I was a child of the '70's. I remember my dad leaving for work early one morning before daylight, Mom holding me in her arms, for his job in a city 50 miles away and driving his 1972 GMC long wheelbase 350ci truck. Yikes! I can't even imagine how much money he spent on gas back then. In 1977 he and Mom took me and my little brother (7 years old and 4 years old respectively) to the local Toyota dealership and he bought a snazzy little dark blue Hi-Lux pickup, trading in his old "Blue Bomber". We got into the cab, Dad driving, me in the middle, Mom on the passenger side holding my little brother in her lap and nobody wearing seat belts (as we all knew, we were invincible and it could never happen to us), and we took off for home. Dad fascinated me with how he just "knew" how to shift the gears while using the clutch, and we approached an intersection to turn off the four lane through town. I very distinctly remember all of us as a group staring at the fuel gauge as Dad said in wonder, "It just doesn't move!" Ha, we could literally watch the needle move in his GMC. I later learned to drive stick in that truck, and after he sold it in the mid-80's or so I remember seeing it around the city for many years. It happened to end up being bought by a man who parked it at his job right beside the intersection where we were first amazed by the gas gauge, so for years it sat in full view by the road during the day. :) I just realized Dad sold that truck right after I learned to drive in it. The gear grinding must have cheesed him. :D I also clearly remember the "patriotism" aspect to car buying back then. Dad was looked at sideways by all the men in the family because NOBODY related to us had ever owned an import, and with both my grandfathers fighting in WWII, it never seemed strange to me that they had problems with a Japanese vehicle either. That was just how it was. Nowadays, of course and rightfully-so, I never see any of that anymore. Great video and thanks for the memories!
Similar story--we went from various Fords to a 1976 Toyota Corolla because it was inexpensive and got good gas mileage. And Mom had to learn to drive a stick-shift (which she did with no problems). What was funny was when the Toyota finally went bad (New England winters), we went back to Ford for the Escort (must have been '81 or '82) which probably lasted at least as long as the Toyota if not longer.
Yeah, now we just take in millions of immigrants, our corporations control us, and nothing is American anymore. Good job for spearheading that movement of "change"
@@XXx-ev8in Happy memories because ignorance is bliss... the only reason people nowadays miss the "good old days" is because people didn't know what was going on and everything seemed so perfect, while if fact it was all rotting from the inside...
In the 1970s Consumer Reports did surveys on the cars their readers drove. They were always telling us that if you bought an American car , you would have to take it into the shop significantly more often than a Japanese car.
@@EdsAutoReviews I remember my stepdad's malaise era Toyota truck. Body with holes you could throw a cat thru and the finally at around 120,000 it burnt a valve. He traded it and never looked back.
@@philpatterson7085 I don't recall a Toyota truck back then... could you possibly be remembering the Datsun (now Nissan), which was based on the B-200 or B-210?
My grandpa always tried to support American industry, and actually bought a Chevy Vega back in the day. I kid you not, he got a ticket for the amount of smoke that piece of junk made. It was "imparting the vision of other drivers". He bought Toyotas after that.
@@matthewfusaro2590 except for Tesla. Designed and built in America. (Yes. They have a factory in China and are building on in Berlin, but that’s to supply those markets only.)
Actually, the Ford Pinto and the Chevy Vega (both pictured @ 6:02) came out BEFORE the '73 oil crisis. ('71 & '70, respectively) So, the Big 3 had already started experimenting in the small car market; the '73 oil crisis is what launched them into it full-throttle.
What is often overlooked is that the oil crisis hit American companies overnight in a manner of speaking. Foreign countries had to start from the ground up after global wars and had a 20-year head start on the U.S. auto manufacturers. Also, the term "big three" is really oversimplifying the scale of operations. Some of the sub-companies under GM, Chrysler, and Ford were big enough to be their own independent companies. Trying to scale everything to meet emissions and fuel economy should have bankrupted them back then if you think about it. The sad thing is the V8 cars from the pre-'73 era were quite good and reliable. Most families and schools used to teach shop to help youth take care of cars. That seemingly stopped when Japanese cars hit the spot. Ask most youth about cars and they can't go beyond what they see in television and video games.
Yes. The program that became the Vega started in 1967 within GM corporate HQ and was handed off half-baked to the Chevrolet division, which didn't want it but had to make it work. Production began in June of 1970, well before the '73 Embargo.
Yes please, I would love to take that class. I can already feel it: "Okay kids, today in automotive history class, we will be learning about Henry Ford and the Model T, and there will be some classwork about it, which will be due tomorrow"
A contributing factor to the size of American cars was once put to me like this. In Europe, when the car became a thing, it had to be built to use the road infrastructure that already existed as these roads had been there in one form or another for centuries. In the US, the introduction of Cars came at a time when the roads hadn't been there long if at all and they could build the roads as large as they liked, hence the cars didn't have to be limited in size so much. There were many other reasons too, but I thought this was a good one. Great series, enjoying watching it.
Yeah, and that's why living in America sucks. We're so car-centric that using anything other than a car is practically impossible. You'd think that'd be good for car enthusiasts, but it makes it worse. It means EVERYBODY is on the road.
Cities were buildozed for the car not built for the car. However the suburbs were constructed in a car oriented manner in addition to the interstate highway system's construction to facilitate the movement of ICBM and military material.
You should make an episode about badge engineering in the 80’s and 90’s. GM had 4 models that were essentially the same car. Buick Century, Pontiac 6000, Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra, and Chevrolet Celebrity. I remember having one of these...
My first car was my grandmother's hand-me-down cream-puff - a malaise era '75 Chrysler Newport Land Yacht in Rotting Pesto Green. At two tons, with the anemic, detuned 360, speced at 180 hp - maybe, it did reach floaty highway speeds. And float it did. Loved that car!
Great video! I was born in '55 and my first three cars were American hand-me-downs. The third one was my first new car, and boy-o-boy did I make a bad choice, a 1981 Ford Escort. Just a pile of crap, broke down all of the time and in the most creative ways possible. After that misadventure, I went to VW Diesels... I did eventually come back to American cars, and love the one I have now. 2017 Chevy Cruze Turbo 1.4L 4-banger. Comfortable, plenty of power and quickness for sane use, almost-hybridlike MPG, absolutely zero problems of any kind. Of course, that's probably not a 100% American car now anyway. And many "foreign" cars are actually built in America. It's a world industry now.
My parents were both born in '52, and yah, their story is somewhat similar. Their early cars were largely used American cars -- though Dad did get an AMC Gremlin as a high school graduation present from his dad in 1970. But after they got married, they bought a '74 VW Super Beetle. And later they had a VW Rabbit, a Saab 99, and a VW pickup truck. And from the malaise era on, neither bought American again. Apart from an early-'80s Subaru wagon that rusted way too quick, Dad has had nothing but VWs. And Mom kept driving Saabs until well after Saab went out of business. (Her most recent car is a VW -- though she's since had a little buyer's remorse and misses her last Saab.) Meanwhile my own car history has been a mix of used VWs, one used classic Saab 900, a well-used late-'80s Buick hand-me-down from other relatives, and a 2000s PT Cruiser my grandma gave me after she quit driving.
The AMC Pacer was also known as a rolling oven. When it even slightly warm out, you were in a sauna inside. Air conditioning became absolutely mandatory in Pacers. So much for good gas mileage. A better car in a cold climate with cheap gas.
That cold climate would have to be cold ALL YEAR. 😂 My father traded cars like kids traded baseball cards back in the day. He had a fishbowl about the time it was as uncool as plaid polyester pants. Rode in it once - I think I died of embarrassment. However, I still own an AMC Jeep CJ7, so props to AMC for at least _some_ styling sense. 👍
As a kid ('60s) you almost _NEVER_ saw a "foreign car." A few Volkswagens, and an occasional Renault; even a rich guy in a Jag-but that's about it. Fast forward 15 or 20 years, and every other car is Japanese.
@@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549 I don't think you understand "almost never." Do you deny that in the '50s, '60s, even early '70s, there were about 95% American cars? The big entry point for "foreign cars" was after the oil crisis in the mid-'70s.
@@josephgaviota that’s ‘almost’ clever! When using an absolute, like ‘never’ you cannot qualify it with ‘almost’. By using almost you are undermining the word never. Your sentence ‘almost’ made sense!
@@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549 "almost never" is a common phrase, it makes perfect sense. Sure, it may not conform to the "rules" of English, but aren't the rules of a language decided by it's speakers?
I've been a Ford guy(thanks Dad)ever since the 70's as a young lad. :) I look back at what Ford did with the Pinto fiasco, if they would've admitted there was a problem; stopped sale, told the public to park, not drive & worked diligently to come up with a good safe repair; recall the Pinto, it would've saved the reputation of the car & Ford. It would've been a good long term marketing campaign for Ford to show they're responsible & having integrity for a mistake instead of covering it up. The Pinto was a good car aside from the fuel tank issue; fix that & it could've been a wonderful success.
The "exploding Pinto" is pretty much an urban myth. The entire episode was dreamt up by Mother Jones magazine, which claimed enormous calamity, as opposed to actual statistics. The only cars affected were early sedans- wagons never were cited. Do a little research.
@@loumontcalm3500 And even the early cars that would potentially break loose the fuel filler on a heavy rear impact were recalled and a different system was used so the filler pipe would separate from the fender instead of from the tank. Most of the "problem" was media hype. They were reliable little cars, I bought two of them new, and easily drove them past 100,000 miles.
The Ford Crown Victoria was cooking people alive with exploding gas tanks well into the 21st century. A police officer was burned alive a block away from me back in 2004 in one of those. Ford is crap.
@@barbmelle3136 if only the Corvair survived like the Pinto continued to do after stupid media claims. As somebody born in the late 90s, the Corvair is unironically one of my favorite cars of the 1960s and it sucks that it died way too early.
Having lived through the entire’Malaise Era’ I have enjoyed your whole series. I remember riding in the back of my grandad’s new 75 Cadillac and looked up at the headliner and I noticed that it was made out of the same cheap material as my dad’s Chevy. Then I thought to myself, the Cadillac is just a reworked Chevy in disguise 🥸
Same! Once went with a neighbor to buy parts (surprise) for his XJ6 at the local Jaguar parts dealer. They actually had a bumper sticker at the parts counter that read: "Lucas Electrics, Prince of Darkness". 🤣
Yes, the British should stick to what they do best, beer and bespoke clothing and shoes (especially dress wear and formal wear). They need to keep their noses out of electronics and especially vehicles.
@@strawberryhellcat4738 Back in the early Seventies I had friends that owned Triumph and BSA motorcycles and would all say; "Lucas Electrics, brought to you by the Prince of Darkness!" I also had a few friends that owned MG and Triumph sports cars, they were even more problematic.
When I was growing up in the 60s we thought foreign cars were a joke. The American auto industry let itself go down the tubes. Many younger people today have never even owned an American car. It did not have to be that way.
Right, exactly. Not only did we think foreign cars were a joke, those in my father's generation who served in WWII refused to buy anything Japanese or German on principle alone. It took the oil crisis for them to re-think their position.
@@Rico_G Even then they still had American options such as the Ford Pinto, Chevy Vega, Dodge Colt, (Not really since that was a Mitsubishi but at this point of time Mitsubishi had no brand in America so they probably could've got away with that) and AMC's whole thing was making small cars
I'm a younger person, I had a Ford Fusion and thought it was amazing. When I went to trade it in, Ford had shifted to selling nothing but trucks and SUVs, and I just decided to go with a different brand. It's unfortunate, but American automakers don't seem to get that not everyone wants a massive SUV.
@@orangeclay0922 No, one the Fusion isn't that old, and two, Ford still sell smaller cars when compare to trucks and SUVs, it's just no one buys them, aside for the Mustang
@@nickrustyson8124 I wasn't looking to start an argument about a car that hasn't gotten a new generation in 8 years. I'm just not a fan of crossovers and SUVs, many younger buyers can't afford them anyway.
The original design of the Pacer was meant to have a Wankel rotary engine... But for various reasons, this fell through, so AMC had to wedge one of their six cylinder motors into the same space. (Rotary engines are pretty small.) The upshot was an engine which was a raging pain in the ass to service: mechanics would get headaches from rolling their eyes if one rolled into the shop.
The engine sat under the windshield. It wasn't the easiest thing to service. As pollution controls and extra plumbing became the norm, mechanics longed for a beetle engine that you could drop out in 20 minutes and service on the bench.
Ed is definitely going somewhere with this channel, keep it up. been watching for a while and glad i’m here for this channel early on, one of my favorites
All right, let me tell you something: what you've done with this mini-series is just DOPE, really it's so good that i simply can't get enough, can't help but bringing this topic up every time these days with everybody. And i'm not even a motorist, very far from being a car-guy. But I graduated in economics some years ago and i'm very into economics and this story - the malaise era - and the way you chose to tell it - linking all the dots without never stopping being funny - is just great. Gotta praise you like I should...
Agent Orange was known to kill and burn, but law suits took 50 years to settle out of court and it was still profitable. My former company was allowed to kill employees but I survived and only got maimed for life, also perfectly legal with my union's approval. I'm alive because I moved to Europe and national health on SSDI, aka disability income. 80% of covid deaths were over 65 aka on FICA. The 1% and corporations were facing a FICA cap increase. 90% of media is in 6 corporate donors' hands also facing a FICA increase until "Covid is a Hoax" played on the news. 480,000 dead FICA recipients means no new FICA increase needed.
Ed deserves way more than 25K subscribers. These mini-documentaries are well researched, interesting, and it's fun to hear the Dutch perspective (from an American's perspective).
Wanna know a fun fact? American car maker Jeep didn't learn from the Pinto mistake. Look on the back underside of 90s and early 2000's Jeep Cherokees. See that gas tank mounted behind the rear axle? Same risk. What makes it worse is many more of those Jeeps are still driving today. Good Jeeps, unless you're unlucky in a rear-end crash. Many more have burned. Still no recall.
Ed, speaking as a car enthusiast who came of age during the 70s and started driving in the 80s, you hit the nail on the head. This video give an accurate and concise explanation of how the Malaise era started and Detroit's poor reaction to it.
Yep. We Americans were and, based on the most popular vehicles being sold in America today, still are the sort who like big things. They're often more reliable than small things. Japan has far more experience in tiny things, which is why their compact cars and devices are often more reliable. In fact, guess where the walkman was invented?
@@chuckmartin7482 Hi! Hope it didn't sound in my comment like I was ragging on the AMC Pacer - in fact I still love that car, I still see it as a beautiful, one of a kind design and wouldn't at all mind owning one now- it's just that if you admit to actually liking the Pacer - the car that all automotive "aficionados" love to piss on- people (car enthusiasts and otherwise) usually look at you kind of strange and question your stability (laugh)... Thank you for your response to my comment and take care 😀
@@davidwhitney1171 not at all. I have had a lot of vehicles, and I could proudly say that the Pacer was a great little car, fun to drive and very comfortable. I do wish I still had it today. Cheers for now. Have a great day.
The sad part about the Pacer automobile is the entire car was designed with a rotary Wankel engine in mind, to be sourced from General Motors. Unfortunately, GM pulled the plug, and AMC was forced to scramble, shoe horning much heavier and less efficient traditional reciprocating piston engines in the engine bay instead.
I loved the cars I grew up with. My dad's 1973 buick century Gran Sport. Nice car. Comfy and fast for a 73 model. Can't put a price on fun. Still prefer old school American steel.
As a factory worker for over 20 years that makes auto parts. Poor managment style is self destructive. Upper managment does not know specifically how to solve or prevent problems. Most have no experience in production but demand that lower and middle management solve/ prevent all problems and at the same time every Every manager has to cut costs and stick to a budget or else he wont get a promotion. Which cuts on quality which I have seen this change over the years. Quality has no choice but to go down. The upper management gets off scott free because they forced the middle management to make and choose the specific cuts. If they make a bad decision the upper management plays stupid like they did not know the specifics, then pass they blame downword. The one thing that was left out about the Kaizen method was what that was created from and where and from whom. W. Edwards Deming, a statistician with the U.S became a proponent of Walter Shewhart’s SQC (statistical quality control) methods and later became a leader of the quality movement in Japan. These quality controls drove the industry through WW2. And then were dropped as management changed. 20+ years ago I was taught this, not any more. Upper management are like bullies, they point thier finger and blame elsewhere. They almost never hold themselves accountable. You should make a video on Walter Shewhart, and W Edward Deming.
Both of my parents have owned Mercedes vehicles for the longest time. I'm the odd one out with my Studebaker, but I still consider it right and proper. Studebaker was a fantastic company and the sole licensed distributor for all Mercedes-Benz vehicles in North America for a good few years.
1958 for me. We had mostly GM cars when I was growing up. My own first car was a 1973 Olds Delta 88 Royale. Since then I’ve had 6 domestic and 6 foreign cars.
I love when they show the VW Beetle and label it economy car. My 1976 Mercury Grand Marquis with a 400 cui engine had the same fuel economy as the VW Beetle - or a 1967 Volvo 144 S, like my parents had. When I pull into a gas station in my Continental Mark IV, I am often asked about the milage. If I bother, I return the question with a question: "Have you asked the guy in the Porsche Panamera. or any of the German SUV's for that matter?" In Bremen, Germany, a distinguished gentleman came over and asked in German: "How much does it eat?" To which my reply was: "The same as a Mercedes 500, but then you wouldn't ask." Lincoln Town Cars and Cadillac Broughams from 1990 and up perform excellent fuel economy with gasoline engines, which Mercedes cannot beat with a diesel engine. Does anybody bother for the comparison? No. I am not against electric cars. I would buy a Mustang, if Ford would built it like a Mustang and NOT to look like a SUV. I would NEVER by a hybrid. The fuel economy in them is a joke, and the thought of them getting old would give me a nightmare. It is actually better for the world climate for me to keep driving my old Continental Mark IV, than to burden the world climate with the production of a new car.
You know I really do enjoy your channel it's when you have this dry sarcastic yet still educational kind of enlightened tone about you it sets you apart and I don't think you're just a copy of regular car reviews
I clearly recall the moment when I first laid eyes on an AMC Pacer! It definitely stood out from the crowd with all that glass! And, I don't know how long it's been since I last saw one. They came and vanished really quickly. 13:29 I owned a 1966 Olds Toronado. Largest car I've ever owned.
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, and a US car manufacture" If the "Chicken Tax" were repealed, the US car manufactures would to bankrupt in 5 months.
Patriotism only carries you so far. If you're making shit boxes and selling them on the fact they're locally built all it takes is a foreigner to start building good cars locally and you've lost your selling point
Most US pickups sold are bigger than overseas pickups, which are considered midsize here. The double cab Nissan Navara is as long as the shortest F-150. I doubt that American buyers would make the switch.
@@wolfthiel1894 maybe, Americans use trucks as a stand in for a d1ck measurement, and not for actual hauling. In the end, it is about how much cash (or debt) you can flash with your macho status symbol. It is how the competition goes here, in some middle class communities.
@@DumbledoreMcCracken in some cases you are correct but there are people that actually need large capabilities from their trucks. Ranchers, farmers and construction industry. Moving cattle goods and equipment for some examples. Then you have all the wannabes buying for cool factor mall crawling and penis substitution driving the prices of said trucks higher and higher with cutsie BS gadgets that are unnecessary on a real work truck.
I had a friend that had a Gremlin. That was a tough car. He did service work for an agricultural implement dealer so that car spent a lot of time on gravel roads, dirt trails, and even right in the fields. He drove that car for years and never had any big issues with it. Even after he quit driving it day in and day out he kept it as a backup car. It wasn't that many years ago he finally got rid of it.
There were 2 additional reasons. First, US labor is very conservative and protective of their jobs. For the most part they successfully kept automation out of the factories and limited efficiency gains in the 1960's and 1970's. Second, US management cared more about saving money today rather than investing for the future. This was a change that occurred through the 1960's and is still prevalent today.
@@jeffreywilliams144 Management was grotesquely inefficient and backward thinking. You cannot blame labor for all of the failures of industry beginning in the 1960s. This was an industry that would still be promoting landlines if they were TelComs.
@@jeffreywilliams144 Even Trump said if a project fails, it’s the leader’s fault. You can’t blame labor for crap management. Crap management led to crap quality, led to crap planning and crap cars.
@@xmlthegreat no but the assembly line was producing more defective cars per 100 than the Japanese counterpart who were already incorporating automation their factories.
Labor holds almost no blame, the auto industry like all industry of that era was already automating and cutting jobs. All labor did was build the cars, they didn’t design them. Not to mention the Japanese cars in Japan were built by union workers as well.
Malaise era for my family started in 1965. Our new Pontiac Tempest was a lemon. The clutch linkage (3 speed column shift,) was always going out. Where was that vaunted GM quality?
I can't really say I approve of this video because, largely of Ed's miss characterization of the GM video "Beetles and Bugs" which was clearly aimed at GM employees and warning them that they had to up their game or they were going the way of the consumer electronics and other trades which had come to be dominated by over seas competition. Beyond that Ed also seemed to be trying to link the interest on compact cars to the OPEC oil embargo when the manufacturers were bringing out their economy cars several years before that. The place of the economy car in the US market was as a car for younger drivers who commonalty moved into larger cars when they had more money and family. The other market for small cars was as the 'second' car in a two car family. They felt they had to build small cars to keep the younger drivers in their customer base so they would continue to buy their bigger cars later. Where they really screwed up was building the small cars so badly that the younger customers never wanted to buy from them again. The Japanese builders were taking the younger buyers and selling them better cars and leading them away from ever wanting to by American again. I would add that if it had been left up to Renault, Fiat and British Leland it would all be very different today because they would not have gathered loyal owners like Toyota, Honda and Nissan did. Even if the early Japanese cars did have some shortcomings they were reliable and delivered what they promised.
When I was a kid in the early 80s, I remember thinking what a POS my friend's parents' Chevy Chevette was. I mean I was too young to really pay attention to cars, but remember noting how crappy the interior was and how cheap the whole car felt. A distinct step down from my own parents' '77 Oldsmobile wagon, which wasn't exactly a classic. When I was in high school in the mid-late 80s I was deeply ashamed of American cars in general. 95% of them were garbage. Japanese cars were #1 in my book. Fortunately, today, American cars are getting back in full swing. Most of the cars I want now are American made.
Whenever you compare the cheapest product with a better product, the cheap one comes up short. Compare the "75 Chevette to a 75 Corolla or a Datsun B210 or the entry level Mazda or the Austin America and it does not look so bad.
Great take on the US downfall. Mind you, the Japanese design back then was definitely not on a par with what they're currently putting out and the bodies very prone to rust. A friend had a '76 Corolla and by '81, he could change the spark plugs without the bother of opening the bonnet (hood)
Yep. A Ford or Chevy that was driven for 20 years and then sat in a farmers field for another 20 still has a solid frame. Tacomas were literally rusting in half after 10.
@@nickrustyson8124 I own an '06. And at 10 years, and 135k miles, Toyota made good on the rusty frame, with a new frame, leaf springs, control arms, fuel & brake lines etc.. All at NO cost to me. Ford decided to pay the law suits. THAT is the difference.
I had 1977 Pacer in 1992. I loved it. Super interesting your reportage. American cars 70s were the best of the world for far, but consume of gasoline was the big problem. Big measure, big problem. Greetings from the far city of Santiago, Chile, SouthAmerica.
You nailed it with the overall problem: maximum profit. American cars then (and now) are built to the absolute lowest common denominator in a misguided attempt to "maximize shareholder value" and keep costs to a minimum. GM especially was notorious for it's "what the hell, it's good enough" engineering that continues to this day. Laying the blame on long overdue government regulations is just spreading the blame.
That's quite an indictment of GM management. If they were focused on "maximum profit" which you state as if that's bad and fail to distinguish from increasing shareholder value (they are not always the same thing) then their arrival in bankruptcy court shows that they did not know how to maximize profit. What does your employer pay you from? Losses?
@@edarcuri182 There is nothing wrong with maximizing profit, that's the reason businesses exist. My problem with GM management is they focused on profit to the exclusion of all else, relying on brand loyalty and government intervention (re: the "Voluntary Export Restraints" of 1981) to keep them afloat instead of engineering better cars.
@@edarcuri182 was combined with unions that didn't care either, from drugs to even prostitution rings, lets just say there was corruption across the board throughout american society.
That bug and the beetle film is asking the real questions: "why are people buying import cars that fit their needs instead of a blinged out horsepowerless carriage that spontaneously combusts and gets recalled 6 out of 7 times?
It was used in a famous Dutch comedy, Van Kooten & De Bie. Here, they play two unreliable self-made men, who come to rake the garden of gullible ladies (winterising it, a well-known expression since then) for a few hundred guilders. Of course, these two men drive unreliable cars, the comedians must have thought. In the Netherlands, this car looks really strange.. (BTW, usually these characters drove real big size American cars)
Thanks for showing that Pacer in the thumbnail. It really brought back memories. I was a suburban pimp in 1975 and drove a Pacer-based pimpmobile, complete with large rims, candy apple red paint job, white wall tires, purple fur interior (fake fur, so don't get on my case), and fuzzy dice hanging from the read view mirror. I went by "Doctor Pimpalishuss" and was very popular with the mid-level executive crowd who appreciated a decent schtup at an affordable price. The Pacer fit my persona perfectly.
@@mattsnoozle5093 Fascinating? No. Tedious? YES! You have no idea the accounting burden! And if you have ladies who live across state lines then you have to handle THEIR states' employment laws and payroll taxes. And deductions? FEH! I should BE so lucky -- YOU try claiming on your tax returns 144 tubes of KY jelly as a business expense. But great customer service always pulled us through. Special requests, like Dr. Hirsch with the shoe fetish -- she has to always wear Christian Louboutins, never Manolo Blahniks -- we never failed on. Even my own uncle, Moishe "Three For the Price of Two" Finkelstein, had a thing for shaved. Maybe not so much of a rare thing today, but 1975? Dos iz geven MESHUGE! He made a fortune in men's hairpieces, and he goes for the shaved? Go figure. Anyway, I hung up my pimp hat (faux ermine, wide brim, purple feather, $19.95 on sale cheap from Big Daddy's on Wabash) long ago and went into software development. But to this day when I see a prostitute from Highland Park, Illinois scowl at a prospective John and ask, "You want me to do WHAT?!" it makes in me the warm fuzzies all over again.
Early malaise era cars are probably my favorite cars (well, the fullsize ones anyway). Styling peaked in the '50s and went downhill from there. Performance is pointless on the road. Just give me something with a lot of room, a cushy seat, and squishy suspension. My primary vehicle is a mid-70s Ford LTD. I've never driven any car nicer than it is, and I've tried many vehicles from many decades. Comfort is king, and the giant malaise boats were best at it. (And as an added bonus, the gas mileage in my LTD really isn't even that bad. When I bought it ten years ago, it was still on par with other modern vehicles of the same size. I was very impressed.)
I disagree. How much performance you have is crucial. A 600 hp borderline supercar is useless on public streets. But a 150-200hp hot hatch? Perfection.
@@urbanoman7689 - You're certainly entitled to your own vehicle preference (after all, that's why there are so many different classes of cars in the first place; different people like different things), but that's the exact sort of attitude I hate to see out of other drivers on the road. Barring an emergency, there's no reason to be darting around on the road like Zippy McSpeedster. Driving fast can certainly be fun, but public roadways are not the place to do it. A responsible driver doesn't need a high power to weight ratio, and for that reason performance just doesn't matter in a road car that's being driven responsibly. I do occasionally see people try to argue that higher performance makes you safer because you can get out of the way of accidents, and while theoretically that could be true, in practice I have never seen it make a difference. I've had to dodge reckless drivers in my LTD multiple times; it's perfectly capable of pulling very extreme swerves and turns in a pinch. I've also been rear-ended a couple times while at a light, and I can assure you that having a hot hatch or a muscle car _still_ would not have given me enough acceleration to get out of the way. However, since my car was massive with metal bumpers, it took no damage in the collisions.
@@NoName-ik2du You misunderstood me. I'm not advocating for driving like a maniac. It's entirely possible to have fun within reason and it's generally easier to do in lightweight, low power cars. 200hp was a tad much in retrospect. An old style hot hatch with 100-150ish would be even better suited for that.
Depends on where you live. Here in New England, the land of cloverleaf highway interchanges with super tight curves and no room to merge, having adequate horsepower and stiff suspension is vital for safety. Having to slow down from 70 mph to 25 when exiting because your car has noodle suspension and having to merge back into 70 mph traffic with an underpowered powertrain is not a pleasant experience.
And now so many people won't give Ford, GM and Chrysler another chance. Too bad; I bought a Fusion Hybrid new and it's great. Zero problems in 5 years and over 50 mpg highway if I keep it under 70 mph.
Part 2 will I assume take in emissions rules (the OTHER reason European cars didn't make as much headway). Not only do we have stupid big engines, but the only way the big 3 can get them under requirements is to cripple their power. So you can't get there fast OR cheap. On the bright side, you could actually breathe. The Vega is generally held to have died a death of 1000 (cost) cuts. The engine especially (no cylinder liners in an aluminum block). And the early 70s seem to have been the rust age as far as cars are concerned. Standing joke on the Vega, if it was a a little rusty, it was still on the production line.
I’m a Detroiter & I’m the first male on my fathers side that hasn’t worked in the auto industry since my great grandfather immigrated to the US. Corporate culture definitely sucked, my family were all Ford people so it’s my insight but we have friends who worked at the other big 2. There is a nuanced argument to be made about Cold War economic policies visa vi Japan where the open U.S. consumer market was open & without protectionism & currency manipulation. But that’s not a get out of jail free card for poor corporate choices it may have cut down on breathing room but quality & fuel efficiency were the future. My dad had a Pinto he started his career during college on the plant floor, he knew an easy at home fix for the gas tank. There was a long bolt coming out of the bumper which he cut with a saw which was close to if not quite a 100% fix. His experience as a highly educated engineer getting into his middle age at Ford was a constant battle to prove himself by going above and beyond as not to be replaced by younger workers. Lack of seniority meant lower wages, less benefits needed to be paid out & some of the best & brightest just left for greener pastures in industry or tech related industry on the west coast. Allen Mullally saved not only Ford but the US auto industry by changing corporate culture for the better and investing into quality products and leveraging all its assets. He got his revenge on Boeing by being a leader in turning around the poster child for dysfunctional American manufacturing by throwing out the model cost cutting via quality slashing. The 737 supermax story that the McDonald Douglass board lead Boeing to embodies all the bad practices and arrogance that lead the auto industry to its long decline.
Just wanted to let you know that this came on autoplay on my tv and I was pretty sure I was looking at yet another guy with millions of subscribers. if all your videos are this quality I'm sure that you will be that guy someday :) Keep it up man!
'Kayso, I just spent the entire night binge watching all of the episodes in this series. Great stuff! I have a suggestion, maybe? Wheels and tires (or tyres, depending on what side of the pond you're from lol), like how they basically started with wagon type wheels, and how they've evolved to what we have now. Just an idea. I may be delirious lol
Interesting perspective from someone looking in. There were so many social and economic factors that went into why the American auto industry lost its way for a while. Yet today vehicles built in N. America for this market can easily last 15-20 years with basic maintenance. In the 70's it was rare that a car lasted 100K miles before being junked.
You don't see many American made cars from the 1970s on the road anymore. However, its not extremely uncommon to encounter an original VW Beetle driving around.
The Beatles were a pop group from Liverpool and not cheap. VW made beetles. I loved them but didn't like driving them - mostly because the pedals came up from the car rather than hanging down. Bang on about the economy though - for smallish cars, they weren't that economical.
You are missing a few points. My 67 camaro with a 350 at 290 hp four speed would get 21 MPG on the highway. Which is more than some cars today... and it was fast. The Nova and the Falcon were V8 cars that got about that same mileage. And they were fun to drive. But..................they could not survive the smog controls of the mid 70's What really mattered was computers... computer controlled ignition and fuel injection.... that was gonna happen no matter what. Now we have over 500 hp cars that weigh more than my old camaro that get 25 mpg
I/we never gave a thought to what kind of mileage our cars were getting that was until we couldn't get enough gas.. That is when I went shopping for my first econo box. When that was over went right back to not caring.
Ah, the Gremlin! In 1972 you could get a 5 liter V8, with a Borg-Warner 4-speed transmission. (It was geared too tall; rodders would replace it with the box out of a Javelin.) Yeah... With a bit of modding, the '72 Gremlins were fun as hell.
Detroit's biggest problem was refusing to take compact cars seriously. I will be the first one to tell you that bigger is better when it comes to cars, but discontinuing the compacts that were selling well proved near-fatal once the gas crisis arrived.
These are so well done and your knowledge is incredible. I subscribed two days back. I've seen part lll malaise, and this clip. Those late 1980s GM cars, like the Grand Am and the fancier models, like Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais, were nice looking machines.
As a youngster, I would fill up my dad's "loan cars" up the street for 23¢ a gallon. By the time I was a teen, driving (legally), gas had gone all the way up to 42¢ a gallon-and we had to wait in LINES for it-and later California introduced "odd/even" gas rationing. Oh, what a pain it was, waiting for at least an hour to buy gasoline. In high school (mid '70s), I had a friend who's JOB it was, to gas up the company cars. ALL HE DID (for $2.25 an hour) was basically wait in line, fill up a company car, drive back, get another, and repeat.
I miss my first car. 1964 Chevy II, or Nova, it was badged as both for some dumb reason. Straight 6, 3 on the tree. It was the station wagon model. Simple, useful, easy to work on, but, kind of ugly. I didn't care. I was 16 years old. The car was 15 years old. Paid $100 for it. In the 2 years I had it, I had to replace the water pump, which I did myself for like $35, and the tires. That was it. Sold it for $250. Wish I'd just kept it.
An Opel GT was like a baby corvette. Some of my fellow 5th grade students put my teacher's Opel GT sideways in her parking spot by picking it up in Toledo, Ohio.
In New Zealand we had carless days but you could choose which day of the week have it on. Cars carried a sticker on their windscreen identifying what day was that cars carless day.
@edsautoreviews Hi Ed, I got a reply saying thanks for watching and you have a prize. Just checking if I got something or if someone left a spam comment, thanks.
AMC was actually the first American automotive company to come up with the idea of producing a fuel efficient car to compete against foreign imports. The Gremlin debuted on April Fool's day in 1970 I believe and the idea was that it was like an economy car but it didn't feel like a lesser version of a traditional American car. You still got the styling, design and comfort of a big American car, just a bit smaller and better on gas. What's surprising is that it was actually more popular with racing than the Javelin - AMC's own flagship muscle car. The Gremlin was great for doing wheelies, drag races and donuts. It's not my favorite AMC but I do still like it and it's built good. Hands down the best economy car out of what followed from other makes in my opinion. Other American car companies saw what AMC was doing with the Gremlin, so Ford and GM were like- "Oh sh*t, we should be doing that." and came out with the Ford Pinto and Chevy Vega a few years later after AMC. The later Pacer had it's massive windows due to the desire for better visibility, so form follows function. I think the designer was Dick Teague (I'm not sure so don't quote me on that) who lost his father in a car accident because of a blind spot in the car he was driving. The Pacer was supposed to have a rotary engine that Buick was responsible for, but Buick chickened out of the deal with AMC at the last minute leaving AMC hanging. AMC had already built the Pacers and everything, they were stuck without an engine so they managed to squeeze in a Hornet engine. It's tight at the back, that's why later models have a hump in the hood instead of the flush curved hood the first generation of Pacers had. Dumbass Ford knew about the problem with the Pinto and like you said, they figured it would be cheaper to get people killed than to fix the problem. I'm fed up with Ford as a company. They do everything on the cheap and they don't care how their cars or tractors are designed, as long as it can run they'll sell it. If a part should be made out of metal they'll make it out of plastic, sometimes you need to order special tool made by Ford just to reach a specific bolt. Unless I were rich like Jay Leno and it was something I really wanted like a Cougar, I've vowed to never buy another Ford again. I'm done with their sh*t. The Chevy Vega I don't know that personally so I can't really comment on it. I just know it was rather blah and supposed to be pretty lame. I want to close by saying that even though I'm not someone who grew up during any part of traditional American cars, I want them back. I don't like a lot of modern cars, I really don't. I'm a fairly big guy, I don't like the pain in my knee caps when I sit in a small cramped Toyota. I don't like the awkward, uncomfortable, plasticy-ness of modern cars - both American and foreign. They're not as safe either, I've seen plenty of car wrecks. I don't like banging my head on the ceiling when I hit a bump on the road. I don't like having a mess of an engine layout I can't work on. I think a lot of them look ugly too. They're all the same blobs, the same 5 colors, the same slanted headlights. I like classic American cars because it's something I can actually enjoy. There's taste, there's thoughtful design for the driver, for a husband's wife and kids, for maintenance. I'll admit some old American cars have poor gas mileage for their time, sure, my point though is I want new-old American cars. Take the best of the past and improve aspects where it fell short. We don't get that today. Today we get cheap plastic crap that will be replaced every 5-6 years because the companies want you to keep buying. I don't want to essentially be paying rent for a turd every so many years, I want a good product that will serve me well.
During the crisis, I was born, both my mother and father as well as my uncle drove a Grey, Blue and Orange Gremlin respectively and grandparents drove a White VW Beetle. The grandparents also had an old 40s Plymouth they stored in a storage unit (a drive in one), and the Great-Grandparents had a 60s 4-Door Thunderbird. REAL CHERRY. My great-grandparents never drove the damn car unless we came over. It was considered a Sunday Outing Luxury to ride in it. Back to the story, my family all drove these small cars through the years but over time my mother moved to bigger cars. Pontiac in particular, TransAms, Firebirds and Tempests and GTOs. Also Ford Gran Torinos. Things I guess she wanted in the 70s but couldn't have due to the gas prices and oil issues. My father on the other hand continued to drive things like VW Rabbit, Mercury Capri, Hyundai Excel. I personally am a mix between the two. I love a nice cherry classic car but I also prefer smaller more economical vehicles if I was going to drive one. Smaller is easier.
As a hot rodder I never bought anything made from 74 to almost 1990... the stuff from overseas was even worse (for me) I began to think everyone not American was not over 5'6" tall... I drove 50's and 60's cars and could do all the work myself. Smog control stuff is still a big turnoff on cars that are in the 70's My truck is a 73 cause it does not require smog. Late model chevy drive train.
Just came upon these vids today, and I’m hooked already. (That doesn’t usually happen, trust me.) I’ll be checking out the rest of them. Well done presentations, Ed!
Its funny, as much as people shit on american luxo barges of the 70s, I love them. Lots of low end torque, and style for days. More reliable, easier to work on and cheaper than German cars, bigger engines and more power than japanese cars. Yeah they don't have the market cornered any more, but they still sell alot of cars.
The funny thing is, half a century later, American manufacturers still can't compete with foreign offerings, and some have stopped producing cars altogether because of it.
They have also given up on nearly all export markets. On the other hand GM EMD or GMD locomotives are dominating even European freight services. Developed this from the eighties with locomotives fitted to tunnel sizes etc.
I remember that AMC's Pacer got off at a disadvantage: the advance-design Wankel rotary engine intended for the car was so delayed that AMC was forced to substitute a GM-made 6, which was not the best answer...but at that point in the car's development nothing else was possible.
Yeah. That wasn't the first time GM pulled the plug on a contract in the 11th hour. They were developing the Wankel and at the same time sold AMC a bill of goods. The Wankel never made it into production and AMC is left to shoehorn a big GM in-line 6 into that engine bay. The motor was so long under the hood, it actually sat under the windshield. Our family owned one. Brand new off the showroom floor in 77. It was the only one where I lived. Everyone else had enough sense to buy a more traditional car. My old man was almost talked into buying a Honda Accord for my sister to drive, but, as usual, saw the price tag on an American built "compact car" and brought home a polished turd instead of the widely received Honda. I was never that keen for it. It was the ugliest car on the road at the time.
I worked at a plant making parts for American cars. A corporate mindset of disregard for quality for the last 50 years is a big part of their failure.
What had happened was the Democrat Party had effectively nationalized the auto industry. And also, affirmative action made it into kiddie skool.
You sir took the words out of my mouth
@@HamburgerHelperDeath CEO's are Republican? On what planet?
@@totallysmooth1203 what do you mean by “affirmative action made it into kiddie school”?
@@potatopotatow Exactly what I said. Affirmative action did not work, it does not work, and never will work.
Man when I saw that GM film I was dying laughing. "We make awful cars but buy American anyway"
I'm glad you included that.
I was a child of the '70's. I remember my dad leaving for work early one morning before daylight, Mom holding me in her arms, for his job in a city 50 miles away and driving his 1972 GMC long wheelbase 350ci truck. Yikes! I can't even imagine how much money he spent on gas back then. In 1977 he and Mom took me and my little brother (7 years old and 4 years old respectively) to the local Toyota dealership and he bought a snazzy little dark blue Hi-Lux pickup, trading in his old "Blue Bomber".
We got into the cab, Dad driving, me in the middle, Mom on the passenger side holding my little brother in her lap and nobody wearing seat belts (as we all knew, we were invincible and it could never happen to us), and we took off for home. Dad fascinated me with how he just "knew" how to shift the gears while using the clutch, and we approached an intersection to turn off the four lane through town. I very distinctly remember all of us as a group staring at the fuel gauge as Dad said in wonder, "It just doesn't move!" Ha, we could literally watch the needle move in his GMC.
I later learned to drive stick in that truck, and after he sold it in the mid-80's or so I remember seeing it around the city for many years. It happened to end up being bought by a man who parked it at his job right beside the intersection where we were first amazed by the gas gauge, so for years it sat in full view by the road during the day. :)
I just realized Dad sold that truck right after I learned to drive in it. The gear grinding must have cheesed him. :D
I also clearly remember the "patriotism" aspect to car buying back then. Dad was looked at sideways by all the men in the family because NOBODY related to us had ever owned an import, and with both my grandfathers fighting in WWII, it never seemed strange to me that they had problems with a Japanese vehicle either. That was just how it was. Nowadays, of course and rightfully-so, I never see any of that anymore.
Great video and thanks for the memories!
I read your comment like i could imagine how happy those days were for you great memories it was a different life back then.
@@XXx-ev8in It was different then because you weren't expected to think too deeply about anything. Especially if you were from a country town.
Similar story--we went from various Fords to a 1976 Toyota Corolla because it was inexpensive and got good gas mileage. And Mom had to learn to drive a stick-shift (which she did with no problems).
What was funny was when the Toyota finally went bad (New England winters), we went back to Ford for the Escort (must have been '81 or '82) which probably lasted at least as long as the Toyota if not longer.
Yeah, now we just take in millions of immigrants, our corporations control us, and nothing is American anymore. Good job for spearheading that movement of "change"
@@XXx-ev8in Happy memories because ignorance is bliss... the only reason people nowadays miss the "good old days" is because people didn't know what was going on and everything seemed so perfect, while if fact it was all rotting from the inside...
In the 1970s Consumer Reports did surveys on the cars their readers drove. They were always telling us that if you bought an American car , you would have to take it into the shop significantly more often than a Japanese car.
I ran Hondas in the UK for over twenty years,all bought used,and only three times had to have a garage repair.
That’s what happens when you replace engineers with bean counters.
We start off with Chrysler......and we're done. Intelligent, interesting, and funny. Great video 👍
100 %
DEAD
Thanks!
@@EdsAutoReviews I remember my stepdad's malaise era Toyota truck. Body with holes you could throw a cat thru and the finally at around 120,000 it burnt a valve. He traded it and never looked back.
@@philpatterson7085 I don't recall a Toyota truck back then... could you possibly be remembering the Datsun (now Nissan), which was based on the B-200 or B-210?
My grandpa always tried to support American industry, and actually bought a Chevy Vega back in the day. I kid you not, he got a ticket for the amount of smoke that piece of junk made. It was "imparting the vision of other drivers". He bought Toyotas after that.
So he could have bought a better domestic car, instead of bailing like a....
@@roadwolf8026 He had two GM trucks at the time, they were fine. But most of the American economy cars made in the 70s were crap.
"We then tried to blame the customer for not buying our cars..."
Sounds like present-day Hollywood took a cue from 70's Detroit.
Once you recognize the pattern, you will see it everywhere.
Hollywood hates weebs because people watch BLEACH instead of spongebob lol
You can't even call them American cars any more...most of the parts are built in other countries.
@@matthewfusaro2590 except for Tesla. Designed and built in America. (Yes. They have a factory in China and are building on in Berlin, but that’s to supply those markets only.)
As a gamer, Battlefield 5 also comes to mind.
Actually, the Ford Pinto and the Chevy Vega (both pictured @ 6:02) came out BEFORE the '73 oil crisis. ('71 & '70, respectively) So, the Big 3 had already started experimenting in the small car market; the '73 oil crisis is what launched them into it full-throttle.
What is often overlooked is that the oil crisis hit American companies overnight in a manner of speaking. Foreign countries had to start from the ground up after global wars and had a 20-year head start on the U.S. auto manufacturers. Also, the term "big three" is really oversimplifying the scale of operations. Some of the sub-companies under GM, Chrysler, and Ford were big enough to be their own independent companies. Trying to scale everything to meet emissions and fuel economy should have bankrupted them back then if you think about it. The sad thing is the V8 cars from the pre-'73 era were quite good and reliable. Most families and schools used to teach shop to help youth take care of cars. That seemingly stopped when Japanese cars hit the spot. Ask most youth about cars and they can't go beyond what they see in television and video games.
Yes. The program that became the Vega started in 1967 within GM corporate HQ and was handed off half-baked to the Chevrolet division, which didn't want it but had to make it work. Production began in June of 1970, well before the '73 Embargo.
Automotive history should be an optional school subject
Ill take it
Hell yeah!
Yes please, I would love to take that class. I can already feel it: "Okay kids, today in automotive history class, we will be learning about Henry Ford and the Model T, and there will be some classwork about it, which will be due tomorrow"
Sign me up
Mandatory
A contributing factor to the size of American cars was once put to me like this.
In Europe, when the car became a thing, it had to be built to use the road infrastructure that already existed as these roads had been there in one form or another for centuries.
In the US, the introduction of Cars came at a time when the roads hadn't been there long if at all and they could build the roads as large as they liked, hence the cars didn't have to be limited in size so much. There were many other reasons too, but I thought this was a good one.
Great series, enjoying watching it.
Yeah, and that's why living in America sucks. We're so car-centric that using anything other than a car is practically impossible. You'd think that'd be good for car enthusiasts, but it makes it worse. It means EVERYBODY is on the road.
Cities were buildozed for the car not built for the car. However the suburbs were constructed in a car oriented manner in addition to the interstate highway system's construction to facilitate the movement of ICBM and military material.
@FTW23-qq8nb Not cities, mostly towns and villages.
You should make an episode about badge engineering in the 80’s and 90’s. GM had 4 models that were essentially the same car. Buick Century, Pontiac 6000, Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra, and Chevrolet Celebrity. I remember having one of these...
And the worst example being the Cadillac Cimarron J car looking like the Chevrolet Cavalier J car. UGHHH
HOWEVER:
THOSE ENGINE-DRIVELINE
OFFERINGS FOR ALL OF THOSE CARS WERE
ABOUT BULLETPROOF.
3.3. & 3.8 LEITER.
ESPECIALLY.
Hey! Episode 30 is Badge Engineering. Looks like Ed took your advice.
I have a ‘91 Century. Very good car, live in the southwest so no rust.
You mean you remember having 4 of these,in one. 😄
My first car was my grandmother's hand-me-down cream-puff - a malaise era '75 Chrysler Newport Land Yacht in Rotting Pesto Green. At two tons, with the anemic, detuned 360, speced at 180 hp - maybe, it did reach floaty highway speeds. And float it did. Loved that car!
Great video! I was born in '55 and my first three cars were American hand-me-downs. The third one was my first new car, and boy-o-boy did I make a bad choice, a 1981 Ford Escort. Just a pile of crap, broke down all of the time and in the most creative ways possible. After that misadventure, I went to VW Diesels... I did eventually come back to American cars, and love the one I have now. 2017 Chevy Cruze Turbo 1.4L 4-banger. Comfortable, plenty of power and quickness for sane use, almost-hybridlike MPG, absolutely zero problems of any kind.
Of course, that's probably not a 100% American car now anyway. And many "foreign" cars are actually built in America. It's a world industry now.
I know which makes me sad.
My parents were both born in '52, and yah, their story is somewhat similar. Their early cars were largely used American cars -- though Dad did get an AMC Gremlin as a high school graduation present from his dad in 1970. But after they got married, they bought a '74 VW Super Beetle. And later they had a VW Rabbit, a Saab 99, and a VW pickup truck.
And from the malaise era on, neither bought American again. Apart from an early-'80s Subaru wagon that rusted way too quick, Dad has had nothing but VWs. And Mom kept driving Saabs until well after Saab went out of business. (Her most recent car is a VW -- though she's since had a little buyer's remorse and misses her last Saab.)
Meanwhile my own car history has been a mix of used VWs, one used classic Saab 900, a well-used late-'80s Buick hand-me-down from other relatives, and a 2000s PT Cruiser my grandma gave me after she quit driving.
Found On Road Dead ford
Fix Or Repair Daily ford
Still love my VW diesels.
One of the few cars you'll be able to get running after the apocalypse.
The AMC Pacer was also known as a rolling oven. When it even slightly warm out, you were in a sauna inside. Air conditioning became absolutely mandatory in Pacers. So much for good gas mileage. A better car in a cold climate with cheap gas.
Or... just open a window.
My uncle had one in the early 80's here in the low desert of SoCal. Yep. It WAS a frickn oven on wheels.
Those ugly Pacers, we always called them fishbowls, AMC had the ugliest cars.
@@Bartonovich52 If you think opening a window in 105-degree SoCal heat is going to cool down a Pacer you're delusional.
That cold climate would have to be cold ALL YEAR. 😂 My father traded cars like kids traded baseball cards back in the day. He had a fishbowl about the time it was as uncool as plaid polyester pants. Rode in it once - I think I died of embarrassment. However, I still own an AMC Jeep CJ7, so props to AMC for at least _some_ styling sense. 👍
As a kid ('60s) you almost _NEVER_ saw a "foreign car." A few Volkswagens, and an occasional Renault; even a rich guy in a Jag-but that's about it.
Fast forward 15 or 20 years, and every other car is Japanese.
I don’t think you understand what never means
@@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549 I don't think you understand "almost never." Do you deny that in the '50s, '60s, even early '70s, there were about 95% American cars? The big entry point for "foreign cars" was after the oil crisis in the mid-'70s.
@@josephgaviota that’s ‘almost’ clever! When using an absolute, like ‘never’ you cannot qualify it with ‘almost’. By using almost you are undermining the word never. Your sentence ‘almost’ made sense!
@@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549 I thought all the grammar Nazis were hanged at the trial?
@@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549 "almost never" is a common phrase, it makes perfect sense. Sure, it may not conform to the "rules" of English, but aren't the rules of a language decided by it's speakers?
I've been a Ford guy(thanks Dad)ever since the 70's as a young lad. :) I look back at what Ford did with the Pinto fiasco, if they would've admitted there was a problem; stopped sale, told the public to park, not drive & worked diligently to come up with a good safe repair; recall the Pinto, it would've saved the reputation of the car & Ford. It would've been a good long term marketing campaign for Ford to show they're responsible & having integrity for a mistake instead of covering it up. The Pinto was a good car aside from the fuel tank issue; fix that & it could've been a wonderful success.
The "exploding Pinto" is pretty much an urban myth. The entire episode was dreamt up by Mother Jones magazine, which claimed enormous calamity, as opposed to actual statistics. The only cars affected were early sedans- wagons never were cited. Do a little research.
And not to mention that Import lovers wouldn't bash on Ford at all if they would've fixed the problem right away.
@@loumontcalm3500 And even the early cars that would potentially break loose the fuel filler on a heavy rear impact were recalled and a different system was used so the filler pipe would separate from the fender instead of from the tank. Most of the "problem" was media hype. They were reliable little cars, I bought two of them new, and easily drove them past 100,000 miles.
The Ford Crown Victoria was cooking people alive with exploding gas tanks well into the 21st century. A police officer was burned alive a block away from me back in 2004 in one of those. Ford is crap.
@@barbmelle3136 if only the Corvair survived like the Pinto continued to do after stupid media claims. As somebody born in the late 90s, the Corvair is unironically one of my favorite cars of the 1960s and it sucks that it died way too early.
Having lived through the entire’Malaise Era’ I have enjoyed your whole series. I remember riding in the back of my grandad’s new 75 Cadillac and looked up at the headliner and I noticed that it was made out of the same cheap material as my dad’s Chevy. Then I thought to myself, the Cadillac is just a reworked Chevy in disguise 🥸
"The whole British car industry for that matter " I laughed out loud.
Same! Once went with a neighbor to buy parts (surprise) for his XJ6 at the local Jaguar parts dealer. They actually had a bumper sticker at the parts counter that read: "Lucas Electrics, Prince of Darkness". 🤣
My dad used to say in the 70s that the British did not make color televisions because they could not figure out how to make them leak oil.
Yes, the British should stick to what they do best, beer and bespoke clothing and shoes (especially dress wear and formal wear). They need to keep their noses out of electronics and especially vehicles.
Yup...put the blame mostly into that behemoth bri'ish Leyland.
@@strawberryhellcat4738 Back in the early Seventies I had friends that owned Triumph and BSA motorcycles and would all say; "Lucas Electrics, brought to you by the Prince of Darkness!" I also had a few friends that owned MG and Triumph sports cars, they were even more problematic.
When I was growing up in the 60s we thought foreign cars were a joke. The American auto industry let itself go down the tubes. Many younger people today have never even owned an American car. It did not have to be that way.
Right, exactly. Not only did we think foreign cars were a joke, those in my father's generation who served in WWII refused to buy anything Japanese or German on principle alone. It took the oil crisis for them to re-think their position.
@@Rico_G Even then they still had American options such as the Ford Pinto, Chevy Vega, Dodge Colt, (Not really since that was a Mitsubishi but at this point of time Mitsubishi had no brand in America so they probably could've got away with that) and AMC's whole thing was making small cars
I'm a younger person, I had a Ford Fusion and thought it was amazing. When I went to trade it in, Ford had shifted to selling nothing but trucks and SUVs, and I just decided to go with a different brand. It's unfortunate, but American automakers don't seem to get that not everyone wants a massive SUV.
@@orangeclay0922 No, one the Fusion isn't that old, and two, Ford still sell smaller cars when compare to trucks and SUVs, it's just no one buys them, aside for the Mustang
@@nickrustyson8124 I wasn't looking to start an argument about a car that hasn't gotten a new generation in 8 years. I'm just not a fan of crossovers and SUVs, many younger buyers can't afford them anyway.
The original design of the Pacer was meant to have a Wankel rotary engine... But for various reasons, this fell through, so AMC had to wedge one of their six cylinder motors into the same space. (Rotary engines are pretty small.) The upshot was an engine which was a raging pain in the ass to service: mechanics would get headaches from rolling their eyes if one rolled into the shop.
The engine sat under the windshield. It wasn't the easiest thing to service. As pollution controls and extra plumbing became the norm, mechanics longed for a beetle engine that you could drop out in 20 minutes and service on the bench.
Yea I think AMC would have gotten the engine from Mazda but the deal didn't go through if remember correctly
Ed is definitely going somewhere with this channel, keep it up. been watching for a while and glad i’m here for this channel early on, one of my favorites
All right, let me tell you something: what you've done with this mini-series is just DOPE, really it's so good that i simply can't get enough, can't help but bringing this topic up every time these days with everybody. And i'm not even a motorist, very far from being a car-guy. But I graduated in economics some years ago and i'm very into economics and this story - the malaise era - and the way you chose to tell it - linking all the dots without never stopping being funny - is just great. Gotta praise you like I should...
"BUSINESS ETHICS!!!!" lost it.
Agent Orange was known to kill and burn, but law suits took 50 years to settle out of court and it was still profitable. My former company was allowed to kill employees but I survived and only got maimed for life, also perfectly legal with my union's approval. I'm alive because I moved to Europe and national health on SSDI, aka disability income. 80% of covid deaths were over 65 aka on FICA. The 1% and corporations were facing a FICA cap increase. 90% of media is in 6 corporate donors' hands also facing a FICA increase until "Covid is a Hoax" played on the news. 480,000 dead FICA recipients means no new FICA increase needed.
I "LAUGHED" at that part!
Laughed as well! Such a succinctly true statement!
I love how he makes these kind of videos interesting and actually funny. Unlike some channels. Good work Ed!
Ed deserves way more than 25K subscribers. These mini-documentaries are well researched, interesting, and it's fun to hear the Dutch perspective (from an American's perspective).
I wondered what his accent was just couldn't place it. Thank you!
Wanna know a fun fact? American car maker Jeep didn't learn from the Pinto mistake. Look on the back underside of 90s and early 2000's Jeep Cherokees. See that gas tank mounted behind the rear axle? Same risk. What makes it worse is many more of those Jeeps are still driving today. Good Jeeps, unless you're unlucky in a rear-end crash. Many more have burned. Still no recall.
This absolutely made my day!
I love this era of American cars, and this video portrays it fantastic.
Great video!
I agree!!!!
I am interested. The vid is very good. The subject is the downfall of a huge industry,, not so good
I totally agree brother
Ed, speaking as a car enthusiast who came of age during the 70s and started driving in the 80s, you hit the nail on the head. This video give an accurate and concise explanation of how the Malaise era started and Detroit's poor reaction to it.
Yep. We Americans were and, based on the most popular vehicles being sold in America today, still are the sort who like big things. They're often more reliable than small things. Japan has far more experience in tiny things, which is why their compact cars and devices are often more reliable. In fact, guess where the walkman was invented?
I loved the Pacer when it was introduced- it was very futuristic looking. But then again I was only 17 years old at the time...
I owned a burgundy 2 door manual and it was a pleasure to drive. Wish I had it today.
@@chuckmartin7482 Hi! Hope it didn't sound in my comment like I was ragging on the AMC Pacer - in fact I still love that car, I still see it as a beautiful, one of a kind design and wouldn't at all mind owning one now- it's just that if you admit to actually liking the Pacer - the car that all automotive "aficionados" love to piss on- people (car enthusiasts and otherwise) usually look at you kind of strange and question your stability (laugh)... Thank you for your response to my comment and take care 😀
@@davidwhitney1171 not at all. I have had a lot of vehicles, and I could proudly say that the Pacer was a great little car, fun to drive and very comfortable. I do wish I still had it today. Cheers for now. Have a great day.
My family's '76 Pacer-X was heavy and slow. despite having a (3-speed column-mounted) manual transmission. I miss it though.
The sad part about the Pacer automobile is the entire car was designed with a rotary Wankel engine in mind, to be sourced from General Motors. Unfortunately, GM pulled the plug, and AMC was forced to scramble, shoe horning much heavier and less efficient traditional reciprocating piston engines in the engine bay instead.
I loved the cars I grew up with. My dad's 1973 buick century Gran Sport. Nice car. Comfy and fast for a 73 model. Can't put a price on fun. Still prefer old school American steel.
Malaise era cars may be badly engineered, quirky, gas-guzzling and boxy, i still absolutely love them.
74 was my favorite year
I was an 80s kid so I hated them at the time, but now I look back and find them quite pleasing.
@@EAS76 Same here 👍
I agree.
I love them myself... the era I grew up with. They are fabulous.
As a factory worker for over 20 years that makes auto parts. Poor managment style is self destructive. Upper managment does not know specifically how to solve or prevent problems. Most have no experience in production but demand that lower and middle management solve/ prevent all problems and at the same time every Every manager has to cut costs and stick to a budget or else he wont get a promotion. Which cuts on quality which I have seen this change over the years. Quality has no choice but to go down. The upper management gets off scott free because they forced the middle management to make and choose the specific cuts. If they make a bad decision the upper management plays stupid like they did not know the specifics, then pass they blame downword. The one thing that was left out about the Kaizen method was what that was created from and where and from whom.
W. Edwards Deming, a statistician with the U.S became a proponent of Walter Shewhart’s SQC (statistical quality control) methods and later became a leader of the quality movement in Japan. These quality controls drove the industry through WW2. And then were dropped as management changed. 20+ years ago I was taught this, not any more. Upper management are like bullies, they point thier finger and blame elsewhere. They almost never hold themselves accountable. You should make a video on Walter Shewhart, and W Edward Deming.
Born in 1965, I've LIVED this. We were a Mercury-driving family. I have never owned an American car myself.
Same except 1962 for me. 18 cars over 42 years and not one of them American.
@@Rico_G 1971 and I just sold an old Toyota to buy a new one. My parents haven't bought an American car in decades.
We were raised in the Church of Ford; converted to Orthodox Toyotaism.
Both of my parents have owned Mercedes vehicles for the longest time. I'm the odd one out with my Studebaker, but I still consider it right and proper. Studebaker was a fantastic company and the sole licensed distributor for all Mercedes-Benz vehicles in North America for a good few years.
1958 for me. We had mostly GM cars when I was growing up. My own first car was a 1973 Olds Delta 88 Royale. Since then I’ve had 6 domestic and 6 foreign cars.
I love when they show the VW Beetle and label it economy car.
My 1976 Mercury Grand Marquis with a 400 cui engine had the same fuel economy as the VW Beetle - or a 1967 Volvo 144 S, like my parents had.
When I pull into a gas station in my Continental Mark IV, I am often asked about the milage.
If I bother, I return the question with a question: "Have you asked the guy in the Porsche Panamera. or any of the German SUV's for that matter?"
In Bremen, Germany, a distinguished gentleman came over and asked in German: "How much does it eat?"
To which my reply was: "The same as a Mercedes 500, but then you wouldn't ask."
Lincoln Town Cars and Cadillac Broughams from 1990 and up perform excellent fuel economy with gasoline engines, which Mercedes cannot beat with a diesel engine.
Does anybody bother for the comparison?
No.
I am not against electric cars. I would buy a Mustang, if Ford would built it like a Mustang and NOT to look like a SUV.
I would NEVER by a hybrid. The fuel economy in them is a joke, and the thought of them getting old would give me a nightmare.
It is actually better for the world climate for me to keep driving my old Continental Mark IV, than to burden the world climate with the production of a new car.
You know I really do enjoy your channel it's when you have this dry sarcastic yet still educational kind of enlightened tone about you it sets you apart and I don't think you're just a copy of regular car reviews
I clearly recall the moment when I first laid eyes on an AMC Pacer! It definitely stood out from the crowd with all that glass!
And, I don't know how long it's been since I last saw one. They came and vanished really quickly.
13:29 I owned a 1966 Olds Toronado. Largest car I've ever owned.
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, and a US car manufacture"
If the "Chicken Tax" were repealed, the US car manufactures would to bankrupt in 5 months.
Patriotism only carries you so far. If you're making shit boxes and selling them on the fact they're locally built all it takes is a foreigner to start building good cars locally and you've lost your selling point
Most US pickups sold are bigger than overseas pickups, which are considered midsize here. The double cab Nissan Navara is as long as the shortest F-150. I doubt that American buyers would make the switch.
@@wolfthiel1894 maybe, Americans use trucks as a stand in for a d1ck measurement, and not for actual hauling. In the end, it is about how much cash (or debt) you can flash with your macho status symbol. It is how the competition goes here, in some middle class communities.
@@DumbledoreMcCracken in some cases you are correct but there are people that actually need large capabilities from their trucks. Ranchers, farmers and construction industry. Moving cattle goods and equipment for some examples. Then you have all the wannabes buying for cool factor mall crawling and penis substitution driving the prices of said trucks higher and higher with cutsie BS gadgets that are unnecessary on a real work truck.
@@DumbledoreMcCracken
Why you so worried about dick measurement?
God bless you, this is exacty I was looking for. You saved me hours and hours of research. Yes, I've suscribed. Thanks, pal.
Fun fact, the Gremlin was introduced on April 1st. 1970
I'd love to find a gremlin in nice shape now. Nuther fun fact, 3 Gremlins met their demise in The Terminator.
Are you kidding me???
I owned a gremlin. Who, for crying out loud, would name a car after the mythical creatures of mechanical sabotage and failure!
@@ericscott5224 you bought one. Maybe you should answer your own question
Yeah, but it was shit. So was the other strange American "small" car, the AMC Pacer.
I had a friend that had a Gremlin. That was a tough car. He did service work for an agricultural implement dealer so that car spent a lot of time on gravel roads, dirt trails, and even right in the fields. He drove that car for years and never had any big issues with it. Even after he quit driving it day in and day out he kept it as a backup car. It wasn't that many years ago he finally got rid of it.
There were 2 additional reasons. First, US labor is very conservative and protective of their jobs. For the most part they successfully kept automation out of the factories and limited efficiency gains in the 1960's and 1970's. Second, US management cared more about saving money today rather than investing for the future. This was a change that occurred through the 1960's and is still prevalent today.
@@jeffreywilliams144 Management was grotesquely inefficient and backward thinking. You cannot blame labor for all of the failures of industry beginning in the 1960s. This was an industry that would still be promoting landlines if they were TelComs.
@@billm.819 Yup. It's not like the labour unions were designing shitty cars and cutting corners on quality
@@jeffreywilliams144 Even Trump said if a project fails, it’s the leader’s fault. You can’t blame labor for crap management. Crap management led to crap quality, led to crap planning and crap cars.
@@xmlthegreat no but the assembly line was producing more defective cars per 100 than the Japanese counterpart who were already incorporating automation their factories.
Labor holds almost no blame, the auto industry like all industry of that era was already automating and cutting jobs. All labor did was build the cars, they didn’t design them. Not to mention the Japanese cars in Japan were built by union workers as well.
Malaise era for my family started in 1965. Our new Pontiac Tempest was a lemon. The clutch linkage (3 speed column shift,) was always going out. Where was that vaunted GM quality?
The question nobody asked here: Ed, are you feeling better?? You said you had covid. Your voice and sense of humor seem to be in good shape now.
I can't really say I approve of this video because, largely of Ed's miss characterization of the GM video "Beetles and Bugs" which was clearly aimed at GM employees and warning them that they had to up their game or they were going the way of the consumer electronics and other trades which had come to be dominated by over seas competition.
Beyond that Ed also seemed to be trying to link the interest on compact cars to the OPEC oil embargo when the manufacturers were bringing out their economy cars several years before that. The place of the economy car in the US market was as a car for younger drivers who commonalty moved into larger cars when they had more money and family. The other market for small cars was as the 'second' car in a two car family. They felt they had to build small cars to keep the younger drivers in their customer base so they would continue to buy their bigger cars later. Where they really screwed up was building the small cars so badly that the younger customers never wanted to buy from them again. The Japanese builders were taking the younger buyers and selling them better cars and leading them away from ever wanting to by American again.
I would add that if it had been left up to Renault, Fiat and British Leland it would all be very different today because they would not have gathered loyal owners like Toyota, Honda and Nissan did. Even if the early Japanese cars did have some shortcomings they were reliable and delivered what they promised.
I like this guy's scholarship and his delivery. I am a car guy from birth and Ed nails it over and over. Thanks, Ed!!!
When I was a kid in the early 80s, I remember thinking what a POS my friend's parents' Chevy Chevette was. I mean I was too young to really pay attention to cars, but remember noting how crappy the interior was and how cheap the whole car felt. A distinct step down from my own parents' '77 Oldsmobile wagon, which wasn't exactly a classic. When I was in high school in the mid-late 80s I was deeply ashamed of American cars in general. 95% of them were garbage. Japanese cars were #1 in my book. Fortunately, today, American cars are getting back in full swing. Most of the cars I want now are American made.
Whenever you compare the cheapest product with a better product, the cheap one comes up short. Compare the "75 Chevette to a 75 Corolla or a Datsun B210 or the entry level Mazda or the Austin America and it does not look so bad.
I found your channel few days ago and now it's my favourite youtube channel
Keep going man :))
2 years later this video is still fresh.
Great take on the US downfall. Mind you, the Japanese design back then was definitely not on a par with what they're currently putting out and the bodies very prone to rust. A friend had a '76 Corolla and by '81, he could change the spark plugs without the bother of opening the bonnet (hood)
X2, even later 90s Japanese cars were known for cutting costs on thinner metal sheets, lower grade bolts etc
@@V8interceptorChannel Plus isn't the Toyota Tacoma for all 3 of it's generations known for rust
Yep. A Ford or Chevy that was driven for 20 years and then sat in a farmers field for another 20 still has a solid frame. Tacomas were literally rusting in half after 10.
Japanese cars stay longer on the road though for whatever reason
@@nickrustyson8124 I own an '06. And at 10 years, and 135k miles, Toyota made good on the rusty frame, with a new frame, leaf springs, control arms, fuel & brake lines etc.. All at NO cost to me.
Ford decided to pay the law suits. THAT is the difference.
My dad was way ahead of his time. He bought a Borgward Isabella Station wagon in 1959!
5:54 wow a Fiat 126p! a great polish classic
I had 1977 Pacer in 1992. I loved it. Super interesting your reportage. American cars 70s were the best of the world for far, but consume of gasoline was the big problem. Big measure, big problem.
Greetings from the far city of Santiago, Chile, SouthAmerica.
Why this channel isn’t over 1 million is beyond me. Well produced and very entertaining. Keep it up!
Ed, really, every time i watch your videos im in awe cause one can just feel the heart you put into production
You nailed it with the overall problem: maximum profit. American cars then (and now) are built to the absolute lowest common denominator in a misguided attempt to "maximize shareholder value" and keep costs to a minimum. GM especially was notorious for it's "what the hell, it's good enough" engineering that continues to this day. Laying the blame on long overdue government regulations is just spreading the blame.
That's quite an indictment of GM management. If they were focused on "maximum profit" which you state as if that's bad and fail to distinguish from increasing shareholder value (they are not always the same thing) then their arrival in bankruptcy court shows that they did not know how to maximize profit.
What does your employer pay you from? Losses?
@@edarcuri182 There is nothing wrong with maximizing profit, that's the reason businesses exist. My problem with GM management is they focused on profit to the exclusion of all else, relying on brand loyalty and government intervention (re: the "Voluntary Export Restraints" of 1981) to keep them afloat instead of engineering better cars.
@@edarcuri182 was combined with unions that didn't care either, from drugs to even prostitution rings, lets just say there was corruption across the board throughout american society.
That bug and the beetle film is asking the real questions: "why are people buying import cars that fit their needs instead of a blinged out horsepowerless carriage that spontaneously combusts and gets recalled 6 out of 7 times?
Yay. A new Funny Dutchman video
Yanagi is still the funniest.
It was used in a famous Dutch comedy, Van Kooten & De Bie. Here, they play two unreliable self-made men, who come to rake the garden of gullible ladies (winterising it, a well-known expression since then) for a few hundred guilders. Of course, these two men drive unreliable cars, the comedians must have thought. In the Netherlands, this car looks really strange.. (BTW, usually these characters drove real big size American cars)
Thanks for showing that Pacer in the thumbnail. It really brought back memories. I was a suburban pimp in 1975 and drove a Pacer-based pimpmobile, complete with large rims, candy apple red paint job, white wall tires, purple fur interior (fake fur, so don't get on my case), and fuzzy dice hanging from the read view mirror. I went by "Doctor Pimpalishuss" and was very popular with the mid-level executive crowd who appreciated a decent schtup at an affordable price. The Pacer fit my persona perfectly.
This is uhhhhmazing 😂 Thank you for sharing your blast from the past. Suburban pimp must have been such a fascinating occupation.
@@mattsnoozle5093 Fascinating? No. Tedious? YES! You have no idea the accounting burden! And if you have ladies who live across state lines then you have to handle THEIR states' employment laws and payroll taxes. And deductions? FEH! I should BE so lucky -- YOU try claiming on your tax returns 144 tubes of KY jelly as a business expense.
But great customer service always pulled us through. Special requests, like Dr. Hirsch with the shoe fetish -- she has to always wear Christian Louboutins, never Manolo Blahniks -- we never failed on. Even my own uncle, Moishe "Three For the Price of Two" Finkelstein, had a thing for shaved. Maybe not so much of a rare thing today, but 1975? Dos iz geven MESHUGE! He made a fortune in men's hairpieces, and he goes for the shaved? Go figure.
Anyway, I hung up my pimp hat (faux ermine, wide brim, purple feather, $19.95 on sale cheap from Big Daddy's on Wabash) long ago and went into software development. But to this day when I see a prostitute from Highland Park, Illinois scowl at a prospective John and ask, "You want me to do WHAT?!" it makes in me the warm fuzzies all over again.
Early malaise era cars are probably my favorite cars (well, the fullsize ones anyway). Styling peaked in the '50s and went downhill from there. Performance is pointless on the road. Just give me something with a lot of room, a cushy seat, and squishy suspension. My primary vehicle is a mid-70s Ford LTD. I've never driven any car nicer than it is, and I've tried many vehicles from many decades. Comfort is king, and the giant malaise boats were best at it.
(And as an added bonus, the gas mileage in my LTD really isn't even that bad. When I bought it ten years ago, it was still on par with other modern vehicles of the same size. I was very impressed.)
I grew up driving the crappy cars from the 70's and 80's. Yes they were terrible but at least you could work on them.
I disagree.
How much performance you have is crucial. A 600 hp borderline supercar is useless on public streets. But a 150-200hp hot hatch? Perfection.
@@urbanoman7689 - You're certainly entitled to your own vehicle preference (after all, that's why there are so many different classes of cars in the first place; different people like different things), but that's the exact sort of attitude I hate to see out of other drivers on the road. Barring an emergency, there's no reason to be darting around on the road like Zippy McSpeedster. Driving fast can certainly be fun, but public roadways are not the place to do it. A responsible driver doesn't need a high power to weight ratio, and for that reason performance just doesn't matter in a road car that's being driven responsibly.
I do occasionally see people try to argue that higher performance makes you safer because you can get out of the way of accidents, and while theoretically that could be true, in practice I have never seen it make a difference. I've had to dodge reckless drivers in my LTD multiple times; it's perfectly capable of pulling very extreme swerves and turns in a pinch. I've also been rear-ended a couple times while at a light, and I can assure you that having a hot hatch or a muscle car _still_ would not have given me enough acceleration to get out of the way. However, since my car was massive with metal bumpers, it took no damage in the collisions.
@@NoName-ik2du You misunderstood me. I'm not advocating for driving like a maniac. It's entirely possible to have fun within reason and it's generally easier to do in lightweight, low power cars. 200hp was a tad much in retrospect. An old style hot hatch with 100-150ish would be even better suited for that.
Depends on where you live. Here in New England, the land of cloverleaf highway interchanges with super tight curves and no room to merge, having adequate horsepower and stiff suspension is vital for safety. Having to slow down from 70 mph to 25 when exiting because your car has noodle suspension and having to merge back into 70 mph traffic with an underpowered powertrain is not a pleasant experience.
And now so many people won't give Ford, GM and Chrysler another chance. Too bad; I bought a Fusion Hybrid new and it's great. Zero problems in 5 years and over 50 mpg highway if I keep it under 70 mph.
Finally! New episode at the end of sunday! Thanks man!
I actually miss the older cars of the 60's and 70's. Good times man.. good times😌
Part 2 will I assume take in emissions rules (the OTHER reason European cars didn't make as much headway). Not only do we have stupid big engines, but the only way the big 3 can get them under requirements is to cripple their power. So you can't get there fast OR cheap. On the bright side, you could actually breathe.
The Vega is generally held to have died a death of 1000 (cost) cuts. The engine especially (no cylinder liners in an aluminum block). And the early 70s seem to have been the rust age as far as cars are concerned. Standing joke on the Vega, if it was a a little rusty, it was still on the production line.
I’m a Detroiter & I’m the first male on my fathers side that hasn’t worked in the auto industry since my great grandfather immigrated to the US. Corporate culture definitely sucked, my family were all Ford people so it’s my insight but we have friends who worked at the other big 2. There is a nuanced argument to be made about Cold War economic policies visa vi Japan where the open U.S. consumer market was open & without protectionism & currency manipulation. But that’s not a get out of jail free card for poor corporate choices it may have cut down on breathing room but quality & fuel efficiency were the future. My dad had a Pinto he started his career during college on the plant floor, he knew an easy at home fix for the gas tank. There was a long bolt coming out of the bumper which he cut with a saw which was close to if not quite a 100% fix. His experience as a highly educated engineer getting into his middle age at Ford was a constant battle to prove himself by going above and beyond as not to be replaced by younger workers. Lack of seniority meant lower wages, less benefits needed to be paid out & some of the best & brightest just left for greener pastures in industry or tech related industry on the west coast. Allen Mullally saved not only Ford but the US auto industry by changing corporate culture for the better and investing into quality products and leveraging all its assets. He got his revenge on Boeing by being a leader in turning around the poster child for dysfunctional American manufacturing by throwing out the model cost cutting via quality slashing. The 737 supermax story that the McDonald Douglass board lead Boeing to embodies all the bad practices and arrogance that lead the auto industry to its long decline.
Just wanted to let you know that this came on autoplay on my tv and I was pretty sure I was looking at yet another guy with millions of subscribers. if all your videos are this quality I'm sure that you will be that guy someday :) Keep it up man!
'Kayso, I just spent the entire night binge watching all of the episodes in this series. Great stuff! I have a suggestion, maybe? Wheels and tires (or tyres, depending on what side of the pond you're from lol), like how they basically started with wagon type wheels, and how they've evolved to what we have now. Just an idea. I may be delirious lol
"Broughamification" great analysis
Indeed, this was a really good insight, "we can't do anything else, so lets tart up the cars, maybe those will sell better."
Interesting perspective from someone looking in. There were so many social and economic factors that went into why the American auto industry lost its way for a while. Yet today vehicles built in N. America for this market can easily last 15-20 years with basic maintenance. In the 70's it was rare that a car lasted 100K miles before being junked.
I'm starting to look forward to your videos. I already binged everything !
You don't see many American made cars from the 1970s on the road anymore. However, its not extremely uncommon to encounter an original VW Beetle driving around.
4:48 if a Beetle is cheap on fuel compared to an American land yacht, an Italian car in comparison is a no fuel car 🤣🤣🤣
Fix It Again Tony?
@@jon-paulfilkins7820 you mean the Latin word for done
The Beatles were a pop group from Liverpool and not cheap. VW made beetles. I loved them but didn't like driving them - mostly because the pedals came up from the car rather than hanging down.
Bang on about the economy though - for smallish cars, they weren't that economical.
Beetle.
@@AtheistOrphan thank you
You are missing a few points. My 67 camaro with a 350 at 290 hp four speed would get 21 MPG on the highway. Which is more than some cars today... and it was fast. The Nova and the Falcon were V8 cars that got about that same mileage. And they were fun to drive. But..................they could not survive the smog controls of the mid 70's What really mattered was computers... computer controlled ignition and fuel injection.... that was gonna happen no matter what. Now we have over 500 hp cars that weigh more than my old camaro that get 25 mpg
This channel has been consistently high quality since the start. Great content, great writing, and very good narration. Bravo!
I love your sense of humor. Makes me keep coming back to watch more.
I/we never gave a thought to what kind of mileage our cars were getting that was until we couldn't get enough gas.. That is when I went shopping for my first econo box. When that was over went right back to not caring.
Just the era I grew up in I guess, but I'm super nostalgic for these cars.
Ah, the Gremlin!
In 1972 you could get a 5 liter V8, with a Borg-Warner 4-speed transmission. (It was geared too tall; rodders would replace it with the box out of a Javelin.) Yeah... With a bit of modding, the '72 Gremlins were fun as hell.
Detroit's biggest problem was refusing to take compact cars seriously. I will be the first one to tell you that bigger is better when it comes to cars, but discontinuing the compacts that were selling well proved near-fatal once the gas crisis arrived.
These are so well done and your knowledge is incredible. I subscribed two days back. I've seen part lll malaise, and this clip. Those late 1980s GM cars, like the Grand Am and the fancier models, like Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais, were nice looking machines.
As a youngster, I would fill up my dad's "loan cars" up the street for 23¢ a gallon.
By the time I was a teen, driving (legally), gas had gone all the way up to 42¢ a gallon-and we had to wait in LINES for it-and later California introduced "odd/even" gas rationing. Oh, what a pain it was, waiting for at least an hour to buy gasoline.
In high school (mid '70s), I had a friend who's JOB it was, to gas up the company cars. ALL HE DID (for $2.25 an hour) was basically wait in line, fill up a company car, drive back, get another, and repeat.
I miss my first car. 1964 Chevy II, or Nova, it was badged as both for some dumb reason. Straight 6, 3 on the tree. It was the station wagon model. Simple, useful, easy to work on, but, kind of ugly. I didn't care. I was 16 years old. The car was 15 years old. Paid $100 for it.
In the 2 years I had it, I had to replace the water pump, which I did myself for like $35, and the tires. That was it. Sold it for $250. Wish I'd just kept it.
An Opel GT was like a baby corvette. Some of my fellow 5th grade students put my teacher's Opel GT sideways in her parking spot by picking it up in Toledo, Ohio.
Good video, informative and entertaining at the same time. In Switzerland we had those carfree Sundays in 1973 too, it was pretty weird. ;).
Immer die Sunntigsfahrer!
In New Zealand we had carless days but you could choose which day of the week have it on. Cars carried a sticker on their windscreen identifying what day was that cars carless day.
I have to say, you have very good timing. Your sense of humor and excitement in the episode made it very enjoyable. Well done.
@edsautoreviews Hi Ed, I got a reply saying thanks for watching and you have a prize. Just checking if I got something or if someone left a spam comment, thanks.
I absolutely love this series.
AMC was actually the first American automotive company to come up with the idea of producing a fuel efficient car to compete against foreign imports. The Gremlin debuted on April Fool's day in 1970 I believe and the idea was that it was like an economy car but it didn't feel like a lesser version of a traditional American car. You still got the styling, design and comfort of a big American car, just a bit smaller and better on gas. What's surprising is that it was actually more popular with racing than the Javelin - AMC's own flagship muscle car. The Gremlin was great for doing wheelies, drag races and donuts. It's not my favorite AMC but I do still like it and it's built good. Hands down the best economy car out of what followed from other makes in my opinion. Other American car companies saw what AMC was doing with the Gremlin, so Ford and GM were like- "Oh sh*t, we should be doing that." and came out with the Ford Pinto and Chevy Vega a few years later after AMC.
The later Pacer had it's massive windows due to the desire for better visibility, so form follows function. I think the designer was Dick Teague (I'm not sure so don't quote me on that) who lost his father in a car accident because of a blind spot in the car he was driving. The Pacer was supposed to have a rotary engine that Buick was responsible for, but Buick chickened out of the deal with AMC at the last minute leaving AMC hanging. AMC had already built the Pacers and everything, they were stuck without an engine so they managed to squeeze in a Hornet engine. It's tight at the back, that's why later models have a hump in the hood instead of the flush curved hood the first generation of Pacers had.
Dumbass Ford knew about the problem with the Pinto and like you said, they figured it would be cheaper to get people killed than to fix the problem. I'm fed up with Ford as a company. They do everything on the cheap and they don't care how their cars or tractors are designed, as long as it can run they'll sell it. If a part should be made out of metal they'll make it out of plastic, sometimes you need to order special tool made by Ford just to reach a specific bolt. Unless I were rich like Jay Leno and it was something I really wanted like a Cougar, I've vowed to never buy another Ford again. I'm done with their sh*t.
The Chevy Vega I don't know that personally so I can't really comment on it. I just know it was rather blah and supposed to be pretty lame.
I want to close by saying that even though I'm not someone who grew up during any part of traditional American cars, I want them back. I don't like a lot of modern cars, I really don't. I'm a fairly big guy, I don't like the pain in my knee caps when I sit in a small cramped Toyota. I don't like the awkward, uncomfortable, plasticy-ness of modern cars - both American and foreign. They're not as safe either, I've seen plenty of car wrecks. I don't like banging my head on the ceiling when I hit a bump on the road. I don't like having a mess of an engine layout I can't work on. I think a lot of them look ugly too. They're all the same blobs, the same 5 colors, the same slanted headlights. I like classic American cars because it's something I can actually enjoy. There's taste, there's thoughtful design for the driver, for a husband's wife and kids, for maintenance. I'll admit some old American cars have poor gas mileage for their time, sure, my point though is I want new-old American cars. Take the best of the past and improve aspects where it fell short. We don't get that today. Today we get cheap plastic crap that will be replaced every 5-6 years because the companies want you to keep buying. I don't want to essentially be paying rent for a turd every so many years, I want a good product that will serve me well.
Finally, algorithm seems to notice this treasure!
During the crisis, I was born, both my mother and father as well as my uncle drove a Grey, Blue and Orange Gremlin respectively and grandparents drove a White VW Beetle. The grandparents also had an old 40s Plymouth they stored in a storage unit (a drive in one), and the Great-Grandparents had a 60s 4-Door Thunderbird. REAL CHERRY. My great-grandparents never drove the damn car unless we came over. It was considered a Sunday Outing Luxury to ride in it. Back to the story, my family all drove these small cars through the years but over time my mother moved to bigger cars. Pontiac in particular, TransAms, Firebirds and Tempests and GTOs. Also Ford Gran Torinos. Things I guess she wanted in the 70s but couldn't have due to the gas prices and oil issues. My father on the other hand continued to drive things like VW Rabbit, Mercury Capri, Hyundai Excel. I personally am a mix between the two. I love a nice cherry classic car but I also prefer smaller more economical vehicles if I was going to drive one. Smaller is easier.
Nice video! I do think you should have touched on the intended rotary engine for the Pacer. But all in all an excellent video!
I was wondering if he would mention that.
As a hot rodder I never bought anything made from 74 to almost 1990... the stuff from overseas was even worse (for me) I began to think everyone not American was not over 5'6" tall... I drove 50's and 60's cars and could do all the work myself. Smog control stuff is still a big turnoff on cars that are in the 70's My truck is a 73 cause it does not require smog. Late model chevy drive train.
Holy Moly, this is quality.
What an amazing gem of a channel this is. I love automotive history. Great video. Subscribed. Look forward to watching more.
The quality of your videos is improving exponentially. I like where this is going man keep it up!
Just came upon these vids today, and I’m hooked already. (That doesn’t usually happen, trust me.) I’ll be checking out the rest of them. Well done presentations, Ed!
Its funny, as much as people shit on american luxo barges of the 70s, I love them. Lots of low end torque, and style for days. More reliable, easier to work on and cheaper than German cars, bigger engines and more power than japanese cars. Yeah they don't have the market cornered any more, but they still sell alot of cars.
>more powerful than japanese cars
okay now try going round a corner at speed
Also torque is useless without power
Low end torque isn't that useful if the torque band is stupidly narrow and you're stuck with 3 speed transmissions.
@@hailexiao2770 have you ever driven something with a low revving torquey engine, like a harley, or a muscle car? you may find you like it.
The funny thing is, half a century later, American manufacturers still can't compete with foreign offerings, and some have stopped producing cars altogether because of it.
They have also given up on nearly all export markets.
On the other hand GM EMD or GMD locomotives are dominating even European freight services. Developed this from the eighties with locomotives fitted to tunnel sizes etc.
I remember that AMC's Pacer got off at a disadvantage: the advance-design Wankel rotary engine intended for the car was so delayed that AMC was forced to substitute a GM-made 6, which was not the best answer...but at that point in the car's development nothing else was possible.
Yeah. That wasn't the first time GM pulled the plug on a contract in the 11th hour. They were developing the Wankel and at the same time sold AMC a bill of goods. The Wankel never made it into production and AMC is left to shoehorn a big GM in-line 6 into that engine bay. The motor was so long under the hood, it actually sat under the windshield.
Our family owned one. Brand new off the showroom floor in 77. It was the only one where I lived. Everyone else had enough sense to buy a more traditional car. My old man was almost talked into buying a Honda Accord for my sister to drive, but, as usual, saw the price tag on an American built "compact car" and brought home a polished turd instead of the widely received Honda. I was never that keen for it. It was the ugliest car on the road at the time.
The pacer used AMC 6 cylinder engines , which were the 232 and 258 .
Thanks for the way back of auto history! You’re one intelligent & humorous dude 😜💪🏽🚗
I’m hella hyped for the next episode
I put link to this video on my channel this morning. Great work. Max