A little spare time to think. Remembering my Chevy Vega..
in [Toyota]
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From: Otis on 2 Oct 2009 08:02 On Sep 30, 9:24 pm, Ashton Crusher <d...(a)moore.net> wrote: > On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:46:20 -0700 (PDT), Otis > > > > <rev_otis_mcn...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > >Over the years, the inevitable subject of worst cars ever comes up, > >and the Vega > >is always at or near the top of the list. I've seen it a hundred > >times. I feel I should > >put in a good word for the little car. > > >My sister got a new Vega in early 1973 (a stripped-down one at that, > >about as basic > >as was available). I then inherited it in late '74 and drove it > >merrily for another full > >year. That little car was never ONE ounce of trouble. It cruised at > >75 mph like > >a charm, never burped or coughed, and I actually don't know that the > >oil was > >ever changed!!!! Maybe the car was serviced when my sister had it, > >but I know > >it wasn't during the time I had it (young and car stupid I guess). > >When > >I traded it in for my dream car at the time (the dreamy '75 Toyota > >Celica GT), > >it had about 42k miles on it and still performed like a trooper. > >Maybe it > >was a rare gem off the assembly line I don't know, but I had three > >friends > >who also had Vegas and I don't remember any of them being lemons; one > >did have notoriously squeally brakes though IIRC. > > Did you live someplace cool/cold? Here in AZ in the heat they were > dropping like flies. GA, not cool at all, but not AZ either. My wife and I once rented a tiny green econobox at Sky Harbor, and drove to Tucson, then out to Yuma, on to San Diego, back to Yuma and then back to Phx, in May. The little car did well, but WE almost dropped.
From: Grumpy AuContraire on 3 Oct 2009 12:31 Otis wrote: > On Oct 2, 12:03 am, Grumpy AuContraire <Grumpy...(a)GrumpyvilleNOT.com> > wrote: > >>hls wrote: >> >> >>>"Nate Nagel" <njna...(a)roosters.net> wrote in message >>>news:ha3d9n21u9q(a)news7.newsguy.com... >> >>>>Yes, but Mercedes and BMW engines are far less likely to need such >>>>service... >> >>>>nate >> >>>1000% right. We had one about a year or so ago. But it is unusual for >>>one of them to fail in this way. I thought all the Vega alloy engines >>>failed, >>>but as I posted early, even the worst manufacturer in the world will >>>occasionally let a good one slip through. >> >>My neighbor who had extensive experience with Vegas stated that the >>average life of an engine (from new) was about 75K. Sleeving at that >>point would make it good for another 200K if the rest of the car held up >>and did not rust away... > > > Never saw any sign of rust on mine, but I did live in GA. Average > engine > life about 75k? What was the average life of most engines of the > era? Any car that was reasonably maintained could expect an engine to last at least to 125K. I can > remember cars back then with 50k that looked like they were about > ready > for the junk pile. A lot of it has to do with the owners. Again, it's the issue of maintenance. I smile > when I remember > back in 1990 when I bought a new Mazda. I overheard a dimwitted > neighbor > tell another neighbor that Mazdas were junk and broke down all the > time. > I still have the car and it still runs as well as my '09 Honda, no > shimmy > either. All of my Hondas have more than 100K but they are old. I refuse to own any car that has a computer and the dreaded "check engine" light. > Also, IIRC the Vega I had was only about $2K, maybe a little more. > That's less than $10K in 2008 dollars. And for that you can buy a new Kia or Hyundai with 100K/ten year warranties. JT
From: Otis on 4 Oct 2009 17:28 On Oct 3, 12:31 pm, Grumpy AuContraire <Grumpy...(a)GrumpyvilleNOT.com> wrote: > Otis wrote: > > Also, IIRC the Vega I had was only about $2K, maybe a little more. > > That's less than $10K in 2008 dollars. > > And for that you can buy a new Kia or Hyundai with 100K/ten year warranties. And in '73, a computer with a fraction of the capabilities of a common laptop today would half fill a room and cost $40,000, if not much much more. Technology advancement does change things a bit.
From: dsi1 on 4 Oct 2009 18:42 Otis wrote: > On Oct 3, 12:31 pm, Grumpy AuContraire <Grumpy...(a)GrumpyvilleNOT.com> > wrote: >> Otis wrote: > >>> Also, IIRC the Vega I had was only about $2K, maybe a little more. >>> That's less than $10K in 2008 dollars. >> And for that you can buy a new Kia or Hyundai with 100K/ten year warranties. > > And in '73, a computer with a fraction of the capabilities of a common > laptop > today would half fill a room and cost $40,000, if not much much > more. You might be a tiny bit off. 20 years ago, a 250MB hard drive cost about $500 and RAM was going for $50 a MB. At the rate, a 1 TB hard drive and 6 GB of RAM would cost around $2.4 million. Well, that's what my calculator sez anyway. > > Technology advancement does change things a bit. Just a bit. :-) > > > >
From: E. Meyer on 5 Oct 2009 10:55
On 10/4/09 4:28 PM, in article a0ac8289-a19c-4028-a402-931173920a4b(a)31g2000vbf.googlegroups.com, "Otis" <rev_otis_mcnatt(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > On Oct 3, 12:31�pm, Grumpy AuContraire <Grumpy...(a)GrumpyvilleNOT.com> > wrote: >> Otis wrote: > >>> Also, IIRC the Vega I had was only about $2K, maybe a little more. >>> That's less than $10K in 2008 dollars. >> >> And for that you can buy a new Kia or Hyundai with 100K/ten year warranties. > > And in '73, a computer with a fraction of the capabilities of a common > laptop > today would half fill a room and cost $40,000, if not much much > more. > > Technology advancement does change things a bit. > > In 1973, the computer we had in the University CS department had a 16K byte memory, a 2 micro-second cycle time and cost $300,000. My cell phone is orders of magnitude more powerful. I would say you are off by quite a bit. |