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Any man with a fondness for Chevrolet had a reason to celebrate this past season of AMC’s “Mad Men,” as the series had Don and company contracted with Chevrolet. One of the better moments for us Bowtie fans was getting to see the Camaro in action, albeit in a comic role, as the brash young buck Pete Campbell was knocked down a peg or two when he accidentally drove a Camaro backwards into a display.
A Chevy executive then jeered at Pete, “Jesus, you can’t drive a stick?” Our significant others were pleased to see Pete humiliated; but we Chevy fans may have tensed up, worrying about the damage to the bumper.
But one of the big undercurrents of the season was hearing about Chevy’s planned ad campaign for the XP-887, later to become the doomed Vega. The setting in the show is now late 1968, with factory production of the Vega about a year and a half away. Unfortunately for GM, it would prove to be a deadline too soon, with a car destined to prove itself a thorn in the side of automaker and consumer alike.
The Chevy Vega was initially designed to keep the company level with Ford’s recent Pinto debut–a subcompact car, geared toward the economy buyer. It began in 1968 as an idea from Ed Cole, president of GM, and his fellow suits, who put up the design and engineering group that would shape and mold the Vega. Given to Chevrolet to produce, it was much-hated and bemoaned by the likes of John DeLorean and his staff, and consequently treated with only a cursory, vanilla level of respect and attention.
DeLorean versed his distaste lightly in his book On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors: “While I was convinced that we were doing our best with the car that was given to us, I was called upon by the corporation to tout the car far beyond my personal convictions about it.”
Despite this, the Vega sold well; from 1971 to 1974, well over a million found their way into American driveways. And for a decent amount of time, the average Joe could expect the car to run well, look good, and be a nice daily driver with a healthy MPG.
But it didn’t take long for the subliminal problems to crop up everywhere–thin sheet metal made for rust problems, the aluminum/cast iron motor could was noisy and could warp itself and burn oil, and on and on. So severe were the problems that the Vega would wind up with little to no resale value, and most were simply scrapped as a result.
Over the course of about a decade of production, the star of the Vega rose and fell quickly. But it led to major changes in GM like eliminating the feudalistic atmosphere between the car divisions, instead sharing and brainstorming amongst each other.
Still, it should be fun to see Don driving the car around Manhattan next season, catching eyes and gasps. Here’s to hoping his campaign goes well; if history is any indication, the Vega will be a huge hit. At least for a few years.
What do you think? Was the Vega a winner, a loser, or even in the running at all? Let us know in the comments.
