WI: Rotary Vega Produced as Originally Planned

I recall how the Vega engines were vulnerable to, of all things, wind driven snow. During midwestern blizzards the high wind would drive snow fragments around the edges of the sheet metal shroud that covered the timing belt. After a few hours the belt would be contained in compacted snow. when the unfortunate owner started the engine the belts were prone to slip on the snow. The valves would no longer be in sync with the pistons & the engine would not run. If the owner was lucky there was no other damage. Frequently the valves were broken. A friend detoured us through the local GM dealer after one of these snow storms to show me over a dozen Vegas lined up outside the repair shop awaiting valve head rebuilds.

Perhaps a rotary engine avoids that problem?
 
Perhaps a rotary engine avoids that problem?

Doing non-interference heads isn't that hard: many engines are this way today.
But seals on rotaries have been a real problem till recently.
Bad for them that by time the seal issue was solved, the high emission they produced, doomed them them in the USA

But the main problem with the Vega was labor and management where they were built.
https://libcom.org/library/lordstown-struggle-ken-weller
 
My favorite fix for the Vega involves using the air-cooled flat six from the Corvair.
They were good for well over 25MPG highway, and the heads on them didn't leak like on Vegas. Overheating killed more of them than the belt, that killed plenty as it was. Then oil burning. Many went thru a quart every 500 miles. Check the gas, and fill up with Oil.
 
... Then oil burning. Many went thru a quart every 500 miles. Check the gas, and fill up with Oil.

Why so many were scrapped @ 50,000 miles, or even earlier. Disgruntled owners ditched the things at a loss & neglected maintanance to cut whatever margin they could off their loss on the things. GMs inability to put a proper paint job on their cars in that era showed in the Vega as well. Two or three year old Vegas had the appearance of a eight or ten y/o vehicle.
 
Why so many were scrapped @ 50,000 miles, or even earlier. Disgruntled owners ditched the things at a loss & neglected maintanance to cut whatever margin they could off their loss on the things. GMs inability to put a proper paint job on their cars in that era showed in the Vega as well. Two or three year old Vegas had the appearance of a eight or ten y/o vehicle.

The one saving grace of the Vega was there was plenty of room under the hood to put any other GM motor to the transmission. With a reliable motor, you then got to watch the body dissolve around you.

Saw many where the rust started on the inside of the panels, and ate its way to freedom.
 
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