History I thought this was interesting -- Vertical Car Shipping

Vertical Car Shipping

In an effort to cut shipping costs with it’s brand new 1971 Vega Chevrolet worked with Union Pacific to develop “Vert-A-Pac” which allowed 30 cars to be shipped versus 18 that a normal boxcar could carry. Because of the vertical shipping method, the railcars were taller than normal forcing the railroad line to follow special routes to avoid low overpasses.
According to Collectible Automobile The Vegas had four removable steel sockets inserted into the undercarriage. As the Vert-a-pac car doors were lifted and closed the Vegas would roll forward an catch on hooks on the doors. When the doors were fully shut the Vegas were suspended side by side, roof to roof.
The Vega’s engine oil pan had a special baffle to keep oil from seeping into the number 1 cylinder while the cars were vertical. The battery caps, carburetor float bowls and windshield washer fluid reservoirs were also designed to prevent fluids from leaking during shipping.

 

I'm a Chevy guy but thats is stupid! I'll stop here because the rest would be politics. ps Thanks for shareing, that is an iteresting peice of history.

 

Way O/T for here,however,I'll take a Blue GT Hatchback and the Dark Green Kammback.....

That was done to save space for shipping.
More cars could be loaded in the rail car than the standard "wheels down" method.

My 1st and 2nd cars were Vega's(yeah,yeah,stfu on the Vega jokes...)

 

Learn something new every day.

 

Well you learn something new everyday here. Thanks for posting. The very first car I ordered was a new '71 Vega. They were so in demand it got backlogged so long I gave up and bought a Tempest instead.

 

Love Vegas had a few as field cars and ,,road ones too.. ( Orange GT with a white stripe was my Fav.)

 

That is pretty neat. There was a Vega hatchback in my neighborhood with a bigblock when I was in high school; I still want a V8 Vega.

 

My first new car when I got out of the Army in 1974 was a silver 1974 Vega Panel Express. Neat little car, wish I still had it. I wonder if it was shipped that way.

 

Yeah, that is kind of cool, but still doesn't explain why they rusted out in 2-3 years.

 

I would totally kill for a Vega, I've been wanting a 70-71 to put my lil' 327 in, I do love me some Vega's.

 

The first car I ever mooned somebody from was a Vega!

They tried the same thing with Pinto's,But when bird shit hit them they would explode.

 

so thats what happened to them, I remember the one we got when I was a kid, brand new, and within six months had rust holes in the body. smoked like a mosquitto fogger not too long after we got it too.

 

Used to unload these packed like this at the Roper yard in San Diego when I worked for GM (Many years ago!!!)

Donn

 

I wonder why they put the pan baffles in? why didn't they just put in the oil and fluids after they reached the dealers?

 

I had a 327 4 speed when I was a kid, it would spin so violently it felt like it was shaking apart at the seams. hammer down

 

Another picture...

 

Here's one that Don Hardy built that I ended up with.
Larry T

 

I had a 73 Vega panel it had the cosworth 4 banger with 4 speed little car hauled butt. Also wish I had it back. Gary

 

vegas rule! w/ a big block of course. lol

 

in my secret underlife i was a Vega nut.....guess i still am....hehehe

 

probably because they were driven on , and driven off of the rail cars..
to have to push that many cars on and off would be costly.
not to mention having to put fluids in them at the dealer, and if someone forgot..well than you end up with a brand new junked car..

someone was using thier noggin although it was short lived

 

shoot I wonder what happend to all the railroad cars? did they scrap them when the new cars wouldn't fit?

 

wow, a 30 pack of crap!

 

a friend of mine had a 70 kammback wagon with a injected 327 in it hauled ass,,,,,,,,

 

thats pretty wild

 

no wonder those cars had problems from the start. My brother had a new one and it was a lemon.

 

those r cool pics.. that was from a time when GM was in a little better shape!

 

a friend of mine just finished restoreing his 1974 vega. it's got a hemi in it! look for it a the DETROIT AUTORAMA in a couple of weeks. it will be easy to to find cause it says "MOTOWN SHAKER" on it.

 

No problem ....

Just get a Sprinter van

 

That's Super rare since 1971 was the first year for Vega's.....

Why was the Wagon called a "Kammback"?

After Professor Wunibald Kamm.
http://en.allexperts.com/e/w/wu/wunibald_kamm.htm