In the 1970's, the entertainment industry celebrated cars and their power with movies such as; American Graffiti, Gum Ball Rally and Smokie and the Bandit. Am I longing for the good old days of the gas guzzlers? Not completely. But, I do have an affinity to their style, strength and presence. You might say I like the way they commanded the road.
Back then, the style of the cars were flamboyant and made a statement. Moreover, they still do today when they are driven around. I particularly like the Pontiac GCO, Buick Electra, and the infamous Trans AM. I couldn't help to stop and watch them as they drive by back then - and when I see these old classics as they drive by today.
And in our love of retro, the designers are bringing back the same style with today's Charger, Mustang and Camaro. Do command the road today? Probably not as much. Do they turn heads as they drive by? Absolutely.
Let me know:
What was your favourite car when you were young?
Cars
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1 comments:
It wasn't an iconic design car, but my earliest memory of cars of the 1970s was my family's 1978 Chevrolet Impala, which we had into the mid-80s.
It was powder blue of all colours, though not surprising for that era. And I always remember how it had this fabric roof - not a convertible, but a hard top, where they'd covered the metal roof with an extra layer of fabric for esthetics I suppose.
The reason I remember this so well is on one drive along the 417 east towards Montreal, maybe a half an hour out of Ottawa, we hear this big noise and then loud flapping sound. Pulled over and turned out that the fabric roof must of had a rip, which got caught up in the wind on the highway and caused the whole thing to rip off on the front and halfway down sides, so that it was flapping like a big sail from the back.
We had to use some rope or something to tie it down, with the rope running through driver and passenger side windows and tying on the inside near where the overhead light. The whole was both shocking and impressive to me as a kid.
We ended up getting rid of that car around 1985 I think in favour of a 1984 Subaru. Though an American car and presumably built to withstand our winters, our Chevrolet Impala had all rusted out. Never had any problems though with the Japanese Subaru, which probably says a lot about how the North American car industry went down the tubes. The Impala was the last one we ever owned - with our later cars all Japanese.