76 Dodge Colt vs early 70's Vega

[Cranky]

No, this isn't about racing....but about some guy in a Vega that decided he could pick on someone in a smaller car than his I guess. This was in late 85-early 86 when in the middle of my divorce from my 1st wife. Of course she took the 'good' car and left me with a beater 79 3/4 ton pickup with a mild but thirsty 400. The drive train was great and so was the interior with a new seat and refurbished dash and iirc, the AC worked. Had a really nice 70 383 Challenger sure wasn't going to drive that into a refinery everyday. Anyways, I needed a gas sipper and found the Colt at a buddies dealership on the used car side. It's unusual to find a used car that's more than a few years old at a new car dealership let alone one that's 10 but this one was nice and only had 12k miles on it. After a good while haggling, I got that little jewel for 1200 bucks.

Anyways, the Colt was great as a work car but was kinda slow to keep up with traffic on a 55mph blvd with traffic lights spread out along an 8 mile stretch but it was ok until this jerk with the Vega that got on my bumper and pretty dang close....and he stayed on it even if I slowed down. That was the first day. 2 days later there he is again only I didn't slow down or speed up. At the next light I slowed down fairly quickly and when it turned green, I sat there but it didn't seem to faze him. He drove around me and I took off and gave him a one of those 'sick of your crap' looks but didn't matter. Next time during the following week, there he is again on my *** way too close. I'm talking about closer than one car length doing 55-60.

Remember the 'big' 3/4 ton with the warmed up 400? Drove it for 3 days in a row and didn't see him until the 4th day. He was about 4 or 5 cars ahead so I worked my way up to him and just about put my front bumper on his back bumper and stayed glued to his *** for at least 3 miles and when we got stopped by a light, I was even closer. Was just daring him to do something like slamming on the brakes because I wasn't about to slam on mine. The instant the light turned green, I was on the horn and left some rubber on takeoff and that let him know the truck had some pep. After I thought he had enough, I drove up on his passenger side and just looked at him and he glanced over and that was it. Later on I saw him several times in my little light green Colt but he never messed with it again.

Yeah, we all do dumb stuff one time or another but sometimes it's hard to resist doing them and no way would I do that today!!

 

[theman440]

Great story.

 

[Don Frelier]

Every vega I ever heard of croaked before the 90k mark.

 

[33 IMP]

There is a stock Vega Kammback that I see quite often at a bar in my neighborhood. Looks clean, and stock! No v8, I don't think. VERY few and far between, now.
Mine, bought new, had a 327 in it before 50k. I got tired of running 85/90 gear oil in the four-banger crankcase. And the four banger never even got 20 mpg for me.

 

[33 IMP]

I have this fantasy of driving a giant old Buick with cement filled bumpers for just that sort of guy... with phony plates of course.

 

[Budnicks]

I had quite a few V8 Vegas, several fast street cars
& several 9.90S/G or 8.90 S/C racecars

that Maroon orange & yellow, S/G Vega to left was one of my cars before, Larry got it
it was Blue & Silver, a 468cid LS7 S/C in it, had an old 70's PS scoop too, like Grumpy's, when I owned it
my 23T Altered of course

otherwise they are worthless, stock
Monza was about the same category too
Pinto in that catagory too

the Yenco Vega or Baldwin Motion Vega was cool

never ever owned a Colt or (Plymouth) Cricket
I wanted to do a version like Bob Glidden,
Ronnie Sox or Roy Hills (73-79) Pro-stocker
but never did

Ronnie Sox's Colt 73 (?)

Glidden's Plymouth 79 Arrow was cool

or Don Carlton's

 

[Budnicks]

Every vega I ever heard of croaked before the 90k mark.

Made for good drag racecars after death too...

 

[33 IMP]

Who remembers the Rod Shop Colt wagon, D/A?. Always liked that car, 9000 rpm small block. I guess it wasn't very successful .

 

[Cranky]

Every vega I ever heard of croaked before the 90k mark.

And this one surprised me that it was even on the road lol. It wasn't a V8 I'm pretty sure....cause if it was, it should have pulled away from my truck. The truck was good for mid 15's on on the 1/4 mile.

 

[Budnicks]

Who remembers the Rod Shop Colt wagon, D/A?. Always liked that car, 9000 rpm small block. I guess it wasn't very successful .

another 72 (?) sedan Colt PS Rod shop - restored
ran in nostalgia events

 

[33 IMP]

View attachment 1470298

View attachment 1470299

another 72 (?) sedan Colt PS Rod shop - restored
ran in nostalgia events
View attachment 1470300

I love little wagons with big power. There was a guy at the old Irwindale with a hillman minx wagon converted to a sedan delivery.... with an L88 in it.
At one time, I had a n Opel Rekord (pre Kadett) wagon, i was gonna do something similar. Didnt have the skills or money necessary and it went byebye. By the time I had the skills, equipmen, and money... it was long gone.
Sure would make a sweet gasser today.....

 

[Cranky]

I love little wagons with big power. There was a guy at the old Irwindale with a hillman minx wagon converted to a sedan delivery.... with an L88 in it.
At one time, I had a n Opel Rekord (pre Kadett) wagon, i was gonna do something similar. Didnt have the skills or money necessary and it went byebye. By the time I had the skills, equipmen, and money... it was long gone.
Sure would make a sweet gasser today.....

When I was stationed in Germany I bought a 66 Opal Rekord with the 1900 engine....4 on the floor instead of the column, bucket seats AND 4 dr sedan....and never saw another one like it. It surprised me how well it ran and it didn't have any problem burying the speedometer either and remember it having the same tail lights as the GT even though the GT didn't come out until 2 years later. When the GT first came out my thoughts were 'man, those tail lights sure look the same' lol

 

[33 IMP]

Like these?
(My car, but I think a previous owner messed with the lenses.The outside pair are supposed to be orange?)

 

[Cranky]

More like these.....

 

[33 IMP]

My Rekord was a 58 2dr wagon, column shift. Could have been a three or four speed. I never found out.

 

[33 IMP]

For giggles I googled 58 opel station wagon. There was a pic on barn finds that could easily have been my old car. Dirt brown, half-wreck, neglected.
30 year old flashback. (They were asking about 20 times what I paid for mine, lol)

 

[Detective D]

hahahahaha, good on you I say.
15 years ago....
I had a 94 Mustang GT(boy has it now) love those or not, I modified the snot out of the drivetrain and tuned the engine to be responsive, but not a drag car. Ultra fun on the county trunks around here.
Anyway, going down main street at about 9 pm in my boony town, it is literally me and the guy behind me. So close, I can;t see his headlights anymore.
I shifted down to 1rst, and let the car idle. I think maybe, 11mph?
guy was getting visibly agitated throwing his hands around and I was laughing. he finally slammed his break and came ot a complete stop. I of course sped up to 30mph. The whole thing caused me about a 15 second delay in getting home and gives me some laughs when I think about his face and his look of straight up conviction when he slammed both hands on the wheel and his foot on the brakes at the same time and stopped his car.
LOL

I find myself not covering the break going through town in the tow rig either. Turns out my 2002 2500HD 8.1/allison crew cab with bedliner sprayed on the entire underside and inside the bed and the rockers etc weighs 8200lbs+ with me and half a tank a gas according to the scale at the dump. Go ahead, cut me off. Pull out in front of me. When the chin high hood gets so close to your side window you cant see me in the windsheild anymore maybe you will think about that next time.

 

[70chall440]

I once had a Colt, got it cheap or maybe a trade but I needed some transportation because it was winter in ND and I was not driving my 440 6pack 74 Challenger. That car while it did work was a pile and needed some love I would not give it. Once I got it started in the morning I had to basically run it WOT until I got where I was going because it would die and would not restart until it sat for awhile. Granted it was well below zero most morning but I kept it plugged in (block heater) and while it would start, as soon as the choke came off it would die unless you kept the pedal basically pegged, any attempt at feathering it or peddling it would result in it dying which really sucked at 7am in -15 deg weather on the side of the road.

 

[440 PHIXX]

Don Carlton died in one of those Colts. They had sketchy handling at the top end from what I’ve heard. He was in a longer wheelbase version, but the narrow track and light weight probably didn’t help.

 

[33 IMP]

Don Carlton died in one of those Colts. They had sketchy handling at the top end from what I’ve heard. He was in a longer wheelbase version, but the narrow track and light weight probably didn’t help.

I don't know why, but the Colts had a much more evil reputation than the Pintos and Vegas of the time. Maybe the heavy hemis in the colts, opposed to the typical small blocks in p & v.
Remember, Gliddens Arrow took over from the Colts in prostock, with a small block.