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My first car was a 1978 Chevy Camaro with 250 cid in-line 6 in canary yellow exterior and black vinyl interior. Bought it when it was only 8 years old. All windows and trunk leaked water when it rained or when washing the car, carpet was rotted out, headlined was gone, vinyl seats were cracked and torn, dashboard was cracked, and tires screamed when taking a curve at posted speed limit. It was the slowest car I ever owned. It’s fuel economy are up much of my $3.35 an hour burger flipping money even with gas being about $0.85 a gallon. It’s like Detroit figured if they can’t build fast or quality cars then at least make them look nice. Great styling, horrible quality.
I had a 1966 VW fastback that was killed by a truck driver who blew a stop sign in a pouring rain.... sent me into a coma for a week (by the way, a coma is a great way to drop both pounds and inches---just sayin')... that car would have been good for another 150,000 miles. My ex husband's first car was a Ford Falcon circa 1964 (i think) that even he couldn't kill all the years many years he drove it .... his alcoholism killed that car in a fiery crash during a black out he walked away upright from.... and it had almost 460,000 miles on it by hitting every saloon on the eastern seaboard. ok, so they aren't technically 70's cars, but close enough to when they were still making real cars that lasted forever.
The first serious compacts were then, too. I had a '70 Datsun 510, it rode like a big car.
The 1970 510 rode like what it was, a small Japanese car with tinny sounding doors and a slightly choppy ride due to the short wheelbase. They also smelled like plastic for years. I learned how to drive in a 1970 510. Great fun to drive with independent rear suspension and decent power.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bronze
My 1972 Datsun 1200. 50 mpg, light enough to lift and push the rear end sideways when it got stuck, canary yellow in color, clean engine block (meaning it hard enough room to work on).
I seriously doubt you got 50 mpg in a car that normally did closer to 38mpg on the freeway.
My father had this one but it was a gold color with a white vinyl top, i inherited it when he got another one. It was a big and beautiful car with had a 455 Duce and a quarter and road like you were floating on air and had the classic fender skits.
My Father has the '73 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. Built on the same platform as the Buick. I remember the dashboard being so padded and soft and the doors being so heavy. The car was a beast. I recently saw a beautifully well maintained one on Facebook the other day.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cvetters63
...Power, speed, handling, braking abilities far above those older cars, ...
As for me, this is what I was into in the '70s (these were all mine then):
Of course safety is improved, (I hope SOMETHING has improved ) We have a GREAT 'nanny state' to encourage that improvement! Don't get hurt out there!
Speed? Who's in a hurry, been retired for decades? My average speed on road trips always exceeds 65mph (since I can go 1200 miles per fill-up).
Power? Who needs power in a car?. My Kenworth and Mack have plenty of POWER (gears) (if I need more... I get by fine.
Handling? What's the interest in BUYING something that handles nice? Some of us prefer to MAKE IT handle nice (and we are VERY aggressive drivers!) I have switchbacks within a few minutes of my 3 homes in USA and drive them very quickly everyday. I have had a few 'modern' rigs try to keep up. Then I can pull them out of the ditch with my 1970's tractor. (for a fee, but their embarrassment is always good for a grin. ) AWD autocross fitted cars I let take the lead. They probably have more than $35 at risk
Safety... no problem, I'm on my last leg, it will be good riddance to kick the bucket (hope it is FAST! ) (I have to keep one good leg for kick starting my vintage thumpers, for yet another great ride. ) I will probably go out with a SMASH!
No Plastics is my quest. (cars, motorcycles, trucks, tools, machinery, home furnishings and appliances) (A LOT of kitchen stuff from the 30's - 40's)
Your priorities / desiree is certainly different, yet you drift (waste) your time on a 70's thread. OK... enjoy and be HAPPY! With where you are and where you are headed and all the GREAT info you have to share relevant to the thread!~ Thanks!
My first car was a 1978 Chevy Camaro with 250 cid in-line 6 in canary yellow exterior and black vinyl interior. Bought it when it was only 8 years old. All windows and trunk leaked water when it rained or when washing the car, carpet was rotted out, headlined was gone, vinyl seats were cracked and torn, dashboard was cracked, and tires screamed when taking a curve at posted speed limit. It was the slowest car I ever owned. It’s fuel economy are up much of my $3.35 an hour burger flipping money even with gas being about $0.85 a gallon. It’s like Detroit figured if they can’t build fast or quality cars then at least make them look nice. Great styling, horrible quality.
I had a 1978 Chevrolet Malibu 2 door that also leaked. The seal above one of the fixed rear windows was out of place. This was a common problem; that's why so many of these cars had the roof rust out above the rear windows. Water leaking from the rear windows would not drain out of the body like a normal car; instead it would drain onto the rear floorboard. I had to completely seal the rear windows to stop that. I drove it without carpet for a long time as I tracked down all of the leaks. There turned out to be twelve of them. Just when I thought I was done, I found another leak up front. The foam seal for the heater had split at the firewall.
I am hardcore old school, but I have to admit that, technologically, today's cars are way ahead of those of the 70's. A couple of my cars are newer, and fuel injected/computerized, and I have to admit they run better than my carbureted ones. Also, the factories today are cranking out ridiculous HP numbers that we would have never dreamed possible in the 70's.
That being said, I still like the older cars better, but for me, cars stopped in about 1970. The gas crunch and environmental concerns put the damper on the muscle car era, and even though they sort of brought it back later on, it had lost some of it's charm for me.
My favorite era was the 1965-70 era. Detroit was building some really great performance cars during that time. I'd love to have all the ones I had back then , Barrett Jackson would be making me rich.
No, though I'm not sure I know what reversible seat inserts are. Mine were vinyl and all black, like the rest of the interior.
Mine looked like this one - same color, same wheels, but I didn't have T-tops (and didn't want them) and the half vinyl roof had been removed in a recent full paint job, so the entire roof was the same blue as the rest of the car. Looked much better that way, IMO.
These were the handsomest cars on the road and they drove and rode as nice as they looked.
Supreme coupes adopted the swiveling bucket seats as an option, but with a twist. Reversible inserts let owners switch between vinyl and fabric upholstery
One of my favorite cars from 1970s was the Buick Electra. It was called the poor man's Cadillac. Felt like it rode on air. Even today's luxury cars don't compare.
Other great cars from that error?
You sure got that right, pal.
I was born in 1967. I have an early memory of being with mom and dad when we picked up a then-new 1972 Plymouth Duster, zero miles. Great little car, best of the era IMO. Color was what I would call "Petty Blue" after old number '43.
Not so my dad's ill-fated 1975 Dodge wagon. Off the lot, so many things broken he listed them all and had it right back in the shop for warranty work to fix them, which they pretty much did. This was not uncommon back then, I don't remember dad being angry or bitter and it was just understood that after five years max, that car was totaled with residual essentially zero $ due to "wear and tear," meaning in that case rusted out to the floorboards, burning oil, more squeaks than a Disney movie, and wasted transmission too. After towing a 21' trailer for a couple years...
Today, that sucker would be Lemon Law'ed in what, couple months? Not many of those these days, I'm to understand, even from companies like Chrysler than I didn't trust then, as a kid, and sure don't now 45 years later.
1970s cars are 99% miserable garbage. First car I "considered" collecting was an '89 BMW, then my '01 Porsche Turbo. Sadly, it is not to be due to lack of space and I don't need to hold onto dead equity, but just saying there is/was very little out there terribly attractive in terms of quality and engineering excellence until c. 1990, at least made on these shores. Meanwhile masterpieces like the Porsche 928S4, BMW M6, Mercedes 450SL, and a very few others were best of that era by a long, LONG shot. And prior to that, the 1970s BMW mid-size 5-series sedans were by-far best of a bad lot.
No, though I'm not sure I know what reversible seat inserts are. Mine were vinyl and all black, like the rest of the interior.
Mine looked like this one - same color, same wheels, but I didn't have T-tops (and didn't want them) and the half vinyl roof had been removed in a recent full paint job, so the entire roof was the same blue as the rest of the car. Looked much better that way, IMO.
These were the handsomest cars on the road and they drove and rode as nice as they looked.
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) We have a GREAT 'nanny state' to encourage that improvement! Don't get hurt out there!
. My Kenworth and Mack have plenty of POWER (gears) (if I need more... I get by fine.
(for a fee, but their embarrassment is always good for a grin. ) AWD autocross fitted cars I let take the lead.
They probably have more than $35 at risk
) (I have to keep one good leg for kick starting my vintage thumpers, for yet another great ride. ) I will probably go out with a SMASH!
