One thing that was cool was that the factory often times would make wilder interiors (and vinyl tops) than even the customizers.
I just bought a '68 Ranchero with 14x8 turbine wheels and L60s and sits at a nosebleed stance... also has a Realistic cassette player! Nice otherwise.
...Laugh all ya want at it now, in twenty or thirty years kids will be scouring the junkyards for all those vans, because all the 30's through 60's bodies will be gone. (I better start hoarding these now)
Those vans are already gone. I think they are proof that aliens have visted our planet..... and went back home! I got my driver's license in the late 70's so I was there. This thread sums up the 70's perfectly. Most of my friends had 10" and 4" Cragar SS wheels and Formula Super Stock tires. Tracy
I graduated in '76. "Keep on Truckin'" shirts and t-tops (I've still got mine!) and cutting out the hem in the legs of your jeans as soon as you got them home and running them through the washing machine several times so you could have that "hippy fringe" look. Those first-generation, thin-soled, Nike "running" shoes in blue with the white stripes. Real "how to do it" tech stories in the magazines instead of "how to buy it". Wednesday Grudge Night at KCIR: 25cents to get in and 25cents a pass. Signing a waiver at the gate so you could take rides in buddy's cars as they make a pass. Don't forget Appliance wheels...either the steel five-spokes or the cast aluminum "wire spoke" models. Anyone remember those Appliance ads in PHR with the well-endowed gal in the full-length purple knit dress lounging on a tire with the wire spoke wheel? I sat and "stared" at that ad an awful lot....
I have a 67 Bonneville Ambulance that I am going to do "Mother, Jugs and Speed" style. - The wheels will be Ansen slots (10" will fit in the rear without sticking out). - Slight rake. - 4 into 1 functional side pipes. - Ambulance style stripes in dark blue. The decal shown below was put on by my wife and only on there a couple days. - Wood steering wheel - Giant antenna mounted at the rear and hooked at the front corner of the roof (it is an ambulance). The picture below was taken just after I did did the body and paint back in 1993. Carmak Riverside, Iowa
Thank you Larry!!! I grew up (born '64) in that fabulously over-the-top decade and I loved it all. Maybe my glasses are rose colored but so what.
And this is what fans of "the Dead" rolled around in in the 70's Yes that's the top half of a VW bus, welded to the top of a '57 Chevy school bus... taken about 7:00 pm today.
I remember seeing buses done like that more often than I really wanted to. I haven't in a long time though.
You got to have shag carpet interior with a beer tap handle on your shifter! Oh! and an 8 -track. I still have a "Keep on truckin" knee patch that my mom sewed on my jeens when I was a kid. The pants didnt even have holes in em yet, it was just cool.
I had a ball in the 70's, I customized a new black chevy swb van with a bed, a bar, mirrors and lots of orange shag, and cruised to the "Van Ins" checkin' for "smokeys" and the "Bear in the air" on the trusty CB. Shaggin' on the shag, --- groovy baby, "if this vans a rockin', don't come a knockin'!" -------- uuuuuhhhhh good times, good times......
Ya know, this was all cool stuff...well, maybe not vans.. 30some years ago and I make no pretense of not enjoying that era. I drove a '69 Mach I with most of the stuff mentioned above in the early-mid '70s with a warmed up 351w 4bbl. that laid a huge can of whoopass regularly on a bunch of 350 Camaros. As for the music, I STILL prefer Nazarath, Foreigner, Skynyrd, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Golden Earring, Detroit Bob, Neil Young and Co. to this Rockabililly shit produced today. We have the traditional rods and customs in common which is ultra-cool, but different strokes in our other preferences, yes?.. BTW, I never dated a dude who didn't have shoulder length hair back in the late '60s-'90s... Of course, many wore a cutoff with 3 patches on the back and rode a Harley, when Harleys weren't mainstream. Jan
Most of the country had never seen a Low Rider except in a few mags back in the '70s. When I went to California for a week in '82, I was hoping to see sweet cars like you pictured. The few I saw were half primered rough looking 'Riders that weren't impressive at all. I was everywhere from Fontana to Compton and beyond and was VERY disappointed... Those cars are works of art, though I don't know how the hell you keep the suspension together when bouncing them. Jan
No madder what era, people always remember the worst examples. And the biggest offender where the media (magazines) pushing the 'latest trend'. People mimic what see. Look how big the HAMB has grown. Lets see some clean, well done rods & customs (low riders too) from that era. Least there were no 22's on a Starliner.
It kills me when ever i see an old car made into a DONK, I saw a 46 ford truck the other day with Huge rims on it, I think they were around 38" rims. TERRIBLE LOOKIN!!!!
I was pretty much blue jeans and T shirts, but I was scooter trash. We really didn't count as the '70s apart from getting twisted. Hey don some of us had a pretty good time with the thread. I noticed that someone recently posted about showing some nice rods from the era, they obviously don't know much about the '70s.
Can't escape the past, The era was pretty dark for rods, with few exceptions and I had a couple of pretty ugly years in a far away place but I also had a lot of fun. I try to dwell on thre fun things in life it keeps me from getting into a blue funk.
I thought Lil John Buttera's cars looked nice. Don't forget the Grateful Dead teddy bear or skull with lightning bolt stickers in the rear windows.
Well, this is from the original post. "I would press on with some 70's stuff (not the paint though) does anyone have any old memories of what things used to look like back then?" Pete & Jakes cars, Jim Ewings coupe, Cop Shop Coupe (maybe??) were part of what things looked like in the 70's. Gassers and MP were part of what things looked like in the 70's. Ness' early good looking scooters and other choppers were in their hayday in the 70's. I had LOTS of fun in the 70's. Larry T
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