#1970s
Rare Rides: The 1970 Monteverdi High Speed 375/4 - Mountains of Swiss Luxury
In the mountainous country of Switzerland, there once existed a company called Monteverdi. And for a few decades, it built luxurious and sporty coupes and sedans for a very wealthy clientele. Today’s Rare Ride is the first sedan offering from that company. It’s a High Speed 375/4, from 1970.
Rare Rides: A Rear-engined Volkswagen 412 Wagon From 1973
Air-cooled engine at the back, two upright, circular headlamps at the front, and classic gold metallic paint.
It’s not a vintage Porsche 911, but it is a cousin — a Volkswagen 412 from 1973.
Rare Rides: This 1975 Chevrolet Is Both Vega and Cosworth
An enterprising GM executive, a British tuning company, and a compact hatchback came together in 1975 to make a very special, limited-production Chevrolet.
It’s the Cosworth Vega, naturally.
Rare Rides: The 1978 Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country Gives You Wood
An aluminum garage door rattles open on its track. As the goldenrod-colored panels lift up and away, a luxurious family wagon comes into view. Once the kids, parents, and Golden Retriever are lightly secured inside, the luxury wagon glides out of the lightly sloped driveway and away from the bi-level with the paneled den.
It’s 1978, and it’s Town & Country time.
Rare Rides: The 1974 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe - a Stylish Little Italian
You can go into a Fiat showroom today and buy a brand new Fiat 124, undoubtedly delighting a dealer who’s desperate to move some reworked Miatas. It wasn’t always this way, though. The 124 name was originally applied to a lineup of Fiat-developed vehicles, like today’s Sport Coupe from 1974.
Rare Rides: A 1977 Chevrolet Monza - the Malaise Mirage
Today’s Rare Ride is a special, sporty edition of a rather mundane Malaise subcompact. It hails from a time when the American customer matched the color of their vinyl seats to their wide lapel. So let’s delude ourselves for a few minutes with the Monza Mirage.
QOTD: What's the Worst Looking Car From the Year You Were Born?
Today’s QOTD idea came about back in the latter half of May, when Matthew Guy pondered the exact opposite of this question. He is very old, and so in his malaise birth year of 1980 Guy pegged BMW’s 6 Series as the best looking car available.
This week, we move things to a more negative light. What was the worst looking car from the year you were born?
Junkyard Find: 1972 Volkswagen Super Beetle
From 1938 through 2003, Volkswagen Type 1 s rolled off assembly lines on five continents, and they sold very well in the United States well into the 1970s. I see many of them in my junkyard travels, but many more have gone unphotographed to The Crusher.
Now that I see only a few discarded air-cooled Beetles each year, I’m making more of an effort to document them. Here’s a ’73 Super Beetle in a Denver yard.
Rare Rides: The 1978 AMC Matador - Baroque and Barcelona
The Rare Rides series has previously featured a couple of AMC products. First up was the unique and stylish Eagle Sundancer, followed up by the Van concept that never quite made it to production. Today, we head back to the late Seventies and take a look at the seriously brougham Matador coupe. And it’s not just any old Matador — it’s the special Barcelona version.
I hear polyester rustling.
Junkyard Find: 1976 Plymouth Volare Coupe
The A-Body Plymouth Valiant (and its Dodge sibling, the Dart), stayed in American production from the 1960 model year all the way through 1976. Legendary for its sturdiness, the Valiant was sure to be a tough act to follow. The Plymouth Volarés and Dodge Aspens appeared in 1976, never gained the affection given to their predecessors, and were facelifted and renamed the Gran Fury and Diplomat in 1981. Here’s a luxed-up first-year Volaré I spotted in a Northern California self-service yard.
Rare Rides: The Sports/Luxury Mercedes-Benz 6.9 of 1979
It’s time to check out the flagship of a flagship. What happens when an S-Class is cross-pollinated with the largest V8 engine Mercedes-Benz can offer, then loaded up with cutting-edge automotive tech?
Why, it’s the 6.9.
Rare Rides: This 1976 Mercury Monarch Is Both Grand and a Ghia
Our own Sajeev Mehta pointed out this grey brougham box the other day. He always keeps his ear to the pulse of the Internets for any old Ford, Ghia, or Ford Ghia vehicles which come up for sale.
It’s luxury and elegance on a Grand level! Come have a look.
Junkyard Find: 1976 Chevrolet Chevette Scooter
The Chevrolet Chevette was a primitive, cramped, rear-wheel-drive econobox hammered together with obsolete technology… that sold like crazy because it was simple and cheap at a time when stagflation and gas prices were up and confidence in the future was down.
The Chevette Scooter was the most affordable Chevette; here’s one that managed to evade The Crusher‘s jaws until age 42, finally ending its days in a snow-covered Denver self-service yard.
QOTD: Can We Inventory the Worst Bumpers of the 1970s?
The TTAC Slack chat got to talking about Datsuns this week and, among mentions of the 280ZX Black Gold and 260Z, Datsun vault of knowledge Chris Tonn posted a picture of a late-Seventies 280Z.
It looked utterly terrible with its gigantic bumpers, and I soon became nauseous. But once that went away, I was left with a relevant and overarching question: Which car models were most negatively affected by the giant American bumpers of the 1970s?
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