A look at some of the mid-sized cars of the early 1970s
Пікірлер: 45
@Mirrodin82Ай бұрын
Holy crap, every single car on these photos is a masterpiece. Compared to those, modern cars look like a sad joke.
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
Much of the styling here was about to be regulated out of existence.
@davidallen5776Ай бұрын
The GMs were among my all-time favorites in 1973-77. I was anxious to sink my teeth into them as soon as they came out!
@DavidHall-ge6nnАй бұрын
My mother had a '72 Grand Torino sedan, which she loathed. She called it "the Turkey" and badgered my dad to trade it. One of the rare times she had a strong opinion about a car. I especially liked the Australian offerings, as well as the Opels. The Record D at 12:03 was beautiful!
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
Those Torinos seem to be very polarizing. I had a friend with a 73 Torino Police car and I thought it was pretty cool, but then I like almost anything.
@mikeadams2677Ай бұрын
$2600 to $3500 in the early 70s, with inflation would be $21,000 to $29,000 in today's 2024 money.
@johnlosert922Ай бұрын
Sad, huh?
@100aceswidАй бұрын
Some of the best looking cars of all time.
@jamesdaniels3699Ай бұрын
Watching your videos takes me back to my childhood. Thanks, hopeless car Guy ❤ My first car was a Datsun station wagon it was also my sister's first car.But when had it I painted with eight can of rustuom(spelled it wrong)black.I painted the headlights black,the Bright's didn't work,along with the side windows in rear but not the back window, that would be illegal I used to take it two tracking.No power steering no power brakes I think drove that car three or four years.😂 I'm an artist so I scratched the back window with the Pink Floyd The Wall characters backwards so at night you could see it.❤
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
Glad to bring back the memories. Thanks for sharing them.
@TarmenAmzarianАй бұрын
I absolutely love the way you seamlessly segue between American, British, Italian, Swedish, Soviet and Austrailan ideas of "mid size", even though these were very different at the time. I fear some people will disagree with this approach, but I whole heartedly support it!
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
I'm glad you see it that way.
@chrisjeffries2322Ай бұрын
Thank you for sharing. Have a nice weekend.
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
Thanks for watching. I hope you also have a nice weekend.
@brianhayes7618Ай бұрын
The Torino and Montego were my favorite out of these bunch
@courtneypuzzo2502Ай бұрын
my favorite mid size cars from that era are the Chevy Chevelle Pontiac Le Mans Oldsmobile Cutlass etc. my paternal grandfather had a 1974 Cutlass S maroon and silver two tone exterior and standard black Vinyl Upholstery
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
Friend of mine had a maroon 73 Cutlass S. Always thought it looked much better in person than in pictures. And I loved the swivel bucket seats.
@AnthonyEvelynАй бұрын
The FOMOCO twins were absolute giants to be midsized, they were huge. The GMs were ideally sized while the Mopars were reasonable.
@asparagusjones1775Ай бұрын
Love this site!!!
@JackF99Ай бұрын
It's surprising that engines like the Ford 429 was still making 370 gross horsepower in 1972. Typically 1970 was the peak and after that compression dropped, cams got mild, jetting got lean, right? Apparently there were some exceptions still in 1972. 72 had to be the last year though.
@johnd8892Ай бұрын
Thanks for making the Australian, arguably standard size cars here. more well known . For seventies Fords in Australia you used the example of the XY Falcon at 17:25. However this was more the final development of the 1967, and very US derived, XR Falcon model range so more linked to the sixties. The next model XA Falcon, on sale by March 1972 was the car Ford Australia developed through the seventies and started the path to outselling Holden by the early eighties. This would have been unthinkable for decades as GM Holden had been so dominant. The GM Holden market share of 50% in 1960 Australia was likely the best GM did in any world market. And they did that with very little GM money meaning very high return on investment. The XA Falcon is also notable world wide since that is where the Mad Max cars mainly came from. The XA series reintroduced the pillar less two door hardtop model to the range also generating lots of car guy interest now with the internet and Mad Max, but pretty much only known in Australia and New Zealand back then. The XA was developed into the updated XB and XC models as the seventies progressed until replaced by the completely different looking XD model in 1979. The XA, XB and XC, especially the coupe models, should generate lots of interest in your viewers i would expect. Some recent detailed background on the XA may be of interest : kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jr2mmbCA1cvdaZs.htmlsi=AjKcVsf2D4EQL3iS
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
It was a tough call, but I chose to save the next Gen Falcon for the late 70s video.
@OLDS98Ай бұрын
Thank you for another great topic and interesting video. I always enjoy when you go global. I will say this.. what they were calling midsize in the United States in the early 1970's was considered full sized by the late 1970's( 1977 forward) and by the 1980's for sure. Look at the many so called large cars in 2024 to see my point. What GM was calling fullsized during the downsized era in the 1985-1990 time frame clearly was midsized( C and H Bodies) and not large. I would say compact in some cases( E and K bodies). They all went back up in size in the 1990's but carried the dimensions of early 70's midsize. What Europe was calling midsized looked compact. Compact cars have become larger in 2024. Good to see the Opels and Fords that were carrying American car styling. Good to see Holden as well. Thank you so much.
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
Even the small American cars of the period were considered full size in most other countries. But even official designations are kind of vague and manufacturers ignore them anyway.
@OLDS98Ай бұрын
@@thehopelesscarguy I hear you and that is true. Look at the 1975-1979 Cadillac Seville. That was supposed to be a "small" luxury car and as we know that car set the standard for the GM look in the 1980's and you can see the styling in the G Body sedans and large C and B Bodies and other GM cars of the 1980's. They called it the sheer look. That Seville is considered large by today's standards. You are right they do not follow them. They ignore them. Look how big the Nissan Sentra is today. A perfect example. The Nissan Altima grew too. The Honda Accord which was considered compact in the 1970's is as large as a downsized GM C and H Body from the 1980's. The same for Toyota Camry. It was compact in the 1980's. It is midsized and the biggest selling sedan in 2024.
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
@@OLDS98 A small Cadillac that competed against the big Benz. And although the original Accord was big for a Honda at the time, it was often referred to as a sub-compact in the U.S. and compared with the original Golf. My how things have changed.
@OLDS98Ай бұрын
@@thehopelesscarguy I could not say it any better. That is so true. Then you think about Lexus and Genesis have large luxury sedans where we do not with the American brands. I know Cadillac has CT6 in China, but not here.
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
@@OLDS98 It is kind of hard to grasp the idea the Asian companies are offering bigger cars than the American companies.
@toddberner9198Ай бұрын
AMC was a unque company....ahead of their time, which was also their demise in some sense.
@mikeweizer3149Ай бұрын
What he didnot metion when it came to the Dodge Coronet was that the midsized 2door hardtop were all Dodge Chargers starting in 1971!.
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
Yep.
@paulcheek5711Ай бұрын
bigger and better than todays little plastic toys
@youtubecarspottersguide1Ай бұрын
1:36 very very rare car not many saved
@misterwhipple2870Ай бұрын
Daaaaaaaamn right! 4-door Chevelle!
@charlesharmon4926Ай бұрын
Mid-size car, Detroit, and 1970s don’t go together in the same sentence. That’s why all you see in the sedan segment left on the road is Camry, Accord, and Altima. I was born in the 1970s. All I see are pictures of land barges that guzzled gas and had Titanic responsiveness in steering and handling.
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
Your causality is illogical and you seemed to have missed all the imports that made up more than half the video.
@asparagusjones1775Ай бұрын
I think you should add some of your blooper reels 😁🤣😂🥴😵😱😤
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
Of course you do.
@asparagusjones1775Ай бұрын
@@thehopelesscarguy 😁
@roguedalek900Ай бұрын
The Fords always looked bloated to me. Loved the 72-73 Matadors and the 71 Plymouth. The Blue with white trim Coronet looks perfect as I love medium blue. I hated the mushy marshmallow GM riding cars. I lived in this era and the GM collonade cars were all over (think 74 Malibu) I hated them then but want one now because it brings back so many memories. I was a Chrysler kid and we had A bodies (Darts and Dusters) and a 73 orange Dodge Sportsman Van growing up.
@thehopelesscarguyАй бұрын
I wasn't a fan of the colonnade cars when they were new, but I have one now and love it.
@cindys1819Ай бұрын
The foreign cars generally show the much lower expectations people have been trained to have in those societies .