limited models

A 1960 Dodge Phoenix in a 1970s Australian film about "fast cars, fast girls, fast times'.

Quote: AZDuffman

It was actually the right car for the times.

My dad bought a new 1971 Chevy Vega. What a rolling junk pile. It took forever to get it at up to 50 miles an hour. Metal dashboard, metal floors, cheap covered bucket seats. Even my dad knew it was a piece of crap got rid of it after a few months. He replaced it with a new 71 Plymouth Fury. The total opposite in every way from the Chevy Vega. A gigantic car with a gigantic gas-guzzling 383. He loved that car. He only let me drive it once and I could not keep it under 65 miles an hour.

Here is the thing. Both Vega and Pinto came out before the Arabs shut off the oil. Both were the right idea but worst possible execution. Vega was designed by GM and forced on Chevy with little input. A case of GM trying to do too many things at one time. But it was a response to the imports. To compare it to a full size car makes no sense.

What is too bad is that AMC did not come out with a car of that size but good quality. If they did we might still have an independent AMC.

Quote: AZDuffman

[ To compare it to a full size car makes no sense.

But that's what people like my dad were doing. He had driven nothing but full size cars. He liked the idea of a compact car because of the price and the gas mileage. But it was like going from a 27 inch TV to a 16 in and he just couldn't do it. After the gas crisis he settled on a 1976 Plymouth Valiant which was kind of in the middle.

When my brother is 19 1974 he bought his first new car 1974 Ford Mustang 2. It was so awful, such a powerless sled of a car he didn't even have it two weeks and the dealership let him return it. He ended up with a two-year-old Plymouth Duster convertible instead.


The base price for the Mustang was $2,700 which was cheap even in 1974.

did they make 16 tv's? I don't remember those.

Quote: DRich

did they make 16 tv's? I don't remember those.

Probably before you were born

Quote: DRich

did they make 16 tv's? I don't remember those.

The first color tv I owned was it 1970. A 16in zenith I bought from Sears for $400. That was a huge amount of money in 1970, equivalent to $2,800 in todays money. Right now at Walmart you can buy a 15in flat screen for under $100. That is ass cheap as buying a color TV in 1970 for $15.

I worshipped that television. It gave me more sheer joy than anything I've ever owned before or since. I was 21 years old it had never seen any of my favorite TV shows in color. I got to watch reruns of Gilligan's Island and Green Acres and the Man from Uncle and Get Smart and Petticoat Junction and Beverly Hillbillies and Wild Wild West and Bewitched and many more in beautiful luxurious color. For the first two years it was a thrill just getting out of bed in the morning and I'm not exaggerating. Zenith was one of the best built TVs of its time and it had a fabulous picture. Better than RCA. Bonanza and Gunsmoke in color almost brought tears to my eyes.

Quote: Evenbob

When my brother is 19 1974 he bought his first new car 1974 Ford Mustang 2. It was so awful, such a powerless sled of a car he didn't even have it two weeks and the dealership let him return it. He ended up with a two-year-old Plymouth Duster convertible instead.

The Duster was based on the Dart chassis and never came in a convertible. Do you men a Challenger convertible?

Quote: Evenbob

But that's what people like my dad were doing. He had driven nothing but full size cars. He liked the idea of a compact car because of the price and the gas mileage. But it was like going from a 27 inch TV to a 16 in and he just couldn't do it. After the gas crisis he settled on a 1976 Plymouth Valiant which was kind of in the middle.

It would take decades to get Americans to accept cars of the smaller sizes the rest of the world used. By 1970 Detroit kind of saw they had to offer cars along those sizes as the imports were starting to chew up enough market share to warrant concern. But even today the family SUV is about the size of the family wagon back in the day. Many Americans just need that size and utility. I loved my little Accent when I had it but now like a little more beef around me and do the occasional hauling such that I like a compact to mid SUV. If gas and parking were not an issue I'd have an Explorer.