[njsteve]

That Vega brings back memories. Back in 1981 I was living in Aurora Colorado and attending Denver Automotive and Diesel College. A bunch of us hooligans rented a house and proceeded to become an annoyance to the entire neighborhood. One of the neighbors was always calling the cops on us for having too many parties/girls/noise/cars parked, etc. They eventually moved out and out of spite, abandoned a 1972 Vega GT automatic, in that same color red, right in our front yard, blocking our driveway.

Well, when the neighbors leave you lemons...make lemonade. After a couple weeks I called the police to get it towed and they said since it was abandoned on your property, wait another month and then apply for an abandoned vehicle title. Then you can do whatever you want with it: junk it, part it out, get it licensed and drive it, etc.

So I waited, got the title and tags, pulled a door lock cylinder out, and had a key made. The thing started right up and I drove it for six months. It had zero horspeower, being that we were at 5,000+ foot elevation and it had an automatic. But it was a dependable car. I then traded it to a local used car lot/junkyard, straight across for a 1971 Cuda 383 convertible! Here's that cuda as I found it:

Best Vega Ever!