Junkyard Find, Part II: 1975 Chevrolet Cosworth Vega
After seeing today’s Junkyard Find ’75 Vega, the members of the Vega Jihad are doubtless pounding out 10,000-word screeds about The Greatest Car Ever Made (never underestimate the suspension of disbelief required to be a member of the Vega Jihad), and I’m sure that the Cosworth Vega will be mentioned numerous times during said screeds. That’s why it’s fortunate that I have a bonus Junkyard Find today, a genuine, one-of-3,508-made junked Cosworth Vega, which TTAC reader and historically accurate 80s minitruck road racer Jesse Cortez found and photographed at a Northern California wrecking yard.
This Cosworth Vega’s engine was spun a little too enthusiastically, which sent a rod through the side of the block.
However, it comes with a couple of spare blocks and heads. Maybe they’re good!
With its Cosworth-designed cylinder head and fuel injection, the 2,400-pound Cosworth Vega had 110 horsepower under the hood. Compare that to the 75 horses of the base Vega.
I haven’t seen a Cosworth Vega in person since the mid-1980s; most got used up and discarded.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
More by Murilee Martin
Comments
Join the conversation
Vega-victim of the tyranny of the bean counter. Back in the 70's I knew a bunch of people who bought these, mainly used. Same issues on all cooling problems head gaskets, bodies that rotted because they were never dipped or used galvanized steel. It was a shame GM did not just use its small car technology from overseas Opel, Vauxhall and Holden which was far better.
Where is this car located? I must have missed that.