast 1300 mile stints. Never gave a single problem. Cold ac
Auto with weak performer tho. Bought a cheap 77 vega station wagon.... My 1st swap: buick V6/Monza 5speed
Totally different animal - smooth, torquey. Then built a 4.1L, as per the free GM Ruggles Buick V6 guide
Left V8s in the dust. Sounded like one too. Every rider commented how it effortlessly stuck you in the seat
Even girls!

[michaelrandell]

When I lived in Orlando, a Corvette shop had 2 Cosworth Vega's in their agozillary lot. Off of 17/92 and Howlbranch rd.

[downeys]

My brother and I owned four of these. My dad brought two home, gave them to us, and then told us we had to pay for them. These first two were 1976 models with 5-speeds. Mine was green and my brother's was beige. The MSRP on mine was $7k. An interesting car and my friends thought I was nuts, they all had Trans AM's etc. and comparatively much faster. These engines had the Si coated cylinders like M-Benz uses, sodium filled exhaust vales, tuned headers, 410 rear ends, dog-leg 5 speeds and electronic fuel injection. Put a Monza exhaust on it; wow! All that and simply anemic hp. Thanks uncle Sam for killing what could have been a great car.

[bryanst.martin]

I put a 305 in a Vega wagon one weekend with my buddy. Drive shaft was a bit wonky but it was drivable.
Did you know that the crash tests between Pinto and Vega were rigged? Vega was rear ended at 35mph, and the Pinto at 55mph. I was young, but I read the fine print during commercials.

[calvincrews]

The 74-77 Chevrolet Vega is a car for collectors restores and anything between

[cary]

I’ve never forgotten them, I worked at a Chevy dealership in 1976.

[thebaddestogre-]

Never was my dad like, "that there was one hellava canyon carver".