25 HATED 1970S CARS THAT ARE BETTER THAN DRIVERS REMEMBER
- Thread starter GON
- Start date
The Opel GT and BMW in that list look pretty gorgeous to me...
I got divorced and my mom sold me her 73 vega for a buck,took it out to nebraska with me ,had to use a clothes pin to hold the choke closed to start it in cold weather and it leaked oil like a stuck pig. I ran it on rotella T 15w40 for free as I would snatch jugs of makep oil from my tractor when I got back home ,, then ended up selling it to my ex for 600 bucks and some one stole it from her driveway for the stereo ,cops never found the car :.-(
Mostly the state of the art back then for American manufacturers. Thankfully, things have improved and today's cars are nicer to drive, safer and much more reliable than those 1970's vehicles. Unfortunately, it comes at a cost which seems to be pushing 50k for the average priced new vehicle that folks are buying these days.
I lucked out for being a Chrysler product. I put 123000 on it before I traded it in and nothing major went wrong with it...
To me the Opel GT was the working mans Corevette.
That "Detroit" grappled so badly with emissions retrofits is one thing.
Being saddled with model year changes and all the other trappings of consumerism just made things worse.
The era was stupidly wasteful. The industry was never so false.
It was as if the industry was trying to hype muscle cars at every turn except for luxury models. There they puffed up the grandeur.
Anyone remember the magazine ads for Lincolns? They used American flags stretched over doorways etc. in the photos.
Each cheap tin box they promoted and sold during the era assured success for the import makers.
It took Pontiac, Plymouth and Oldsmobile longer to vanish than I expected.
Being saddled with model year changes and all the other trappings of consumerism just made things worse.
The era was stupidly wasteful. The industry was never so false.
It was as if the industry was trying to hype muscle cars at every turn except for luxury models. There they puffed up the grandeur.
Anyone remember the magazine ads for Lincolns? They used American flags stretched over doorways etc. in the photos.
Each cheap tin box they promoted and sold during the era assured success for the import makers.
It took Pontiac, Plymouth and Oldsmobile longer to vanish than I expected.
My first car after moving to Ontario in 1985 was a 1977 Mustang II with the 5.0 V8. Fastback? or hatchback? it was actually a nice car for driving in the city, but it was geared too high for highway driving. I recall over 3,000 RPM for highway and the fuel economy was pathetic.
This car was a burnout king, had to be very soft on the pedal or listen to & smell those Canadian Tire Motomasters go up in smoke.
Great driving position for my 6'4" body, but the rust was eating the rear hatch and it was traded in on a brand new 1987 Bronco II.
This car was a burnout king, had to be very soft on the pedal or listen to & smell those Canadian Tire Motomasters go up in smoke.
Great driving position for my 6'4" body, but the rust was eating the rear hatch and it was traded in on a brand new 1987 Bronco II.
did you have that Lean Burn set up??? A lot of issues with that...She had electronic ignition and carburetor problems.
I think it did more miles up and down the Dodge Boys lift than it did on the road
No all were bad. My family had V8 Impala,Caprice,LTD,GTO and a couple of Caddies. All were trouble free. The a/c in them would cool off a 7 room house. All went on long trips with no issues whatsoever. Dealer service was actually excellent for the most part. We all had long commutes to work.
Most of the issues came from 4 and 6 bangers.
And using less fuel. The fuel efficiency opened the door for the Japanese car invasion. And then the VW Beetle sold very well in the 70's.
A few cars do not belong on that list, the BMW, Citroen SM, Opel GT, Volvo, El Camino, Ranchero, VW Thing, Couger and Caddy. The rest were mostly real dogs.
Mom had a 1980 Pinto, red with black vinyl interior. Riding around in the summer heat of Yakima Wa (The "Palm Springs" of Wa) back in the day with no AC. Dad always said it was a pretty reliable car in it's day despite the bad press.
I had a 1973 Bavaria(AKA 3.0) back in the '80s- no FI but it did have 2 Weber 32/36 DGAV carburetors. It would cruise at 100 mph for hours on end(thank you Cobra CB and CM Escort).
It's still going in the hands of its fifth owner. Anyone who thinks it's a hated car is an imbecile.
They may have been small and they did use "oxygen blown steel (or whatever it was....changed in 1996 as I recall) but they functioned. Possibly not as well as the continually refined VW Beetle but well enough. They were easier to work on.
Also remember, American car (to us here) were always touted to be improvers of life and escape machines.
All they did was get worse and worse.
A wee foreign car purchase decision was something of a departure and you knew you buying an alternative ride; ergo, less disappointment.
Hurting US car makers were on daytime talk shows crying about how these Q & A segments on cars were "30 minute commercials for foreign cars". Oh how I wish I had been in the audience so I could've offered, "Hey Bozos, just make your junk better".
Read "The Reckoning" by Halberstam excellent car book. No politics, no bull...just descriptions of what was happening.
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We had a 79 Pinto. Had ice cold A/C. Extremely reliable vehicle.
