Back in 1980, my buddy put a 327/325 hp engine in a 1975 Vega wagon. rear end out of a V8 Monza and a Muncie 4 spd tranny. I believe it had 373 gears. No hood scoop or big tires. Looked totally stock. My dad at the time had a 1969 GTO with a 400 ram air IV 4spd car and this little Vega would be neck and neck with my dad's car at the drags and sometimes came out on top. Really pissed off the old man and my bud who built this car was 17 at the time.

I still own a 1974 Vega GT with a 68 L79 327 (now 331 cu in) and a T5 5-speed

I have owned my 1971 Baldwin Motion Camaro for the past 42 years. Absolutely a beast, I have 2 nephews chewing a bit to get it.

Put a 409 chev in a Vega in 83 still have it. It ran 10.02 at Gainesville regularly.😊

Back in 75 I had a Pinto with a 289 v8 and my best friend had a Vega with a 350! He beat my ass every time we ran! My 289 ran really good but just couldn’t compete with the Chevy 350! That was just a whole lot more motor! But we had tons of fun! Times are different today!

There was a guy down the street who had one when I was a kid. He use to rip down the road... wheels 3 feet in the freaking air. It had wheelie bars. Craziest thing I've ever seen.

Had one...... Wish I still had it..... Went into the army left it with my family in L.A. went to Germany for 8 years ( Don't ask ) told them to sell it and I would get the money when I go back...... 1983 went back and was handed $22,000..... For a car I paid almost $8,000 for....... It only had about 2,700 miles on it...... Took the money bought some land up in Gig Harbor WA..... Never thought about till this video..... But it was a good deal in the end as do you know what 5 acres of waterfront land was worth in 2000.....? LOL a lot more then that car could ever be worth today.... went from young and dumb to very well off....... thanks to my Baldwin Vega..... and my family said it was a waste of my money......LOL

The Vega would rust out before it reached the end of the quarter mile.

Motion never failed to amaze and you're doing a good job at showing what was available back in the day when everyone wanted to be "King of the Connecting Hiway".

My very first car was a '71 Chevy Vega. White with black interior. I bought it from a family in Napa for $500. There was a semi-famous guy in town named Roy Onesti. He had a pro-street modded Vega in hugger orange. That car was insane and was the influence (or at least I wished it was) for my car. I drove it with the 4 banger for about 6 months before I decided it was time for an upgrade. I was 18 and worked at the Grand Auto in Napa, so I got a discount on parts. I didn't have a huge amount of money so I had to go with a V6 at the time. I bought a Buick V6 from a guy for $75 complete with transmission. Roy did the swap for me and I drove that car like that for about a year before eating the transmission. I pulled the engine and transmission out of a wrecked Iroc Z and ended up stabbing that in there. I finally had some hurspurs and took it to what was called Sears Point at the time and commenced to driving that car right into the wall. Not a day goes by that I don't wish I still had that car for a new project in the garage with my kid. Vegas are getting harder and harder to find these days.

And I thought they were only rumors. I love my red 72 GT Vega with a 385ci sbc with 2x4 tunnel ram. It was built by Terry Walters Racing and made 480 hp on the engine dyno at Terry Walters Racing Engines. Th350 trans with 12 rear end housing 373s. I've owned this car for 20 yrs and it a blast to drive

I have sitting in my garage right now a 73 Vega with an Aluminum 215 V8 in it , the thing is a beast !

Vegas, Pintos, and Gremlins. Those kind of engine swaps were fun to do. It would be nice to go back in time, the 70's and Woodward Ave, summer nights in Detroit. Great video, thanks for the memories!

Back in high school, my girl friend had a Vega. I would get in trouble telling her that Vega was short for vagrant meaning not working. Her father drove it a few days, hated the lack of power, and dumped a corvette 327 in it.

I knew a guy who put a 400 in a a Vega. The original Vega engine used to warp and leaked oil like a sieve from the head gaskets.

When I was a kid my neighbor installed a Chevy 350 to a Chevy chevette. It fits so tight that he had to remove the inner liners and in order to change the spark plugs he had to drill holes in the front fenders. It was fast but it also had so much torque that if he would get on it too hard the doors would not open because the body would twist. It was fantastic to look at and watch

In the early 80s, I ran a 1969 340 W2 head Dart Swinger at Indpls Rainway (no typo) Park, high 11 sec car on street tyres. A failed oil pump windowed the block. It was replaced with a 1977 Vega with a Chev 302 roller motor with a tunnel ram & a pair of Holley 600CFM DP. Tube front chassis, subframes out to the back & 4 link. It was too heavy but still turned low 11s. Absolutely savage streetfighter.

An Airforce buddy back in the late 1970s put a warmed over 427 V8 in it, and heavy duty trans and rearend. But he didn't reinforce the chassis. When really romping on it, he twisted the chassis, ruining the car. 😮

Now I want a Vega❤

Had a 72 vega w a 350 punched out 60 over w a BnM shift kit, 2500 stall, man i wish i still had that car!

Back in the day, I knew Joel Rosen well. He had this great idea for a Speed Shop + New Car Dealer. It was cool.

I had two Vegas back in the day. A yellow 72 Vega that was stock and an Orange 71 GT with a 300 HP 327 under hood, a 10 bolt rear with 4:11s and a T350 with a 2200 RPM torque converter. It was fast enough to have fun with. 😉

One of the kings of my local streets in the mid 1970's in SoCal was a highly modified L88 swapped Chevy LUV mini truck. The guy was super cool even when he was out of the groove in a street race, not much seemed to bother him - he was an amazing driver. When I asked him why he wasn't running a 468, he just said the the rpm of the 427 would win him more races than the torque of a 468.

I have seen Vegas with small block engines give big block cars absolute fits.

My friend had a 68' Sport Satellite with a Road Runner 383 and a 4spd, the 8 3/4 rear had 3.55's with a SureGrip limited slip. The car was pretty quick We were driving up Rt. 23 in Wayne, NJ back in the mid 70's doing about 60 or so when he says there was a Vega gaining on us. He laughed and said something about "showing this little Vega something" and he nailed the throttle. Well the "little Vega" went by us like we were standing still. The Motion paint scheme with the radiator hanging down by the front valance was all I needed to see. I explained real quick he just got smoked by a Motion Performance Vega.

I would gone with the 370 Hp Lt1 with the solid cam. I put one in my 68 Camaro back in the day and it had plenty of popp. I can only imagine what it would have done in skateboard like the Vega!

I grew up on Long Island, saw a lot of Motion cars on the street. Some were just slightly modified, and some were animals. My father had a Vega GT, I learned to drive on it, it really was not bad if you maintained it and did not overheat the motor. We never had any engine trouble with it.

What an absolute treasure of a channel. Love from Australia, my man. You should have a look at a few of our muscle cars of the 70's and 80's

I remember a lot of sweet rides back in the day. My project car now in my retirement years is a 69 Torino fastback, have had it about 33 years now. Many paint jobs, same 351W till now, have a 514 ready with a C6 to go into it after I strip it down and repaint it again, hopefully for the last hurrah of my life.

Had a neighbor in Georgia with a 1 of 1 triple COPO Baldwin Motion Camaro.

I know at least one of these made it to the U.K. because I saw one in Sheffield when I was around 7 or 8 years old (1977-8) I remember it because it reminded me of the Starsky and Hutch Gran Torino which I loved at the time. Can't remember seeing the "Motion" but I can remember it being called a Super Vega. I just thought it was a name someone had put on it, I didn't know that it was actually called that. Always remember it because it sounded so different to the cars we had here at the time. Thanks for bringing back a memory from my childhood.

The Motion new york crew liked all GM musclecars. They had their hands on every brand. I remember plain as day when dad and i oogled over their small, white covered, stapled in the middle motion performance books for pontiac and our personal favorite, oldsmobile. Dad was a 442 fan and between us we have had many. I still have my first car, its a 1970 442. We followed the tech tips in the motion books and i had a 12.70s 442 in 1987 just out of high school. We bought a clapped out 1969 98 full size rust bucket which just happened to have a swapped out 1970 E headed 455 olds which is what my car originally came with. I did a stock piston re-ring cleaning everything best i could, blueprinted the stock oil pump per the motion book with stacked cover plates and sanded down the body to reduce end clearance on the gears using emery cloth taped to a piece of glass. Threw in a comp cam 292 grind which was sign of the times and first time out my 3800 pound 70 442 went 13.30s on radials. Within a month on sticky tires it was going 12.70s easily, eventually going 11.90s with that stock piston motor. I still have that short block too, well i have the e heads too and they were not ported. Since then ive aquired much much more. Current engine for the car is a normally aspirated 462 olds which made 620hp/620tq on the engine dyno. Here is the bad part. 2 days ago i got served papers and im about to lose my home and everything ive ever owned due to a previous real estate sale which i got ripped off and yet got sued. Now they are taking the house im in, which i grew up in, moved back when dad died in 2016. Its so messed up and took everything i have in me to type this message. Im on disability and cannot see how it's legal to even do this but looks like its gonna happen. Dont think i can survive losing everything at 54 with health problems so this might be last time i type this kind of comment. Pray for me if you made it this far. Thank y'all for reading.

I remember being a kid and driving by Motion on Sunrise Highway regularly. It wasn't a big shop, but some of the cars that had on the lot and on the lifts were amazing. In the late 80's the cars changed though. The Motion builds were more show and less go.

Such a sweet car. Fairlane Thunderbolts weren’t bad with a few mods and some slicks either. 🔥

my first time at the drag strip there was this blue vega just dominating every single race lol

Had a 72 vega hb. Started with resleeved motor, dual 48 sidedraft webers, headers,5 speed opel trans and opel rearend Blew it up. Stuff 454,671 blower,hilbourne injectors,50 shot Noz,3/4ton truck rearend narrowed w/ 5.88 gears and 4 speed Linco trans. Ran mid to low nines. Sold after 6months Damn I miss thar thing

An article about the Baldwin Motion 454 Motion Super Vega in Car Craft magazine titled “King Kong Lives On Long Island” would prove unintentionally disastrous for the company, it caught the eye of people at the EPA and eventually brought the hammer down on the whole enterprise. After much legal wrangling a $500 fine was paid and Joel Rosen promised not to build anymore wild customs for American roads. He got around the restrictions by building cars for export or race track use only, but this severely limited his customer base and eventually the company had to stop operating. No two Baldwin Motion cars were ever identical due to the way they were built to customer specification

Over about a 5 year period between my buddy and I we had 4 different v8 vegas. 2 hatch backs, a notch back and a wagon. Onlt one had a decent rear axle in it. One of the hatchbacks had a narrowed to fit 12 bolt posi in it. It was fast but my buddy sold it after we noticed that the sheet metal pieces that were spot welded to the underside of the floor that the rear upper links holding the axle in were attached to had cracks around them and were tearing out of the floor. Axle was bullet proof but the car was a spot welded together tin can.

Dropped a warmed over 350 in a 72 Vega back in 1977. Kept the stock wheel covers and snow tires for awhile...the ultimate sleeper. Finally shredded the original Vega rear end, then added a narrowed 12 bolt, probably a 373. Finally an associate of mine got his own Vega and put a 427 in it. I was back to second place. 😞 Wish i still had that car.

That was a good story, I was there and back in the day Baldwin Motion was up there with Mr Norm's Grand Spaulding Dodge for putting together some outrageously badass COPO style packages but I agree with you Motion pushed the Ragged Edge. They had a lot of fine machinists, tool and die makers, sheet metal workers and old school Smoky Yunick caliber mechanics in that part of the country and what those guys could do with metal was just amazing. BTW....later in the 70s a popular hack for the same Church different Pew follow-on of the Vega-- the Monza was to get ahold of a used 1977 Monza that came with a 305 V8 well you know where that was going because unless you lived in California which we did not... most of the states were yawning at the smog rules and you could stuff anything you wanted under the hood so having a car with a V8 configured from the factory was a perfect way to go plus it was very inconspicuous with Insurance Underwriters because after you got a hold of it you can do anything you want with that small block Chevy. The biggest limiter back then came down to three things The first has already mentioned was insurance then came the issue of the pump gas which was absolutely terrible and even your best high test or premium would rattle a high compression engine so you'd have to be careful there and of course the third area was John Law for the street racers/ enthusiasts.. Most people forget the federal mandate that knocked the speed limit down to 55 on all roads and freeways to save fuel nationwide as a result of the Arab Oil Embargo earlier that decade and with the advent of radar the po-po po-lice were just absolute Nazis if you were out with anything high-performance and breaking the law in any way. We never got a mulligan-- If a black and white lit 'em up and came after you it was either a ticket with points or they were calling the hook and taking your car or both. No such thing as warning ticket forgiveness in those days.

The first car I remember my parents having was a 1978 Pontiac Sunbird Safari wagon, which was the Pontiac version of the Vega wagon, and I *_really_* wish I had that thing today! It was light metallic blue with the honeycomb wheels. For a wagon that thing was sweet!

The first car I bought when I was 16 in 1982 was a 1971 Vega wagon. I loved that car! It wasn't powerful but it was a lot of fun to drive and customize. Baldwin Motion cars have been some of my most favorite super-fast hot rods. Great video about this sweet little car!

my father in law and husband used to redo the motors on vegas all the time back in the 70's at WestAmity Auto parts and machine shop, Baldwin was just down the road from Amityville, yes, that Amityville

I can't believe the room around that small block in the Vega, holy crap, try that with a ford or chrysler. And I would go with a 302 Z/28 engine. That would scream.....

Be advised,...$4,000 was a heck of a lot of money in 1970. I think you could get a 340 Dodge Dart for $3,000. And a Ford Maverick for a little over $2,000. I've seen two 350 Vegas. They were/are basically unbeatable. Very easy to get sideways. A factory "pocket rocket" that I always admired was the 396/375 Nova.

Built a 71 Vega with Don Hardy V8 kit n hooker headers. 350 LT block backed with a Turbo 400. Funnest Fastest Cheapest build ever. When i finally sold it. The Vega would only need 3 Jack Stands to hold up the car. A little warped in frontend department. Did I mention it was almost unbeatable.

I built my own v8 vega in 75, was an apprentice mechanic at the local chevy dealer. Bought a new lt1 350, angle plug heads, 370 hp solid lift cam, Hooker conversion kit. Muncie m21 4 spd trans. Car was a sleeper until you started it. Used Monza front springs, custom rad, corvair mufflers which I had to swap out for a pair of chev truck 6 cyl mufflers as they were flatter for more ground clearance. Stock looking from outside so really surprised all the legit muscle guys in town. Was fun except the cops would follow me around if I was out cruising. Great memories.

I'm in love with it. 2200 lbs with a 454 and still under 3000 lbs. This car was a bullet.

Was always including today my most favorite car ever. The phase 3 V8 Vega. I lived about 25 miles from Baldwin.

Vegas and Pintos w/ V8's were it when I was in High School, 1 friend had an Orange V8 Vega and the other had a Blue V8 Pinto. Small block V8's were enough power for these things.

Back in the seventies, I spent a lot of time at Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ. A lot. I had a buddy who worked for Performance Centers, a local speed shop. We'd go most every weekend, and he'd get passes for the bigger races. I've been to all 4 days of the Summernationals from '75-'82, the Jetcar Nationals, Funny Car Nationals, and Crazy Eddie's Night of Thrills. Needless to say, there were a number of V8 Vegas running. The most notorious was Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins and his Geumpy's Toy. I also spent a lot of time cruising the circuit in Asbury Park and the occasional V8 Vega would show up. There was a hatchback with a 454, a couple of wagons and I guy I knew who's '69 Z/28 got rear ended and the 302 went in a '74 sedan. I myself had a '72 Vega GT hatchback. It unfortunately had the four banger that at around 10,000 miles needed the engine replaced. Cost me the price of a head gasket as GM replaced them for free. When the 2nd engine was on its way out, I considered a Motion swap kit as they were about an hour away. At that time I could get a decent small block for a few hundred dollars and with a buddy in a speed shop, weĺl...

In the early 70s i lived in nj and every year we would go to the ny car show that was held at the ny coliseum and the motion display was always my favorite.

In the 1980s, the NHRA Super Gas class was populated primarily by early 70s big block Vega's

My first car was a 1974 Chevy Vega. It was a hand-me-down from my sister. The Iron Duke engine had already done its thing and died. My dad had the engine rebuilt. Even after the rebuild, it continued to drink oil like a sailor on shore leave and, eventually, the engine breathed its last. My Dad's mechanic suggested a V8 swap. He even offered to do the work gratis if Dad bought the parts. Dad sold him the car instead. He no doubt knew i would hurt myself expeditiously if i drove that car. As i understand, the Vegas was originally designed to accept a V8 engine.

In 1987 I bought a 1976 Monza Town Coupe With a factory 350/350 combo in it from a buddy who didn't know what he had for 300 buckswhile I was stationed in Jacksonville Florida. I put about 1500 bucks worth of speed parts from Edelbrock on it and was running mid 10's on street tires through the mufflers.

I owned a very nice 1972 Vega GT with a 355 Seaport racing engine backed by a built 350 Turbo-hydramatic transmission.. It was done correctly using a Don Hardy conversion kit complete with headers and a 12 bolt rear axle.

A ZL1 427 ci aluminum big block would have been the way to go with being about the weight of the iron block LT1 350 ci , while benefiting with twice the horsepower. Go figure !

Great work on research and articles. Loving my street driven-occasional drag '72 Vega GT 6-71 Dyer's blown 468 I've had for 46 years. Thanks and will be sharing this awsome and informative video!

Back in the day, there was one that came thru my town to see a local engine guru. He did some of his magic to it and they left very pleased

I remember an Orange V8 Vega Wagon in the early 80's on Front St in Philly...Had Jersey tags on it...Thing Really Ran Strong

The Vega was originally designed, sized, built to utilize GMs Wankel engine. Yep, you heard that right. The Vega was supposed to have a tiny little rotary engine that cranked out 120hp from an engine that weighed less than 200 pounds. the entire vehicle would have weighed less than 1500 pounds, and have a top speed of approx 120mph. GM could not lick the corner seals problem and were not going to pay Wankel of Germany, or Mazda of Japan to use their patents. My father's die design shop had a triangular rotor they used as a door stop to cool the shop on hot days. That rotor may have cost a million or more dollars,, and it was used as a door stop on the front door.

Ah, flashback! In the mid '70s, I pumped gas at the Hess station in Oceanside (next town over from Baldwin). We sold 101 octane, so we were the go-to for locals with fast cars. We had a regular who had 454 Vega. I remember talking to him about it, and it had, uh, issues: Chassis flex was bit scary, to the point where the windshield would crack during a run. Tim Bogert of Vanilla Fudge used to bring his custom painted Pantera there too.

My very first car was a 1974 Chevy Vega GT. I bought it for $900. Several of my friends had them, and we were all working towards swapping in V8s. One friend had a Chevy 350 in his, but it did not run more than it did. Another friend had a Buick 215 aluminum block V8 professionally installed in his, and it was amazing. I never got a V8 in mine because an opportunity came along to get a Dodge Cornet with a 383 from an elderly lady whose husband had died. The car was mint, all stock and had a posi rear. Man I loved that car!

Since we are not talking about factory cars... I had a friend whose father owned a race track. He built an Austin Healey with a totally built 327 double humper. The brake became the gas pedal and the clutch pedal the brake.

An Aluminum Block and Head 383 Stroker would have been perfect powerplant. Imo.

My first car in 1985 was a 1975 white GT Vega Kammback station wagon. My dad bought the car new in 75. The thing was in mint condition, and I almost had all the parts to do the 327 V8 swap when it got totaled when some moron pulled out in front to me at around 2 am in the morning from some side street. The guy was drunk. Was totally devastated! Would love to have that car today for my collection!

I had a friend that had a 454 Vega. The rear end of the car would fishtail all over the drag strip. He melted lead and poured it into the rear quarter panels cavity between the trunk interior and rear quarter panels.😊

Way back when I had a '73 Vega GT {just like the one at 3:32} but it had a 350 4bbl ✌💖☮

I wonder how many Vega super wagons they sold? I bet not many but what a cool car today!

I remember a few Vegas and Pintos modified with V8s in my area in the late seventies and eighties, which were absolute animals on the street.

Rest in peace, Joel Rosen. Back in 1975, you and your team helped me get my 1971, 440 six-pack Charger running high twelve second quarter mile times,with street tires. Although your shop catered more to GM products, you got my big B-body Mopar to haul some serious ass. Many Chevelles and GTOs got to see my tail lights. 😂

Back In 79, my 1970 barracuda got beat pretty bad by a Vega light to light. I couldn't believe it I have no idea what was in it but talk about embarrassing. My girl friend at the time asked me what happened and all I could say was, that thing isn't stock.

I had a 71 Vega wagon with a 283 LT1 cam and a 2 speed powerglide. Not sure how I'd have stuffed a 454 in her. 😉 Smallblocks need no body mods which helps. She was gunmetal gray with a bit of sparkle and was a fun as hell. 70mph in first gear was a blast.

Back in 1970, a friend of mine bought a used very low milage 1970 Yenko Deuce Nova with the LT1 350 under the hood. This car was bad fast, and we had lots of fun racing on those warm summer nights on Woodward Ave back in the day. So, the LT1 would have been a great engine in the much lighter Vega. The Yenko Deuce was an automatic and it hooked up extremely well from a standing start. I can remember the springs in the front bench seat would bottom out the car launched so hard from a standing start. The car was slightly higher in the front and Yenko had this car really set up well for the quarter mile. One thing I forgot to mention about the purchase of this Yenko Deuce Nova. My friend bought it from Roger Penske's used car lot. And Roger himself came out and let my friend drive the car around the lot to test the car out. He told my friend to put his foot into it. He did, and that was all my friend needed to purchase the car. The car was a darker jade green with the Yenko Deuce white side stripes and LT1 stripes on the hood. Yes, the LT1 engine would have been a great choice for the lightweight Vega.

My dad swapped dropped a 454 in his. It was all track car . He seen sky halfway down the track every pass. I loved watching him have fun. I miss my dad terribly.

A friend had one with a 327 in it.. He never got around to strengthening the frame and it ending up twisting the body thus rendering the car worthless... But it was fast..

I had a V8 Vega I bought used in 1991 with a wore out 327, stock Saginaw Vega 4 speed, and an 8.2 Nova rear. It had an Edelbrock SP2P manifold and a Quadrajet. It was a Don Hardy swap with their 1 3/4 inch headers. I swapped the 4 speed for a Turbo 350 with a Vega converter. It did not weigh 2200 pounds. It was over 2900 pounds. With the 4 speed, it ran a mid-18 second quarter mile ET. at Bandimere Speedway. The SP2P manifold limited the RPM to about 4500. I swapped the manifold to an Edelbrock Performer and put a Holley modular 600 cfm carb that they don't sell anymore, but Summit Racing does with their name on it and it became a 16 second car. Through 11 years, it was a 15, 14, 13, 12 and 11 second car at Bandimere with 4 engine combinations and 3 transmission and torque converter combinations. I was able to shed 350 pounds from the car to 2550-lbs. All this with the stock rear suspension and a 26x8-15-inch tire, and 8.2 inch rear with stock axles the last engine combo made 530 horse power at sea level. Best ET. was 11.15 seconds and best mph was 124. At sea level it would have been an easy mid 10 second car. So the content creator is way off on the performance of these Vegas, especially the weight, as being 2200-lbs.

I knew a gearhead in high school who dropped a built 350 in a 1973 Vega with a Muncie 4 speed. It ate Mustangs for lunch. It would pin you in the seat on launch. Fun times in 1975.

I owned a 73 Vega GT, always wanted to convert to a 350 V-8. I had a friend, William Green, we called him Vega Bill. He converted his 71 Vega into a 350 powered monster himself. What an awesome machine

They all needed stiffening/ subframe connectors, especially stick shift cars, but at the time nobody made/sold connectors for Vegas. One holeshot in a stick shift car without stiffening, was almost a guaranteed broken windshield from all the twist.

Growing up on Long Island at that same time I remember Baldwin Motion well and racing from the Burger King on Hempstead Turnpike (Bethpage NY)...like it was yesterday. Those were crazy times with some very fast street cars.

Nice video! Just to add to the history, I painted all the stripes on the all Motion cars from the beginning to the end & am still painting today

Chevy built a V8 Vega, it was called the Monza. The problem with the V8 was that the unibody wasn't designed for the weight or torque. I saw some in the 1970's that had added metal tubing added to the unibody to gain strength for a small block V8. Then, the rear diferential was replaced. 9 seconds, 1/4 mile. No way, cause they didn't hock up out of the hole with a small block, let alone a big block.

A Vega, no matter how big an engine, would never hook up. I use to pick on them all the time with my '65 Malibu SS.

When I first saw the picture of the vega on this page I thought, click bait!! I'm glad I looked. I had 3 different vega's and I remember when I first looked under the hood, I thought where is the other have of the engine? I always said "I would love to dump a 327 or 350 in this thing" I thought it would scream. If I knew that there was a kit and people were doing it, at my age, I would have been dumb enough to do it. Dam the consequence's to my DL or the cost! The only thing I can say after watching this is WOW, I knew it!!!! Thanks for your post!

this is one of the first times on you tube I was amazed,GOOD INFORMATION and so cool these dealership was 380 miles from my house.wow,I never knew about them vegas,Ive been spinning 1\2 inch and 10mm wrenhes for 25+ years.

Oh, how I miss these cars and my youth that went with them.

Knowing how much of a piece of crap the Vega was overall I wouldn't be caught dead in one of them. There were (and still are) numerous small cars that were well enough built to handle that sort of engine swaps, like the Ace/Bristol turned into Cobras, the Vega definitely wasn't one of them. It could barely handle the tiny 4 bangers GM offered in them.

My first 2 cars were Vegas.....anyways who doesn't regret not keeping the cars we had back in the day.

Excellent feature, awesome car, Baldwin Motion rules! I like your pick of the LT-1 for all around performance. I got a 70 Nova cheap in 84. Raced with a pro built 355, pro streeted with a 427, same builder. Still have car. Power to weight ratio is it!

454 Vegas used to be all you saw in Super Gas.

In stock form the Vega self destructed with the aluminum block 4 cylinder the very first thing destroyed. Shortly thereafter the rest of this poorly engineered and constructed calamity literally fell apart!!

I loved how it looked. The dimensions were perfect.

I had 2 '72 Vegas before 1972. Totaled one, Great Drive-in car.

I wonder was there a similar company doing upgrades to the Ford Maverick?? I much prefer the look of the Maverick but have never heard of anyone offering such extensive upgrades….

MY FORD BOSS MUSTANG ONLY DID 140mph

I autocrossed one of these monsters in my Toyota Corolla SR5. All it had was a rear anti-sway bar, but I squeaked out a win. Same with a Lotus Cortina that was trailered in. Those were the days!

My buddies dad got him a '74 Vega panel wagon back when we were in high-school in the mid to late 80's. That thing left many a so called muscle car in its dust. At night we would meet in the industrial park and see who had the baddest wheels in our area (Strictly for scientific reasons of course) and he smoked many novas, camaros and mustangs. He still has it. Thank god. He wanted to sell it in the 90s and get an import but his dad almost had a coronary.

427 YES,454 NO

"V8 economy" car is an oxymoron.