When a buddy turned 18 he came into a small inheritance. With all the muscle cars available in that era, what did he decide to buy? A new '74 Vega with all the option including AC, a cassette deck, and that wave of the future, quadraphonic sound. It was royal blue with Kragar mags all the way around. It started rusting out on him inside of a year. As he'd gone for the deluxe warranty, they saw him coming, the dealership actually replaced the thing. He promptly blew up the engine. He had it rebuilt and tricked out with a set of headers to get a few more horses. He wrecked it within months. He sold it to a guy who worked at the junkyard, a shade tree mechanic and drag racer.
The junkyard guy modified the engine compartment and dropped a 350 from a Nova in the thing with 4 barrel carb and a custom transmission. That guy won more money running 1/4 miles for titles in that thing than my buddy ever put in it. Nearly everything guy put in it he salvaged from the yard and worked on it after hours. Anyone with sense who challenged him knew they were screwed when he turned that thing over and they heard it roar. Many Camaro's and Firebird's changed hands due to machismo and ignorance over that lil' blue beast.
That Vega still sits behind the body shop the junkyard guy's son owns. It's known far and wide to men of a certain age as "Ol' Blue". If he'd put wings on Blue, I believe it would have flown.