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For my 16th birthday my Grandpa gave me a 1973 Chevy Vega. And not just any Vega either. It was a Vega GT! I don't know but I think he gave around $50.00 for the car. It had around 80,000 miles which was a lot for a Vega. Its kind of like comparing dog years with human years so 80,000 Vega miles is roughly the equivalent to 560,000 normal car miles. It actually made Motor Trend's Car of the Year' when it came out in 1971. I wonder how long it took them to get their credibility back after that! A Vega was also the 1st car to be given away on the Price is Right when that show debuted in 1972. Vegas were notorious for excessive oil consumption and rust for which mine was a poster child on both counts. I used to joke at the filling station "Fill up the oil and check the gas". No wait, that wasn't a joke. Its the way it actually was! It was so bad that I actually had specially made anti-fouling spark plugs that would last a couple of weeks to maybe a month before they had to be changed. Regular plugs would be ruined in just a few days. If you caught sight of my Vega from a distance and from the rear you may have mistaken it for a mosquito sprayer dispersing DDT into the neighborhood. As it worked out my other grandpa used to sell oil additives and filters for heavy equipment. He had one product that was kind of like STP on steroids and cost about twenty five bucks for a gallon. It was actually very effective at slowing oil consumption and when he retired he gave me his remaining stocks of the thick goop which allowed me to drive the car for a long time.

Despite the rust problem which caused me to have to use my wipers when I drove though a puddle as the rust would allow water to pass straight up through the fender and onto the windshield, it was actually a pretty sharp little car. Mine was a hatchback and took some styling cues from the Camaro. It did not help me to be one of the cool kids' though. My Mom actually had a 73 Vega GT like mine. And like mine, she had gotten it through the help of my grandfather who I'm starting to think must have had a thing for Vegas. Hers actually had some cool factor to it though as it was the one millionth Vega produced. At least that's what it said on the door handles. I don't know what became of the car. She drove it for a number of years until the rust became so bad that you could no longer wash the car for fear that it would just dissolve like a big Alka-Seltzer and go down the drain. My other Grandpa that gave

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