No 56k: Chevy Volt(s), GM HyWire, and More

Crazy Vega

Active Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2008
Messages
116
Location
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Car(s)
1976 Chevy Cosworth Vega
While most here probably haven't heard of the Cosworth Vega, it was Chevy's break into the tech of EFI and DOHC, making them a special, overpriced, and underbought car of the 70s. Every year, a couple dozen owners of these cars get together at varying places across the US to tell stories, race in a manner that has both left and right turns, and see a special car or two provided by GM.

This year was no exception, though the meet was in Detroit this year, so GM invited us to see a bit of their collection, one that isn't open to the public. I apologize that some of the pictures are blurry, but my camera is fairly worthless.

Two Volts, a HyWire, and a Riviera
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Interior and a couple buttons built into the roof
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Roof buttons from the inside
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That slot between the rear seats was labeled DVD
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Nomad on the left, Volt on the right
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I asked if this was still the only HyWire, and they said yes. So this must be the one May drove.
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An interesting find in a showy, yet fairly private room.
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And the video I was able to get on the last of my dieing battery
http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c116/CosworthTC/GM/?action=view&current=MOV07038.flv
 
Wow at the Electrovan! Liquid hydrogen FTW! Imagina people crashing one of these and then we'll have the actual scene from Terminator 2 in live! :D

Oh and what's this Corvette station wagon? It looks just like a Caprice station wagon...
 
The station wagon was in a garage where cars (and a couple large trucks) were being restored. I didn't ask about it, but it may have been a project that a couple of the employees were doing on their free time.

Same garage
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I love those old Monzas. I'm seriously very jealous of you for being able to see such an amazingly unbelievable collection of awesome cars.
 
I love those old Monzas. I'm seriously very jealous of you for being able to see such an amazingly unbelievable collection of awesome cars.

Well, before I had only browsed through this forum, but I figured I'd share what I could :)
 
A big thanks for posting! :thumbsup: I just noticed your location. It's good to see another Ohioan here. I think we're up to four now.
 
Those are some seriously rare cars. Too bad it's not open to the public, I probably live close by.
 
Wow, what an experience. I'm jelous. Nice pics. I seriously love the way the Volt looks. Sooo much better than any other electric hybrid car.
 
Wow! +rep

Shame about your camera though. :p
 
Wow, what an experience. I'm jelous. Nice pics. I seriously love the way the Volt looks. Sooo much better than any other electric hybrid car.

With the Nomad and HyWire being so close to the Volt that had an interior (the other one's "floor" was at window height), I wasn't able to get in, which I would have loved to do. But, from what I could feel through the open window (only the top half opens :( ) the interior felt nice as well. The dash was like a soft leather. It really feels like they're trying harder than on the EV1 or XP-883.

Wow! +rep

Shame about your camera though. :p

Thanks :D
I'll try to see if anyone else from the event had any better shots.

Though, if anyone wants to look through pictures from the event, you can find some here: CosworthVega.com
 
Got a break from work, so here's a couple more.
(These were taken by someone with a better camera than my pos)

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Yes, those are bullet holes, and they're from the inside.
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Why do you keep making me even more jealous by posting more pics? :lol: That Cien looks amazing! You can definitely see a little bit of the design in the current Caddys.
 
Ehh, there's probably no one here that'll care about these, but they're going up anyway. Only made in '75 and '76, the Cosworth Vega was both a success and a flop, as they're great fun, but they carried some problems of the Vegas, such as premature rusting.

Chevy had contacted Cosworth to get a racing/performance version of the Vega engine built. The initial version of the engine, as provided by Cosworth, developed 260hp, using the same inline 4 block that the stock Vega used to produce 80hp. In an experimental effort to save weight, the Vega's block was made of a blend of aluminum and silicon, but it didn't have the strength to hold all 260hp reliably, so Cosworth asked for the possibility to have stronger blocks. Sadly, the answer was no, and Cosworth decided to pull back, leaving Chevy to figure out the engine. When they were done with it, it was still a 2.0L 16 valve dual overhead cam engine with EFI (brand new for GM back then), but it only put out 110hp.

Costing around twice the price as a normal Vega, the Cosworth Vega only sold 3508, and around 400 are left today. They have their troubles, they're not the fastest thing that's out there, but they're more fun than anything else I've driven.


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