By far THE worst era of cars, specifically 74-79, in terms of looks, performance, quality, etc. "The malaise era" The cars directly responsible for Japan being able to come in and make radical changes in the 80's
Some of these are just a matter of taste. And tastes change over time. For example, many popular clothes of the 1970's would be considered comical now.
But that "arrow back" Cutlass should be written out of GM history. A "hatchback" look with no hatchback? On a full size car?
By far THE worst era of cars, specifically 74-79, in terms of looks, performance, quality, etc. "The malaise era" The cars directly responsible for Japan being able to come in and make radical changes in the 80's
This is a fact, largely because of government regulations. The engineers and stylists just gave up.
Look at what they did to the Firebird. They ruined the nose in '74 and the rear window in '75. I used to live with a girl who had a '77 Formula 403. It was a cartoon with an Olds motor.
Some of these cars are not 'ugly"....The '70 Thunderbird actually looked aggressively cool....By the way- that nose was called "Bunkie's beak" because Bunkie Knudson, who had been a top man at GM, had then come to work for Ford- and Larry Shinoda followed him. Larry named his hopped up Mustang "Boss" for Bunkie (Larry, a "Stylist", hand-built the first "Proof-of-concept" BOSS 302....he also won in his class at the first NHRA Nationals with his Chopstick Special hotrod)
They should make a movie about Shinoda- During WW2 he was in Manzanar concentration camp, then went to art school but was kicked out because he was >>Too Rowdy<<...he worked at GM styling the C2 and C3 Vettes, plus the 2nd gen Corvair and GM RV, then at Ford he restyled the '69 Mustang to the '70...and was working on the '71 Mustang when Iacocca fired Bunkie and so Larry left also....
One of the ultimate ugly cars ever was the Pontiac Aztek...and the guy who styled it was then hired to style (are you sitting down...?) the C7 Vette, and later styled the C8- no wonder both of those vettes are so ugly!
I never thought the Gremlin was ugly to be honest. There was an AMC dealer that was removing the stock 304's in so equipped 72+ Gremlins and putting in 401's. Much like a Pontiac V8, the 304 & 401 were the same size.
I never thought the Gremlin was ugly to be honest. There was an AMC dealer that was removing the stock 304's in so equipped 72+ Gremlins and putting in 401's. Much like a Pontiac V8, the 304 & 401 were the same size.
I never thought the Gremlin was ugly to be honest. There was an AMC dealer that was removing the stock 304's in so equipped 72+ Gremlins and putting in 401's. Much like a Pontiac V8, the 304 & 401 were the same size.
The Gremlin was (basically) a restyled (Short-wheelbase) early AMX- the chassis is exactly the same.....Dropping a 401 in would be a great improvement in power with no increase in weight....A friend of mine was an AMC nut- built his '71 Javelin up using Mark Donahue's "The Unfair Advantage" book about TA racing- He blew off a 911 turbo on the Bay Bridge and toasted an 80's Testarossa in the Sierra foothills with it; 401 turning 7000 and producing 500+ hp...Plus some suspension mods. He also beat a full-race AMC Spirit (Successor to the Gremlin) at an AMC meet autocross event- the guy came over to check out Brian's Jav and then got to drive it- He was amazed...streetable car with race-car performance.
Brain also owned a '67 AMX, a couple of other Javs and a Gremlin...for a while we referred to Brian's house as "Brian's Rambler Emporium" (Rambler was another name for AMC)
I'd always been a Chevy guy back in the 70's, 80's and 90's prior to getting into Fieros and Subies... but I always liked the AMX. Even the Gremlin was appealing to me when it had been "hopped up".
It’s all a matter of personal taste. I’ll agree with some of those choices (like the Pacer) but some of those cars like the later Riv and the 914 look pretty good to me. 😀
On a different note, compared to car design in the 40’s, 70’s car designs look pretty good. There is no more “slap in the face” for a car designer than to design your car to look like a potato because you have no other sense of creativity. Want proof? Look at this thing below and tell me a potato was not the inspiration for its styling. This period of car design is sometimes referred to as the “potato era of car design”. Kit
It’s all a matter of personal taste. I’ll agree with some of those choices (like the Pacer) but some of those cars like the later Riv and the 914 look pretty good to me. 😀
On a different note, compared to car design in the 40’s, 70’s car designs look pretty good. There is no more “slap in the face” for a car designer than to design your car to look like a potato because you have no other sense of creativity. Want proof? Look at this thing below and tell me a potato was not the inspiration for its styling. This period of car design is sometimes referred to as the “potato era of car design”. Kit
