Cheapest Cars in 1972! Right Before OPEC Tightened the Oil Supply in 1973
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- Опубликовано: 3 мар 2023
- By the time the 1970 model year came around, there had been a lot of changes in the U.S. car market. During the 1950s and 1960s, many small automakers and brands went out of business.
THIS IS THE STORY OF THE CHEAPEST CARS IN 1972!
One of the best decades for U.S. automakers was ME decade of the 1970s. In that ME decade of the 70's, GM, Ford, and Chrysler had a big share of the U.S. car market, while American Motors (or AMC for short) only had a small share. A very small number of import brands, mostly from Europe and Japan, also sold cars in the U.S. Most of this import share came from Volkswagen and Toyota. 
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anyone that pays extra for an automatic should turn their license in
Dad Bought Mom a new 1973 Vega GT for $2,300.00 dollars and in one year the body had rust holes! Dad complained to GM they would not do anything about it. Dad never bought another GM product and he owned dozens of cars after that basically a new car about every 2 years Lincolns, Ford and Chrysler products for the next 45 years....
Where did you lived? I never had that problem. I live on the southeastern coast. Lots of slat air, humidity, etc. The only car I had rust issues was with a Carola.
@@briantaylor6562 Detroit, winter salt is brutal on cars here. or was that is, not so much these days. Unless Biden brings that back lol. the rest of that story is, Dad also the same year bought himself a brand new Chevy PU truck, it also rusted through in a year! He traded it in on a Dodge Van in 1974... I just recently found out that My Dad was trying to talk my Mom into a Monte Carlo! She insisted on the cute little Vega as she had just gotten her license to drive at 35 years old!
@@bobcostner2238 my first car was a Monte Carlo👍 My dad wrecked it. His little Ford Courier-built by Mazda, blew the engine, he borrowed my car, it never came back. He was seriously angry. Missed a full day at work, the person who caused the wreck didn't own the car, had no licenses to drive, car owner had no insurance. Yep, gave my dad a lot of distance that day. Red heads have terrible tempers.
@@briantaylor6562 om Man what a bummer! My 2nd car after HS was a 1976 Monte Carlo. It was only 6yo but the previous owner beat the crap out of it, smashed in fender, door so it was only $100.00 dollars, but i cobbled together the parts needed to make it presentable, hood, fender, door skin, windshield, new dash, steering column and Cam shaft..... over the 3 years i owned it. wow were those different times, you fixed what you had, these kids today i don't think will ever know what it was like for us.
That car made 57 Chrysler products seem rust-proof by comparison.
When my family moved to Florida from Massachusetts in 1972, my dad bought my mother a brand new Ford Pinto. When I turned 16 in 1981, my dad took me for my drivers test in my mothers Ford Pinto and after the test when I passed, he handed me the keys and told me to go to school. When I got home from school, there was a brand new car in the driveway for my mother so I knew that the Ford Pinto would be mine. It was the greatest little first car guy could have.
I had a 1972 Gremlin, my first new car. Base price in '72 was $1995. I added the AM radio, 14" wheels, a fully synchro 3 speed, deluxe interior and a heavy duty battery. Out the door for $2372. Also, had a much maligned 1971 Pinto. Great reliable little car....it never exploded....bought it used in 1977 for $995. Probably the most fun car I've owned.
I MISS MY PINTO WAGON..I USED IT AS A WORK VEHICLE PUTTING IN POOLS..3 SPEED, CHURP THE TIRES EASILY
That was my first car. Powder blue. Had it before I had my drivers license & paid 50 bucks for it off a friend.
As young teen I drove around a bit in a '74 Gremlin as a passenger in the 80's
@@harryballsacky did you lose a gear or was it the automatic, all manual trannies in Pintos were 4 speeds that being said some little thing ticked in my brain that is telling me that the Vega base transmission was a floor shifted 3 speed but I may have to Google on that. Gremlin was almost certainly a 3 on the tree since most of it came out of the Hornet's parts bin although floor shift was probably a low cost option.
@@giantgeoff it was probably a 4 speed, been some years...i know the transmission didn't weigh much, i went thru clutches like water, and my brother was a mechanic, he would laugh at how easy it was...
The duster/valiant and other A body mopar vehicles were the best available, but with the slant 6, they were bulletproof.
I was 26 in 1972 & in my opinion, the best, low cost cars of that year, were the Plymouth Duster & Valiant Scamp!
They had "slant-six" engines, which routinely ran for at least 150,000 miles & some went way over 200k miles!
I remember them being advertised for as little as $1,999. which was extremely cheap, even then! Great year!
i hate to say it but my slant 6 74 duster and 75 slant 6 dart sport..were horrible....they blew up on me...i giess i got the wrong batch of engines...makes me mad because i grew up 2 miles from the chrysler plant in newark, delaware
Yes, the slant 6 was a great engine. Both models you mentioned were great cars, better than the others in this video. I took drivers ed in a Valiant Scamp in 1976.
Our 72 Gold Duster went 315,000 miles
@@patcurrie9888 I bet it had the slant 6 engine. They would last forever.
@@hartfordsignpost589 Yupp, sure did.
My very first car was a used 1972 Pinto hatchback that ran and ran and ran. I had more fun with that thing. It was my ticket to independence and I remember it to this day with fondness. I never really had any problems with it, just mostly regular maintenance. I think it had about 160,000 miles on it when I got rid of it for a new Mustang.
I owned a pinto and enjoyed it. It was a very reliable maintenance free car into the mid eighties.
My very first car-------Ordered a 1978 Pinto in late 1977. Took 2 months to get it. Kept it until Sept. 1984 putting on 138,000 miles on it. Main problem was very difficult to start when the outside temperature got below zero. Thank God by 1984 when I bought my next car, a Nissan Stanza, it had fuel injection and I never had starting problems again. Overall, can't complain too much as it was a very economical car. I think the bad press it got for safety issues was way overblown.
We rN A TOW COANY BY 1975. OWNÉS WERE. JUNKING THEM IN DROVES. EVEN. GT ONES. I WOOD TAKE PARTS OFF CARS MAKE GOOD ONE AND DRIVE IT. CHANGE A AUTO TO FOUR SPEED AND dd diff suspension. All holes were there and just po0ped plugs out
Although the Dusters I still see around these days are a lot more sporty looking, my 4th/5th grade teacher had a 1974 blue on blue Duster and it looked like what a square, middle aged teacher would be driving! Haha! One of my aunts actually used to rent Pintos when she came into town for visits and the only problem she really had with them was messing up the directions to get to our house!!
I drove a 77 Pinto wagon for a time in the early eighties. It was a fun little car!!! I remember all the cars on the list & back in the day they were everywhere!!! Thanks for sharing another fun video!!! 👍👍🙂
$15-20000 cars now in good shape.Who would of ever imagined
Growing up in the 90's I fell in love with the amc hornet and plymouth dusters
Yeah, I remember my Uncle Tom bought a brand new Dodge or Plymouth Demon, or Duster for my Auntie, right before he died of cancer. He wanted her to have something new that wasn't gonna give her any problems. The traded in her '62, or '63 Chevy Nova....
My dad bought a new 1972 Pinto Squire (woodgrain vinyl) wagon back in the day. I started driving it in 1975, when I got my license. My dad unfortunately passed away only a couple years later. I still have that Pinto, and it still runs and drives fine. I've had a lot of other cars, but I'm holding on to that Pinto. It's been through some parts, but the interior is still good (had the driver's seat reupholstered) and the body is rock solid. Still has the original paint with some patina, but I did have the badly deteriorated woodgrain vinyl replaced. Sadly I don't have the original window sticker, but I do have a copy of the original title and loan paperwork. I believe it has every option except the automatic. It's a 2.0L/4 speed. I am 64, and still drive it on a regular basis. I have already made a deal to leave it to a classic car collector. It's 51 years old, and I hope it's still around at 100 years old.
Wow! That is so awesome!!
Fantastic that you still have the pinto. So many people and comments say “I wish I still had that car“, and you actually still do.
I thought the 2 liter was only in 1973. I believe I still have 5 brand new air filters for it. I used to buy oil filters in bulk also. ($1.50/Fram) but back then all fords took the same filter.
@@paulne1514 The 2.0L SOHC was available 1971-1974. It's an amazingly simple, durable, and reliable engine. In '72 it still used points ignition, which I have never had any problems with.
Gremlin was hardly the ugliest. Was the only subcompact American car that didn't blow up or fall apart like the pinto and Vega.
The Gremlin was a cut-down Hornet, so it was more heavily built. Subcompacts were made to be as light and as cheap as possible, so durability was not in the cards.
And with a 27 gal. gas tank, you drive over 400 miles on a tank full of gas! My Dad chose a new '76 Hornet, instead!
My dad got the gremlin with a v8 and it lasted for 450k miles until my sister wrecked it.
Great photos and commercials in your video. Our 72 Gremlin runs great and we get lots of smiles and thumbs up wherever we go!
I still like the styling of the Vega. If they made a modern version, with reliability of course, I'd buy it.
They were also rust buckets, unless you got optional undercoating.
@@michaelbenardo5695 I grew up in the Seattle area, saw plenty of Vegas. No rust. It depends on what part of the country you drive in. The fresh water rain in the PNW keeps cars from rusting by constantly washing off the minerals and grime that get s stuck in the inner fender panels. In most other parts of the country where winter ice is around for a long time, they used lots of salt, and it stayed inside those catch spaces. The Vega died because it fell apart. Too bad. Very nice looking car. Restored ones are real head turners.
I was in high school in 1972. These cars bring back fond memories.
The Duster was also a direct competitor to the Chevy Nova. The price difference was something less than fifty dollars. My second car was a ‘73 Duster that I bought to drive through college but got terribly rear ended by a panel truck that smashed into me at a red light and involved two other cars after mine until the truck came to a halt.
I was very happy after the accident in that the firemen told and showed me something I had already known something about but proved itself that day. It was a unit body car and the fuel tank location was above the rear axel. There was a sunken full sized spare tire neatly recessed in the floor of the trunk. It was the safe design then and remains a foundation for well designed vehicles that provide great protection in collisions and I was fortunate to be in that Duster that day rather that anything that wasn’t significantly larger and would also have to have been among the tops in safety standards as well irrespective of size category.
I had a 71 Duster , never a issue with the engine. 318ci
My Brothers 74 Nova had a bit of a problem keeping up.
I had a bunch of the Nova's back in the 80's... couple were muscle car versions....69 SS and 74 RS
I would have suggested including the Chevy Nova. The Vega held such promise but was a genuine disaster. The head warped very easily. The Pinto was an odd design but was very popular and seemed to last quite a while. The Maverick/Comet sold very well and as Ford improved it and offered the LDO, Stallion and GT configurations were actually pretty nice. For a few years Chevy sold a lot of Novas. You would see many basic Novas with a 6, automatic & air. Cheap but capable and durable. The SS’s could be very fast. Plymouth struck gold with the Duster and Dodge Demon. 318 or 340 and still a very affordable street racer. The homely Hornet and Gremlin were probably better and better built but just didn’t have the cool factor, with the exception of the X and Levi’s versions. I had a girlfriend with a fairly new Gremlin and I was surprised at how solid and quiet it was. The gauges and dashboard were well lighted with a slight blue color.
A Nova with an automatic transmission would have been almost $3000.
I once had a 1975 Gremlin X with a 258 engine and 3 speed on the floor :) I loved all the funny stares I got with it :) A tank of premium 93 gas lasted me 2 weeks and at 25 mpg on the highway helped a lot too :) I'd give anything to have another Gremlin :) The Chevy Vega with the aluminum engine was a huge joke :) 50K miles and the engine was shot among other things :) And Pinto's little KABOOM!!! problem didn't help any either :)
That 258 straight 6 cylinder was the best Jeep CJ motor that AMC ever built. The V8 had too much power for trail riding.
That straight six was bulletproof and had massive torque.
My Dad had a Pinto, Vega and 2 Gremlins. Gremlin had Levi interior it was very cool. I remember being about 5 years old out on a drive and the Vega overheated and we needed to pull over. My Dad was always working on that Vega. I owned 2 Pintos and I liked them.
Had a Vega... What a disaster In the shop once a month Got rid of it at only 9,000 miles and traded for a Mustang which went 90,000 miles with no major repairs
I owned a 76 Pinto for about 4 years, then sold it to a neighbor. The only problem with it was premature rust. When the car was about a year old, I needed to wire brush and prime the insides of the doors because they began rusting. Otherwise, it was extremely reliable and easy to work on.
Thanks for sharing the story.
Cool, my family had a medium green chevy vega hatch back, auto transmission, black vynal seats, aftermarket ac, good memories 🥰
One of my favorite cars was my 1973 hatchback Vega. Unfortunately it’s engine blew up after r about 39,000 Miles, but I lived driving it
I would daily drive a slant 6 Duster or Valiant if I could find one not overpriced. I used to get em for $250 bucks
That Vega, the '71/'72and even '73 so cool looking! I loved that car, my oldest sister, and her husband were going to give it to me, before my 16th B/D but it wasn't running. Yeap, the VEGA problems. I turned it down, thanking them but I passed on it!
You were smart. If you really want a Vega, have the engine rebuilt with sleeves - GM tried using an aluminum block with no sleeves, just a coating. It didn't work.
We had a gremlin growing up
The pinto was cheaper than the gremlin. I learn new everyday.
But the Gremlin had a 6. The Pinto was only a sewing-machine 4.
I would rather drive any of these cars than the crossover garbage people drive today. I would rather have a rusted, broken down car from the 60's to 80's than a new car. New cars are horrible
I agree 100% with you, I drive an old car right now, and I'm 65 years old, my car is 39 years old
Mid to late 90's Toyota 👍
84 volvo turbo wagon the 245
The 434K mi Prirus a friend had still ran good.
@@supersportoness Free country drive what you want, my dailies are 16, 25 & 27 years old with three toys that add to 159 years old(sounds impressive eh? All six are V8). Oldies are fun but I don't want to drive them every day.
I owned most all of these cars used at one time but for the Hornet. Worse car of the lot is that Vega the motors were JUNK! I got many trouble free miles out of the Gremlin and Pinto. My girlfriend had a Maverick , it looed like hell but was really reliable too except for that stupid log intake ( straight 6) that would cause it to vapor lock in real warm weather. The slant 6 in the Dar/Dusters and Valiants was about a unkillable engine they were real popular on the used car market back then. Many a teenagers first car including me.
My favorite vehicle from this era though was my 73 Datsun 4 speed PU ,that little truck was tough as nails, easy to work on and got really good MPG. It could haul some heavy loads too. The brakes were pretty sketchy though like most front drum cars were back then.
UGH! Gremlin was one of the coolest cars of the '70's! Ugliest = Datsun B-210.
Very nice comments on these cars which were mostly very good reliable cars. All except the vega which was was the worst one to have by far. Owners got very good service from these cars .
I had a 1971 Plymouth Duster with the 225 Slant 6 engine. It was a wonderful car and I loved it.
This seems like a list of cars my friends and I would do V8 swaps in when I was a kid.
People used to put 302 Mustang engines in ford mavericks
My first car was a '71 Super Beetle. My monthly payment was $72./mo. for 3 years.
I loved our Plymouth Valiant. I'd love to have it back.
If I was in the market for a new car in 1972 and could only afford to buy and run an economy car, and it had to last me 10 years of every day driving, the choice would have to be the Duster with slant six or the Gremlin or, if I could afford a few extra bucks, the Hornet. I know everyone likes to turn up their nose at these cars but given what was available at the time they were the best.
1971 -1972 Maverick Grabber and Comet GT was the best looking of all these cars.
Dad had the infamous 1971 Pinto, with explodable gas tank! It had the awful stripee base interior with all-vinyl high-back buckets and a four-speed manual. It creaked and squeeked. In Winter (and most of the year,) at freeway speed--due to cheap faulty door/window seals, at above 40--plus mph, it screamed an intolerable loud shreik through all closed windows, and door seals. The heater was slow to warmup, so you froze for the first 20 miles of any drive. The weak window defroster only made the windows fog-up and ice over forever and a day! This was the abominable nightmare I learned to drive in. slow acceleration (80 hp?) was its least sin and degradation. The only, only redeeming thing about that hellmobile was that it had a 4-speed manual, allowing me to learn to drive a stick.
NOW: fast-forward to a decade later I drove the last production yr model: the 1980 Pinto WAGON. Ford fixed almost all problems associated with the old original models. This beauty had medium-red metallic paint that didn't shed. It had *great heat* AND A/C. It had a smooth-shifting automatic trans. Even the interior was nice, for a little car: a mixed red-/white/black woven upholstery, asnd mid-rise buckets with headrests. Gosh, the doggone thing had a very decent am/fm stereo radio and spkrs. I bought the car from a Ford executive who put on low miles, kept it clean and ready, PLUS as a bonus: he had the factory assemly line swap-oout the front grill and also rear trim, with the Mercury Bobcat's fancier looks. I should've never sold it to buy a poorly-made 1983 Mustang, but *that* is another story!
I've owned two 1972 Pintos. They were great little cars to drive. To this day Pinto is one my favorite cars that I've ever had.
Had a yellow with black stripes '73 Gremlin 4.1 252 6 cylinder in high school 1982 & it did burnouts & donuts for days in the school parking lot, it was a great little car for many years! Also had a '73 Vega GT with a swapped 350 4bbl 4sp & it was a handful! Good times back then ✌💖☮
I didn't like the Vega, but one with a V8 swap would have been an exception!
@@michaelbenardo5695 You bet your ass it was...😁
The Pinto was a good little Car and it was ford's fault for not replacing the cheap part to make them safe everyone I know Who owned one drove them for years and never really had any problems with them.
The Pinto, hit the rear bumper and go BOOOOM!!! LOL!!!😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂👍👍👍
I owned two Pinto wagons. A 73 and a 75. I got a wild hair and dropped a 289 V-8 out of a 67 Fairlane with a blown transmission into the 75 . I used the transmission, rear end, and suspension parts from a wrecked Mustang ll. I put it together in a horse barn in 1990. It was a great little stump jumper. It was a fun car.
It was probably thrilling to be able to easily out-run other 70s cars, all after 71 were choked-down in the name of smog control.
AMC Javelin Hornet Matador and Ambassador were my fave amc models in that order of 1972!!😊
I had a 72 Maverick, it was a 4 door with a 308 engine. I bought it for $250 in 1977. It had rust all over and you could not keep the belts tight in the engine. In 1979 I drove over a pothole and the front bumper fell off. I don't have a lot of fond memories of the car but the 70's were great!!
🎉I bought a red, 1973 Vega GT with a blown engine, put a Chevy 283 V-8 in it.
Exactly DOUBLE the displacement...
My first new car was a 1972 Plymouth Duster with a 3 on the floor , the color was red with a white back end. The sticker price was under $2000.00.
Thanks for watching!
I wouldn't want the automatic transmission or AM radio. I like the stripped down base models with the biggest engine option
Two thumbs up for sure, I only use the bus or a ride share program called darts here in Hamilton Ontario Canada because I'm a stroke and cardiac arrest and colon cancer survivor and use a electrical wheelchair when I'm outside ( which is my car lol)
You should use real taxis instead of ride-share. Taxi drivers are trained professionals. Ride-share is just some guy.
Got my first Vega GT hatchback a 1974 back in 1978 for a just $100… it ran great no smoke from engine, got great gas mileage and next to nothing to insure. I pulled the original aluminum block and had it machined for steel sleeve liners then machined and balanced using all IECO Performance parts…Side draft webers, cam, ignition, header, and upgraded turbo exhaust system. I had the car until 1986 or 1987…someone made me a cash offer I couldn’t refuse, sold it for $2800! Pretty good return on investment!!! Car also had fender flares, front, spoiler, custom hood, and a whaletail spoiler. I know I lot of folks hated or cared less for Vegas. I loved these little sleeper hot rods, i they could be bought for very little money, the most I paid for a Vega was $150, took the hot rod parts off, returned it to stock and sold it for $350. I owned five Vegas in total and would love to own another one.
Enjoy this. When talking about foreign competition, Don't forget the 1972 Toyota Carina. I had a '73 Carina I got 40 miles to the gallon. When we had odd even gas days and no sales on Sunday, my friends swapped their American cars for mine for their trips.
My friend had a red '71 Comet GT. I had a '68 Chevelle with 327 Powerglide transmission. Fun times! Great first cars.
I did buy a 1972 Pinto station wagon. Very useful with lots of carrying space. No real problems for the three years we had it. Sold it with 80,000 trouble free miles. BIG BIG problem was wind whistling around the doors at speeds >60. It just SCREAMED. >100 db. I always used ear plugs when I went on the highway.
I had a brother who owned a Vega wagon, and besides the engine being junk, it was a pretty clean car. So the ol 4 banger got replaced of course.
over the years 1972-1986, I owned three Pintos, an All-glass hatchback and two wagons. All in all, they were the nicest cars I owned at each of their respective times!
I bought a Vega kammback in 75. Loved it. Never had on problem with it for 60,000 miles. Then a flood came along and took it away.
I OWN A 1973 AMC GREMLIN WITH THE LEVIS INTERIOR. LOVE THAT CAR. SOLD IT IN 1986 WITH 220,000 MILES. THE OWNLY PROBLEM I HAD WITH THE GREMLIN WAS THE DOOR HIGE BROKE. THIS WAS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH GREMLINS
I own two gremlins use them for pizza cars in Dekalb Illinois. Both ran for years. I gave one to my sister and I sold another one too my brother’s friend for a dollar like I say they were great cars.
Most likely the Opel Kadett was the best buy in a 1972 economy car. Not American, but it was available through your Buick-Opel dealers and the Opel GT was certainly interesting.
I had the pinto and I loved it wish I had it back.
I bought a new '72 Vega GT Wagon. Loved that car, although the first engine wore out in 8,000 miles. Dealer replaced it under warranty, and that one lasted about 6,000 miles. Another warranty replacement, which made it another 6,000 miles. I made a deal with the dealer (actually, the dealers' idea)to put a 283 V8, Nova 4 speed and rearend, and THEN I had a REALLY nice car. Dealer billed the swap out as "warranty work". Never had a rust issue with it!
I owned a Pinto Runabout with the all glass tailgate, brown metallic with sportsdash; loved it.
I rode in both the two door and 4 door Mavericks. My grandpa owned a white four door and one of my uncles drove a blue two door. I guess they were reliable since I don't recall either of them working much on their cars. This was back in the early 80's in Texas.
My first car, in 1984, was a red ‘72 Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus, very similar to the one at 1:18. Mine had a black vinyl roof.
How much rust? I had a 72 Satellite Custom that looked horrible by 79...rust spots galore.
Pinto was actually a good car and the 4 cylinder was a very good engine ...... That same exact engine would make it's way into the Ford Rangers all the way up to 2001 some known to get 300,000 miles
I started HS in 72. There was this old retired couple that used to collect pop bottles during our lunch breaks. By my senior yr they bought a brand new blue Duster.
I found one(73) in an ally in 05 (yr my ex filed for divorce, after I was laid up in bed for 7mos) and bought it and still have it. It needs resto but divorce kicked me down. I'm recovering now though. It's all primered but was silver with 1/2 vinyl top, black interior but bench seat in front. 318 engine with a/t. Car ran strong till trani went out. Praying to restore soon. Wish me luck, thanks.
I still gravitated toward the land yachts no matter how crazy people thought I was! I felt much safer in one for one thing!
I had a 1972 Toyota Corolla 2 door coupe 4 speed manual. It was no head turner but was fun to drive!
Yes I owned a Pinto. A 1972 Pinto Squire wood grained sticker wagon. It made me late for work more than any other car I ever owned. One morning (in 1979) it wouldn’t start. When it finally turned over I was so livid that I held the pedal to the metal and yelled, blow you mother blow! I purposely held the cold blooded pony to the floor trying to end my misery. It wouldn’t blow but that day after work I went down to a Toyota used car lot and purchased the only full size V8 powered car on the lot. A 1976 Plymouth Fury. It gave me zero trouble for the 3 years I owned it.
I had a 71 pinto with a soft top in HS, paid $225 for it. never had a problem with it until I crashed it. Then I found a 75 pinto wagon( red) paid $500 for it. It had aftermarket A/c and I drove it for 5 years. My cousin called it chariot of fire. Lol
I had a '76 Pontiac Astre, a Chevy Vega clone. It was the car form ****. Terrible reliability and workmanship. The classic Vega issues had been solved by then, just lots go random failures about one a month. Never bought a GM since. The Plymouth Duster was money well spent.
The Astre was supposed to be a much better car that the Vega it sprang from. It had an engine based on the old Chevy II 4 cylinder, which was a great, if not rocket fast, engine. You must have got a lemon.
@@michaelbenardo5695 The 77 got the "iron duke", this still had the Vega engine. It never had serious issues for me. The carb was junk because of the EPA. Same interior, very very few differences with the Vega, no improvements. or more standard equipment.
In 1972 I was16 years old and lived in Miami, Florida, I got my first job at K-Mart mixing paint at the paint department, I work part time 36 hours a week for $1.65 an hour that summer and I was able to save $400 and my Dad gave me another $100 so I could put $500 down on the car I wanted a 1972 VW Beatle, Texas yellow with black interior, Base price of the Beatle was $1,999 plus $495 for A/C, $80 for AM radio and $50 for under coating came to $2,624 plus 4% tax $104.96, I took it home for $2,728.96 with $500 down and $61.91 a month
That’s Robert DeNiro getting out of the AMC Ambassador in the first clip.
Good catch.
4:46-
I had the Vega Kammback Wagon. I put in a Malibu 350 with 292 heads anc cam from a Camaro, a turbo 350 trans, and a Monza Gt kit with Nova springs to support it all. My car was The Shit.
My first car was a ‘71 Vega. Took over my brother’s payments so he could buy a Corvette. Thought all vehicles broke down all the time 😂. Remember reading in Weekly Reader Vega was first computer designed vehicle. Was it? Towards the end of its short life I had to open the hood & start it with the solenoid using a screwdriver. Ended up my brothers and husband turned it into a dragster. But I still love my Chevy’s.
Great vid!!!! 👍👍
Base 2dr Maverick list $2190, 4dr $2245, Grabber $2359. This is for 170 6cyl, three on tree and no radio. Most were sold with approx $400 in options tacked on, with A/C double that.
I had a used 77 Maverick 3 on the tree. We always put in our own radios back then. It was about an hour job. Don't forget the power booster!!
@@ripvanrevs Many young people did that!
1974 Vega GT my first car- four speed- maroon. Installed tape deck and speakers. Alum block engine problems after two years.
My first car was a 1973 Chevy Vega station wagon in orange with white vinyl interior, and automatic transmission. I bought it used in 1975 for $1500. It was pretty but a piece of crap. The main problem with that car was the aluminum engine, which mixed the radiator water with the engine oil - I had it for maybe year, I forget the details, but I remember that I couldn’t sell that junk. It had ho be towed to the junkyard. Later on in 1977 I bought a used 1975 AMC Gremlin in silver with black interior. If you can believe it, it was even worse than the Chevy Vega. It had a lot of electrical problems- it was rightly named “Gremlin “ because it was full of gremlins. Just two months after I bought the Gremlin, I was driving to work on the 610 Loop in Houston, when suddenly the car went dead, and I couldn’t restart the car. Once I abandoned the car on the middle of the freeway, I had to run in order to dodge incoming 60 mile an hour traffic. As soon as I managed to get out of the freeway the car got demolished by a pickup truck - it almost killed me. Good riddance of junk cars from the 1970s!
This was the last year of the automobile. After 1972, they were all appliances. This is why there is a reproduction market for pre 72 Mustangs, Camaros, Firebirds and Challengers. Nothing after 1972 can ever be called a “classic”- they’re more like “curiosities.”
Cars made before 1972 had quite a bit more power than the 73 and later cars. The 72s were a draw - some seemed about as fast as the 71s, but others were considerably down on power by comparison. The 73s were worse, the 74s worse still.
I purchased a rotted '72 Pinto
For $45 in 1984 l drove it 2 years ...sold it for $100 , buddy drove it 1 yr.
Then it was the tank carring car at the local junkyard until 2004.
I used to own a 1971 pinto I used to drag race with it I was able to get it down to 16.89 it made three runs before the transmission failed it blew second gear I went through two transmissions and three rear ends but it was a lot of fun
My dad bought me a used 72 Gremlin to drive to college. I loved that little car even though it was a POS. I put 97,000 miles on it before it was finally hauled off to the junk yard.
I had a 72 Vega wagon for a shop car and I loved it ❤ it took abuse well LOL. Ran like a top!!!
Bought a brand new 1980 Pinto. Yes, drove it for years and loved it. Cried when I traded it in.
My first car was a 1968 Plymouth Valiant
I had a 1970 Ford Maverick. It had the plaid interior and a 3-speed manual transmission controlled by a 3-on-the-tree column sifter!
Thanks for watching!
71 Maverick including auto transmission, am radio, trim package and upgraded to 200 6IL engine (which I think the Falcon had and was supposed to be one of the most reliable engines of all time - so Ford kept it for the Maverick). Out the door price was $2500 (no air conditioning or upgraded interior). Had it for 12 years and gave it to my uncle as my wife wanted a car with A/C. I had no problems with it and only 2 complaints - it tended to rust in the trunk area (as did many cars of the time) and the backseat had very little room. I wish it would have come with a hatchback model - but they never did that as far as I know.
I gave your first “thumbs up”!!
Yay! Thank you!
I had a 1971 Chevy Vega fastback automatic, no power brakes, but had power steering, beige vinyl interior, in cinnamon color. Everyone loved it and thought it was a little Camaro. It was pretty good for me being a teenager. The only constant issue was I needed to keep quarts of oil handy to keep it going, it did use about 1 quart per week, or ever 200 miles, but it was .50 cents back then in 1980. It was a light car and was hit once and totaled.
I had a used lime green 71 Pinto coupe. Liked it a lot.
Bought a 1972 Toyota Corolla off the lot / out the door for $1972.00 total. Also had a 74 Vega hatchback.
Base engine for the '70 Pinto was the 1600 Essex pushrod 4 cyl. , Not the Cologne produced OHC 2 liter 4cyl nonzero probability that the Gremlin and Hornet base engine was the 199 cu. Inch 6 cyl.
Great video. Yes I'm 58 . And I've owned just about every one of these cars . Never bought one new. But I've bought them for myself. And I had a carlot .. in 1986 . To 1994 . In Wisconsin. USA. I'm pretty sure I've owned every one of them though. Can't be positive though. Great video again. Thanks for sharing . And I've had a lot of other old automobiles.. a lot .
My first car was a ‘74 Chevy Vega. It had only and AM radio and it ran on leaded gas. My first car that ran on the more expensive unleaded gas was a ‘74 AMC Gremlin. I think it had a straight 6 and a 3 speed auto. And it had an 8 track player. It was little easier to get around if I had a couple of passengers, unlike my Vega.
Your 74 Gremlin could have used leaded gas. 74 cars didn't have a catalytic converter.
@@michaelbenardo5695
No, it required unleaded.
My brother brought a used 1974 Plymouth gold Duster blue and black in 1986 for $100 with a 318 V8 3 speed automatic was a great vehicle when it finally died he brought a 1973 Dodge Dart sport 318 V8 3-speed automatic that car was black with a silver stripe and a black top both cars were reliable, awesome, and fun drive
On a different note in my family the ongoing joke was my uncle's 1972 Chevy Vega at 5:46 in the video that's the exact color and model he had. We laughed because everyone knew the trouble these Vehicles were having. He bought it used in 1974. He lived out in Pennsylvania towards the Binghamton New York area and the winter they would get tons of snow storms and somehow he would drive that Vega through all of them. He loved that car and somehow the stupid thing never gave him one ounce of trouble. It was still his daily driver in 1992. He lost the vehicle in a T-bone accident when someone ran through a stop sign. He talked about that car for years after. It had to be the Vega they made for some top executive, because It had the original engine and the original transmission. The trans was a four-speed stick. In the accident when the vehicle was totaled it had 186,000 miles on it.🤦♂️ LMAO
I used to have a coworker who drove an AMC Pacer and it ran well.
The Pinto was $2161 in 1972. The cheapest car in 2023 is the Versa at $16,925. Using published inflation numbers, that Pinto would cost $15,683 today. This is a comment more about how much our money has devalued in 50 years than it is about the “value” of these cars.
My Parents bought a Gremlin, that I learned to drive in. It had the 232 straight six. In high school I ended up drag racing a Monte Carlo SS. That guy was surprised that I could beat him from 0 to 50. He thought I had a 304 in it! Lol later on I ended up getting a 71 Torino Brougham with a 302, guy in a 76 Camaro with a 350 couldn’t handle getting beat by my Torino! Those were the days!,
The 71 cars were much faster than cars were by 1976. Your Torino, despite having a smaller engine than that Camaro, probably easily pulled away from it.
Wow I was born on July 15 '72 very cool