ConsumerGuide Automotive : Classic Car ads of '74

[odie]

Classic Car Ads: Cars of 1974

It was a bad year to sell cars, especially large American cars. For those not yet alive, 1974 arrived towards the end of the OPEC Oil Embargo—and the related record-high gas prices—and at the begin…

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[PontiacHO]

Vega. That’s a major fail from GM. The oil burner of the decade in my opinion. At least they weren’t an interference engine when they shucked the timing belt. They were rusting around the back glass and rear hatch before they were out of warranty. That fuel mileage listed in the article is laughable. No way.
The Chevrolet dealership that I wrenched for had a Cosworth Vega with a blown engine. The customer sued Chevrolet after he was told that there wasn’t a replacement engine coming. They settled with him and that Cosworth Vega was crushed so the Chevy rep said.

 

[CKN]

1974 was probably the height of American inferior over weight garbage.....and "small cars" that were a joke.

 

[pghvolvo]

I was looking for a new car in late 1980 and looked at everything out there. Imagine sitting in a brand new Z/28 Camaro and noticing that the console was crooked. Or looking at brand new cars where the fender, doors, hood for example, the gap between them was off. I finally got down to Audi, BMW, Saab and Volvo. Well as you can see I ended up buying a Volvo. American cars from the seventies and up to the mid-eighties were absolute junk. The American companies keep wondering how the Japanese car companies took over the U.S. automobile market?

 

[PontiacHO]

Yep. Honda and Toyota success forced the American automakers to do much better by the late 80s.

 

[Passport1]

Always liked the early VW Beetle ads.

 

[MRC01]

1974 was probably the height of American inferior over weight garbage.....and "small cars" that were a joke.

Yep. Honda and Toyota success forced the American automakers to do much better by the late 80s.

I learned to drive with a 1978 Honda Civic. Manual (of course), 4 on the floor. It was a tinny buzz-box, perhaps more reliable than an American car of the era but that ain't sayin' much. Going down the freeway in top gear the engine was screaming like it was near redline. Despite good maintenance, at 90k miles it started falling apart with serious engine issues: camshaft, electrical, etc. It was interesting to watch the steady progress in quality through the 1980s.

 

[ChrisMU]

I was looking for a new car in late 1980 and looked at everything out there. Imagine sitting in a brand new Z/28 Camaro and noticing that the console was crooked. Or looking at brand new cars where the fender, doors, hood for example, the gap between them was off. I finally got down to Audi, BMW, Saab and Volvo. Well as you can see I ended up buying a Volvo. American cars from the seventies and up to the mid-eighties were absolute junk. The American companies keep wondering how the Japanese car companies took over the U.S. automobile market?

My dad’s friend saved up and ordered a new ‘79 Camaro… silver with a maroon interior 350/4 speed. Upon delivery, he noticed it had a black cigarette lighter door, as opposed to the maroon it should have been. A few hundred miles later, he noticed it was down on oil, but he couldn’t add any because neither valve cover had an oil fill hole/cap. Someone assembled the engine with two of the same side valve covers. To add more insult to injury, the silver paint flaked off within a couple years.

 

[drtyler]

My dad’s friend saved up and ordered a new ‘79 Camaro… silver with a maroon interior 350/4 speed. Upon delivery, he noticed it had a black cigarette lighter door, as opposed to the maroon it should have been. A few hundred miles later, he noticed it was down on oil, but he couldn’t add any because neither valve cover had an oil fill hole/cap. Someone assembled the engine with two of the same side valve covers. To add more insult to injury, the silver paint flaked off within a couple years.

How would oil have been added at the factory in this engine?

 

[Joel_MD]

When I was a kid our family had a 1973 Buick Estate Wagon. It was a nice car with a 455 V-8.

 

[dishdude]

I learned to drive with a 1978 Honda Civic. Manual (of course), 4 on the floor. It was a tinny buzz-box, perhaps more reliable than an American car of the era but that ain't sayin' much. Going down the freeway in top gear the engine was screaming like it was near redline. Despite good maintenance, at 90k miles it started falling apart with serious engine issues: camshaft, electrical, etc. It was interesting to watch the steady progress in quality through the 1980s.

Yeah I don't think the imports were much better in the 70's, they just had the fortune of not selling as many! I think fuel injection really improved the reliability of a lot of American cars, the feedback carbs seemed to be a disaster.

 

[JimPghPA]

My dad’s friend saved up and ordered a new ‘79 Camaro… silver with a maroon interior 350/4 speed. Upon delivery, he noticed it had a black cigarette lighter door, as opposed to the maroon it should have been. A few hundred miles later, he noticed it was down on oil, but he couldn’t add any because neither valve cover had an oil fill hole/cap. Someone assembled the engine with two of the same side valve covers. To add more insult to injury, the silver paint flaked off within a couple years.

LOL, thats funny. No way to add oil. You have to wonder if who ever put that together at the factory knew of that and did it on purpose.

 

[PimTac]

My dad’s friend saved up and ordered a new ‘79 Camaro… silver with a maroon interior 350/4 speed. Upon delivery, he noticed it had a black cigarette lighter door, as opposed to the maroon it should have been. A few hundred miles later, he noticed it was down on oil, but he couldn’t add any because neither valve cover had an oil fill hole/cap. Someone assembled the engine with two of the same side valve covers. To add more insult to injury, the silver paint flaked off within a couple years.

How would oil have been added at the factory in this engine?

My guess is that the dealership had a hand in this. Maybe they needed a valve cover? There was a lot of parts being pilfered off cars on the lot for other cars.

 

[carviewsonic]

In my experience, not all 70’s cars were lousy. In the 80’s and 90’s I must have had a thing for 1977 GM cars. Had a Caprice, a Pontiac Parisienne, and a Cadillac Fleetwood at different times, for several years each. They were all good cars, reliable and comfy. Hard on gas compared to today’s cars, but gas was cheap then.

 

[BHopkins]

Going through those ads bring back a lot of memories. A lot of cars that seem to be mostly forgotten, even in the car world. The one ad that brought back an almost instant recollection of the ad campaign, was the Triumph TR7 ad. "TR7: The Shape of Things to Come". Sounded pretty cool. Between the TR7 and the Fiat X19, one may have believed that new sports cars may have all been wedge shaped.

@odie Thanks for sharing the link. That was a fun walk down memory lane.

 

[addyguy]

In the 1970’s, full-size was the way to go, the biggies were much more reliable and better-built than the smaller cars for the most part.

 

[BHopkins]

My guess is that the dealership had a hand in this. Maybe they needed a valve cover? There was a lot of parts being pilfered off cars on the lot for other cars.

I really doubt that. I was working as a salesman at a Chevrolet/Oldsmobile dealership in 1978-1979. I saw a lot of simply poorly assembled cars come off the transports. I remember an otherwise gorgeous '79 Z28, but a big paint smear across the hood. The dealership owner called Chevrolet to get the car taken back and replaced. The answer was a resounding NO! They told him to fix it on your own.

 

[BHopkins]

In the 1970’s, full-size was the way to go, the biggies were much more reliable and better-built than the smaller cars for the most part.

Absolutely. At the time, the Japanese cars were considered throw-away tin can quality. They may have gotten much better fuel economy, but the Japanese manufacturers hadn't figured out yet how to make a reliable automatic transmission, or air conditioning. And the body rust was even worse on Japanese cars than the domestic cars. The dealership staff would talk between ourselves, that these cars just weren't build to last much more than 65k - 75k miles.

Based upon today's Asian car offerings, It is hard to even think that their quality used to be so poor.

 

[pghvolvo]

LOL, thats funny. No way to add oil. You have to wonder if who ever put that together at the factory knew of that and did it on purpose.

Remember the old Coke bottle in the door game the assemblers at GM use to do when they were mad at management. It would drive the owners and dealers crazy trying to find the rattle.

 

[wings&wheels]

Meanwhile, BMW was building the 2002 and helping to spawn a new class of cars....