It’s hard not to be dazzled by what modern cars can do. Features like lane centering assistance, adaptive cruise control, active driving assistance to make sure you’re not snoozing off, sound systems that are better than what you have at home, GPS and more are like something out of a futurist novel, not a car showroom. And we have to admit, we like the beep-beep that tells us when someone is in the blind spot and the back up camera and some of the other useful features we have loaded on our jolly minivan. But we do have nostalgic thoughts for the days when power steering and power braking were options, not standard equipment. So how about a vintage road trip through Detroit in the new cars for 1977, as shown in Mechanix Illustrated.
The AMC Gremlin and Pacer remain two of the most idiosyncratically adorable cars in the history of gas buggies. Their shape is what happens when engineers are given the keywords “sporty,” “speedy” and “cute.”
We go from the very long Chrysler New Yorker (allow at least 3 spaces for parking) to the little Ford Pinto. Raise your hand if have ever ridden in a Ford Pinto. Raise both hands if that Pinto was powder blue. There is plenty of urban legend about the actual Ford Pinto exploding gas tank story. “Pinto Madness” from the Sept/Oct 1977 issue of Mother Jones, perhaps the first comprehensive report on the gas tanks, and “The Halo Effect” episode of Hidden Brain detail the whole sad and heartbreaking tale.
The Chevette was Chevrolet’s answer to the Pinto, a small car with gas economy. According to the US Department of Energy, gas prices rose slowly but steadily from 1935 to 1970, moving from 20 cents to 36 cents a gallon. But by 1977, gas had jumped to an average of 62 cents per gallon. By 1980, you needed folding money to fill up when prices hit $1.18. Detroit car makers did not need focus groups to tell them that big heavy cars used more gas, making them pricey to buy and pricey to drive. The competition in the rearview mirror included Datsun, Volkswagon and Toyota, all smaller, more economical imports. Starting around 1970, most of the US car lines had smaller models. The new cars for 1977 were less introductions of these smaller vehicles and more redesigns now that the public had gotten used to them.
The Pontiac Astre, a rebranded Chevy Vega, was only made for 4 years from 1973-1977 as a sedan and truly, I can’t remember ever seeing an advertisement for one let alone an actual one. Likewise, I have no memory of the Oldsmobile Starfire, though it was used on three distinct vehicles from 1954-1957, 1961-1965 and 1975-1980.
Personally, I prefer the 1961 model.
The new cars for 1977 weren’t the sexiest models ever to roll out of Detroit. Viewed overall, they look boxy and utilitarian. If you see one drive by now, your chin doesn’t hit the ground like it does when you see a 1950s convertible on a summer day. It’s more a curiosity than the stuff of car lust. But one wonders, will anyone look at my minivan forty plus years from now and see it as their dream car?
Which of these cars did you drive or ride in? What are your 1970s car memories?
1 comment
My first car (in 1981) was a 75 Nova with a slant 6. It would still be running if the body hadn’t crumbled into rusty dust. My family had 2 pea-green Vegas. Man, they were ugly!