Car-wise, what did you hate about the 70's?

I never said HATE the 70's! I said CAR-WISE. I lived through them too, and had GREAT times as well. Most of all i got to own every car i ever dreamt about from the 50's and 60's beacause of the gas prices making the cool cars CHEAP! I, for one welcomed the higher gas prices. Spend a few cents more on gas, and save HUNDREDS on you favorite gas guzzlers (Hemi RoadRunners for $2500 CLEAN as a bitch for one example, MINT 57 Buick 2 door hardtop for $150, i had several 348 tripower 58 Impalas that were clean as hell all for UNDER $200 each)

 

I remember celebrating the 4th of July in 1976 thinking we had come a long way and the year 2000 was only in space movies.

 

Well I loved the 70s after I got home but hate the cars with the exception of 4wd 3/4 ton pick-ups

 

It all went to hell after 72.

Smog motors, small blocks with no teeth, big blocks with no teeth, 5 MPH bumpers and 40 miles of bullshit on a motor that didn't do a thing to help
emissions or the economy. Gas price jumped 28 cent a gallon to over a buck
and my LT1 motored corvette got over 20 when I tuned it right and kept my
foot out of it. My NEW 75 chevy van with it's economical 307 topped out at
11 MPG. At least there was the queen sized bed in the back. But even refer
prices had doubled by the late 70's. The highlight had to be getting laid in 74
for the first time. That and I had a 65 impala SS convertible that WE could
stretch out in the back seat of. So, maybe it wasn't all bad.
Rodman

 

Ha!! I LOVED IT ALL!!! Damn right, I said it.

I was 6 when the 70's rolled in and didn't get my license until 1980. Everything that happened car-wise in the 70's was of interest to me 'cuz, being a car freak, I couldn't get enough. If it had a motor, no matter how weazy or pussy-fied, I wanted it. I have 3 brothers and 6 sisters and with 12 people in the house I wanted & needed to escape. Cars were my escape.

My old man has 10 thumbs and several of those are not where they should be when it comes to anything mechanical. I was 15 and found a 1950 Dodge 2 door that I was DYING for. It was old, black, $800, and a runner but my Dad and Mom put the screws to that dream. (I still have a Polaroid of that car somewhere around here...) So any car that ran would have been a dream. That Dodge was my dream and would have been a cool ride for a 16 year old in 1980

Back then I followed all the new car lines, and would ride my bike to the Chrysler dealer and annoy the salesman, swipe a few brochures and go home to ponder the sweet freedom that even a lowly Dodge 023 (remember those predecessors to the Omni?) would have brought to my miserable little life.

I couldn't get enough of cars then, new, old, rusty, shiny, derelict - whatever; it didn't matter. I bought Hot Rod and some various rod magazines I can't remember now and read them until they fell apart. I learned what a Hemi is and why they were so revered. I ate up the older guys car talk - double pumpers and Hijackers, Thrush Hush and Cherry bombs, carbs and cams. Like a heroin junkie I just couldn't ever get enough. My adolescent brain craved two things - girls and cars. My how some things never change.

I dug the vans (and the chicks that seem to be standard equipment in them), the 302 Boss Mavericks, I absolutely LUSTED after a 1968 Chevelle with a 396, or a 1970 Super Bee with a 383 or 440. I would literally shiver with excitement thinking about having a Duece after I saw American Graffiti for the first time in 1977. Hell, even the F250 Crew cab jacked up on monster mudders owned by the dude up the street would have been cool.

I got to ride in a 69 Chevelle with the guy up the street when I was 10 and that was all she wrote, I was a horsepower junkie from then on. The rush of that car moving at what seemed to be hypersonic speed left a dent on my little brain that hasn't gone away yet. I wasn't scared, I was intrigued.

I recently got some "Truckin" magazines from a fellow HAMBer and I chuckle looking at them. Man, the 70's were cheez-ee-rific, but what a ride for me. But all in all I'd say the highlight of the 70's for me was my first ride in a hot rod.

Our Boy Scout troop was coming back from a camp-out in Wisconsin. We were at a rest stop when it pulled in. A T-bucket of some sort. I don't remember the year of the car but I remember the Buick 215, the homemade frame of aluminum, the blue metallic paint job against the white diamond pleated interior and those huge tires out back. We swarmed that thing like killer bees on a hapless poodle. The two guys in it were very patient with our 954 questions and were gracious enough to offer all of us a ride. They owner took us 2 at a time for a quick spin around the parking lot of the rest stop. I was the last to go and the odd man out so I didn't have to share the ride. I remember the guy starting off easy and then saying, "Do you want to see what she'll do?" I recall thinking "HELL YEAH!!" but being a Boy Scout I said "Yes". He floored it and that car just scooted. I can still see the front tires against the pavement, the hum of the rear tires right behind my head, the headers growling ( I was a kid, I didn't know a 215 wasn't that impressive), and the wind in my hair (wish those days would come back too).

You couldn't have wiped that smile of my face with 40 grit and a D/A. I was hooked on rods. I still loved other cars, especially muscle cars, but there's nothing like a rod and it's all that guys fault. Thank you.

Yeah, the 70's really blew ass in many ways, but here's my spin. If you had to grow up in an automive era that could teach you quality from crap, the 70's was probably the best proving ground a kid could have asked for.

 

Gotta agree with almost everything so far..

The trailer trash part of my youth still likes the two 2'nd gen Firebirds I own (73 and 80).

Add Endura bumpers to that list, I hate having to repaint the damn things.

Polycast wheels, nothing like a fake mag that weighs more than a steel wheel.

The transformation from sports car to luxo-coupe that happened to so many great cars (datsun 240Z, F-body cars etc).

Pontiac's deal with paramount that ensured black and gold would be the colour scheme for trailer parks nation-wide for almost 10 years.

Shawn

 

Hey, speaking of that, weren't we supposed to have flying cars by now?
And computers were supposed to make our lives EASIER!! THAT sure didn't happen!

Dave

 

You sir, speak the truth....

Airshocks, fat front tires, CB's, side pipes, white-letter 50 series tires, chrome 15x10's, the shag, the vans, the V8 Gremlins, the dirt bikes, BMX, Corvettes with ribbon graphics, dune buggies, 4x4's, V8 Chevy Luvs, Drag racing, Trans am racing, coke, hookers, weed, parties, Lynard Skynard, The Blue Oyster Cult...mirrored shades... you guys are gonna HATE my '73 Satellite.

 

How about getting stuck in traffic behind some smog motored land yacht burning that new fangled unleaded gas that made the exhaust smell like your buddy shit his pants? Low quality cars and just as low quality fuel to burn in them.

 

my love for chevys ended in the 70's

 

oldcarmike, you put into words how I felt at the time too. Sure new cars sucked at the time, but there was some cool old-car stuff gonig on.

 

Side Terminal batteries.

GM cars with half metric/half standard fasteners

5 mph bumpers

green vinyl roofs

beer tap shift knobs

isuzu/opels

zigzag man stickers

metallic playboy bunny head stickers

J C Whitney catalogs

wire basket wheels

renault le car

The complete decline of the US Auto industry

locking gas caps

lethargic Country Squires

clam shell GM wagons

plugged catalytic convertor smell

michelin radials on Peugeot cars with no center hole

GM cars that would not start if you did not have your seat belt fastened

That's all I can remember right now.
Ray in CT

 

I'm jamming to Boston as I type......I'm stuck there.

 

Big Blocks with no teeth? Hell, they had no gums either. 73 454 Vette with less power than a Taco 44 Mini Bike

 

Greatest musical decade EVER!!!!!!

 

cars had step bumpers on both ends.

 

70's hot rod styling......the next big tradtional hot rodding movement!

hey fellas, i drive a 120-130hp 3-0-5 14mpg 1/2 ton chebbie for an every day driver....be easy on them!

 

This is for you Groucho, the X version must be high performance..

 

9 months in fulton with a roomy named 'BIG THUMB" [dont assked] //76 was a bad year for me!!

 

Yeah, the Bicentennial was awesome. I was in my twenties in the 70s, so it was all about gettin' laid and gettin' high. My car was a '66 Renault Dauphine--

 

Ahh man, I think those vans were tha shit! Oh yeah and them low riders draggin the tail sending sparks, too cool.

"Is that freedom rock? Well turn it up!"

 

Damn man, I just hacked up a hunk o'lung... that's funny.

 

bwahahahaha........"truly a unique driving experience"

that's is great!

hahaha one you'll NEVER forget!

 

I cracked up everytime i saw one of these. I think my aunt or cousin had one. My dad back slapped me for laughing uncontrollably at a family function and embarassed the shit out of him.

 

Reduced horsepower because of the EPA.

 

Piece of shit Mustang II's and 5mph bumpers.

 

I hated these....



....and these



....and these!



....and especially this!





pigpen

 

THAT'S FUNNY! 3 pieces of shit, and it appears they're ALL in some car show environment in these pictures.

 

amf harleys!!! too many amc's in this thread!!! i like amc's

 

They took away my hi-octane premium & gave me low octane unleaded regular which was about as exciting as a cheap warm beer that had gone flat! knock-knock-ping......Gary 4T950 Chevy Guy