Impact of the 1960s and 1970s

[Bruzilla]

I was out at a cruise in this weekend, and in what has become the norm, the largest representation of cars came from the 1960s and 1970s, then the 1950s, then a few newer Mustangs and Camaros. When I was growing up, the trend was always when you got older, you wanted what was hot when you were a kid, so since I was a kid in the 70s, 70s cars appeal to me. The same goes for folks who were kids in the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

But I got to thinking where are all the 4th gen Camaros, Firebirds, and Trans Ams? Where are all the Fox-body Mustangs? Where are all the quasi-performance mid-sized cars like the 1980s Monte Carlos and 442s that were the cat's *** at the time? Where are all the 1990s Camaros, Trans Ams, Firebirds, and Mustangs? People who were kids in the 1980s and 1990s should be snapping these up and driving them like mad, but instead I'm seeing more and more of the 20-30 something crowd showing up in 60s and 70s cruisers, and fewer and fewer 80s and 90s cars even still being on the road.

It's easy to write off this reality by saying the cars of the 80s and 90s had little to offer in the way of performance, but is that really the reason? Let's be honest. If performance were the main determining factor in all this, most of the restored cars from the 50s through the mid 60s would never have been restored as they were far from high performance.

I'm thinking the impact of the huge increase in investment in collecting and restoring 60s and 70s cars has had a much larger impact than most of us realize. It looks like that the natural order has been upset, and instead of kids seeing cars of their generation as cool and worthy of having, they have instead become fixated on the 60s and 70s cars, resulting in more and more 80s and 90s cars that would have normally gone into the collector market being sentenced to the crusher instead.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Or could it be cars from the 60s and 70s just look better?

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

That's what WE think, but my 17 yr old nephews think a new Honda civic or BMW looks better...

 

[67 coronet]

not only do they look alot better,the older cars hold value much better.when is the last time you heard of a 90's plane jane car pulling any sort of money at all.i have seen $40,000 customs from the 80's that most people wont pay $10,000 for.if you had your choice,money wise,what would you build?

 

[RustyRatRod]

Yeah......and think about this. Where did all the chebbie citations go? Chevettes? Pontiac J2000s? Omnis, Horizons and K cars? There's a whole generation or two of cars all across the board that are kinda extinct.

 

[Pops1967GTX]

It could be a Generational thing.. People are born & grow up, become adults, in a certain period of time...They develop their taste of cars by the influences around them...What I'm I talking about.I love my 50's, 60's ,70's cars..... But I do like some of the new ones also.......I'm just a Car Guy I guess...

 

[snakeyes]

when I was a kid I liked the stuff in the 30's , some of the 40's but war effort there wasn't much, the 50's had some nice cars ,but the 60'-70s had dam nice stuff ,the 80's up there wasn't much ,so I think us old timers grew up in a good ara ,remember back then even as a kid you could afford to fix them up and gas was in reason ,today kids have electronics and high prices ,just my 2 cents :icon_scratch:

 

[Bruzilla]

Or could it be cars from the 60s and 70s just look better?

I don't think so, and any measure in that regard would be purely subjective. For example, I think most late 50's and early 60's cars are so ugly only a mother could love them, yet for the folks who found themselves growing up when these were popular adore them.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that older cars had "personality". As time grew on, they lost more and more of that. Since it's subjective, you may not agree, but that's my opinion.

 

[Bruzilla]

Yeah......and think about this. Where did all the chebbie citations go? Chevettes? Pontiac J2000s? Omnis, Horizons and K cars? There's a whole generation or two of cars all across the board that are kinda extinct.

I think every generation has its own stock of forgotten cars. Those of us in the 70s had the Vegas, Mustang II, Mavericks, Matador, etc. If not for drag racing utility, there wouldn't be a Vega or Maverick left on the road.

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I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that older cars had "personality". As time grew on, they lost more and more of that. Since it's subjective, you may not agree, but that's my opinion.

You could well be right, but imagine you parked a 1971 Road Runner, Chevelle, Charger, GTO, LeMans, Torino, and Cyclone side by side and asked folks who were around in the 1970s to identify which was which from across the street, how many do you think would get them right? I know folks like us would, but I mean non-enthusiasts? I would bet most of them would have as much trouble telling them apart as most of us would if you parked an assemblage of today's midsize sedan offerings together because, to me anyway, they all look pretty much alike.

 

[MarPar]

80's-90's cars were shitboxes with no soul. the old cars actually have a soul to them.... .02

 

[Powerflite]

You left out an important factor for why the old natural flow of things has been upset.
Smog Laws.
It is no coincidence that no one wants to build a car from 1978 or 1982. To be forced to keep the crappy original equipment or try to get government to approve your upgrades is such a pain-in-the-neck that it prevents most people from bothering with it. This is very apparent in CA. A '75 car that is exempt is worth far more than the same thing from '76 that must be smogged. Here, there are laws that state if you are pulled over by a policeman and are found to be in purposeful violation of smog laws, they can crush your car. These laws were made to hinder the street racing crowd, but they apply equally well to others.

 

[Flys-Lo]

I'd like to have some of the cars I let go in the late 80's (turned 16 in 1986) and 90's. I'd like to have the Trans Am's and the Mustang GT 'vert I drove when dating my future wife, I'd like the GLH Turbo's (yes Omni) and the Lazer/Daytona Z's back and even the Mitsu/Dodge Eclipse/Talon AWD Turbos. I've been on a search for my 87 Buick GN for a long time - no luck. While there wasn't as much to choose from performance wise back then I still think it holds true that we long for what we had or saw back when we were young. I think that the Grand Nationals, Shelby Turbo's and some other's will hold value in the hearts of my generation. I have two 60's Mopars that were born before I was (1969) and I like them because they're just plain cool.

 

[MarPar]

i grew up in the late 80's and 90's, and there aren't many cars i would want from then. GNX and an Omni GLHS are bout the only ones. you can keep all the slomaros and rustangs.

 

[RustyRatRod]

You could well be right, but imagine you parked a 1971 Road Runner, Chevelle, Charger, GTO, LeMans, Torino, and Cyclone side by side and asked folks who were around in the 1970s to identify which was which from across the street, how many do you think would get them right? I know folks like us would, but I mean non-enthusiasts? I would bet most of them would have as much trouble telling them apart as most of us would if you parked an assemblage of today's midsize sedan offerings together because, to me anyway, they all look pretty much alike.

I get that......but still as a GROUP those cars have more personality than anything from 1982 and up COMBINED, IMHO.

 

[Dennis H]

50's 60' 70's. They represent our Culture. Our American Culture and the vision of designers and engineers who made them. Like some Rock and Roll, it cannot be taken away. Think John Herlitz. Not one, but two grand slams. 70 'Cuda and 71 Roadrunner. American by design.

 

[Bruzilla]

I get that......but still as a GROUP those cars have more personality than anything from 1982 and up COMBINED, IMHO.

I was watching an episode of Car & Driver a little while back, and they did a comparison of the top selling mid-sized sedans. The folks doing the testing were all gushing how they liked the styling of one box or another better than the other boxes, and I was like "WTF? How can they tell them apart? They all look alike!"

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You left out an important factor for why the old natural flow of things has been upset.
Smog Laws.
It is no coincidence that no one wants to build a car from 1978 or 1982. To be forced to keep the crappy original equipment or try to get government to approve your upgrades is such a pain-in-the-neck that it prevents most people from bothering with it. This is very apparent in CA. A '75 car that is exempt is worth far more than the same thing from '76 that must be smogged. Here, there are laws that state if you are pulled over by a policeman and are found to be in purposeful violation of smog laws, they can crush your car. These laws were made to hinder the street racing crowd, but they apply equally well to others.

That would explain the absence of cars in CA or MD (which has similar laws) but what about the states that don't have laws like that?

 

[MarPar]

I was watching an episode of Car & Driver a little while back, and they did a comparison of the top selling mid-sized sedans. The folks doing the testing were all gushing how they liked the styling of one box or another better than the other boxes, and I was like "WTF? How can they tell them apart? They all look alike!"

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[Flys-Lo]

I was like "WTF? How can they tell them apart? They all look alike!"

That's exactly what I was thinking. I owned a lot of 80's and 90's cars and the only thing that saved them IMO was the ease of making them fast. With a turbo, fuel injection and ease of tuning the ECU you could make some of these cars VERY fast. The Grand Nationals would dip into the 10's with bolt-on's and the Talon AWD's could hit the 9's and still be street legal. The Shelby Shadow's, Omni's and Charger's were all a blast to drive with the boost turned up. They may all look like ugly boxes but there were small sparks of light here and there if you looked. The cars from the 80's and 90's were a lot of fun for me and my friends back then.

 

[YY1]

i think some of the answers are getting close...

Cars did lose their soul in the late 70's and early 80's. They all became straigh tlines and wedges (evolving into the generic "bubble" look of the 90's).
They lost most of their power, and became more difficult and more expensive to work on at the same time.
(not to mention, less reliable)

For all the fox body mustangs I remember seeing, you'd think there would be more of them around.
LOTS were driven hard into the ground. I have an aquaintance who is an A body and a fox body guy- go figure.
There's a really clean red 85 GT T top car for sale down the street right now.

The soul of the automibile has started to come back, but they are still much more difficult, and much more expensive to work on.
I wonder how many '13 Challengers will be kept or restored 20-40 years from now, when NOS $2500 electronics systems (and you probably need more than one) are the only repair option.

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Anyone notice the new lincoln tailights look awfully similar to those on a Charger?