We’ve wrapped up our week reviewing Motor Trend’s coverage of the new 1977 domestic cars. So now it’s time for you to choose: imagine if you were buying a new car in 1977, what would you have picked? One of the new downsized models from GM? Would a personal luxury coupe have captured your fancy? A traditional “Big American Car”? Or would you have motored away in something smaller?
As for me, let me start by saying that I was 10-years-old in 1977 and an emerging hard-core car nut. At that time, there was one car that I really, really wanted–yep, a 1977 Firebird Trans Am. My buddies and I thought Trans Ams were just the coolest cars and we were crazy for them, “Screaming Chickens” and all. Remember, we were Malaise-era kids, so our automotive expectations were much lower. Cars like the Camaro and Firebird were about as good as it got in terms of available “muscle.” I was certain that I would be a Trans Am driver (nope, never ever happened). But if it had… my pick would have basically been like the Smokey and the Bandit car, a black/gold Trans Am with a black interior and the real Pontiac 400 V8. I can just see the younger version of me beaming as I grasped the padded Formula steering wheel, gazed at my instruments housed in their “machine turned aluminum” trim panel and looked out over the long, sculpted hood…
The other cars I was infatuated with as a kid were the new downsized GM full-sized cars. These really were a big deal at the time, and generated a lot of buzz. They felt so new and smart, and it was very exciting to spot the first ones as they appeared on the streets. My Pop got a 1977 Caprice Classic sedan as a company car in January 1977, and I was absolutely crazy about it (as were my buddies–hard to imagine 10-year-old boys excited about a family sedan today…). So now, as a rational adult (most of the time at least), I would have to answer this week’s QOTD by selecting a downsized full-sized car from GM. But which one?
That is a hard question for me, because I genuinely love all of the GM full-sized cars from 1977, and would happily have owned any of them. So I’m going to cheat a bit with my answer…
For a B-Body sedan, my choice would be the Caprice. I’d want it to be very similar to the one my Pop had, Dark Blue-Green Metallic with no vinyl top, sport mirrors and sport wheel covers, Chevy 350 4V V8, F41 suspension and loaded with options. Unlike Pop’s car, which had vinyl seats, “my” Caprice would have come with the more upscale Special Custom velour interior in saddle tan.
For a B-Body Coupe, I would have a Pontiac Bonneville. Make mine Nautilus Blue, with body-colored Rally II wheels, sport mirrors and no vinyl top. Inside would be blue velour, with all the toys, including the Rally gauge cluster and built-in AM/FM CB radio. Power would come from a genuine Pontiac 400 4V V8, and handling would come courtesy of the Rally RTS package. This beauty would put personal luxury intermediates to shame!
For a B-Body wagon, my pick would be the Oldsmobile Customer Cruiser. Please give me that distinctive Olds woodgrain treatment (I love the way it wraps over the wheel arches), and since these woodgrain-trimmed wagons often seemed to come in some shade of tan or brown, I’d stick with the Light Buckskin as shown on the car pictured above. In fact, that’s exactly what my Custom Cruiser would look like, down to the tan vinyl interior and cornering lights. Under hood you’d find the Olds-made 403 4V V8 and inside would be every comfort and convenience feature Oldsmobile had on offer (including AM/FM Stereo with 8-track stereo tape player), all the better to keep the kiddies entertained and the parents relatively stress free.
Moving on the C-Body, my choice for the larger sedan would be the Buick Electra 225. While lighter colors and earth tones were all the rage in 1977, I’d have gone in a slightly different direction: my Electra would have been Black with a Black vinyl roof and a red interior. Though I am usually a top-trim-level person, in this case I’d stick with the base car for my red interior–the Limited and Park Avenue velours in red would be a bit “much” for my tastes, then or now. However, I am staying true to form on the options front–I’d add everything I could, and my Electra 225 would roll on Buick’s beautiful chrome Road Wheels. Powering my black beauty would be a Buick-built 350 4V V8.
For the C-Body 2-door, I’d definitely want to bring home a Cadillac Coupe DeVille. Since it’s a Cadillac, I’d go positively berserk with options: Astroroof, wire wheel covers, Firemist paint (make mine Cerulean Blue with a matching Cabriolet vinyl roof), Cadillac 425 V8 with Electronic Fuel Injection, 50/50 power adjustable and reclining seats in Antique Light Blue leather, plus anything that could illuminate, be power-operated or work automatically would be specified for my Coupe DeVille. Take that, Continental Mark V!
So those are my (ample) choices for 1977? What are yours?
Nova 4-door with a 350.
Hard to say, as none of the big American cars of this year really appeal to my tastes in a car I’d ever want to own, even back then. I have always been a fan of the Cordoba, so I guess that’ll be my answer, especially considering that 1977s still featured the original round headlights. Make mine with rich Corinthian Leather!
In 1977 I bought a new Honda Civic CVCC 5-speed just like the one in this photo. Had been driving a ’72 Pinto, which was already rusting away. I never even considered anything else, American, Japanese or European. I just adored that Civic. Everything so smooth and well-made. Fast-revving engine, scooter handling, good room with the hatchback. My first FWD, I took it out on the first snow that winter just so see what FWD was like. I still miss that car.
I turned 16 in 1977. One of my summer job coworkers had just bought a white/lipstick Thunderbird with the 400 V-8 and white leather upholstery. She let me drive it a couple of times and I was in heaven! Later that year my aunt bought an aqua/white Mustang II Ghia V-8. Very nice car that would burn rubber (!), but it just didn’t float my boat like the Thunderbird did.
Fast forward about 17 years: I was yearning for a car I could park on the streets of San Francisco and not have to worry about it. What did I find on a used car lot but a bright orange/white ’77 Bobcat station wagon, loaded, V-6. AC, factory 8-track, tan interior and a mid-year sport package. (Think white painted lower body with related pinstripes, white wheels, and a chin spoiler!) It was in great shape but so hideous it called to me and I made it mine. Drove it around for about 3 years. Funny…as a teenager, I would have been horrified to own that.
I wouldn’t have bought a new 1977 anything. Then or now. If it was 1977 and I had new car dollars, I’d look for a really nice then-only-21-years-old ’56 Chevy better than the one I owned that year.
Good call – start buying all of the Chargers, Challengers, Cudas and Road Runners you can get your hands on. Because in 1977, anything made by Chrysler was worth bupkus in the used car lot. 🙂
Muscle cars in general were worth nothing for awhile during that time. A friend bought a ’69 Chevelle SS396 from the local VW dealer’s used car lot for $900 with about 80,000 miles on it, in good condition. Nobody wanted them because gas and insurance were ridiculous.
I wonder what was the low point in resale value for muscle cars from the (first) golden age (’63-’72)? When I was in high school (’80-’82) with the ’79 gasoline crisis still in fresh memory, several of my classmates could afford first-gen Mustangs, ’68-’72 GM A-body coupes, and late-’60s Chargers – they weren’t widely seen as classics yet, just old used cars, and most people seemed more concerned with fuel economy than acceleration.
A C10 Chevy pick up with a BBC, junk any smog equipment and modify as appropriate. The cars were totally uninteresting pale imitations of what they were only 7 years earlier.
But today, they make sense as cheap canvas for improvements…
AMC Matador sedan with the 129hp 360 2BBL.
Because if you’re going to do malaise, at least do it right!
Barcelona, baby!
Sadly, that package was only available on the sedan in ’78.
Yeah, but you could get the Barcelona II package on a ’77 Matador Coupe – that would definitely be my choice! Malaise all the way!
’77 is definitely a GM year. Make mine a Caddy Coupe DeVille in yellow, with a white vinyl roof and white leather interior, and whatever the best V8 was that year – I’d have to spend some time with the option list to outfit the car properly. If it had to be a four door, a Sedan DeVille, in that case no vinyl roof and in some nice green or blue. For a wagon, a Buick Estate. For hauling stuff, a Suburban. If it absolutely had to be a non-GM car, I would consider a Ford Fairmont, a Volvo 240 or a Hornet Sportabout. If I lived in Europe, a Mercedes sedan would’ve worked just fine, but I’d never have bought one here in the US. Chrysler or Japan Inc. had nothing I’d have wanted that year, and the usual suspects such as Corvettes and Trans Ams leave me cold, then and now.
Fairmont was still a year away, 1978 model year was first, out in fall 1977, 39 years ago. Just being picky.
I’d like Firebird with 400 and 4 speed, in Rockford Files Esprit trim, but not brown, maybe red or blue.
AFAIK, the 400 wasn’t an RPO in base or Esprit. It required a Formula or T/A. You could add Esprit-type interior, and omit the spoilers and formula stripes.
First pick would be a Continental Mk. V, probably a Bill Blass-love that nautical look.
Then again, a Buick Electra, black with black vinyl roof sounds pretty sweet too. I’d have to have the Park Avenue whorehouse red velour though.
Lincoln Town Coupe or Mercury Grand Marquis 460 C I My wife had a 78 Grand Marquis coupe (same body size and style as the 77}. It was one of our favorite cars of all time.
I currently own a 76 Grand Marquis. Even after 40 years, their still nice ride’s. I love mine.
17 in ’77 and wanted a dark blue, white landau Buick Regal with black S/R interior.
With the genuine Buick 350 of course, not that ridiculous V6 that at the time was grossly overtaxed for the job at hand and rough idling.
Today though I would take the Caprice F41 or LeSabre Sport Coupe.
Monte Carlo, in blue.
Make mine in red!
Our family Impala was wrecked, and insurance paid for a rental during repairs. We got a 1977 orange Pinto wagon. I LOVED that rental. I begged my parents to never pick up the Impala…and to let us keep the Pinto. My cries remained ignored.
–our rental was just like this, but with the “rallye” style steel wheels with beauty rings.
At the time, I wanted a Toyota Celica liftback, but I was 25 and sporty then. Today, a Chevy Caprice coupe in Dark Firethorn Red would punch my ticket.
In actuality I actually did buy two 1977 cars.
First was one of my life’s worst and most unreliable automotive misadventures, my 1977 Sunroof Bright Yellow VW Bosch K Jetronic Rabbit which suffered repeated alternator failures, scorched hoods x2 from fuel injection fires, and transaxle/shifter issues. The VW dealers that I went to were less than useful, horrible in fact. That car was nicknamed the “Yellow Turd” by myself and my family. In actuality my litany of problems with the VW (so many times non running and in the shop) became a running joke. The jokes were more reliable and running than the car.
After slightly more than nine months of hell with the blazing yellow ( and fiery) VW Rabbit , with my name on the Honda Accord waiting list, my name came up for a blue 1977 Honda Accord ( no choice of color, when your name came up on the Honda list, you took whatever color was available–hard to remember or imagine that such a shortage supply issue for Hondas of that era existed–but that’s the way it was back then). The resulting, instant reliable automotive bliss contrasted so greatly with the VW ownership experience that we (myself and my family) never looked back and have happily purchased many Hondas as well as Toyota products over the past 39 years.
When one of my sons wanted a 2002 VW Jetta, opposed to my advice, it was amusing to see him live through recurring electrical, mechanical, and water leakage/Mold/Mildew problems, and then, as I did in 1977, we watched, in collective amusement, my son throw in the VW towel for a Honda Civic.
As the French would say, ” Plus Ca Change, plus c’est la meme chose” . Translation: the more things change, the more they stay the same. So it was again, an unreliable VW replaced by a reliable Honda.
So by my purchase experience in 1977, my VW Rabbit, a big thumbs down–actually two thumbs down, a true “Yellow Turd”.
Then my 1977 Honda Accord, a big thumbs up. A True Blue Accord.
Finis, the year 1977.
Since some trucks were brought up, my truck choices would be a GMC K-2500 High Sierra or a Dodge W-250 Adventurer.
Then again, an 8V-71 powered GMC Astro 95 axle tractor……..
Toyota, probably a Corolla or Celica coupe. So long as it didn’t spend its life in a rust-belt state, it’s the 1977 car most likely to still be running and regularly driven today.
Two words; Oil undercoating.
Does it have to be domestic??????
If yes, then either the Cadillac Seville (love the fuel injected Olds 350 V8 – and the suspension had been tamed with regards to freeway overpass expansion joints) or…..wait for it…..the Mercury Grand Marquis 2 door coupe with the 460 V8 and a two tone paint scheme. The roofline on the Mercury looked much better than the Ford LTD Landau coupe and the Merc is Brougham-tastic!
If I could go foreign, I’d be lusting for an Aston Martin V8 Vantage if I were single or a MBZ 450SEL 6.9 if I was a family man.
I probably would’ve wanted a Ford Capri II, but if I was my current age in ’77 (I was in diapers), and with my current salary adjusted accordingly, I probably couldn’t have justified those payments.
That said and as cars go, I’m more into looks than burning rubber. A Plymouth Arrow might have been a contender, but not in my GM town. I’d likely have signed on the dotted line for a nice, Camaro LT with a 250-6 and whatever tranny and color that was cheaper off the lot of the dealer’s selection.
Oh, we were supposed to be realistic? I missed that part. 🙂
If we’re talking what would we have bought at our current age, income level, and life station, just teleported back to ’77…hmm. Probably an Aspen wagon with the 360. Reasonably affordable, perhaps the only wagon for ’77 that wasn’t either enormous or tiny, and a bit of a sleeper with the 5.9 V8. Jade green metallic, non-SE (no woodgrain), green interior.
Shortly thereafter I’d be in rust and reliability hell with all the other early Aspen buyers. But it’s a compelling package on paper and in the showroom–how was I to know?
We had a ’77 Volare coupe that did rust, but was shockingly reliable, from what I remember. It was a looker… burgundy with matching interior, and a white, pebble-grained, vinyl half roof that went from the A- to the B-pillars. Your hypothetical Aspen wagon might have rusted almost immediately, but it would have been attractive and with a 15% chance of actually being a decent car.
The rather tasty Capri II 3 litre ‘S’ came out around that time, chin spoiler, ‘Ghia’ alloy wheels, smart pin striping, tartan seat inserts… (hey, it was the ’70s), the last new model before they facelifted it in1978 – I always liked the rectangular lights cutting into the bonnet top, stylistically reflecting the original 1969 model.
We didn’t get that version, alas — sealed beams and emissions-controlled Cologne 2.8, not the European lights or the Essex 3.0.
I have owned 2 1977 cars. In 1993 I bought a 77 Cordoba emerald green with light green cloth interior and white landau roof, 400/ Torqueflight. The Lean Burn system was even still working when I bought it, though it was quickly swapped out along with the carb. That was enough to wake up that car, only kept it for a year until the tags expired and parted it out to build a friend’s Cordoba.
Last year I picked up a 77 Dodge Aspen wagon with a Super Six, and a straight FL body. I need to get working on it so I can drive it.
My uncle Paul had a Pacer of that vintage, which is what I believe started me down the road of AMC fanaticism. I’d love to get one for myself, goofy, heavy, and fuel inefficient though it may be. It’s a Pacer, for God’s sake! How awesome would that be?
It may be goofy, heavy and fuel inefficient but you’d attract lots of attention no matter where you drove it. The mighty Pacer! 😀
1977 Pontiac Can Am.
I would have to say either a 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo with the 350 V8, 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 2 door with either a 350 V8 or 403 V8, 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with the 400 V8, 1977 Chevy Caprice Classic 2 door with the landau roof or a 1977 Oldsmobile 98 or Buick Electra
I consider 1977 to be the best year for the GM cars since 1973 due to the personal luxury cars and the downsized biggies
In ’77 I got to ride in (and illegally drive..) a lot of the new GM lineup as Dad had numerous dealership demos. The one I remember most was a ’77 Cutlass Salon coupe, red on red with a white half vinyl roof. It had every option available and a 403 under the hood. He drove it for quite a while, it was pretty expensive for ’77 and most customers settled for the supreme.
I think it stuck around until the ’78s came out and then got snapped up when people saw the shrunken replacement. If I’d had the cash, that’s what I would have bought. The Z-28 came out part way through the year and a yellow one with a 4 speed sat on the showroom floor briefly. That would have been a close second. I wouldn’t have even considered anything from Ford or Chrysler that year.
Being an AMC guy, I drooled over the ’77 Hornet AMX, which was a trim package, I know, but a very good looking package on a very useful car. I probably would have chosen the 6 cylinder and 4 speed for economy, and Firecracker Red for sure-with the Hornet decal on the hood. I’d have had a car that was sharp looking, fun to drive, economical, and reliable.
I suppose I would’ve chosen the Cadillac Seville in 1977. But I was also a huge fan of the down-sized DeVille/Fleetwood, so a Fleetwood Brougham d’Elegance may have won out.
My mother obviously liked the down-sized C-bodies as she bought a ’77 Buick Electra 225 in ’77. I was only 12 and didn’t really pay attention to what was going on. I just knew we had a big, fancy car.
1977 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham:
I would be on the hunt for a leftover Cosworth Vega. If it has to be a ’77 it would be an optioned up Hornet.
77 lets see I had a Commer Cob van, a 51 Humber ten sedan as a work beater and a rusty 64 PB Velox, none of the cars in the post were available new here so I woulda just drove what I did, I already had enough cars to keep me amused.
If I were a car shopper in 1977, I would have rejoiced that the Thunderbird was once again a car I liked. I’ve always admired the 1977-79 T-birds – a completely distinctive design, large but not ridiculous, and traditional but not obsolete. Since I’ve always liked personal luxury coupes, and the Thunderbird is my favorite from the Class of ’77, I think that would have been my car.
Eric, I would have to say this would be my choice as well. I blame being smitten as a teenager at that time. Friends were lusting after new Firebirds and Camaros, but not me. I’ll take one of these basket handle beauties in black, with wire wheel covers, complete with a full power red interior and all of its cloth and vinyl and genuine imitation burled walnut glory.
Well, as I commented in GN’s ad piece, I did buy my first “newer” car in 1977, though it wasn’t new. I fact, between 1976 and 1981 I bought five cars which were of the same version as sold new in ’77 (calendar year, not model year): my Vega, Alfetta sedan, Fiesta (not sold in the US until MY1978), Scirocco and TransAm. If I could have afforded and wanted a new car, I honestly think I would have bought a V8 Monza Spyder. Today, with California smog laws enforced for 1976 and newer cars, I probably wouldn’t buy any 1977 car, but if I did, it would probably be a GM product for which repro parts and a newer CARB legal fuel injected motor are readily available. Camaro, Blazer, C10 pickup or Malibu, in that order. Or maybe a B Body wagon ….
Trans Am, Bright Blue. 400/4sp. Basically the same performance envelope as the Corvette, but it doesn’t seem quite as emasculated as the 77 Vette for some reason, and I really dig the split V grille and the quad rectangular headlights.
Let me think for a while about the T tops.
I would choose the 77 base caprice sedan with manual everything no vinyl roof
F41 350 4bbl with a posi. And a wagon with the same options.
Here is my 88 F41
For a car, I’m torn. On the one hand, I know how to play the option list to build a sleeper Fury…find a dealer willing to order a Pursuit model and spec it with…
440 V8
HD 727 trans
2.94 gears and Sure Grip.
Fast-ratio manual steering
Pushbar prep (HD front torsion bars)
HD cloth seat with rubber floor mat
Air conditioning
Am/FM/CB radio
15×8 HD steel wheels with center caps
On the other hand, I am strangely tempted by a Pinto wagon…2.3/4-speed, with manual brakes, manual steering and factory A/C. No woodgrain!
1977 was not the best year but….
Fuel efficient—-Dodge Colt 2DR with 4spd;
Regular——AMC Matador coupe W/O vinyl top (no Barcelona, please) with V8 and automatic.
Without a doubt, an AMC Pacer Wagon.
One of my all time favourite cars, and ’77 was my fav year for Pacer as it was the only one when the coupe and wagon were available prior to the less-appealing facelift.
A Gremlin X would be my close second choice. 2bbl 258 six and 4 speed manual preferred with either car.
The big 3 had practically nothing I would want for ’77. I’m not a great admirer of the boxy ‘sheer look’ that was in vogue at the time.
VW Beetle in metallic lime green with brown velour interior, AM/FM and sunroof. It was the Beetle sedan’s swansong year in the US market and they only came loaded (well, by bug standards) with everything the spring specials from earlier in the decade had.
A Dodge Aspen SuperCoupe. Special ordered with a 4 speed overdrive stick and slant six.
I would take a Volvo 244 with a manual and overdrive. I would then take it out on the highway and drive, drive, drive.
I’ve owned a 1977 model, a Buick Electra 225 that I profiled here a few years back. It was dead reliable for a then 35 year old car. Probably the best car I’ve owned on a sheer utility basis because it wasn’t kept up at all yet ran like a champ.
That said, it would not be my first choice for ’77. I’m with JPC on this: a Town Car (4 door for me) or a 4 door Chrysler New Yorker Brougham. The Lincoln in baby blue, powder blue, dark green or aqua. The Chrysler in black.
I wouldn’t turn my nose up at a ’77 DeVille or FWB on its own…but it just pales in comparison…the downsized GMs were great cars but step one in many ways towards the blandness we see today–in my opinion.
Cordoba, no question.In Claret or Starlight blue.
Lincoln continental black 4 door 460.red with whit fake convertible top mark v 460, or 2 tone Green grand marques coupe 460. Orwhite New Yorker brouugham coupe. Waggoner Cadillac Miller meteor hearse.
In 1977, I was in 7th grade, and an avid car magazine reader. Back then, I really liked cars that were quick and efficient–so my top picks would have been a VW Rabbit or Scirocco–for 1977, the 1588 cc engine had fuel injection! If money was no object, a Porsche 911. I also liked the 76 Firebird, but didn’t like (and still don’t!) the Batmobile front end on the 77. I did like the 77 Corvette L82.
But I also liked the 77 Caprice with a 305 or 350, and the 77 Nova coupe.
Today, if you zapped me to 1977, my top pick a car that I thought was ‘dumb’ adn ‘old’ in 1977–an OLDS (in 1977, I was all about Chevy and Pontiac) Cutlass Supreme coupe, with a 350-4bbl, with the Landau roof, VINYL BENCH seat, and FULL WHEEL COVERS, and MANUAL windows/locks, and A/C, and of course factory AM/FM/Cassette.
My 2nd pick would be a 77 Caprice 4-dr, 3rd would be my 7th grade picks.
Wasn’t looking to buy a new car in 1977, I did buy a new car in 1979: a Chevrolet Z28. Looked cool but wasn’t fast, not at all. If I would to time travel back to 1977, what would I buy? Probably a Olds Cutless, but more likely a Jeep Grand Wagoneer.
An all white New Yorker Brougham Coupe-the “Electric Razor”. That’s it.
The good old days! Not a crossover in sight! What would be the top Japanese sedans of 1977?
The down-sized GM full-sized cars were historically significant, especially the down-sized Chevy Caprice.
My dad bought a ’77 Olds Custom Cruiser in red metallic, no simulated wood paneling, and with a brown velour interior (the only interior color available for seats that were not vinyl). It had a 401 cubic inch V-8 that allegedly put out a puny 180 horsepower and consistently got 19 mpg, maybe 22 on the highway on a good day. We later learned that one of the cylinders had never worked because of something wrong with the distributor. It was built at Southgate, California and had kind of questionable assembly quality.
I had pushed my dad to buy it over a Pontiac Catalina Safari and he always blamed me for the problems with the car. I also remember that the back seat had short bottom cushions that were uncomfortable if you had to sit back there for any length of time.
When I think about American cars I probably would have gotten myself something like a Chevy Concours coupe, but in 1977 I was a high school kid and the reality was that my dream car was usually a new Volkswagen Scirocco, though at different times I also like the Datsun 280-Z, Fiat X1/9, Toyota Celica GT Hatchback (the first generation one that looked like a mini-Mustang), the Honda Accord and the Fiat X1/9.
Here in Australia, young guys who were into cars often grew up with an awesome reverence for American iron, based on the well-known drag racing exploits of the sixties cars. We knew Mustangs; they were cool. We’d heard of Camaros, Firebirds and Barracudas. We might have even seen one. To our minds they cast a glow over American cars in general, by association. Our fathers had known and often owned American cars, the Big Three in Australia made an amazing variety of cars, and by the late Seventies were turning from a purely American idea of ride and handling toward something more European in concept.
So what did I find when I looked into American car magazines at the local library?
Broughams. Eighteen foot two-and-a-bit-tonners stuffed full of crushed velour (or rich Corinthian leather) and slathered with vinyl and plastichrome appliques.
What was America doing? Who ordered these? From what I read there was no doubt they were selling, but to me they were like the product of an alien empire; I felt as though there was no common ground. I just could not perceive any place for vehicles like these in my life.
With the passing of the years I’ve come to understand how American cars came to diverge from the rest of the world so much, and I’ve come to appreciate those period touches of seventies designs I once derided – but not enough that I’d want to own one.
Pete this was the same in Israel and for us, too, in the late 70s the market was starting to shift into European cars in those classes – not so much because of the “Brougham-isation” of the American cars but because one of the main advantages of a US-made car – reliability – was no longer there, whereas BMWs and MBs, despite their complexity, started becoming more bullet-proof than they have been in the 60s.
By the late ’70’s the American market was starting to get more regionally fragmented. I was living in a West Coast university town adjacent to a large cosmpolitan metropolitan area (San Francisco Bay Area). In the ’60’s, a non-trivial number of European cars, mostly VW and Volvo, but also Mercedes, Cortina, Saab, Peugeot etc, became every day sights, mostly driven by faculty. Even wealthier people had modest automotive tastes, and base or compact American cars prevailed; Valiants rather than Chryslers and BelAirs rather than Caprices. By the late 1970’s the Japanese cars were everywhere, and the American subcompacts (Pinto, Vega) were very popular as well. By contrast, the once-popular American pony cars were either neutered, like the Mustang II, or had become parodies of themselves like the gaudy but low-HP TransAm. And the whole brougham thing, coupled with dismal MPG and declining build quality, didn’t seem to take off out here as much as in other parts of the country, though when that type of car later downsized (’78 and later Cutlass Supreme, and then FWD A bodies) they seemed to be pretty popular in the suburbs. I recently completed a round trip across the US and back, and was surprised at how much the automotive roadscape still varies regionally. Domestic, especially GM, passenger cars and CUVs far more prevalent in the upper Midwest, Korean cars and Nissans in the SouthEast, etc. Unlike 40 years ago, California and New England are now surprisingly similar, automotively.
This was a great series GN, one of the best ever. Loved how you laid it out by manufacturer, then added the print ads to show what else was available and ended with the QOTD. A job well done!
You would think the ’67 new car posts would have been more engaging than the ’77, because cars were so much better then ya know, but it wasn’t the case. And I don’t think it’s because there are more 50 years olds reading here than 60 year olds.
I hope there will be an ’87 new car series but if you do please end it there. No matter what it won’t top these ’77 posts and fun to read comments.
I live in Australia, so my new car choice for 1977 would be a Holden Torana LX SLR 5000 4-door sedan:
X2, if I were living downunder myself. I was not – I was a teenager in Israel and we never had any Aussie cars imported into the country, not even when Holden started LHD models in other parts of the Middle East.
Probably a GM B- or C-Body. Not any of the Oldsmobiles – I didn’t care much for their styling – but a Caprice or Bonneville would be nice. An Electra or DeVille if I had more money to spend.