1975 Cosworth Vega 0002, Part 3 by: Jay Hovick

Bob Maloy sold #0002 to Tony Hansen shortly after finishing it. Tony lived in California at the time. Tony advertised the car for sale many times in the CVOA magazine... Tony moved back to his home state, Iowa in the early 90s.

January 1988 $12,000 Spring 1988 $12,000 May 1993 $10,000 August 1993 $10,000 May 1994 Reasonable Offer (pictured Ad) July 1994 Reasonable Offer 1st Quarter 1995 no price listed 2nd Quarter 1995 no price listed 3rd Quarter 1995 no price listed 4th Quarter 1995 no price listed 1st Quarter 1996 no price listed 2nd Quarter 1996 no price listed 3rd Quarter 1996 no price listed 4th Quarter 1996 no price listed 1st Quarter 1997 no price listed 2nd Quarter 1997 no price listed 3rd Quarter 1997 no price listed 4th Quarter 1997 no price listed 1st Quarter 1998 no price listed

#0002 disappeared in 1998 until the spring of 2018.

Around April of 2018 John Jr, (President of the CVOA Club) called to tell me that Tony Hansen had contacted him. I had previously made mention that I would like to own a Cosworth Vega some day AND John Jr remembered this. Tony told John that he still had #0002 and it was located in Shenandoah, Iowa. Tony was wanting to sell the car. As luck would have it the 2018 CVOA Roundup was being held in Lincoln. NE. John Jr made arrangements to pick up #0002 so it could be on the show-field on Saturday.

When the car arrived early Saturday morning I was a little taken aback by it's condition. The exterior was very weathered, although it had very minimal rust. It was obvious the car had spent quite a bit of time stored outdoors. Probably the worst thing was the sunroof surround piece was literally “JUNK” (90% of it was gone). The sunroof is a Skytrends which were not known for their longevity. They are also somewhat rare and finding good replacement parts for them is nearly impossible. The interior of the car was also very dirty and as one member said “it smells funky!!”.

It is the interior of #0002 that I literally fell in love with. The Recaro seats and interior was not only unique but so 1980s! Then it came to all of the cool electronics.... fancy Kenwood in dash radio with two power amps, electronic compass, power seats, power windows, trip computer, multiple gauges and a G force meter. I was in love, but was still thinking that there was no way I could get this car bought considering my budget.

It was at this time I had a side conversation with John Jr and he informed me that Tony was very motivated to sell the car. The starting point for negotiation was still over my budget, but it was close. It was at this point I got a little car drunk (happens way too often for me).

Late in the afternoon on Saturday, Tony showed up. Tony and I discussed the car and he agreed to my offer. Holy cow! I just bought a Cosworth Vega!

Now I had to figure out how I was going to get this thing home. I had “Hulk” with me at the show so how could I get this done? I must Thank Byron Burnham for allowing me to store “Hulk” in his garage for a week. I went back the following weekend to bring “Hulk” home. On Saturday evening I drove “Hulk” over to Byron's (it was a very nerve racking drive across town). We then loaded #0002 into my trailer for it's trip home.

One more shout out... this goes out to JD Smith. A HUGE thanks to JD for getting me a very usable Skytrends sunroof surround.

I am hoping to get #0002 running for the 2020 Roundup in Kansas City. It will be going running OR not. This summer I will be doing a deep dive into the cars drive-train to see what needs to be addressed. I have repaired the sunroof, polished the old paint, replaced rear speakers, got in dash radio working, replaced hatch shocks, replaced tires and cleaned the interior. #0002 is very presentable now, just need to get it running.