BOB2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FUD Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Having had some experience with the Vega (in
> motor
> > pools and family), the failure was not the
> > Vert-a-Pac. It was the car. The Vega, frankly,
> > made the xplody-gas-tank Pinto feel like a
> real,
> > reliable alternative. GM did too many strange
> > things with that car. And they would rust out
> in
> > SF - literally, rust through at the base of the
> > windshield and let the glass fall out - in 1
> year
> > (no rust-through warranties back then).
>
> I ran Vert-a-Pacs to Valla, and later they had a
> double decked modular "container" to move
> Cadillacs that were the "then" also the "latest
> thing"... They actually ended up being a pain in
> the ass, and more time consuming to load and
> unload, compared to tri-levels, as well.
>
> As to the Vega? I was tuning up my type II VW bus
> one day when I was living out in Riverside and
> working out of West Colton in the mid 70's, and a
> neighbor with a Vega asked me to look at his car,
> because it was "missing", when he opened the hood
> all I saw was about ten miles of rubber vacuum
> hoses, running in all directions (purportedly to
> recirculate the fugitive hydrocarbon emissions
> back into the engine to be burned). You could
> have a vacuum leak in just one of them, and the
> car ran like crap. So I got some soapy water, and
> sure enough, in all that rubber he had a vacuum
> leak. Just to get to the spark plugs to change
> them, or replace a belt, you had to disconnect
> half or more of those hoses for access.
>
> The Vega was intentionally built to be the first
> "cheap" "disposable" "single use" vehicle, like
> the Bic lighter of automobiles... Today it is an
> extremely "rare" and collectible car, like it's
> Ford variant, the "burn after driving" Pinto,
> because so few were not "disposed of" after one
> "user".
>
> The big "Cadillac" boxes (also a pain to load and
> unload) were later used by SP for storage, and
> IIRC, there is still one in use at the DASH yard
> next to the old mill, by the Chinatown LRT
> station, which is left over from when this was
> SP's signal shops in the 80's at the old "Links".

Several Stack - Pac " Sheds " still reside on the former Ceeco Property in Tacoma, WA.