25th Jul 2015, 15:19
In the 70's cars were purchased every "5.5" (or whatever you say years) because they were indeed cheaper, and styling changed almost every 4-5 years giving people reason for wanting to buy something new. Today's plastic all looks the same, with restyles occurring almost every 10 years. The Camry has looked the same since 2007.
The worn out comment of odometers only reaching 99k means nothing. I remember many cars that we owned that flipped more than once.
25th Jul 2015, 15:54
Funny thing is I have owned the Pontiac Grand Prix from three different eras. 1977, 1984 and 1998.
Let's start with the '77 when American cars were supposedly bad. This car was 30 years old when I bought it. Yes it was a low mileage classic, but the point is it NEVER gave me an ounce of trouble. Drove it everywhere as opposed to where some don't drive their classics at all. Plus the looks of the car were sassy compared to anything back then, let alone today.
Next the '84 GP (bought as my first car when it was 11 years old) with 89,000 miles (which you would consider "high mileage" for the time)? The 5 digit odometer rolled over twice. 210,000 miles that is. Sure there were repairs I made here and there, but nothing major on the underpowered but strong Buick V6.
And last came the '98 Widetrack GP. Junk at 70,000 miles and 7 years of age. The things that broke? Everything that you would NOT find on a '70's - early '80's car. I sold that P.O.S. at an auction.
26th Jul 2015, 04:37
In the late eighties I used to work in a salvage yard stripping cars for their valuable parts. Most if not all cars from the seventies in the yard rolled their odometers once or twice. You could tell by the wear and tear of the driver's seat or the rubber wearing off on the gas or brake pedal. Quite a few even had the engines taken out on the cars that were rusted away.
Styling changes back then were more frequent than they are today, along with affordable pricing, which explains why the average consumer purchased a new model every 3-4 years.
26th Jul 2015, 12:23
My old classic car cost nearly as much as my new one. It's a joy to maintain. The new one takes specialized equipment and is the polar opposite. So preference is not always a financial concern. When something goes wrong and the warranty doesn't apply, it's typically bring out the wallet. The worst part of all is the waste of time. New cars have computerized systems, that when things go, it can be a royal pain.
25th Jul 2015, 12:48
I had dozens of these full sized 70s and 80s cars - they normally would drive 200-300,000 miles. I usually sold them off at around 200,000, but I would see them driving round town for years and years afterwards. Obviously they were overbuilt and much more durable than modern cars. However their carburetor technology did necessitate somewhat greater tinkering over the years, but still, very easy to keep running for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles.
The reason people tended to keep cars less long back then was not because of anything wrong with the cars - it was just that the standard of living was much higher back then.