The town of Seward, Nebraska, has made history.
A Seward native, Harold Davisson, came up with the idea and had a 45-ton vault buried near a furniture store he owned. Included in the vault were over 5,000 items, including—and this is why, as a car-focused website we’re interested—a brand-new 1975 Chevrolet Vega. Davisson passed away in 1999, but he left instructions that the vault should be opened on July 4, 2025.
A sign above the site said, “Contents of Time Capsule: A new 1975 Chevrolet Vega (no mileage), a new Kawasaki motorcycle (no mileage), thousands of letters and other memorabilia furnished by merchants and residents not only from this area, but across the nation.”
Last summer, the city of Seward opened a pyramid (added in 1983) that contained the capsule itself. And now, at last, the entire stash has seen the light of day—a little earlier than July Fourth, I might add.
Vega Backstory
The Vega was a subcompact produced on General Motors’ H-body platform from 1971 through 1977, and it was available in notchback sedan, hatchback coupe, station wagon and panel delivery variants. Chevrolet promoted the car by saying, “It’s a lot of car for such a little car.”
The car was praised (at least initially) in the automotive press, and it even won the Motor Trend Car of the Year award. Ultimately, the Vega became known for its not-so-positive reputation when it came to reliability. It was powered by an inline-four that was soon notorious for its noise, vibration and a tendency to overheat. One online resource I found said that every new Vega came with a service manual—it’s almost as if Chevrolet predicted the future.
Chevrolet claimed to have made over 200 changes to the car for model year 1975, which included the addition of an HEI electronic ignition system and a catalytic converter. Total sales that year amounted to 206,239—fewer than half as many Vegas as had sold the prior year. And one of those units—in bright yellow—ended up being stashed away in a vault in Nebraska for 50 years. It came out relatively unscathed; even the tires still held air.
Future Plans
The news articles weren’t clear on exactly what the plan is for the Vega. As for the other artifacts in the vault—many of them are letters that will be returned to their original owners (or the heirs thereof) over the next six months or so. Some sources say the plan is to re-seal the vault for another 50 years with new items. Which 2025 vehicle model do you think they should put inside? Also, have any of you ever owned a Vega? Was your experience a positive one?