Unknown date.
I'm curious about the fate of car #2854. I purchased the car new from Felix Chevrolet, Los Angeles, CA in
1977. I sold the car in Fresno, CA in 1984. Is the disposition of this unit in your registry? I'd really like to
know. Somewhere around 1981 or 2, I contacted your club and received a free newsletter but never
joined. This time I will become a member if I obtain this vehicle; the benefits and support you offer are
incredible! It was equipped with a 5‐speed, pop‐out rear windows, and rear window de‐fogger. I don't
have any paperwork; it was just too long ago. I do have a couple of photos of the car; I'll have to dig
them out. I installed a really trick 3‐piece, Trans‐Am style factory rear deck spoiler from a Pontiac Astre
GT. To this day, I've never seen another on any Vega. I had a really good impression of the vehicle. I
was a 19 year‐old airman when I purchased the car in 1977. People that knew engines would pick up on
the unique exhaust note right away. I can't tell you how many Pintos, Celicas, Opels, and other small
cars of the day that ate my dust. I often drag raced my buddy in his 75 Monza 2+2 with a 350 V8. He
would get out 1 car length of the line but could not open the gap any further. In fact, if we ran long
enough, I would start to close the gap. When comes to speed and power, those cars are nothing by
today's standards but it was pure excitement back then. The unit had 118,000 miles when I sold
it. Other than replacing the tranny at 65,000, it ran pretty good having the usual top‐end issues, oil
consumption, valve guides and seals, etc. My opinion! It's too bad the car didn't make the 140 or 150
factory horsepower it easily could have if Chevy brass had enough interest in the project to
allow engineers to target serious engine performance. In the late 80's I owned a 1976 Alfa
Romeo, Alfetta GT. It had a 2‐liter four cylinder with 9:1 factory compression and mechanical fuel
injection. This was a federal car that didn’t require a converter to meet emission standards. Yet it was
tuned to produced 20 more horsepower than the CV from an outdated 2‐valve, twin cam design; Chevy
could have and should have done better! Had the Cosworth Vega earned a better reputation by
delivering the power they were capable of, there's no telling what they might be worth today. I guess
there is an upside; I might not be able to afford one. In the words of Forrest Gump "That's all I got to say
about that"

#2860 is for sale in NC. It is black with B/W cloth, original tires, and has been stored since 1983. The
owner still has all the original papers. It is a 76, with white cloth interior, 34K miles, has all paperwork.
Been stored inside and NOT run since 1983. He doesn't know if it will start. (He bought it from someone
else recently; don't know how much he got it for.) Original paint, wheels, interior, and tires. Still stored
inside. Located in Hendersonville NC. Wants to sell it to someone who knows about the car and will
give it a good home. The person's name is Ron Rhodes, 828 891‐4446. Shawn 0046 & 2100. See Cosworth Vega Magazine‐78.

Unknown date. Owned by Larry in E. Tennessee.

Unknown date. Supposedly owned by someone named Spoolstra in MI.

Cosworth Vega serial #2863 History

I purchased my Cosworth new from Bob Blunt Chevrolet in Spring Arbor, Mi on March 16, 1977, - it had 1867 miles on odometer at purchase. The car currently has 32,752 miles.

I transferred ownership to my brother on August 15, 1977, due to pending marital issues. My brother retained ownership of my Cosworth until March 5, 1982. I was unable to retrieve the car from my brother prior to that date due to apartment living and no garage available, I did not want to leave the car exposed to weather.

My Cosworth was put into storage in 1988 due to a clutch cable failure which I neglected to repair due to my piloting career which kept me away from home for extended periods. We only had a two-car garage at the time, so I opted to store my Cosworth. While in storage at a friend’s warehouse the car was subjected to very minor dings and small dents. I moved the car to a friend’s hangar at Jackson County Airport to avoid any further cosmetic damage to the car.

My Cosworth suffered a small electrical fire in the engine compartment which damaged the hood, rather than having the hood repaired I purchased a new hood and hinges from Chevrolet which have not yet been installed. The reason for extended storage was a failure of the clutch cable in 1988 and I have a new clutch cable but have not yet installed it. There is very minor damage to the firewall from the clutch cable failure.

My plans were to completely refurbish the vehicle after my retirement from flying, however I currently do not have available facilities to accomplish my goal. During my US Air Force duty from 1971 to 1975 I worked in vehicle maintenance, and I also raced a 1969 Camaro Z-28 in NHRA modified production and gas classes. My restoration plans included a complete overhaul of all mechanical devices including engine, transmission, rear end, and suspension. I also planned to repair all the minor dings from storage. The car has original paint, and the interior is in excellent shape. The car also has no accident history.

1976 Chevy Cosworth Vega
$5,500
Listed 4 days ago4 days ago in Littlerock, CA
Door pick-up
Details
Condition
Used – fair
Sitting since 08 in a collection. Looks complete, condition of engine is unknown. 5 speed trans. I have good header panel and headlight bucket to fix. Has aftermarket AC installed. Odometer reads 09600. Four new tires installed 2 days ago. Title lost but is clean.


Listed by an Eric Chimelecki

Front End damage on car

In 2004 Tim posted on Yahoo, “Now if y’all out there on the Left Coast could find CV #2864 (was my
Firethorn CV), it has an aluminum bore engine with between 15,000 and 20,000 miles since I rebuilt it
back in 94. Tim”

According to his September 2000 newsletter, it is a 4‐speed, 3.73 posi, cloth interior, swing outs, 2 ¼
exhaust and Flowmaster muffler, Carerra shocks and new tires. It is listed as a “running parts car in
good mechanical condition”.

It was Tim’s daily driver for several years, and made it to Dixon, IL for the Roundup and back.

According to Tim’s March 96 Regional Newsletter, this car was owned by Mike Salsa of Humble, TX. It is
Firethorn and he was using it as a daily driver. According to his late spring 98 newsletter he bought this
car in the spring of 92. It was Firethorn and had AC and a straight body, but a blown head gasket (48k),
bad paint, previous body damage and messed up wiring. He drove it on a daily basis with a variety of
engines and induction systems. One rebuilt engine was an aluminum bore .030” over block, had it
painted, repaired the wiring harness, restored the interior with factory cloth seats from a 76 Vega
wagon, and began to show it, including at 2 Super Chevy shows. He won several 1st place trophies and
made it into Super Chevy Magazine sans stripes and CV wheels. The paint began to fail and he began to
use it as a daily driver again.

Offered for sale in the spring 1994 Region 12 newsletter as “Firethorn/firethorn cloth, swing‐outs with
trim, 5‐speed, 3.73 posi, am/fm stereo, air conditioning, 3 core radiator, tinted windows, DCOE 40
Webers, new carpet, repainted in October of 1993. Flowmaster muffler, HPC coated header, rebuilt
stock engine with new pistons (10k on rebuild), and chrome cam cover, chrome Weber intakes, Chrome
engine heat shields and chrome hood spring and catch. Also included original 4‐speed transmission and
complete EFI system. $4500 OBO. Tim Morgan”

Cosworth Vega Facebook Post:
Hi Group, the march of time is compelling me to downsize some of my restoration ambitions. One that's available if there's any interest, is my 1976 Cosworth project. The car has not been driven in 15 years, left outside and overall rusty and poor shape, but original and unmolested. Car has ~58k miles, 4-speed, vent windows, second owner (I drove it from '87 to '02), receipts and documents back to the original bill of sale when new. Also included is a 1976 Vega parts/donor car, same color in and out (Firethorn Metallic with Buckskin) not running but in okay shape. Lots of extra parts including a 5-speed setup, spare pulse tubes, air cleaner bellows, gaskets, manuals, etc. I'll get some photos as soon as I get the covers off of them. Asking $2k for everything, located on Eastern Long Island NY.

Everything is there to rebuild the Cosworth; would be a great inexpensive project to share with a son/daughter. I have not advertised this anyplace yet: is there any interest here in the CV group?

According to Robert Bowen’s January, 1978 Registry, this car then belonged to Thomas E. Smith III, 1A
Ketewomoke Dr., Halesite, NY 11743.

Now owned by James Rolla in NY

CVOA Membership Record
Former Owner - Gregg Barnard
22 Webster Hill Estates
Mt. Vernon IL 62864
618-244-5360
VIN- 6U200481

Black/ Black ?

1976 Cosworth Vega only 3,508 were produced and here is #2869, a nice original car. The car does have rust in certain places but is a good solid car. Runs, drives, stops as it should with no mechanical issues. Along with the car comes another complete engine, as well as a Cosworth twin cam head and several other parts.
Paducah, KY
Location is approximate
Seller information
Todd Day

101,000 miles

asking price $6500.00

Black/ Black Vinyl 4 speed

Was owned by a Mike Boehm in Missouri in 2019

was owned by a Gregg Barnard in Mt. Vernon ILL at one time

The January 1998 Region 2 newsletter welcomes the owner of this car, Tom Steeb of Hilton, NY.

Now owned by Sean Davis in FLA. Car looks to have been cleaned up, possibly the front end undercarriage damage repaired. firethorn/ Firethorn cloth 4 speed. 23,000 miles

Now owned by Larry O'Steen in Crestview, FL

Unknown date: This car was supposedly owned by H. Gumpton of Saline, MI. It may have been a Firethorn car.

It’s baaaack! The buy it now is at $10,900, I thought they had bought it for $11k plus the fees? Now I
wonder how long they'll sit on it, might be a good time to list mine against that one, I have 1500 miles
less and it's black, aren't the black cars faster? Al

Hi Eric. Yea, I would be interested in the pictures that you took. You can email them to me at
twintonkas@comcast.net (remove the spaces). I also have pictures at home of the car. I have pictures
of the body lines showing the door dings, rust bubbles, and dents in the hood and roof. Dent Wizard
quoted me $1,500 to repair all the dents on the car that were fixable via PDR (paintless dent repair). But
I never had it done, and there were a few that they said could not be repaired via PDR. The engine
compartment was definitely clean, no doubt about that. I added all new FI and fuel lines, and heater
hoses. Non stock plug wires, and I also spray canned the valve cover, and added a few chrome touches.
And I took pictures of the underside of the hood before I installed the new hood pad. It shows all of the
paint brush work by the previous owner. He really went wild on the inside of the engine bay with the
paint brush. Unfortunately I bought the car sight unseen (pictures only) from a guy in Michigan. And
when! I got the car delivered to my house, I even called him up and b**ched him out for not telling me
he did so much touch up work with the paint brush. The paint work is virtually unnoticeable in pictures,
but upon "in person" inspection, it was definitely a novice home job. There was no jack assembly with
the car when I bought it either, so I bought that stuff from Eric in Portland (Kiva75) when I bought the
NOS tires from him. And it had door edge trim in place of the factory roof rail molding that I installed. I
will admit that it was a nice car, but if that was a # 2 judged car, a # 1 show car would be a cinch to
achieve for a restorer. The exhaust was obviously not stock with dual outlets. But I thought it looked
cool when I had it done. lol. The car had a lot of papers with it, but none of it was original. No build
sheet, no VIN specific papers, and no owner history. I did as much research as I could on owner history,
and from what I could come up with, I was the 5th or 6th owner of the car. And all of the other papers
and manuals that were with the car was all stuff I bought off of eBay, or other members. Mostly just
brochures, magazine articles, and write ups that I printed out. The display magnets and rear hatch
display was pretty cool though. I really do hope that all of those extras made their way to the new
owner. There was a lot of cool stuff in there. Where can I find a copy of that article that shows the car
was sold at the auction? Mike

Mike, I drove your car when it was here in Lynnwood, and it was pretty obvious the dealer rattle‐canned
the rust spots, especially on the bottom of the doors and on the hood. Other than that, the car looked
completely detailed. The engine compartment you could eat off of. It really looked good except for the
little touch‐ups, which were not even a match to the original orange. I have photos I took the day I
drove it if you are interested. The funny thing about my test drive was, I could not figure out why it
handled like a John Deere tractor until I got back and saw the bias‐ply tires. I recommended the dealer
swap on your Cragars with modern tires to really show what it could do (with the re‐indexed cam gears
it really had some poop), but obviously those stock tires stayed on it until the auction. I only wonder if
that big box of documentation you had went with the car. I hope so. All in all, when I looked at your car
I did a mental comparison to my #3251. Yours was much, much cleaner than mine will ever be, and had
the engine mods and the stock tires for shows. Mine is almost 99.9% rust free, has the original Buckskin
finish, which is also pretty rare as I understand it, no dents, original carpet in near‐perfect condition,
NOS dash bezel, plus the 5‐spd and 4.10 posi rear end, even the stock AM/FM radio, and all
documentation including every owner of the car, build sheet, etc, etc. And I still think it would be a
stretch to say it was a #2 car. BUT, if the writers for Hemmings want to call that #2, then maybe this
bodes well for all of us in terms of insurance and/or auction values in the future. Eric