History I thought this was interesting -- Vertical Car Shipping

Hey,thanks for the info.You know really the Vega was a special car,with all the special designs and thought around it for shipping.All in all it was very clever,infact the doors on the railroad car could be used by mounting one on the back of a one ton truck .I wonder if that was ever done ?If it was it would have been the father of the roll back........................YG

 

Now why didn't I think of that....

 

I had vegas and mavericks among others and always liked them but if your were gonna own and drive one back when I was teen you had better have some thick skin, because everyone had a friendly negative remark to say about them
Now those guys wouldnt mind having one

 

I was wondering if they shipped them dry, thanks for the info!

 

Interesting concept...

 

Hotroddon you asked me why is it stupid. My turn, explain the busted up mess GM had on its hands as per swi66 post. Looks to me as one big stupid mess.

 

i have had quite a few vegas over the years.

 

Well, they tried.......which is more than i can say about current society.

 

I believe Corvairs were also shipped vertically by rail.

I remember while in college, my Internal Combustion Engine professor was slated to receive on of the first Corvairs to come to Minneapolis for his evaluation. He arranged to be at the rail yard when the rail car was unloaded. They opened the doors and guess what.

 

What makes me shake my head is that they had time and money to develop the vertipak shipping but not to develop rust free bodies, engines that didn't burn oil and shake proof front ends. Vegas were full of bugs when introduced, all of them cured for nickels and dimes. But by the time they got around to fixing them, it was too late.

The Vega sold millions of Toyotas and Datsuns.

I drove a Vega when they were brand new and it was a good car, the smooth quiet ride was impressive for such a small car, it had nice styling and good mileage. When you look at what everybody else was selling in the early 1970s (Pinto, Cricket, Gremlin, VW beetle, Austin Marina) it looks pretty good. They sold like crazy in spite of rabid price gouging by GM. If they had paid a little attention to quality the imports would never have gotten such a hold on the market.

 

Alaska and Hawaii are about 1200 per unit.

 

Why not just add another railcar(s)? These taller cars mean they had to go out of route---more$$$

 

I wish I new this years ago, I have been collecting Vegas for years all I could fit was 5 of them in a 4 car garage. I just measured the lenth of a Vega and the height in my garage and now have room for 12 more!

 

Do you remember the Toyotas and Datsuns of those days? They rusted to nothing in under 5 years. Their price is what made them desirable. I worked at a used car dealer and we added a Sears AC unit to a 72 Toyota in 74 and the car wouldn't go over 45 mph with the AC on.

 

Hahahahahahaha

 

I certainly do. The Toyotas were practically indestructible in spite of the rust out and the Datsun 510 was like a mini BMW with its OHC engine and 5 speed trans. The Honda Civic was so popular we couldn't keep them on the used car lot no matter how many we bought, but the engines would blow if they had more than 50000 miles. And no used engines to be had, they all blew. Finally we tore them all down for new rings and bearings before we sold them, then they were OK.

Vegas were popular when they came out in 1970 at $1995 then the fuel crisis hit and GM went into their typical ripoff mode. In 1975 or 76 I stopped at the local Chev dealer who had a row of about a dozen Vegas across the front of the lot, none of the stickers was less than $5000. They were optioned up pretty good but jeez, they were Vegas.

At the back of the lot I found a base model Biscayne, full size sedan, for $200 more than the Vegas.

GM blew their own brains out by ripping off the public with overpriced cars that didn't stand up. If they had spent another $5 on each car, literally $5 for better valve seals, undercoating and a few other things they would still be the biggest car maker in the world.

 

My Father In Law told me about this years ago. It's cool to see some pictures of it. I can't imagine this saving any money though.

 

I don't think I'd buy a new car if I knew the damn thing was hangin' like a freakin' tuna from the ceiling while being shipped...

 

Efficient way to ship. Bet the floors in the shipping containers were covered in coolant

 

Nah, that'll never work!

My son's in my building (no front clip).

 

its kind of cool and silly at the same time !

 

I worked for a chevy dealership in 74. We would get a block and pistons from the parts man. Have the car running the same day. Same problem in a few months. It was said that the Vega was the only car that started rusting before it left the factory.

 

Way back in the day, my dad would go to Detroit and buy cars for his dealership,and ship them home in box cars. They were not stood up, and probably only got just a few per box car.

I am thinking this was mid to late 30's or so.

 

FWIW, I bought my first 'new' car in '75. A dark green GT wagon to beat the outragious gas prices of the day.
Sticker was a little over $3800, and I got it for around $3280, straight out deal. Cool little car, decent milege, looked good, handled good, rusted good, used oil good. Self destructed in about 3yrs, and I took excellent care of it. Gave it to a 16yr old neighbor kid, free. It wasn't but about 4yrs old. I really liked that car, too bad it was just total POS.

 

I drove 2 different Vegas in high school. 1st was a 1971 panel wagon, then I traded it for a 1974 notchback. They were great little cars for me.

I ran the crap out of them, wheel-hopped through many a burnout, and "never" broke anything, ever. The also had no rust on them at all.

My sister and brother in law had a GT wagon, and a panel, and my brother bought a new GT hatch when he could finally have a car at the Air Force Academy in 1974.

They also had great success with them, but only owned them for 3-4 years...

Re: rust, this was in South Dakota, for the most part...

Interesting history lesson, though...thanx' for sharing.

 

no problem.

 

Maybe thats why Vega's were such a piece of crap....their brains got squirrely locked up like that.....

 

Speaking of Vegas my real clean 1975 Vega roller is for sell with all the v 8 setup we pulled apart today.7500 or close offer.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7dXTh6f5lF8


Post more unusual car transporters/ways to ship cars.

 

I bet they didn't put gas in them until they got to the dealer.