I’ll admit it – I am a mite prone to daydreaming. One of my more frequent stops on the woolgathering express is to ask myself what might I be driving if I had that blasted time machine working. Some cars are easy: my 1993 Crown Victoria neatly translates into almost any year of big Ford. If we pick, say, 1973 (good grief, was it really forty years ago?), then I would have a 20 year old 1953 Ford sedan out in the drive. Cool – the last flathead V8. Probably a maroon top of the line Customline with an automatic. I wish I would have had one of those to drive to high school. Other cars do not translate so well.
Those reading here for awhile will recall that not quite two years ago, I bought my first new car in quite awhile – a 2012 Kia Sedona. You couldn’t get a Kia in 1973, so my daydreaming turns into more of an exercise session. Let’s pretend this is good for me. OK, what do we have – a competent wagon. Fairly dull, and not really very popular at all. It is not what you buy if you are trying to impress people. And, it has a great warranty. BINGO – if we are still doing 1973, the Mrs. is driving around in a gray 72 AMC Matador wagon. With either a 360 or a 401, because my Kia really hauls. But no woodgrain – would that equate to power rear doors today? Mine is without.
The longer I think about this, the parallel is almost perfect. They are virtually invisible, many people don’t even know what they are, and while nice, the interior is quite uninspired. Yes, I’m sticking with the Matador. The taillights are even the same shape!
So, how about you? If we stick with 1973, how would your current car translate back. For example, a 2010 is 3 years old, so it would be a 1970 model for this daydream. And if you get really stumped, you don’t have to stick with my arbitrary 1973 choice. If there is a car of another era that makes you wonder if your current wheels have been reinCARnated, go for it.
2010 Acura TSX. Well Acura didn’t exist in 1970, so…
I’d have to say 1970 Buick Gran Sport GSX. They are both sporty cars from an unpretentious luxury brand. My TSX is the V6 model, which like the GSX is a very low production model. Just as the V6 is the larger engine from bigger Acuras, the GSX’s 455 V8 was more commonly found in Buick’s full-size cars. Not to mention the fact that their names are only off by one letter: TSX and GSX!
Maybe a VW passat or citroen ds more like it for 1973. Both are four door imports with a slightly upscale more sporting image without being real performance.
This is fun. For our 5 year old Prius, I was thinking of an Austin America (ADO16 1275) or a Volvo 122S wagon; both roomy, one technically complex, the other often making a socio-political statement. But Priuses are so popular, perhaps a slant-six Dodge Dart is really a more suitable predecessor. For our 12 year old New Beetle Turbo, of course an air-cooled Beetle, but with some Empi hop-up hardware, a cracked open rear engine cover, and “mag” wheels.
I’m going to take this ten years further back to 1964-’65, when I first had my drivers’ license and began contemplating my first car, which actually came along in early 1965. I had lusted after a ’57 Thunderbird since my childhood when they were new, but by ’64-’65, they were yesterday’s news, long in the tooth, three generations removed from the original, and had not reached the collector heights they enjoy today. They were frequently advertised in the L.A. Times, always in the range of about $1,000-1,500 or so. I would read those ads religiously for months, and I kept nagging at my dad that I so wanted one of these to be my first car. Nope, he would say, too old and too much mileage, and old technology. I had to give up, but kept my dream alive until more recent times, when I finally got my ’57 T-Bird in the form of a new 2003 Bird. So for me, with my 2003 T-Bird sitting in the driveway today, my time- translation back takes me to that first car in 1965, when I so desperately wanted that classic model.
BTW, minor nit, the maroon ’53 Ford Customline above is described as “top of the line.” I believe that would have been the Crestline, the Customline was the middle child (but you know that!). My dad had a ’54 Ford Customline as a company car back then, it was pretty basic, no power steering, no power brakes, no radio, surprisingly an electric clock, though, manual transmission and rubber floor mats. He would sit me on his lap and help me steer it into the garage. A long ago different world.
From my quick check the 53 Crestline was hardtops and convertibles only. Top sedan was the Customline. Crestline may have gotten a sedan by 54 (along with a new engine.)
Once again, Don. I “learned to drive” sitting on the lap of my paternal grandfather in his new 58 Chevy Bel Air sedan. I got to “steer” as well. I also got to start it up. He would leave it in neutral (it was a stick) with the brake on and the ignition switch knob in Off (unlock) position so it was all ready for me. He taught me how to drive a stick many years before I got a learner’s permit. By that time he was gone by my paternal grandmother took on the job of going with me as I practiced driving in her Chevy II. Great memories of the best grandparents a kid could ever have – I miss them to this day.
I hadn’t thought about it, but the Sedona really is the Ann Veal of cars.
You are likely correct about the ’53 Customline, my quick check could only turn up a ’54 full-model lineup, which shows the Crestline Fordor sedan. My aunt and uncle had both a ’53 Mercury Custom Fordor and a ’54 Lincoln Capri 4-door sedan, I had assumed the sedans were ubiquitous across all of Ford’s make and model lineup.
Taken literally, we’d have a 1959 Dodge Royal Lancer and a 59 Olds Fiesta Wagon.
1973 works perfectly for my newest car… instead of a 2010 Challenger R/T, it would be a 1970 Challenger R/T. Probably a 340-engined car to align better with the modern 5.7 Hemi.
It’s harder to find a match for my pickup, a 2005 Dakota 4×4 club cab. Could be a Scout 800 4×4 pickup, a Dodge A100 pickup or a 1/2-ton 4×4 IH Travelette.
My ’96 Thunderbird would have to be a ’56 Ford. I won’t go with the actual ’56 T-bird since that was a 2-seater… more like a Customline or maybe a low-level Fairlane with a 2-door sedan body and a midrange V8 engine.
As always, late to the party…
This is what my fleet looks like today…
1995 Pontiac Sunfire GT
1997 Chevy Cavalier
2004 Pontiac Aztek
2009 Pontiac G6 Sport Sedan
Ratcheting back 40 years…
1955 Pontiac… with V8… Star Chief? Or maybe the Pontiac captive import, a Vauxhall of some kind with the “big” engine? Cresta? Velox? No easy equivalent there…
1957 Chevy? Maybe, a 210, two-door, with a six and a Powerglide…
1964 Corvair Greenbriar Sports Van… Since there’s no direct Pontiac predecessor.
1969 Pontiac LeMans 4 door hardtop sedan. I guess the closest spec to my current Pontiac would be the one with the 350/4bbl/THM…
CA Guy, that must be a very gratifying memory. I only had my maternal grandmother in my life back then, and her ’56 DeSoto, all my driving lessons came from my dad. I would be so petrified trying to wrestle that huge unassisted ’54 Ford steering wheel to get the car in the garage, Dad would have the car running, the transmission in first, and he would slowly release the clutch while I would try to twist and turn it. Interestingly (that parallel universe again!), my dad’s next company car after his ’54 Ford was, wait for the drum roll…, a ’58 Chevy Bel Air 4-door sedan. That one had power steering and brakes and automatic, and being somewhat bigger by that time, I had a much easier time of steering into the garage. Later on, learning to drive with my learner’s permit in his next company car (a ’61 Falcon), he would take me up to the Douglas Aircraft plant on Ocean Park Blvd. to practice driving around their massive parking lot, of course, long gone now. A great time with a very patient dad.
Well I’m currently driving a 2013 Nissan X-Trail….. my wife has a 2012 Nissan Wingroad and my “toy” is a 1982 Toyota Celica XX……
Rewind that and I’ve got some challenges…. given that the X-Trail is a company car then probably the equivalent back in the day would’ve been a mid-size wagon…. perhaps a Cortina?
The wife would’ve been in a ’72 Corolla Wagon, or maybe a 510 wagon?
As for the toy, there’s no real equivalent I can think of, certainly nothing Japanese…. we’d be going back to something from ’42! I’m really lost here, some help anyone?
[Great post, JP Cavanaugh]
Question: what was the 1973 entry-level sport sedan? [i.e. what equates to an ’05 BMW 3 series? Remember these cars have been on 10 Best Lists for decades]
While the quick answer could be the ’73 BMW Bavaria (below), those were hardly as ubiquitous as BMW 3s -nor on any 10 Best list, and following GN’s logic above, creating a ‘car cross-walk’ to 1973 ought to include factors other than just marque (sales, body style, function, etc.) So I’ll veto the Bavaria.
The BMW 2002? Well, it was a coupe.
There were certainly many Mercedes 250/280s sedans on the road in ’73, but they were listed at $9K -well past entry-level pricing. Audi 80s? -nah. And the Japanese marque’s sedans weren’t performance oriented.
No, maybe the truer 1973 equivalent is the Pontiac Grand Am? The Grand Am project started out as a GTO; so at least in Pontiac’s mind, the emphasis was on performance. Plus Pontiac definitely wanted to compete with the euro sport sedan concept (hey, they were GMs Excitement Division) hence both 2 and 4 door offerings of the Grand Am.
But Pontiac only sold ~8,691 of the 4-doors in ’73, while BMW sold 106K 3 Series in the US in ’05 alone (even adjusting for the size of the 1973 car buying market, that leaves the Grand Am way out of the picture).
So what was the sport sedan of 1973? Or is the BMW 2002 and the Grand Am as close as we can get?
Current cars:
1996 Volvo 850 sedan
1996 Volvo 850R wagon
In 1973 I’d probably have two teenage Volvos, a ’67 sedan (a 144S if I were on my game) and a 145.
In 1973:
2013 Fusion with 2.0L EB = 1973 Gran Torino Sport 351 4 speed
2004 F-250 4×4 with V-10 = 1964 F-250 with 352 (largest gas engine)
1989 Ranger with 2.3L = 1949 F-1 pick up with a 6 cylinder (?)
1972 Gran Torino Sport = 32 duece coupe with a souped up flathead.
Way late, but this is a fun exercise…
In 1973:
2012 Kia Forte Koup = 1970 AMC Hornet 2-door, 232 I6
JPC’s AMC/Kia analogy works well here–the Hornet was a nicely-styled coupe, as is the Forte. It wouldn’t be an SST or a V8 (EX rather than SX trim) but the Kia’s standard 2.4 seems more akin to the optional 3.8 than the base 3.3.
1997 Ford Crown Victoria = 1955 Ford Fairlane 4-door sedan, 272 V8
1979 Chevrolet Malibu 4-door sedan = 1937 Chevrolet Master 4-door sedan
1988 Volvo 780 Bertone = 1947 Volvo PV444
Off by a year, but I can’t quite figure out what Volvo was making in ’46. Wiki seems to have conflicting info. Plus the new for ’47 PV series was more in the spirit of the 780 than was its prewar rehash predecessor model.