If You Grew Up In The ’70s, You Definitely Remember These Cars

As a car enthusiast, growing up in the 1970s was bittersweet. While there were some cool looking muscle cars from the early ’70s in dealer showrooms, the muscle car era’s heyday was mostly behind us as we slipped into the malaise era fueled by stricter emissions controls and rising gasoline prices.

However, that’s not to say the 1970s lacked its share of memorable cars. And we don’t just design holdovers from 1960s. Some the entries on this played roles on the silver screen or the smaller screens in our living rooms. Some are remembered because of the foundation they laid for models that are still with us over 50 years later, and other are remembered simply for their quirkiness.

We’ll present five memorable cars from the 1970s in this list, but first there’s an honorable mention that’s not included because it isn’t strictly a car. General Motors’ square body pickups are some of the best looking trucks ever designed. The design marked the third generation of Chevrolet and GMC C- and K-series trucks which rolled out for the 1973 model year. With that out of the way, let’s return to the list of memorable 1970s cars.

If you grew up in 1970s America, or potentially other parts of the world as well, and you were already a fan of powerful cars, you likely watched “The Dukes of Hazzard” on television each week. While the General Lee, a bright orange late 1960s Dodge Charger, several of which were destroyed while filming, and cousins Bo and Luke Duke were the stars of the show, many remember another Duke, Daisy.

One of the most interesting things about Daisy Duke, aside from her wardrobe which inspired an entire generation, was what she drove. While the show didn’t debut until the late 1970s, the first car we saw Daisy driving was a 1974 Plymouth Roadrunner. Like the one pictured above, Miss Duke’s Roadrunner was bright yellow with a black racing stripe extending from near the headlights, down the fenders, across the doors, and onto the quarter panels before wrapping around the rear side windows and extending over the top.

We can only guess at the storyline-power of Daisy’s 1974 Roadrunner after her cousins tuned it to their liking. However, even real world specs for the car show it potentially had the 440 cubic-inch big block V8 engine equipped with a four-barrel carburetor putting out a likely underrated 275 SAE net horsepower.

Another car that got the primal blood of 1970s youngsters simmering was the Official Pace Car Edition of the Silver Anniversary 1978 Chevrolet Corvette. While there are other special edition Chevy Corvettes that will always turn heads, this one marked 25 years of Corvette, and was the first of the brand act as a pace car in America’s biggest race.

The first time many saw this special Corvette livery was at the start of the 1978 Indianapolis 500 as it aired on television. Seeing its gleaming black over silver two-tone paint, red pinstriping, polished aluminum wheels, front and rear spoilers, with the words “Official Pace Car” on the door is a core memory for more 1970’s kids than you might guess (myself included).

The model came along 10 years into the C3 generation. It didn’t bring any significant changes to the underlying ‘Vette, but the updated styling and celebratory year contributed to record production numbers at the time. 

The Chevrolet Corvette Silver Anniversary Pace Car edition replica accounted for 6,502 (one for each Chevrolet Dealership at the time) of the nearly 47,000 Corvette coupes built for the 1978 model year. Base MSRP for the standard 1978 Corvette coupe was around $9,352, while opting for the Indy 500 Pace Car replica upped the starting price to $13,353. Buyers had a choice between two 350 (5.7-liter) small block Chevy engine options: the L48 with 185 hp, or the L82 with 220 hp. Transmission options included a four-speed manual or three-speed automatic.

It’s not memorable as one of the best looking hatchbacks ever designed, but the 1973 Honda Civic is cemented in the memories of 1970s kids. The car made an impression as being among the first cars we’d remember as economical by design that are still with us today.

As kids in the early 1970s, we didn’t care much about gas prices. What we remember is seeing the long lines of cars, and people standing with gas cans in hand, at gas pumps. The introduction of the Honda Civic to the United States was a direct response to that fuel crisis. Compared to the late 1960s and early 1970s muscle cars sitting in nearly every parking lot of the time, the 1973 Civic wasn’t much to look at, but that’s probably why we remember seeing them as they became more common.

The March 1973 issue of Car and Driver carried news of the new Honda Civic with the prediction it would “start something big.” The author of that headline had no way of knowing just how big the Civic’s impact on the future of cars would be.

The 1973 Civic’s transverse-mounted 1.2-liter four-cylinder provided 50 hp and 50 lb-ft of torque through the four-speed manual transmission. While relatively low-powered, the lightweight four-passenger Civic could accelerate to 60 mph in just under 13 seconds and had a top speed of 88 mph.

The ill-fated Ford Pinto made its debut for the 1971 model year. While it’s widely regarded as one of the worst-looking Fords ever made, its looks aren’t the primary reason people who grew up in the 1970s remember it. Yes, it was kind of ugly, but there were uglier cars around, like the AMC Pacer for example.

The real reason the early 1970’s Ford Pinto is engrained into memory is its likelihood of catching fire when hit from the rear. The first instance occurred in 1972 in California when a Ford Pinto was struck from the rear with an impact speed of 28 mph, ultimately killing the driver and burning a 13-year-old passenger, Richard Grimshaw, over 90% of his body. Over 100 lawsuits arising from similar incidents followed.

Surprisingly, production of the Ford Pinto carried on throughout the 1970s before Ford pulled the plug in 1980. Ford Motor Company issued a recall for 1.5 million Ford Pintos and another 30,000 Mercury Bobcats because their fuel tank design put them at risk of fiery rear-end crashes.

The jury in the Grimshaw case originally awarded the young man $125 million in punitive damages because Ford Motor Company knew the fuel tank design was dangerous before the Pinto went into production. The design remained because the company calculated it was cheaper to pay claims for any associated injuries or deaths than to implement a better design, a design for which Ford already held a patent.

There are few classic muscle cars from the movies that are more recognizable than the 1977 Pontiac Trans Am driven by Burt Reynolds in “Smokey and the Bandit.” In the classic hit movie, the Trans Am is able to deliver a performance that cuts through the endless background chatter about runaway brides and the illegal transportation of alcohol. Honorable mention goes to Fred (a basset hound) for his fine performance as well.

For 1977, the Pontiac Trans Am received a facelift. The Trans Ams used in the movie were actually 1976 models, but they were equipped with updated 1977 front clips, featuring two pairs of rectangular headlights, to make them appear as new models.

The top trim W72 1977 Trans Am featured a 6.6-liter Pontiac engine with 200 hp and 325 lb-ft of torque. Transmission options included a four-speed manual or three-speed automatic.

To find an original Smokey and the Bandit replica Trans Am, look for non-T-top 1977 and 1978 models with an RPO code of Y81 or Y82 for T-tops. The front fascia of the 1979 Trans Am saw some big changes once again, but RPO Y84 models with a four-speed gets close to the original Bandit car.