Western Railroad Discussion > Vertipac Info needed

Folks help us out and the American Association of Railroads.

Over the past couple of years we have received dozens of emails from Thomas Johnson at the Transportation Technology Center asking us to contact a certain member that they claim has key information concerning the proper packing and shipping of the Chevrolet Vega on Vertipac automobile transport rail cars. This member does not have the information they are looking for, but they are persistent. It seems they are trying to bring back this bizarre design and they are trying to learn all they can about this way of shipping automobiles.

So does anyone out there have any information, GM bulletins, or anything else concerning the shipping of automobiles aboard these strange rail cars? Maybe it will turn out the Vega was the world's greatest automobile and its downfall was it wasn't shipped correctly.

I decided to make this an announcement as I want to make sure all our members see this so we can hopefully put this subject to rest. This thread will eventually rest on the Western Discussion Forum when I turn off the announcement designation.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

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Wasn't the Vert-a-pac developed by the SP? Somebody here probably does know.

One well-known problem, was that to ship vehicles nose down like that they had to be drained of fluids like oil. Vegas were one of the first widely-produced American cars with aluminum block engines. Now aluminum block engines aren't known to last too long when you forget to put oil in them before starting them up.....

I know there were concerns about battery acid leaking out and motor oil and coolant collecting at the front end of the engine thus starting them during unloading led to premature wear on the rear piston rings. Remember a few mechanics having a few choice words about them. Nothing on paper though. Dan Tracy

One of these cars arrived in Corning, NY on PC back around 1974-75. Had to be delivered to the EL. During interchange had to walk the car under the EL bridge and it just cleared but did rub in couple of places. How it got here I never did find out or where it was going.

I turned driving age in 1972 and one of my friends (actually his Dad)
bought a Vega new and its engine had to be replace in less than 5000 miles.

They had fits with it even after that.

Pinto or Vega .... the age old quandry.

I don't think forgetting to put oil in the crankcase was responsible for these vehicles' short engine life:

Anyone recall the special metallurgy that went into these critters' engines? IIRC, the blocks were cast using an aluminum/iron alloy, without cylinder sleeves. In order to expose a harder surface necessary to seat the piston rings, the cylinders were treated with acid to etch away aluminum. There was plenty of metal left to allow the victim, er, customer to drive the vehicle off the dealer's lot before the engine began to spew blue smoke. Many of these innovative "economy" cars racked up as much as 50,000 miles before being consigned to the scrap heap.

And I always maintained that GM cars were "conservatively engineered." Not!

How funny! There's an article in today's Wall Street Journal about Mazda destroying 4,700 new cars because the ship they were on listed 60 degrees for several weeks before it could be righted (or whatever the nautical term is). The cars were strapped down, but Mazda officials and their insurance company didn't know what damage, if any, the cars may have suffered while nonhorizontal.

PullmanPorter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How funny! There's an article in today's Wall
> Street Journal about Mazda destroying 4,700 new
> cars because the ship they were on listed 60
> degrees for several weeks before it could be
> righted (or whatever the nautical term is). The
> cars were strapped down, but Mazda officials and
> their insurance company didn't know what damage,
> if any, the cars may have suffered while
> nonhorizontal.

Good heavens. Does this mean I should stop parking my car on Steiner Street? Very non-horizontal there.

Model Railroader published plans in an article, I believe in 1972. The article did contain some information about how the cars were held in place. Might be worth trackign down.

Elizabeth

If you like maritime accidents, this is an excellent place to check out the latest. Perhaps this is the ship with the Mazda's. I believe they got it to Portland OR and rebuilt it.
http://www.cargolaw.com/2006nightmare_cougar-ace.html

ArgyleEagle Wrote:
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> I turned driving age in 1972 and one of my friends
> (actually his Dad)
> bought a Vega new and its engine had to be replace
> in less than 5000 miles.

Thats OK, that is why so many people put 350 V-8's in them. That made for a great little hot rod.

I helped the guy as much as I could and my reward was not getting a ticket to the open house. He did tell me it was coming. Some gratitude!

KK

The SP Historical & Technical society is planing a article in a upcoming issue off the magazine. This article will be about the Vertapac and Stackpac cars and has been in the works for a few years.

I'll check through my GM connections. Did a quick check through our service line, which would show all bulletins for all GM cars, but it only dates back to 1980. I'll see if I can dig anything older up.

Thought the Rio grande historical society magazine just had an article on them, and their service on the Grande.

I put my first kid through collage putting engines in Chev. Vegas back in the 70-80s They had a over heating problem that would score the cylinder walls. Were they all shipped this way? Or were others shipped the on auto racks? DW

My father bought a 1975 Vega wagon new (first new car I remember him getting) - and got 125,000 miles out of it before the transmission (not the engine) puked. The sleeveless aluminum engine was a little ahead of it's time and the inability to maintain control on the hardness process did contribute a lot to the engine's problems.

As for the V8, in a fit of irony the Vega was designed to accomodate a V8 - and never got one from the factory, but it's counterpart the Chevy Monza was not - and did. As a result the engine had to be unbolted from one of the motor mounts and winched up to change one of the spark plugs. I was 'fortunate' enough to have a 1977 Monza with a 305 V8, 4 speed manual and posi for my first car. Even with the 305 all "smogged out" with the emissions gear on it - it was a fun car to abuse - probably too much for a 16 year old kid looking back on it though.


silagi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ArgyleEagle Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I turned driving age in 1972 and one of my
> friends
> > (actually his Dad)
> > bought a Vega new and its engine had to be
> replace
> > in less than 5000 miles.
>
> Thats OK, that is why so many people put 350 V-8's
> in them. That made for a great little hot rod.

See bullet 1.29 at, http://h-body.org/library/hbodyfaq/hbodyfaq-1.html#1.29

"...1.29 What is the "Vert-a-pact" option (VK5)?
In short, it added parts to the cars so they could be shipped, by rail, packed vertically, to save space.
Ken (mahoy78spyder) researched this too: "...now that you know what "Vert-a-pac" is, I'll bet you're wondering why you would have an RPO for that if it only meant that it would be shipped differently. Well, the vert-a-pac rail cars required that the cars be able to be driven on and driven off with no mechanical work needed. This drive-on/drive-off requirement was difficult to meet because all liquids had to be aboard, so the VK5 RPO was created. Modifications included:
- a baffle in the oil pan to prevent flooding the forward cylinders with oil. - off-center filler caps on the battery. - a plug in the fuel-tank vent line. - an overflow hose from the float bowl to the charcoal canister. - tilting the windshield-washer bottle 45 degrees. - plastic spacers between the splash pans and the engine to reinforce the motor mounts.
Also, since you're from Oregon, your VK5 RPO would make sense as this option was only for "west coast-bound" cars in an effort to reduce shipping costs. A conventional rack rail car would hold only 18 cars (in the open), but a Vert-a-pac would hold 30 (under roof)."

I bought a Vega wagon brand new in 1972 (Road and Track's Car of the year), and all that....it was the worst car I've ever owned. Everything went on it. Chevrolet replacement was very poor. BTW, when was the last time, that ANYONE out there, has seen a Vega on the road??? Keystone1

I have a book by Edward Kaminski, American car & Foundry Co.. On page 215 it shows a SP 517001 89foot 4 inchs Vert A pack with 50 ton trucks built in 1970. Trailer Train also had then it shows a ttvx 810260 . Maybe someone from Trailer train or AFC can help you.