The first one was bought by Evil Knievel to transport his motorcycles and he drove it in a movie.
I had a Nissan F-10 hatchback. In puke green. Man was it fugly.
The thing is these ugly cars of the 70s, pale in comparison to the ugly cars they make nowadays.
Ping…dunno why, but this strikes me as being right up your alley.
1974 AMC Matador, I think the designers had the Nash Rambler in mind.
The AI narration is occasionally bizarre. What’s a Volairay?
Ricardo Montalban is unavailable for comment.
No surprise the Gremlin and Pacer are on the list. I had a Pinto, so I guess I’m lucky to be alive today.
The first one was bought by Evil Knievel to transport his motorcycles and he drove it in a movie.
Oldsmobile offered them with an "Olds Gold" Rocket 350 engine with either a 4 speed manual or 3 speed automatic transmission. The Chevy Nova, Pontiac Ventura, and Buick Apollo were also offered with 350 engines.
Cadillac Cinnamon, or whatever that little shiite box was called.
As some car mag said of it:
Like a Honda Accord that did not run very well.
My experience with 1970s cars is mixed. I had two 1973 Ford LTDs which I loved, but one got wrecked by an illegal alien drunk driver while parked, and the other, which had a 429 cubic inch motor was stolen, even though it was locked and I had the key.
I also had a 1972 Chevy Impala which ran well after the tranny was rebuilt, but the metal under the back window rusted out, causing rainwater to flood into the trunk—a design flaw that plagued GM cars at the time.
My family bought a 1973 Pontiac Le Mans new, but it had a lot of problems. When we took it to the car wash for the first time, the trunk flooded because they forgot to put seals in the trunk at the factory. The motor mounts were too weak, and they had to be replaced. The alternator failed on the Hollywood Freeway, and we luckily coasted into the parking lot at Denny’s on Vignes in downtown Los Angeles—which is still there. Its life ended when it caught fire after I turned on the air conditioner—oddly enough, when I was driving around trying to find a new car. This car was designed by John DeLorean, and we figured he was probably on cocaine when he did so.
My first car was a Vega.
Everything about the 70’s was ugly, with the exception of the music pre-disco.
I saw a fat honda from the 80’s on US74 in NC today.
Yea, it was old and ugly but that kid was going 60 in it.
I was proud of him. Sometimes you just go with what you have.
It sounded like a sewing machine.
In high school, kids were happy to get whatever they could and also drove a lot of the cars on this list - AMC Gremlin, Datsun 200SX, Ford Pinto, Chevrolet Chevette, AMC Pacer, Ford Mustang II, Chevy Vega, Subaru Wagon... The Plymouth Volare was used as a police car by many towns and a few of those were bought at auction. Gotta have wheels
Had a 71 Datsun 510 when going to grad school. Great little car. Got a 1976 Camaro lt later..supposed to be the worst Camaro. It was great... Tuned down to 160 horse for smog b.s...good torque...305 v8...very smooth...turned heads with red/orange paint and black vinyl top. Love that car.
Much later got 1979 caddie brougham....425 ci tuned down to 190 HP...ran great, smooth , quiet, with good pickup. Would have loved to turn the 425 lose. But they kept smog requirements for 1979.... no one could fix it....cr4p!
Always thought the gremlin and pacer showed that AMC was trying to develop cars that filled a niche. The matador, javelin and AMX were cool enough. Pacer much more cool than fiat500 or Smart cars. I could see a pacer with hybrid or super efficient ICE power...like the goldfish bowl look.....gremlin could easily be stretched a bit and be a sedan with tons of rear storage space...like a two door enclosed pick up...Ford transit connect is a tall stretched gremlin...basically...IMHO
1973 VW ThingChrysler is dead. Ford is on the verge of death. GM lies and lies and lies. Their cars aren’t selling and just piling up by the thousands.
The crappy car era will be looked on as favorable compared to the ‘20’s no cars at all era
71 Plymouth Valiant. Puke green. My dad bought it for me in Fairbanks, Alaska. We went to pick it up and it was 30 below zero, and the car covered in 3 feet of snow. The owner dug deep enough to get a battery charger on it. It started right up, and it was a great car. Ugly…but great.